i had that brake system on my 83 goldwing and loved it. it was setup for the foot brake to do the rear and one front. the hand brake did the one front only.

 

Chazmanian

hey man I dig your train, and LOVE that newly applied front fender.. no offense but I want to put something like that on my standard. I posted this over in the general chat section and it appears as though I was thinking that there was a valve and a tee that was a combo set up. After rethinking it and reading about what another member told me on that post it appears as though you would place the valve after the tee.

I am all over the idea of the tank shift myself as the bike I bought had one on it originally with the old rocker clutch at the foot..... MAN that thing was SCARY b/c the fool who set it up had very basic knowledge and that damb thing was iether engaged or not, so taking off from a stop on a hill making a right turn was a bit HAIRY if you know what I mean. Yes it took some time to get used to but man I didn't like it. I eventually tuned it in along with doing some other work to it. I want to go back to it, especially now that I have my 16" gangster apes on it. I have found that exile makes a really clean clutch set up that I like a lot, I would just have to fab up my own shifter which is going to be the fun part....

 

Gambueller,
Like the man said thanks for your service.

A proportioning valve in the brake line is not new, but its a bit more difficult to 'engineer' one into a bike like a Harley than you might think.

On a light weight rigid you can make a proportioning valve work reasonably well. But on any Harley bigger than a chopped down Sportster, I doubt its worth the time, effort, and expense to even bother trying.

Your better off practicing panic stops in a parking lot to train your right foot with what you have rather than trying to re-engineer the system.

 

citoriplus,

Thanks for the insight.. I don't know if I will do it on my standard or not, just something I have been kicking around for a while. I appreciate your insight to the setup and the precautions I should consider. Just another reason that this forum is great... I believe that knowledge is power and appreciate every bit of it I recieve from this forum.

As for doing the setup, I am not sure if I would go through with it or not, I think it a bit funny you talk about panic stopping b/c that is what the bike was liek when I bought it with the original set up that the previous owner had on it. I am also curious though if using a front brake with less pistons than the back would make much of a difference. I can see how your suggestion of "engineering" something could create a big head ache.

I would love to talk to Russell from Exile b/c it seems as though he runs these types of set ups on some of his bikes. On the write up in the same mag I referenced there was a write up on his new products and on the softail they did (07 standard), with NO hand break, so it seems to me that is somehow possible. I don't know, I will continue to do some research, but again, thanks for the insight.

 

Russell makes some really incredible looking bikes, and riding bikes. But you have to look at the whole thing. His design philosophy is aimed toward the 'less is more' thinking.

Most of his bikes are low slung, light (a relative term) weight, hard tail rigid's with fat tires up front.

The large front tire gives him a rather large contact patch for the front tire. While the lighter weight and low center of gravity and lack of a rear suspension reduces weight transfer in hard stops.

Your stock Standard with its greater weight, taller ride height, and more flexible suspension, along with a skinny 21" tire is exactly opposite of nearly everything he does. So his ideas while appealing in principal are not going to work as effectively for you.

Now if you want to strip your bike down to look like one of his, that's another story. Otherwise I think your waisting your time.

But that's just my 'opinion' and as we all know 'opinions' are like butt holes, everyone has one and they all stink.

 

well I just recieved an email response from Paul (some dude that works at exile) and he said they run the bike 50/50 from the foot control.

again, I appreciate your insight, b/c I sure as heck have not thought of it in the capacity in which you have provided me. I am sure it sounds like I have a death wish, but I think it would be the heat to run a set up like this.. again... opinions... he he..

 

No, not a death wish. Its an idea, and as such my be good or bad depending on the point of view and application. From their point of view and application, it works. Simple as that.
From your point of view and application, I'm not so sure. Yes it can be done and it will work, its the 'how well' it works in an emergency that bothers me.
I am not one of those guys who is willing to sacrifice safety, and the redundancy of two independent systems for looks.