Good day, Riders.

Could the 'technical experts' provide me with a simple explanation as to why Harley Davidson uses floating brake rotors on the front wheel and non floating rotors on the rear?

What are the braking advantages to using a floating as opposed to a non floating rotor?

Thank You

Ride In Peace

 

..I'll take a stab at it...since most of our braking use, and power, comes from the front brakes(probably 70% on average).. a floating rotor is probably not cost effective for the rear..floating rotors provide a better stop because whenever the brake is applied, the rotor can move(float), and therefore "center" itself exactly between the 2 brake pads squeezing it, that means you get full,even power distribution from both sides of the caliper.....but I'm not sure which model you are thinking of that Harley puts floating rotors on stock. CVO'S maybe? to my knowledge they are not stock on most bikes...my 05 sure didnt have em...

 

Thank you; J.

I ride an '06 FLHTCUSE and the bike came with floating rotors on the front but not the back. Since most of my riding is 2Up, in the mountains and a lot of wet weather, I'm looking to enhance my braking as best as I can with limited funds available.
An INDY suggested replacing the rear rotor would be worthwhile, but I think there are better upgrades to be made long before replacing the rear rotor after reading what you have wrote.
Thanks for the input.

Ride In peace

 

Joe Mac that's an excellent description.

 

Jmac best answer
I might add that floating rotors don't squeal as much as non
but on the older FLs the rear always squealed
I imagine it's all about economics

 

Another benefit of floating rotors is they reduce heat transfer from the brake into the hub. That is more of a problem on the front brakes than rear, however I do have 13" floaters on the front, with 6-pot calipers, and stock diameter rear floater, just to be sure. All seems fine to me!

 

My 2010 street glide has floating rotors on the front from the factory.

My 2006 street bob is getting one on the front due to a wheel change.

Less squeak and better braking with floating rotors in my experience.

 

harley floaters are semi floating at best. they are pretty much 2 pieces hard rivited together. there is a reason why harley "floating" discs are so much cheaper than floaters from progressive, lyndall etc...

i went with the harley floaters on my '02 RG when the stockers warped. the HD Floaters are better than a stock warped rotor, look cool and are cheap.

if you want to upgrade your brakes, lyndall pads are worthwhile, steel braided lines, after that you gotta spend money. larger diameter discs, better calipers, more pistons, true floaters....

my opinion of course...

 

here is my 2 cents, a floating rotor on the rear isn't going to make a huge difference in the braking, there are other ways such as a more aggressive pad, braided lines, upgrade the caliper, but I would caution you that you may get great braking for 2 up, but when you get the 1xx pounds of old lady off the back, and 25 pounds of crap in the bags, the next time you hit the rear brake hard it may lock on you. IMHO the rear brakes lock easy enough, going nuts on the rear brakes to get them really dig in can bite you in the *** later. Lowsides suck

BTW brake fluid needs to be flushed/replaced every 2 years, old fluid has a laundry list of problems it causes in a bikes braking system, including it boils easily which reduces the ability to push the pistons out big time

 

It's is due to the significantly more heat generated by the front brakes. Floating rotors resist warping much better than non floating because the friction ring is not connected to the hub area. Stainless Steel brake rotors suck *** at doing their job, friction co-effiecient is bad and they also do not transfer heat very effectively, thus creating hot spots and the friction ring is trying to expand much much faster than the rest of the rotor, possibly warping in the process. Cast iron is far far superior to SS in brake rotor applications, save for the cosmetic downside of surface rust.