I asked each manufacturer for the diameter of the pistons in their calipers and calculated the total piston area for each caliper and compared that the my stock calipers which I measured. PM turned out to have same area as stock. PM calipers used to be a major upgrade from the older OEM Harley calipers but the new OEM calipers have been improved.

 

With all that research did you happen to research all the companies that supply 13" rotors for HD?

 

Here I come with a newbie type question. What's wrong with the stock brakes? My '06 Street Bob stops fine. I can lock everything up if I want to, which suggests I have as much stopping power as I can use.

 

My response to you, and I come from the sport bike world where there are real brakes, is that if you can lock up both ends and especially the front, you are in a golden place.
My 2001 Wide Glide couldn't lock up the front brake with King Kong pulling the lever. I'm used to being able to stand a bike on its nose with 2 fingers. I use the front brake 90% of the time and use it first almost always.
This is a serious safety issue. The front brake is 75% of your stopping power and if you can't lock up the front wheel, you are definitely not getting maximum stopping and 20 feet could mean the difference between stopping before you hit something and you flying over it after the bike hits it. Of course, you want to modulate your braking so you just about lock up the wheels, but not quite. That's how ABS works. You use maximum effort and the ABS manages the traction by rapidly releasing the brakes at lock-up and reapplying them again, over and over.
I have no idea why Harley insists on building heavy bikes that don't have excellent brakes.

 

I'm just wondering how much brake you really want with a 100/90 tire on the front. And the actual tread, the portion that's actually in contact with the road is much less than 100 millimeters. The '100' number is the width of the tire at its WIDEST point, not the tread.

Sport bikes are designed from the ground up to have outstanding braking. The front end is different, the front tire is bigger in relation to the weight of the vehicle. Whole different ball game.

Harleys are cruisers. It's what they do - Cruise. You start trying to compete with the performance of a sport bike and you're even more likely to end up a greasy spot on the road than they are.

Mine stops just fine, thank you. I don't want to stand a 680lb bike on its nose either.

 

I'm glad you like how your bike stops. I don't. If I wanted sport bike performance, I would still be on a sport bike. However, a cruiser needs to stop just as much as a sport bike needs to stop. It will never stop as quick, but it should stop as quick as the tires will allow. If a person knows how to use their front brake, the bottom line is: if you can't lock it up, then you aren't able to get to the maximum braking coefficient of tire friction. It doesn't matter what the tire size or shape is, that just affects what the minimum stopping distance will be. I want to get to that minimum stopping distance. Not some distance beyond that due to inadequate brakes.
My son has a Yamaha Warrior. A cruiser that is heavier than mine and his bike will out stop mine badly because he has adequate brakes.
Obviously, 'Elginator' has adequate brakes, because he can lock up his wheels, and he rides a Harley.

 

Locking your brakes means -- Squat. The brakes are there to stop you, not to let you skid into the nearest tree. The very second your tire skids, you've lost a LOT of traction. A LOT.

The same principle works at the inverse -- Spinning your tires from a standing start means you're losing a lot traction. A LOT. That's why they put those big, fat tires on Drag Racers -- So they don't spin.

If you've ever gone to the drap strip, the first thing you learn is, "A bog is better than a burn." I see these guys lighting up their tires, putting some fairly expensive rubber on the pavement, while I launch just enough to NOT turn my tires more than a couple times and I eat their lunch.

Watch professional racing on TV. Ever seen those guys lock their brakes up? As soon as they do, they're toast. Ever seen professionals TRY to break loose their tires in a turn? Me neither. The second your tire starts to skid, your traction is gonzo. Same with spinning or locking up. On dirt, all bets are off. Whole different ball game.

Just my personal opinion. You're allowed to think I'm full of it.

 

1. You can never have enough actual stopping power. That is if you wish to live another day in a real world environment.
2. The best calipers in the world are not designed to lock up. You can do that if you like but the key word is feedback.
3. Feedback is the feeling an experienced rider gets through the lever determining just what the front brake/wheel is doing.
4. Feedback is important to understanding just how much braking/slowing of the wheel can be done prior to lock up. This changes greatly when the braking system heats up.
5. If locking up was the ideal situation you would not need rotors or calipers, they would give you a broom stick to stick in your spokes.
6. To those who do not understand what brakes do than watch this as it may help you or not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeJ1JH2ah00
7. It amazes me how many of you all do not have a clue than try and survive with love ones on their bike.

 

This is what is on my cruising bike. It will lock up if I was dumb or inexperienced enough to ever do it. The red FXR is a pair of 4.4 lb/pair 13" Metal Matrix rotors and our own special form of brake pad designed for these type of rotors. The coefficient of friction is 0.6 which is the same as Iron but without the weight. I have never locked them up except in the first day of ownership. The calipers are "Monoblocks" and are made with one piece of aluminum to prevent flex. The calipers are radial mounted to prevent flex. This give the best feedback.

The black one (My 2005 Dyna) is a pair of 320 mm MMC rotors using our own special form of brake pad and real Brembos. You can think what you like but I buy them as I wish to have the best chance of survival I can get.

 

I have to squeeze considerably harder to stop my FatBob than on any other bike I have ever owned. How does your new set up feel compared to stock?

Had a metric cruiser before this. Had dual 310mm floating rotors with radial mounted Tokico 4 pot calipers. Had great feedback and stopping power with easy two finger operation. Bike no where as awesome as my fatbob, but It would be cool to have same (japanese) set up on it.