Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Well finally the Crim has better brakes
1 x Brembo Radial master cylinder 18 x 19 with the standard lever & new reseviour
All up the total cost was about $300 & luckily the already fitted braided lines positioned correctly without fuss
The only hitch was they supplied a single banjo instaed of the double I ordered & of corse they run a fine thread so none of my existing ones fitted I managed to pick one up but it was a bit long so I had to shorten it before fitting which was no biggie Upon fitting everything I discovered the joy of QUALITY PARTS! just the lever action alone far supasses the quality & feel of the OEM rubbish
I bled the lines then bled some more & then Presto I had what I was looking for no more spongy lever! THIS IS GREAT!
The Brembo MC also has an aditional bleed nipple at the top to extract every last air bubble.... farkin brilliant engineering!

Cant wait to test on the Track it should be awsome

Wattie we need to do some sort of comparson test between the Brembo MC & 14 calipers, Obviously both work better than OEM but I want to know how much better & which is the better option of the two

robracer wrote:Wattie we need to do some sort of comparson test between the Brembo MC & 14 calipers, Obviously both work better than OEM but I want to know how much better & which is the better option of the two

ummm, I have OEM.... and lap time comparisons suggests there OK...

Looks good Rob, the clear hose looks nice too...

MadKaw wrote:

robracer wrote:Wattie we need to do some sort of comparson test between the Brembo MC & 14 calipers, Obviously both work better than OEM but I want to know how much better & which is the better option of the two

ummm, I have OEM.... and lap time comparisons suggests there OK...

Looks good Rob, the clear hose looks nice too...

Dave the Problem I was having was the lever would pretty much come to the bar under hard braking (Brakes hot at the time) & the lever had next to no feel This was with new race pads, braided lines & copious bleeding sessions etc
The feel at the lever now with the brembo feels great, not squishy like the original set up.

No choice with the hose as the brembo runs a different size but its growing on me + you can see any bubbles

Both my old 10 (now Watties) and the current one have squishy brakes but I must say the ones on the current bike aren't as bad as the old one. They feel good initially but do start feeling spongey after a few laps. Nothing too bad but enough to notice.
Odd as they are exactly the same setup, braided lines, dot5.1 fluid, only different pads.. Having only ridden the current bike once I'll see how they go after another run (Saturday)...
BTW, I like the clear line, very race...
I want one of those on the move brake adjusters, with the hose going to an adjuster on the left bar... thats very race..

Yes the standard Tokiko setup is poo isn't it? I've just bought a set of ZX14 calipers and a master cylinder from an '06 ZX6r for just over $300NZD off Ebay. I thought about the Brembo route, but from what I've heard this solution will do the trick quite nicely.
Yay, I'll be able to outbrake someone at last during trackday!

my zx14 calipers with stock master work just fine

no fade, plent of feel, excellent!!

i think if i had the cash i would put a radial master on it, i still use 2 fingers, but you still need to squeeze pretty hard on the lever.

I noticed on the '08 10 they have gone back from 4 pads per caliper to 2...wonder if if is because of this problem

Very noiece! Rob Congrats on the new brakes. I had to bodgy my brakes last track day, Thats the next thing I need to do on my bike, go the Brembo's

Well done rob,

As you know, i've got the 19x20 with the folding lever.
I absolutely love it !!!

Coupled with HEL lines and EBC pads and i think i have enough stopping power
Now i just need to go faster
What hose did you end up using ?

As you know mine sweats a little and i'm currently waiting to receive my replacement hose from the supplier overseas.

Thanks Fred ....My set up came from Canada with the clear hose but I have to get some clips for it, so far no sign of sweating

robracer wrote:........... the lever would pretty much come to the bar under hard braking (Brakes hot at the time) & the lever had next to no feel This was with new race pads, braided lines & copious bleeding sessions etc ........

Rob - I had almost exactly the same problems on the MFP12 last year - new HH's, Hel lines etc, and the brakes still didn't have that *bite* that I thought they should have.......

until the week before the track day - when I tied them off to the bars for 2 nights !! This is the best thing for improving brakes I have ever done......

after that, they have been just *superb* - rock hard, with great initial bite and excellent stopping power. I am now seriously doubting if I will go to a radial master cylinder, as the brakes are so good. If the barge wasn't so heavy, it would be doing stoppies everywhere !!

Gosling1 wrote:

robracer wrote:........... the lever would pretty much come to the bar under hard braking (Brakes hot at the time) & the lever had next to no feel This was with new race pads, braided lines & copious bleeding sessions etc ........

Rob - I had almost exactly the same problems on the MFP12 last year - new HH's, Hel lines etc, and the brakes still didn't have that *bite* that I thought they should have.......

until the week before the track day - when I tied them off to the bars for 2 nights !! This is the best thing for improving brakes I have ever done......

after that, they have been just *superb* - rock hard, with great initial bite and excellent stopping power. I am now seriously doubting if I will go to a radial master cylinder, as the brakes are so good. If the barge wasn't so heavy, it would be doing stoppies everywhere !!

remind me.. that bleeding trick, do i need to open the fluid resevoir or sumthin?? or just cable tie the lever to the bar overnite or what?? wanna give it a try... see if it helps firm mine up a bit...

[quote="Gosling1
until the week before the track day - when I tied them off to the bars for 2 nights !! This is the best thing for improving brakes I have ever done [/quote]

I have used this method for years & with the standard brakes new pads / braided lines it still did not help.... I went through 500ml for dot 5 fluid bleedidng them over & over & this was probably over 1 week including clamping the lever overnight in between but the result was shite!

I have clamped the lever with the brembo & that has made a bit more diference especially being able to bleed from the extra nipple at the top of the MC rather than crack the banjo's.
mate from the static difference the radial seems to be the go as the lever is now hard & not spongy... cant wait till the 9th to test em out

Hi Rob, thats what I'm looking for as far as braking goes! I changed my oil and my lines to the Hel variety and they do work until you get some heat into them!

Can you tell me where you sourced them from Rob? Be much appreciated, thanks, Troy.

Hi Troy I have the details on my lappy at home so I will list the details tonight