Hi folks,

the brakes on my wife's Sporty are not that great. making a quick, firm stop always results in lockup. both of our bikes are the same age, but I have 3 times the mileage and my bike weighs 150lbs. more. I can stop well short of her distance with very good brake feel and travel. I have never locked them up even with panic stops.

is this typical of the Sportster's? are there good aftermarket brakes that will provide more braking range prior to lockup?

thanks

 

Just a quick question;

Do both of you have the same lockup problem on the bike?

 

Best pads IMO are Lyndall - Gold or Z-Plus. Better stopping power, no squeaking, no brake dust, and much longer life. I've got 26,000 miles on my Lyndall Gold pads and probably have another 5,000 miles left in them.

 

i hear about people using brembo road king brakes, jus thought id share

 

teach her to use her brakes properly. Different pads may help a little, but in the end she needs to learn to adjust to her brakes. It's one thing to lock a wheel in a panic situation, but if she's doing it on a regular basis, the problem is her, not the brakes. Take her to a empty parking lot and set up some cones and do stopping drills to push the limits of a panic stop, it's also a good idea to do some low speed manuvering using rear brake alone, and then hand brake alone. Make sure she also learns to use both brakes evenly together, especially with people who don't normally wear boots, but wear them when riding alone, they often hit the rear brake too hard.

 

I can't think of a situation where the brakes would lock consistently due to a mechanical problem. As Drum suggests, this is more likely that she is not using the brakes properly. If the rear wheel is locking up then she's probably giving it too much rear brake and not enough front.

When stopping there is more weight on the front wheel so it has more stopping power so she should be able to haul on the front brake as hard as she likes without locking it up.

If you really do have a brake problem and need to replace the pads then I'd recommend EBC.

 

No, this only occurs on panic stops. she has had to do this twice since she bought the bike, in actual situations. also during the MSF panic stop tests she had this problem. I have tried a panic stop in a straight line on her bike in a parking lot(for obvious reasons), and have the same issue. It seems that if you apply stiff pressure to the brakes, instead of a firm, initial bite, the rear locks.

and, also interesting, the rear brake is more powerful than the front! just the opposite of the way it should be. when I ride her bike I always go for the front back first as it has better modulation, then I apply the rear.......it's really goofy.

 

Every sporty I've ridden the rear locks up when pressed in a panic. Remember that the front is 70% of your stopping power, and when doing a panic hit the front first then apply the rear. Just practice in a parking lot as suggested above, nothing scarier than have your *** catch up to the front when you're trying to stop, lol.

 

As the others have said, you need to learn proper use of the brakes. Of course the rear brake seems "more powerful", the downward pressure you can exert with your leg is much greater and takes less effort than what your fingers can produce squeezing the brake lever. 70% of all straight line braking should come from the front brake.

 

I agree with Z06.

The brakes on the newer 07 and up do not seem as good as the older Sportsters. My rear brake also seems more powerful than the front.

I have rode dirt, enduros, sport, cruisers and touring bikes.

Highly recommend the Brembo brakes for the front.