What is going on in the mind of Harley. Don't they speak to real riders. How do they get it by government regulations( or are the regs to lax).
Almost all motorcycles made by BMW, Honda, Yamaha, and more all come with dual front disc brakes. They would not even have to do much tooling, because they have it on the Fat Bob already. Even the head of our local Harley service department has converted his Dyna to dual brakes. " Only way to go"

The first thing I noticed when coming from a V rod was that the single front brake needs much more grip to stop. What would happen in an emergency.

I am sure most buyers would pay for the extra expense so Harley doesn;t have hurt their profits. They could also find a huge market with retrofit kits. Even with dealer install it would be worth it. Just think of all the Softails and Dynas out there.

While I am at it , why do they not re design the Dyna Kick stand. It sucks. Just put it on the outside of the frame. Probably just some mild frame changes could do the trick. Thats what engineers are for.

Please chime in pro and con. Maybe even Harley is listening.

Roger

 

The Super Glide Sport (FXDX) had dual front discs, but that model has been discontinued. Point is, Dyna models have had them before.

Single disc on the front of cruiser style motorcycles is not uncommon. Most of the Japanese cruisers have single discs up front as well. The only Harleys that don't have single disc, to the best of knowledge, are the touring models, the Vrod, and the Fat Bob. I guess what I'm saying is that yes, it sucks, but it isn't just a Harley thing, it is a cruiser thing. I guess the thought process behind it is that the bikes simply aren't designed to be ridden overly aggressively so they don't need the extra stopping power. <shrug>

Anyway, I'm holding off for a bit because it is going to cost a good bit of money, but I fully plan to swap the fork lowers for those from a Fat Bob and get a dual disc setup in the future. It would have been nice if it came that way, but I have owned 3 cruiser style bikes (2 of them Harley) in my time and not one has had dual disc up front so I just expect it now.

EDIT: Btw... if you want to feel a really squishy, horrible front brake, go ride a Sportster. **** used to scare me sometimes.

 

xr1200x twin disc upside down forks, SHOWA forks on most off our bikes,,, maybe find a jap bike and install their front end

 

Just put on a brembo harley caliper and replace the stock pads with some proper ones and you will breake just fine..

 

I agree completely. It puts me off buying some models for this exact reason.

I have had two test rides on two different Softail Slims and both times the brakes scared me. At one point I was coming up to a red light and put the brakes on...nothing...pulled harder...slight effect...finally ended up 6' past the light. It just felt like I was trying to stop a lot of weight with inadequate brakes.

My choices are therefore really limited for a replacement Harleys next time. I don't like the buses so its either another Fat Bob or a VRod. I don't consider the other single disk models safe enough to choose.

Harley aren't usually shy about selling bolt-ons, so a dual disk option on a new bike or an upgrade kit seem obvious fixes.

 

my single disk works good
most bikes i have ridden the brakes are just soft and need a good bleeding

 

I think that your test bike had a fault with the brakes. My Sporty and Dyna had one disk and both had plenty stopping power.
There is no point in having more than just enough to lock the brakes as at the point of lock up you will have lost the battle of stopping and progress to the battle of falling.

 

My single disc works ok for me. I replaced the stock pads with the EBC double H sintered and no problems.

 

Because there is no need for dual front disks?
Like Scaredofrain said, if you can lock the front wheel with one disk, a second disk isn't going to stop you any faster. The limiting factor is tire adhesion, unless you're riding your Harley on a road racing track, and are having a problem with the brakes fading from excess heat.

Every Harley I have ridden required more lever pressure than most other bikes. But that's a decision Harley makes, and doesn't have anything to do with the brakes being inadequate. All they would need to do to reduce lever effort would be to change the pivot point at the lever, or reduce the bore diameter of the master cylinder.

 

I haven't had any issues with braking on my FXDC - even 2-up with the wife it does OK. If you think all metrics brake better go find a used Suzuki S50 and give it a whirl. I had one for a brief period and the single pot front and drum rear stop about as good as using your feet via the Flintstones method. Part of the reason why I didn't keep the bike very long even though it was cheap.