Besides looking cool, what is the practical purpose of floating rotors? Also, are the inexpensive ones you find on Ebay as good as the really expensive ones advertised in the biker rags?
Marsh

 

The purpose of a floating rotor is to help dissipate heat. Theoretically, if you can keep heat from building up, you can avoid warpage, have better, more consistent stopping power and longer pad life . I had a problem with warpage on my stock rotors but switching to floaters solved my problem.

 

Well, what about the second part of my question; the cheap ones as opposed to the expensive ones.
Also, what about the 80 spoke wheels from places like KC International. $289.00ea.?
Marsh

 

I had a problem on my stock rotors on my fatboy when I changed out my calipers to Performance Machine ie. PM 1 year ago. The problem was excessive squeal and jittery stopping power. I went with the Standard Floating Rotors from HD, and I did not have any problems. The motoCo ones costs me about `195 dollars each. I am currently switching my chrome factory wheels out to custom billet wheels and have found from various sources that a quality aftermarket standard rotor will not have the problems I had on my factory rotors. Guess the old common sense "You get what you pay for" applies here.

 

It is a personal choice,Most of the people I know that have them saw no performance change.All my years of riding never had the need for floaters.My money goes toward making power and the mods to support it.Good Luck

 

Why float? The purpose for not using fixed or one-piece rotors is pretty simple. First, the floating rotor allows for better pad knockback (where the rotor “knocks back” the pad such that there is no contact and reducing rolling drag). Second, it will accommodate for a small misalignment of rotor to caliper / pad. This will allow for full pad contact even when parts are not perfectly aligned. Imagine a fixed rotor with a misaligned caliper – the actual contact (and pad/rotor wear) would only be a portion of what is available. As you might think, the full-floating allows for more of the above benefits over the semi-floating design.

 

That's a good answer, BUT it still doesn't address the second part; i.e/ are the inexpensive one's worth while. And what about the $300.00 80 spoke wheels? Are they worth the money? Anyone?
Marsh

 

As someone said you get what you pay for. IMHO If you buy cheap you will not get all the benifits described in the thread and you might as well stay with the fixed rotors. I bought Brembo rotors and in conjunction with Brembo callipers I have brakes that I am very happy with.

 

It is not always a matter of price but you really have to be sure of the "bargain" you are getting on E-Bay...
unlike some of the other parts you may buy there is no substitute for quality when it comes to safety items and brakes definitely rank right up there.
About 40 years ago I brought a used bike home and proceeded to tell my Dad how fast it went...His answer was never mind how fast does it go how fast does it stop?...Never skimp on the brakes or tires

 

+1 :d