Rear Caliper Swap for RSV ??

[Mickey]

Most everyone will agree, the 4 piston rear caliper is over powerful and can cause premature rear wheel lock up. Has anyone swapped out the 4 piston caliper unit for a one or two piston rear caliper unit ?? If so please let me know what was done, is there a bolt on replacement available from some other Yamaha model ??

Thanks, Mike

Edited November 20, 2011 by Mickey
mistake

[darthandy]

I've had my RSV since July this year and have put over 6,000 Km (about 3,800 mi) on it since then in the dry and in the rain. I have never had a problem with locking up the rear brake whether two up or one up. Could there be a pad material difference between the '99 and '00 versions?

 

Andy

[farm1810]

I have a 2008 RSTD and I do understand the rear wheel lock up situation. In an emergency stop situation it is very easy to do. I went out on a less traveled, smoothly paved road with a relatively long straight section and practiced rapid stops from about 40 mph. Of course, it is easy to be thoughtful and methodical in braking when one isn't panicked. Fortunately I have not had a panic stop situation since I have been practicing, but I think I will tend to be better equipped to handle it with the repetition of practice. I will be interested to see if anyone has done a caliper swap. I have read that some have adjusted the foot brake pedal to be lower, closer to the floorboard making it more difficult to tromp down and cause a lock up. I have not tried this as yet.

[Monty]

Practice practice practice. Best thing you can do.

[Squidley]

This is not an uncommon problem, the rear caliper is too much for the back on the RSV. I have locked up several rear tires on various bikes without really even trying. Rick Butler here makes a valve that you can install in the line to adjust how much fluid gets to the caliper. Freebird has one on his '99 and seems content with it, might want to check into that or change out pads if your running a sintered or high performance pad. The sintered will grab hard but I have found that an organic ie original equipment pad works a bit better at not locking the rear wheel up....

[Leadwolf56]

Check with Bummer, I believe when he put the heavier calipers on his front brakes he put one of the original front calipers on the rear.

[Bummer]

Kevin is absolutely correct. I sent the following message to Mike as a PM, and thought I'd share it here as well:

 

Yes, when I replaced my fronts with the blue dots I put the original left front on the rear.

 

Physically it's a direct bolt-on. The holes match and all spacing is correct. The only real problem is that the bleeder is at the bottom, not the top. I had to bleed the air out with it dangling by the hose, prior to putting it in place. It worked fine.

 

The master cylinder works with no problems using the front caliper.

 

My original intent was to try to get a somewhat less effective rear brake. Unfortunately it did not make a large difference. I feel it is less sensitive than the original four piston unit, but it's not really as much as I was hoping for. I can still lock-up the rear tire, though it doesn't seem to happen as easily.

 

I feel that the blue dot fronts with stainless hoses, HH pads, and the v-max splitter were the more important changes. I've tried to train myself to use the fronts far more than the rear for serious braking. I try to primarily use the rear for slow speed control in turns, parking lots, and such.

 

Still, I have not put the original rear brake back on and I've put quite a few miles on the bike since the change.

[Mickey]

Hi, Bummer thanks a lot !!

Mike

[sarges46]

Well, I thought I had practised (sp) enough not to lock the rear up. But the day a huge road sweeper with a large drum on the front swung into my lane caused me to lock the rear end so bad I nearly crashed I was convinced to change over to something else!

 

I have Rick Butler's brake mod on and love it! I cannot lock the rear even standing on the brake!

 

Yet I have enough to keep control in emergency braking even towing my camper.

It works for me.

 

Thanks again Rick for a great invention.

[Freebird]

Yep, I have Rick's kit on my bike also and I think it should have come that way from the factory. Very worthwhile addition.

[Rick Butler]

Mike,

 

I'm not proud of it, but I have totaled my 02 Midnight 3 times now....all because of "Rear wheel lockup". Now it wasn't until my wife and I were being brought home by friends from my 2nd accident that I realized that "This bike has too much rear brake". And when I put her back together this time, I changed out the front calipers with 1st Gen 4-piston calipers and I moved one of the front calipers to the rear....and I thought this would take care of the problem. But I'll be damned that one year later I inadvertenly locked her up and totaled her a 3rd time. At that time, I was ready to let the insurance company have her and I'd get a GL or BMW with ABS brakes. But because of a broken collar bone, I couldn't do anything for 10 weeks until it healed. I had already done some preliminary work on an adjustable proportioning valve with a friends 99 so I decided to give my 02 one more chance....and installed an adjustable proportioning valve off the master cylinder which required using a Galfer stainless rear line. And this did the trick.

 

But I will admit that I was a victim of bad braking habits after riding a 1st Gen Venture with linked brakes from 1983 to 2000......and using the rear brake pedal in emergency braking situations. My right foot had developed a mind of its own in an emergency situation and it didn't help that you could get soooo much leverage on the brake pedal of a 2nd gen with forward controls.....that was very difficult to modulate with the boards. But for those riders who had already developed good front braking habits from previous bikes with unlinked systems, they don't seem to have an issue with our 4 piston rear caliper.

 

The link below is when I decided to go ahead and build and sell my rear brake modification so all a rider would have to do is change the rear brake line with the adjustable proporting valve. And I even managed to talk Don into being one of my test subjects.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18846

 

But if you want to read the history of this issue, search on proportioning valve and cull through the threads. Now my Classified ad inadvertenly got deleted earlier this year and I have not put it back out there yet. But I still sell 3 - 4 of these modifications each year and I do it to help save lives of my friends on this forum. Sadly, I usually get approached by someone who has already experienced a traumatic experience with a rear wheel lockup where they do not want to have this happen again.

 

I've also attached a pdf of my installation proceedures, for your information.

 

Hope this helps you,

 

Rick

 

Most everyone will agree, the 4 piston rear caliper is over powerful and can cause premature rear wheel lock up. Has anyone swapped out the 4 piston caliper unit for a one or two piston rear caliper unit ?? If so please let me know what was done, is there a bolt on replacement available from some other Yamaha model ??

Thanks, Mike