Twinpot Brake upgrade on 78 Skunk

[steve murdoch]

Thanks for the detailed report, Roger.
btw, nice looking bike!

[kikdrum18]

I definitely want to do this to my 1980 850L. Is there anything extra I need to do besides purchase the kit, rotors and calipers?

[salty_monk]

Have messaged you back Mike.

Roger there is a single brake mod thread (much smaller than this one).
do you care if I copy your post over there or do you want to post it?

https://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/forum/technical-forums/performance-tuning-mods/70216-twinpot-brake-upgrade-on-gs550e-gs750c-gs1000c

cheers,
Dan

[Rogerlinder]

Sorted, thank you for reminding me.

[kikdrum18]

Welp, I finally got it all figured out and my brakes are phenomenal compared to what they were. Having the "L" model made the install a bit more challenging due to having to fabricate the caliper mount brackets.

Walking in on this project, I knew it was going to be challenging for my lack of skills. First mistake: my purchase of used EX650 calipers were produced after 2014. Clearance was impossible (for me).

The next set of calipers fit nicely and worked well until tightening the calipers down. I was losing all brakes and after butchering my fabricated brackets thinking they were the culprit, it turned out to be a damaged caliper. Must have been involved in a crash and was bent.

Third set of calipers and newly fabricated brackets, the brakes felt perfect until tightened. This time was definitely a bracket design flaw on my behalf. The bracket was just slightly up on the fork tube. Hard to notice, but just that little overlap was causing the brakes to not fully release. Shaved a couple mil off the front of the bracket, and now everything works.

My thanks and apologies go out to salty_monk for doing his best to help walk me through. I bet he's relieved knowing that he's not going to be getting more questions.

I'm hoping this helps anyone who decides to take this on. In the end, well worth it and if I can do it, anyone can.

[salty_monk]

Got some pics?

As KikDrum18 has been kind enough to share a file for his brackets after tweaking if there is demand I might get a few of the brackets made up.
This has been done by collaboration before but I’ve never had someone come back at the end and give me a final bracket confirmation.
The sets will be more expensive than the normal ones if so…. Mostly because the cost of everything has gone up since I last ordered a batch (which was before Covid, which hints at how many I have to order at a go…) and also I don’t want to lay out on a large quantity of these as I’m sure the demand is less.
My guess is about $150 and I’ll need commitment from at least half dozen people to justify the quantity I’ll need to order.

[kikdrum18]

I'll be sending the final bracket file soon. Our management just went into beast mode on a project, so hopefully I'll send in a day or so.
I took the bike out for a proper test yesterday and brakes are great! No more Fred Flintstone emergency stops.