Here at HogPro we have gotten our hands on some new Lyndall Lug Drive composite rotors. These rotors feature an aluminum center or carrier portion and a friction ring that is made from metal matrix composite. If you need a lesson on MMC you can read about it here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_matrix_composite

The composite is 20% ceramic 80% 70 series aluminum. These rotors are extremely light! They weigh depending on size anywhere from 1.3 lbs to 1.8 lbs. A stock harley rotor weighs about 5.4 lbs for comparison sake.

Now we are riding Harley's which are large and heavy machines, so why the need for super light rotors you ask? It is not only the much lighter weight that is a bonus. These lug drive rotors float. A quick blurb on floating rotors…
A floating rotor will have two main components making up the system, the “blade” and “carrier”. The carrier is what bolts onto the wheel and the blade follows or tracks the brake pad/calipers movements. Keeping the two separate are the “buttons”. Having two separate sections of the rotor helps to keep heat generated in the blade off of the carrier. By keeping the carrier cool you are less likely to have any flex, giving you more feel and braking predictability under extreme braking conditions. A floating rotor also allows for much more contact surface between the blade and brake pads since the blade itself follows the path of the pads correcting any imperfection either may have.

Aside from the fact that these rotors are floating, they cool much quicker than a standard stock rotor will.

I recently spent a fair amount of time talking to Paul from Lyndall regarding these rotors, their construction and how and what to use with them as far as pads. By the time I was finished speaking with him my head was spinning as some of the information was a bit over my head and this man knows his brakes, rotors, and components very well.

These rotors dissipate heat 5 times faster than your stock rotors due to the material they are made of and the fact that they are a 2 piece rotor. Heat is the main contributing factor to rotor warpage and has been much more prevalent in the newer baggers and V Rod's which have the Brembo 4 piston calipers. These rotors have a lifetime guarantee and should your rotor warp, Lyndall will send you a new set with pads no questions asked, sight unseen. This means if you are on the road in another state and your rotors warp, they will ship them to your hotel no questions asked. This is directly from Paul, the owner of Lyndall Racing Brakes. That is a pretty impressive guarantee as anyone who deals in aftermarket motorcycle parts knows that most companies want you to ship the item back to them for inspection so that they can determine if the item will be warrantied or not.

Initially I was quite concerned that this "carbon and composite materials" blend would wear quickly and assumed that the reason Lyndall Gold pads were recommended was due to the fact that they are less abrasive than stock style pads. After speaking with Paul he informed me that the gold pads in conjunction with the metal matrix composite friction ring have produced by far the best results for stopping power and distance.

In my opinion the two most important safety features on a bike are tires and brakes. My tires attach the bike to the ground and my brakes allow me to stop the vehicle. That being said all of my personal bikes have upgraded braking systems regardless of what brand or style. I have found these new Lyndall rotors be a great upgrade to my safety.

I have an update after having taken a trip with these new Lyndall carbon composite rotors on my bike. I rode roughly 1500 miles in 4 days. It was not a great amount of distance but more than enough for me to feel that I can fairly evaluate the rotors and pads. My speeds and riding conditions ranged from freeways at 75 to twisty mountain roads at 100. I was carrying much more weight than I normally do on the ride up and back with my travel bag and tools. These rotors are completely silent and have so much stopping power that it really is hard for me to believe. Keep in mind that my bike is a dual disc Dyna which weighs about 400 lbs less than a bagger but I am certain that anyone who adds these to their ride will feel a great difference in the stopping power regardless of the bike that you ride. As far as a floating rotor these seem to be the only rotors i avhe been able to find aside from EBC rotors that really do float. You can grab the friction ring and move it back and forth hearing a click each time you do this. I opted for black carrier and gray friction ring on my rotors with an 8 spoke design which I believe is called the Phoenix. I really dig they way they look on my blacked out Dyna.


If you have questions regarding these rotors please feel free to ask as I have started this thread to educate the public regarding this product.

 

At $550 a rotor they need to be special.

 

Agreed the price is up there and they better be something for that. They can be had for much less than retail from the right place. They are in the ballpark of our 2 piece rotors right now on special in certain sizes for certain applications. We'll see what happens with these as mine have only been on for ab out 2000 miles so far but they still look brand new.

 

The Lyndals are an excellent product; have had them on my T for a few years now. The handling difference is noticable when you reduce unsprung weight...but are they still in business today? I've e-mailed them twice in the last week and phoned (NO, I didn't leave a message on the machine...) but no contact as of yet... just bought an FXDF project bike and want their rotors either off my "T" or new ones if I have to...got kinda "burned" when I had some questions about a Headquarters component when I was in trouble on the road far from home and don't want that again.....customer service is important to me, especially with such an exclu$ive product.

 

Sharkey, Lyndall puts customer service above and beyond all else. That is all I can say and they have always taken good care of us and all of our customers. Phone is usually the best way to get ahold of them. Their contact info can be found here. If you let me know our issue (via PM) I'll see to it that it is handled in an appropriate and timely fashion.
http://www.lyndallracingbrakes.com/contact.htm

 

man their ugly...do they come chrome??? Teflon

 

Yes, they do come in chrome with a polished stainless friction ring as well. I opted for gray and black as my bike is pretty much all black.
If you go to this page and scroll through the rotors you can see them in chrome with the standard stainless style friction ring.
http://www.lyndallracingbrakes.com/products.htm

 

Didn't you use to sell the stainless version of these with your own designs?

http://hogpro.com/showpage.php?page=special.htm

 

Paul replied; Apex rotors no longer made...boo hoo...but still will consider 3 for the recently aquired FXDF; they sure were good on the FXDXT...

 

Yes those were some of the first that LRB made. These new ones are much better though because the composite compared to steel outer.