How to get BETTER brakes for XV750/1100 (SOLVED)

[XV1100]

Hi all, about 6 years ago i replied/posted on this topic/post brake caliper upgrade ...2 years later the bike i had just restored (see album) 96/97 XV1100S (UK "special" edition) was stolen and trashed by thieves thus ruining all my hard work; anyhow after removing some parts to keep it was retained by the insurance company and i was paid out in full. I purchased a mint condition 1993 XV1100 (my 7th so far) and have kept it since.
4 years later (today) i finally got round to "experimenting" with some of the old parts i'd previously kept; in this case the dual-pot floating brake system that the European 750/1100 spoke-wheel versions had fitted. I was never keen on the single pot (yeah i know they have 2 pistons per caliper) brakes that the older (pre 94 in UK) Virago's had as they had the Mag-style wheels that are common to the U.S. market bikes...so as it was time for an overhaul of the current brakes i decided to finally experiment/mock-up the dual-pots for a quick test to see if they fit etc. etc.....cut a long story short they fitted like a glove and tomorrow i shall remove them in readiness for the overhaul (paint, pistons, seal and pads) i now plan before fitting them for a BETTER BRAKING set-up

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and i'll add further pics/info to this post as i go along.
P.S they appear much larger in the "Album" section

Rotor fitted to Mag-style wheels is 267mm O/D (132mm I/D) and the other is from the "spoke" style wheels and is 280mm (give or take a few mm as my measuring wasn't perfect) O/D with an I/D of 132mm.
The caliper is the floating DUAL pot style.

The PCD of the mounting/fixing holes looks the same as the original; not verified yet.

My measurement wasn't perfect but you can get a ball-park-figure...i'll research the dics and edit the O/D size later

As suspected the caliper fits perfectly. This caliper was removed from my 1996/7 spoke wheeled XV1100S (s for special and last version for the UK market) that was trashed by thieves.

As you can see the brake-pad doesn't cover all of the "original disc"...i noticed later that i had the pad mounted upside down (my bad)

As i suspected the spoke wheel disc rotor (sat atop the original) is bigger and the PCD of the mounting holes is exactly in the same place

side view showing the bigger disc rotor

Original Mag-style disc-rotor removed from the wheel and sat atop the (lower) spoke-wheel disc-rotor to show the differences in sizes and to confirm the fixing-bolt PCD placement holes being in the exact same

Bigger disc-rotor now fitted to the Mag wheel...fits like a glove; RHS disc not fitted yet as this was just a test to see if the parts (rotor, caliper and pads) from the spoke wheel would fit the older style Mag wheel; if all goes well then i'll be fitting the RHS etc to complete the project.

Fitted temporarily to the bike to see if everything sits/fits well etc....and it does

Different angle....the old (single pot; yeah i know there's 2 pistons in them) caliper will now be removed as well as the RHS one in favor of the floating dual-pot system for better braking performance.

Half of the caliper lifted upwards to show the pad placement...perfect.

Different angle to show pads....yeah yeah i know they are useless; this was just a mock-up to see how things sat/fit etc. and will be replaced along with the pistons when the caliper-kit arrives in the mail.

I'm more than happy with the looks...just got to remove it all again for strip, paint and overhaul (new pistons, seals and pads) before finally re-fitting it all

[Octania]

Nice work, great write-up!

[XV1100]

Nice work, great write-up!

Cheers bro, much appreciated

[XV1100]

Hi all, i finally got round to completing the brake project. The bike now has BETTER brakes than the ones it came with (original single pot type as fitted on the 750/1100 MAG wheels)...they are exactly as per my 96 XV1100S spoke wheel bike (now scrapped after being stolen/trashed) was...after owning several (on my 7th Virago) of both the MAG and SPOKE wheel bikes i've always said that the spoke wheeled-dual-pot-brakes far out performed the single (MAG wheel version) pot brakes by miles...owners of both will no doubt agree and understand where i'm coming from. This is without doubt the best mod i've done so far to a Mag-wheel type Virago and i wholeheartedly recommend it to any 750/1100 Virago owner.

