Niche Cycle drilled brake rotors

[MacMcMacmac]

Anyone running these?

I decided to splurge instead of fitting old Maxim rotors again and the lack of concentricity is making it very difficult to fit them. They are easily .100" out of concentric with the wheel hub, and every rotation has them trying to cut through the caliper like a salami slicer, so much so it is difficult to turn them through a complete rotation. The other rotor is the same.

I had to file down the stainless brake pad clips since they were rubbing, but now I see it is the caliper itself they are dragging on as well. I already had to thin out a boss behind the bolt that holds the caliper together since the rotor buttons were hitting the caliper body there.

I can accept that a full floating rotor may not run exactly true at first, but this is ridiculous.

There is no clearance between the rotor bore and the wheel hub which would account for this.

This is an aftermarket 650 Direct left caliper, a model which I had also used on my last bike with zero issues, but this rotor is not playing nice.

 

[grouchie77]

Seems like that much off-centeredness would cause some bad wheel vibrations.

Personally, I wouldn't run them. Either send em back or take to a machine shop to bore the center out concentric.

The bolt hole circle might also be off center, meaning new bolt holes would have to be drilled.

Shouldn't have to do all that to brand new parts though. Something got lost in inspection at the factory it seems.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Closer measuring has them .035" out on the right, 0.055" out of concentric on the left ( as sitting in the bike). Not ideal, but the amount of actual interference may be enough to live with after some fitting of the caliper. Not a great start to this mod at all.

Turns out the original caliper is seized as well. Having no proper air compressor to employ, I found a length of braided brake line and fitted it to the caliper. The female 90deg coupler on the other end had the same thread as the discharge line from the head of my air brush compressor. A judicious amount of WD40 and a few pulses from the air brush pump had it out in no time. The seizure was a dry, sticky piston seal, and some corrosion at the bore entrance, otherwise I would have been hooped.

Modding is going poorly so far. Some new white LED dash bulbs have resulted in a few very bright spots behind the gauge face. Did you know the turn signal dash lamp in the gauges reverses polarity from one side to the other? I do now, lol. Onward and upward!

 

[gggGary]

Up and down or side to side?
If side to side, mark the high spot and tap it in.
They are floating rotors.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Up and down. I might just tap them in towards the hub.There may be some clearance between the rotor and the inner hub. Looks like it in the photo.

 

[gggGary]

Up and down. I might just tap them in towards the hub.There may be some clearance between the rotor and the inner hub. Looks like it in the photo.

OK that's just wrong. Is the ID a snug fit on the hub OD?

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Perhaps I mislead you, I was referring to he clearance between the outer friction surface ring and the inner black plate that bolts to the wheel. It looks like there is a small gap between the two where they are fixed by the buttons. Maybe the two weren't perfectly centered before they were fixed in place. The inner black plate has zero clearance to the hub on the wheel.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Well, I'll be jiggered if that didn't solve the problem, spins freely now with no scraping. The clearance to the calipers is insanely close though, both on the rotor periphery and between the button heads and the inside of the caliper frame. I'm not sure if I like it. I have contacted the seller through Amazon anyway. We'll see where it goes. Now to put proper bulbs back in the gauges.