Single disc with four piston caliper

In the interests of reducing unsprung wieght I am interested in removing the standard sliding pin-type calipers from the front of my '00 SV and replacing them with a single four piston caliper, shaving off a few kilos in the process.

My questions are several. Will one proper caliper deliver sufficient braking force? Is there a four pot caliper off of something else that will mount to the standard lugs on the forks?? Will the standard master cylinder operate one four potter OK or will it need re-jigging as as well?

Anyone modified/upgraded SV brakes beyond the braided lines/swapping the whole front-end scenario??

Originally Posted by pridhac

...My questions are several. Will one proper caliper deliver sufficient braking force? Is there a four pot caliper off of something else that will mount to the standard lugs on the forks?? Will the standard master cylinder operate one four potter OK or will it need re-jigging as as well?...

The OEM master cylinder is operating four pots, albeit in two calipers.

I'd guess the amount of braking friction would be the same, except you'll only have half the surface area to dissipate the heat that's generated. So, if you're on a track, the single disk may get too hot, with the problems that can bring.

I know of several racers who've tried this, some have kept it and some haven't. All of them though were using a GSXR front end, and so had a 320mm rotor. I may give this a go myself once I get my GSXR mounted.

There aere no calipers that are direct bolt ons to the SV forks.

Andy

Pretech do calipers for the SV, four and six pot. They bolt straight on.

Bear in mind tho that Suzuki aren`t stupid. They know how to make a bike, and don`t normally put two discs on a bike that`d be better with one.

[northwind]

Mmm... How much weight do you reckon to save by this? You'd probably want a bigger disc for heat dissipation purposes, and the new caliper is also likely to be bigger and heavier... You'll save weight, no doubt about it, but I reckon it'd be an expensive procedure for maybe not a huge gain. Might work out better to find a set of GSXR USD forks, at the end of the day.

Possibly you're getting up to the sort of investment where a replacement wheel might be an option? Not your fandango carbon fibre ones, mind But that's where the real unsprung weight is on the SV, so to make big savings you'd probably need to go there.

Pretech only seem to list 6-pots... £235, presumably per caliper.

Originally Posted by northwind

Mmm... How much weight do you reckon to save by this? You'd probably want a bigger disc for heat dissipation purposes, and the new caliper is also likely to be bigger and heavier... You'll save weight, no doubt about it, but I reckon it'd be an expensive procedure for maybe not a huge gain. Might work out better to find a set of GSXR USD forks, at the end of the day.

Possibly you're getting up to the sort of investment where a replacement wheel might be an option? Not your fandango carbon fibre ones, mind But that's where the real unsprung weight is on the SV, so to make big savings you'd probably need to go there.

Pretech only seem to list 6-pots... £235, presumably per caliper.

The calipers weight 1400gm each. I havent weighed the disk, but figure it will be in 500gm-1Kg range. Hopefully the Pretech caliper will be about the same weight, but there will only be one.

There is a local engineer who is happy to make me a disk of whatever measurements I happen to need. I have emailed Pretech for their perspective. Pretech's caliper is probably designed to grip the standard disk??

So I would be removing 3-4Kg of unsprung weight, and putting back sub-2Kg.

I guess I would get this weight reduction by replacing the rim, but at higher cost I think.....???

Is there such a thing as a resonably priced aftermarket wheel?
The only ones I can find are over USD$1200.

[northwind]

I've never really shopped for them, I nearly bought a slightly scraped marchesini one for the SV from Ebay for $250 a while back though...

The calipers are really that heavy? I'm surprised Fair play then. I never weighed them when i've had them off but they didn't seem that heavy.

Interested to see what you find out...

Originally Posted by northwind

I've never really shopped for them, I nearly bought a slightly scraped marchesini one for the SV from Ebay for $250 a while back though...

The calipers are really that heavy? I'm surprised Fair play then. I never weighed them when i've had them off but they didn't seem that heavy.

Interested to see what you find out...

If I see any cheap wheels, I'll buy 'em....

I am in communique with Pretech about what they available.
It is starting to sound though like the MC will need upgrading also, which is getting expensive....

remember you dont need to do both wheels at the same time, you can do one then buy the other when you have the money, bike may look a little weird with only the front/rear different until you get the other done

Originally Posted by weegaz22

remember you dont need to do both wheels at the same time, you can do one then buy the other when you have the money, bike may look a little weird with only the front/rear different until you get the other done

Excellent point. I will buy any light-weight wheel I see(2nd hand of course).

I am seriously considering getting some weight machined of my stock wheels, but the dreadful roads I commute on give me serious pause for thought in this regard....