Boy! BadPiggy...Or should I call you Bad *** Piggy, you sure are putting people in their place! I am not failure with the single rotor set up, but I guess you are an expert after having one for three years. I got to tell you though, your statement about the weight difference is pretty lame, must be that half brain thing you were talking about.

Stock SG 86 lbs heavier, Ultra weighs in at 165 lbs more. When I go on a road trip my bike runs out at over 1200lbs two up and full tour pack. I think people will usually move into the touring class if they are going to load up their bike like that. But what do I know.

I think my brakes are fine the way they are, but if I had a full on custom bike I might consider going to a single set up, but then I wouldn't be loading that bike down for trips either.

Oops! my bad, The above weights were comparing the deluxe, the heritage is 45lbs lighter than the SG and 124 lbs lighter than the Ultra.

 

Just to make it clear, my main point was to say that the touring bikes are set up more for touring and loading them down with weight, I think that is the main reason they went with the dual rotors.

 

You don't lose 50% of your braking power by removing 1 of your rotors. I've been following this debate for about 7 years. On the Gixxer forums guys were slamming and chroming out their Hayabusas and going to a single front rotor to show off their chrome wheels. Of course people would call them crazy (I was one of them) and the debate began. And its even more so for sportbikes, because the majority of their braking power is in the front brakes. On our big tourers its a little more evenly distributed.

I remember some people chiming in on those threads that were considered forum gurus (knowledgable folks who worked in the industry). I don't remember the exact numbers, but the explanation went something like this:

If you remove one front stock rotor, you are really only taking away appoximately 20% of your original dual front brake efficiency. So you are now at 80% of your original efficiency on the front brakes. If you remove the remaining stock rotor, caliper, lines and master cylinder and replace all of that with better performing/quality equipment (single rotor), you can increase your bikes original braking performance by 40%. That's a 20% increase in braking efficiency over the stock dual system with a single rotor.

 

I know what your were saying, and I agree with that. I mean Harley made their decision to go with a dual setup vs. a larger rotor/caliper single setup for a reason. Maybe it was just cost effective.

But to be fair, Harley makes the Heritage for touring and for people that prefer the classic look to the batwing. I've seen them loaded to the hilt, two up and pulling a trailer. Harley knew they would be used for this purpose, yet they still chose to go with a single front rotor.

Like anything, if you plan on touring with a full load on a heritage, you should consider upgrading your braking system. But, I don't think you could reasonably conclude that the Heritage has 50% less braking than an Ultra. Right?

 

Yup - and that is why I have TWO 13" discs with 6-pot calipers!

 

<sniffle>
This hurts...deep.


I have direct experience with both setups...you plainly stated you aren't familiar with the single rotor setup...
And you're questioning me?
LOL

Another thing...you have NO idea how I ride, where I ride, or how much I pack on my scoot.
Just because it's customized does not mean it doesn't get ridden. I have 1 bike, 1 bike only.

Lastly, you were nipping at my heels in another thread.
What is it with you?
Jealous?
Envious?
Actually, I don't care.
To prevent me from cussing you out on a message board and having my account closed, I'll gladly put your ID in the "Ignore Posts" column. Flame away, brother!

 

Okay all you finger waggers, it's only been done a thousand times so it obviously works. Besides that, I really don't plan on doing any stoppies on my bagger any time soon and from what I can tell neither does BadPiggy or bigjames19 so I'm sure the ridiculously dangerous single front brake will stop us just fine. Funny how you don't see the single front brake guys ripping on the chrome front brake cover (ugh!) guys, wagging their finger at them about increased brake operation temperature and the effect that has on braking, etc............okay, enough of that, just getting tired of personal opinions getting in the way of useable information.
On that note, I plan on nixing one front brake and was wondering if anyone knew (for sure, ie: personal experience here please) if one HAD to change the master cylinder when switching to single front brake set up.
No physics lessons please, I already went to school.

 

Hmmmm.....Don't believe I ever said anything about how you ride, and frankly I don't care. You may ride the **** out of your bike but, again I don't care. I don't remember questioning your statement about the single rotors vs dual, only your analogy on the weight differences.

I only chimed in because you were being such an ******* to everyone, which is why we may have had another run in? I don't remember, but again I don't care.

Jealous? Envious? Naw...I never really wanted to be that much of an ******* anyway.

 

TexasSG, I don't know from personal experience, but personal research has told me - yes, you have to get another master cylinder. So I would just figure that into your cost estimates.

 

Tex,
When I first went to the 6 piston setup, I ran my stock master cylinder.
I didn't notice a difference.
Still stopped good.

I think you should try the larger caliper with stock master cylinder, first.
See for yourself.
If you don't like it, then buy the master cylinder.