Radial Brakes

Hi there all,
Can anyone please explain in words of one syllable what radial brakes are all about ? I keep reading about them in all the reviews but cant seem to find an explanation anywhere....thx
PS: Get off the internet - the sun is shining out there and what should we be doing right now? :P

http://www.2wf.com/images/upload/GP3Q2211.jpg

Those are radial brakes. Why? because of the way the caliper is bolted on. The bolts go into the top of the caliper, pointing towards the wheel spindle.

On non radial brakes, the bolts go in from the side.

The advantage of radial brakes is that they flex less

[fizzwheel]

its something to do with the way that the brake calipers are bolted on

[madEG]

Originally Posted by Kev D

Hi there all,
Can anyone please explain in words of one syllable what radial brakes are all about ? I keep reading about them in all the reviews but cant seem to find an explanation anywhere....thx
PS: Get off the internet - the sun is shining out there and what should we be doing right now? :P

Unfortunately, It's raining here... so there is no point in just being out...

See this: near the bottom: http://www.southbayriders.com/forums...6510#post26510

and this:

http://www.motorcycledaily.com/13nov...ialbrakes.html

Originally Posted by Kev D

Hi there all,
Can anyone please explain in words of one syllable what radial brakes are all about ? I keep reading about them in all the reviews but cant seem to find an explanation anywhere....thx
PS: Get off the internet - the sun is shining out there and what should we be doing right now? :P

radial brakes, well its all about how they are mounted to the fork. For example the SV has conventional calipers that are mounted at the top and centre of the caliper where as the gsxr range now has radially mounted calipers, i.e. bolts hold the caliper to the fork at each end of the caliper. The advantages of this are that you get better braking force due to having less leverage on the caliper also better heat distrubution, this is very important in race bikes.

You also have radial mastercylinders. If you look at the SV mastercylinder you will see that the piston that the lever pushes is inline with the handle bar. It has the lever working in quite an inefficiant way. A Radial mastercylinder has the piston sitting at 90 degrees to the bar and the lever blade pulls down on it. You basically get more of the force applied to the lever blade transfered to the piston instead of loosing in the conventional way which is due to flex. Another advantage is that due to the more efficiant mastercylinder setup you get more feedback therefore offering you the ability to notonly put more pressure on the brakes but control the pressure you are applying. At the same time in theory you should have to apply less pressure to the brakes to stop in the same distance. (this is obviously taking for granted that the brakes have been set up right in the firsty place )

I hope this helps.

[Balky001]

Originally Posted by Itching 2 go

You also have radial mastercylinders. If you look at the SV mastercylinder you will see that the piston that the lever pushes is inline with the handle bar. It has the lever working in quite an inefficiant way. A Radial mastercylinder has the piston sitting at 90 degrees to the bar and the lever blade pulls down on it. You basically get more of the force applied to the lever blade transfered to the piston instead of loosing in the conventional way which is due to flex. Another advantage is that due to the more efficiant mastercylinder setup you get more feedback therefore offering you the ability to notonly put more pressure on the brakes but control the pressure you are applying. At the same time in theory you should have to apply less pressure to the brakes to stop in the same distance. (this is obviously taking for granted that the brakes have been set up right in the firsty place )
.

I fitted a Brembo Radial MC to my GSXR and have to say that it transformed the brakes - so much cheaper than getting new discs/calipers - cost 180 notes.

Originally Posted by Balky001

I fitted a Brembo Radial MC to my GSXR and have to say that it transformed the brakes - so much cheaper than getting new discs/calipers - cost 180 notes.

Yup it will, I would suggest that it is about as good an upgrade to your brakes as the spring and oil upgrade is to the forks on the SV