I see that HD offers dual front disc brakes on the International / European version of the 883 (called the 883 Roadster).



Is it possible or has anyone ever taken the dual front disc brakes for an XR1200 or 883 Roadster and put them on a single front disc Sportster?

Do not understand why HD would offer dual disc front brakes on Sportsters sold outside the US and not even make it an HD-1 option for the US versions.

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

You can do it. You have to get the right fork lower and brake set up from a roadster and put them on. Im in the process of piecing the parts together now myself. Its not a big job. You just have to track down all the parts numbers. If you have a parts manual you can find them all pretty easy.

 

I think the master cylinder is larger plus you will need the splitter for the lines and fork leg & caliper and depending on your front wheel that may have to be replaced in order to install the disk.
Easiest thing would be to find an 883R or a 1200 Roadster at a wrecker and take the whole front end off it including the wheel.
The dual front disks was definitely one of the things that drew me to the Roadster, the dual brakes work great, very little effort on the lever and easy to modulate.

 

That is one very sweet bike, Hotlap! I looked at your pics.

Can anyone explain HD's thinking on this subject? Why do they sell Sporsters outside the US with two front disc brakes and not in the US?

If HD offered this as an HD-1 option it would be huge.

 

I bought 1 of the earliest rubber-mount 883Rs. The dual front discs work even better with a fat front tire.

 

here ya go!

https://www.hdforums.com.au/Default....umid=1&tpage=2

 

Thanks for the link, gar187er. Lots of good info in that thread.

I wish HD made dual disc brakes an option.

Is there anyone here that would not pay a little more for dual disc front brakes?

 

There's also some bad info on that thread. Wire spoke wheels were optional (some years) on 883R & 1200R. Here's another: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...arts-list.html

 

I'll give this a shot. Europeans are safety obsessed. This is why my 2008 Nightster left the factory with 13.5 inch shocks. Couple of years ago I was looking into buying a new car. I could find every EU model car on the Euro NCAP site but couldn't find a similar US website (I'm sure they have it up and running by now).

I'd love to have better brakes on my bike, yeah

It's on the list for when I do a wheel upgrade.

 

Depending on how far you want to go with this project you could get the forks off of the 1200s which are fully adjustable and set up for dual discs. I know for a fact they will work because I had them on my 1200 Roadster and the brakes bolted right up to them.
As to whether you could use XR1200 brakes on Sportster fork legs I don't know. I have an XR1200 but I don't have a regular Sportster to check against it. They are really good brakes though.