What other more powerful calipers fit the XS650 ?

With a stock xs650 single disc the stock 14 mm M/C works ok. If you really want it to work good an 11 mm M/C is what you want.
The improvement you felt going from the 17 mm to the 14 mm , going to the 11mm will be about that much better.
Leo
 
XSLeo said:
With a stock xs650 single disc the stock 14 mm M/C works ok. If you really want it to work good an 11 mm M/C is what you want.
The improvement you felt going from the 17 mm to the 14 mm , going to the 11mm will be about that much better.
Leo
Click to expand...

Leo is spot on. I just threw the 11mm Brembo MC from 650 central on my bike... I probably need to rebuild the caliper, but it's night and day better than stock. Not that I really want to, but with the cruddy tires I have on there at the moment, I could probably lock up the front with 2 fingers.

Deft
 
MikesXs rotors thinner bolt on semi floating.

MC size; Smaller MC bore increases pressure, reduces travel. Larger MC bore increases travel, reduces pressure.
I am doing an incremental front brake upgrade on the 79. Trying one thing at a time seeing what the results are. I had a new MikeXs rotor I got with a bike I bought, so I installed it. It LOOKS a lot better, and it's about 1/2 the weight, no noticeable change in braking feel, or power. Next up and on order with 650 Central, Vesrah sintered pads, this is the biggest bang for the buck in XS650 braking. Lower force, faster stopping. The down side(s)? They have high initial bite (less feel) So it might be easier to "over brake" probably not an issue with the stock MC. Sintered pads are aggressive so they tend to chew up rotors faster. Mods Coming after that, smaller (11mm) MC and teflon one piece MC to caliper brake line.
My thought is that unless you are racing or run really curvy roads REALLY fast, double disks are over kill on an XS650 and they just add a bunch of extra unsprung weight. You can get the feel you want from a single disk, it keeps weight, complication, and expense down and in sane (not insane) street riding you won't have enough heat build up to worry about. If it's looks you want, you can't beat dual disks for bling.
I guess my thinking on XS650s is that they are simple bikes, and simple and light when customizing fits the general idea of a 650 twin.
 
Since we are discussing brakes... I don't get why having pistons on the back side of a caliper is an advantage. Extra weight and size and it bumps the amount of bore you need on the MC. the pressure you can generate is the same whether you have a piston on one side or both sides of the rotor. With pistons on just one side you have to have floating caliper mounts. Anyone set me straight on this?
 
I certainly don't feel like I'd be setting anybody straight, but I did read years ago that there was (at a time when disc brakes were an "emerging technology" for bikes)
much debate over the long term durability and reliability of rigid rotor/caliper (proved to be too limiting in flex in endurance racing) versus floating caliper single piston, floating caliper dual piston, rigid caliper floating disc, and floating disc and caliper setups.
Racing improves the breed, for sure, and as the technology evolved and systems trickled down, the latest and greatest seemed to become the norm.
Radial mounted brakes, where the bottom of the fork is essentially an integral part of the brake caliper (the ultimate rigid mount) with floating discs and pistons clamping from both sides is the current state of the art.
The argument I have heard for both sides clamping is the heat dispersion into the caliper and fluid is more even, thus all the parts "grow" under heating together, and you get more consistient feel and actual energy at the rotor.
No expert, of course, but a lot of Kevin Cameron reading, among others!
 
Since you are here JD my brake "chatter" after the MikesXS rotor install was my new tapered head bearings not being tightened enough, problem solved.
 
Cool. Enjoying the emulators then?

I just got back to Maine after a week back in TX. My SV is hurting from storage! The left fork seal decided to start slobbering. It's only got 68K on it. Stuff just don't last like it used to!
I've never done the tapered bearings but I've heard that 50-100-250 mile intervals are good to check them at while they seat in.
 
I think the emulators are working as designed. A bit harsher than the stock "caddy" ride. Will have to mess with turns from 0 spring load, and fork oil weight a bit. Just thinking, being able to adjust turns from the top of the forks would be nice........... My SV forks have new seals but have never had oil in them and need emulators installed, kinda wonder if the cheapo mikesXS emulators would work....

endlessly backburner project
tracker.JPG


Damned eye candy dual disks anyways!
 
That's an SV set. You can get a little of the bottom end plushness back by removing some fluid, as it will give you more air to compress before the internal pressure overcomes the valve. Don't know how Mikes valves would work on the 41MM fork tubes off the SV. Just FYI, '02 and later SV fork caps have preload adjusters.

Race Tech's tuning guide. A good read.

http://www.racetech.com/page/title/Emulator Tuning Guide
 
Last edited:
gggGary said:
I think the emulators are working as designed. A bit harsher than the stock "caddy" ride. Will have to mess with turns from 0 spring load, and fork oil weight a bit. Just thinking, being able to adjust turns from the top of the forks would be nice........... My SV forks have new seals but have never had oil in them and need emulators installed, kinda wonder if the cheapo mikesXS emulators would work....

endlessly backburner project
tracker.JPG


Damned eye candy dual disks anyways!
Click to expand...

gggGary, Where can we pick up one of those chunky side stands?
 
I had luck with the 2008-2012 Yamaha Raider Calipers. Switch the pads to organic and use Pandemoniums rotor spacer (for their brembo kit) and fab your own adapter for the fork out of 1/4' plate steel. The raider's stock sintered pads had more grip that i was wanting.
 
Stock XS Rotor. Its 2mm thicker than the raider's but works. Even better if your stock xs rotor has lost a little thickness.

If you had to you could open up the caliper and machine off 1mm off the caliper pistons and it would be perfect.

The brembo brake calipers just got way too expensive once Pandemoniums kit came out. Found a raider one on ebay for $30 and it was only a year old. I have a raider as my primary bike so I'm familiar with the brake and I think it looks a lot better than the brembos. I didn't have to do any filing on the caliper itself just some careful measuring. I put it on a '80xs with mags wheels. To be honest I probably could have done it without the Pandemonium spacer but I only had a 1/16-1/8 of clearence with the mags so I opted to contact Pandemonium and run things by them. in the end it was a lot safer to buy their kit and re-fab the adaptor rather than risk the caliper nicking the mags.
 
I just wish I could have found a better rear caliper. I the design and positioning of the xs rear caliper. Total crap.
 
I was wondering if it was a stock iron rotor when you said the semi-metallic pads were biting it pretty hard. Were they just grabby? I changed my rear brake on my SV to organic because it felt very wooden. You can actually modulate it with the organics. The front is awesome with Semimetallic pads though.
I can't imagine you don't love the Raider. I have an 03 Road Star 1600. Gotta love it when the torque comes out in buckets!
 
The raider is an incredible bike but its a power cruiser. 10-16 hour rides at a constant 90mph are easy with it. Its fairly nimble for a big bike but at nearly feet long its not the nimble city bike like the xs650.

Yeah the raider sintered pads were too grabby when using the xsrotor. Part of the problem might be the extra thickness of the xs rotor. Our XS chop is only 380lbs and I was worried about the wife locking the front up in an emergency. The organics make it feel and stop quick and smooth like my raider. BTW I'm only using one raider caliper on the xs where the 700lb raider uses dual calipers.
 

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