The only down side was that the awesome stopping power showed up (otherwise overlooked/unnoticed) a leaking LHS fork oil seal; no worries as the kit will be here tomorrow to remedy that fault. Glad the diving action of the forks (due to brakes stopping so well) actually revealed the leak as it would have failed the up-coming MOT. The bike had been sat unused outside for the past 2 years and un-covered and i deserve a good kicking for letting it deteriorate and for not buying a fresh cover sooner; however the damage has not been as bad as a previous Virago that i also neglected ...i need to pull my finger out and clean them more often instead of sitting on my ever increasing @$$; that and it costs me money every time i neglect something.

Cost so far due to neglect :- 1 x OXFORD MOTORCYCLE PROTEX PREMIUM STRETCH FIT WATER RESISTANT - LARGE - CV162...2 x brake caliper-piston/seal kits...2 x sets of brake pads...1 x Yuasa YTX24HL-BS Motorcycle Battery, 12V 21Ah 350CCA....1 x Yuasa Yu-Power Intelligent Lead Acid Battery Charger 12V 2A...1 x oil filter....1 x Kuryakyn Motorcycle Chrome Hypercharger Front Half (ea) P/N 9910 ....2 x rectangular mirrors RM005CH ....2 x leather pannier bags...1 x leather tool roll ...2 x fork-oil kits... 1x 1ltr fork-oil...several wire wheels, scotch-pads and other cleaning/polishing ancillaries

I ditched the Yamaha screen (scratched and small crack in it) and all the Highway Hawk crap and replaced it all with the original stuff that i stored (just in case) apart from the riser holder-clamp (can't find my original) as it's now not as shiny/clean as the original stuff that was in near mint condition i.e. LHS pod, both chrome clutch/brake levers, round (deely bopper style) mirrors.

The pictures show the final stage/s of my brake project and i'll let them speak for themselves (they appear bigger in the Gallery/Album section.

Idiot light console partially cleaned of oxide/corrosion then a quick partial polish to see how it buffs up...this is the non-chrome version....UK winters and road salt takes it's toll on Virago's

Console polished; discs de-painted; calipers also stripped of the paint/lacquer and brake springs/anti-squeal parts cleaned. Also shown is the brake piston/seals overhaul kit (1 kit per caliper; 4 pistons in total; 8 seals)

Different view of the cleaned/polished parts along with cleaned up mag wheel

Closer view

I was tempted to re-spray the discs but i like them as is...will just have to keep my eye on them r.e. rust etc. (i.e. clean them more often)

Brand new pads and all rubbers cleaned; copper greased and re-fitted....trying not to contaminate the disc/pads with copper grease is a hard task in itself...took some time but i finally did it

Floating part of the caliper swung into position and the allen-bolt fitted and torqued up

Again i've left the calipers un-painted...should only need Autosol every now and then...much neater than "salt eaten under the lacquer look"

Disc fixing bolts cleaned...unfortunately these may need paint/lacquer in the future or until i replace them with stainless bolts

RHS pads fitted along with the accompanying rubber bits and support pads; all with copper grease...N.B. any excess grease was removed later on

Different view/angle

fitment of the speedo cable and she's done

Et voila

Took her for a test ride and i was blown away with the IMPROVED braking system...exactly as per the "spoke wheel" brakes and can stop on a pin now. The brakes however did show that my LHS fork oil seal was knackered (been stood outside uncovered and unused for 2 years) and will have to be replaced (along with RHS) before i can MOT it

EDIT... fork oil seal kit ordered and on it's way

[Jake]

OK, I changed the topic for you and moved it to the Tech Article section of the forum.

Now, I need you do do something to make future posts with images, better for us to read.

I appreciate you using your VTF album to host your images instead of some off site service like Image Shack or Photobucket, but they are too big and it was taking the page forever to load.

In the future, please resize your images to something a little friendlier like 800 X 600 or barring that use the thumbnail code

Code: Select all

[thumbnail][/thumbnail]

I've already edited this thread and changed all images to thumbnails.

Thanks, Jake

[XV1100]

Hi Jake, many thanks for the title change and re-sizing....i will re-size pictures in future if i can't work out the thumbnail thing (i will experiment though) or read the tutorial (if there is one) for thumbnails.... Again many thanks; tis much appreciated.

Darren.

EDIT : just worked it out (quick experiment) ...i'll be able to comply in future and add the "thumbnail" bit to the code ...many thanks.