Brembo? Brembo!

Not just Brembo.

HEL too.

And Pro-Bolt for the bolts and banjo bolts. 

Just a few phone pics for now. Give me 24 hours for better pics on a cleaned bike and a week or more for proper testing wet and dry. Or whatever the elements throw at me as usual. :wink:

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Sweeeet!  Radial pump MC right?

Now you just need to get some Rizoma reservoir tanks to get rid of that fugly Tupperware...

Yep, radial RCS 18-20 brake master.

I still have a few 'sweat bands' to choose from to put over that reservoir. That'll do just fine, thanks. :wink:   

Yep, radial RCS 18-20 brake master.

I still have a few 'sweat bands' to choose from to put over that reservoir. That'll do just fine, thanks. :wink:   

Hey, I have fugly Tupperware on my CB1R with sweatbands...works good!

Very nice, Bef.  I've seen the RCS listed in several websites and have been tempted to buy it for my other bikes, which could use some better brake feel.  VFR1200's stock front brakes are so nice I'm not sure it'll be worth the upgrades.  In your case though, since you have to replace the lines anyway, this sure is a nice bonus!

Let us know how it works out... after you've done a few endos.   :laugh:

Have the same unit on my R1.  the feel is good and it's a worthy upgrade!

Looks real nice, but can you feel a difference?

Wondering what the bang for the buck factor is.......

I thought about buying one for my cbr and using the cbr master on my 6th Gen.

Very nice!

How did you fix the switch for the brakelight?

vfrflanders, no fix: it comes with its own micro switch so it's just a matter of soldering the new one onto the wiring. I'm very familiar with this switch since it's been used on Aprilias since 1998 so I won't guarantee not needing to replace it because one of the wires broke. It's Italian.  :cool:

Oh and since that's your neck of the woods IIRC, the lines come from Beringen. Distripart.  

Just to be clear: I had this done by an Aprilia shop/tech. The bike is my only mode of transport and I used a week off to have this done. The brake line part is very complicated and I didn't want to risk being without transport. As it turned out, a lot went wrong shipping-wise (the lines are custom-made now but should be available in HEL's catalogue soon) so I got to pick up the Aprilia dealer's Caponord 1200 Travelpack demo until all the parts were in and assembled. So that was fun!

I told him beforehand not to to make a fuss about any brackets on the reservoir side because I would make that myself in stainless steel afterward.

Bleeding was a breeze and no electronics needed. 

Bang for buck: if you count what I paid, I'd say 'no' but that's without trying the different settings and riding in wet weather. I could well change my mind after a couple of endos, thanks Voify.  :wink:

The only reason I had this done is because the OE brake banjos and other parts of the lines were corroded so badly. I would not have changed them if this hadn't been the case.

Luvtoleanit, which setting do you use? Black or red? It's now set at black and no sponginess (duh..) and great feel but seems to me it's not the most powerful setting. The pads have been roughed up and all the pistons have been out and cleaned. 

Feel is very personal and I'm just one of those people who find it important and I rely heavily on the front brakes. That's also why I don't like a combined system like this. But to each their own etc.

That's also why I'm not a big fan of this second set of EBC HH pads which brake very well when new but glaze awfully fast. Methinks the OE pads were better but that's long ago now.

So will be looking to try out different pads next time they need replacing.

As to can I feel the difference: why yes of course. Saved a lot of weight in my wallet alone!

J/K, yes you can feel the difference immediately. It's more the m/c than the lines IMHO.

From Brembo: The RCS system consists of an adjuster that sets the brake lever pivot distance to either 18 or 20 mm, for the perfect feedback between rider and machine: setting the pivot distance to 20 mm makes the braking system more reactive and immediate, while a pivot distance of 18 mm makes it more precisely controllable.

Changing between the two settings is extremely quick: simply adjust the master cylinder pivot distance by turning the adjuster on the front of the guide lever with cam mechanism by 180° using a screwdriver (red indicates 18 mm, black indicates 20 mm). This changes braking power distribution without modifying the pure power of the system itself.

Thanks for the comments, gents. Now to wash the bike!

Piccie of before:

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I'm guessing you ride on wet, salty roads frequently!  Did you change the caliper mounting bolts to something more corrosion resistant as well?

Yeah, that's pretty corroded. I did the HEL lines on the F2/F3 because they were the one brand I found that explicitly stated they used stainless steel end to end. Most other brands didn't come with stainless banjos or banjo bolts, but were almost the same in price.

I'm guessing you ride on wet, salty roads frequently!  Did you change the caliper mounting bolts to something more corrosion resistant as well?

Yes I do and yes I did.

Banjo bolts, pinch bolts, caliper bolts and brake disc bolts are polished stainless steel from www.pro-bolt.com. The other bolts are just high grade stainless from a local shop.

That one axle bolt is Titanium and costs and arm and a leg and weighs as much as a pinkie.  :ohmy:   

The HELs are stainless steel, there's one HEL bolt on the Brembo side. It's not polished like the Pro-Bolt stuff.

Oh yes, the pics.  :blush2:

Looking much better now and you can see the m/c is now set to the red position. We'll see tomorrow 5 AM. Famous last words!  :unsure2:

Micro switch

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junction 1

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junction 2

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junction 3

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This'll do for now. Made in China so won't survive winter I fear. 

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That's it I think. :woohoo:

Nice!  I got some bits from Pro-Bolt for my CB1000R a few weeks ago...will be interesting to see how well the stainless holds up for you. 

It really is high grade so I have high expectations.  I was in direct contact with them back in June and I used other bolts for the front ABS rotor.

That's not rusted away yet but the rear was, so I painted it and will need to look on their website as the heads of the bolts are a lot shorter than the front ones. So if I don't do this quickly, that rear is going to rust again soon. I'll be ordering a new rear pulser ring anyway.

Stainless steel and caliper bolts = use anti-seize of course. They come with copper grease as you might have noticed on yours. The idea of the R-spec bolts was to lock wire them to new pad pins but they don't have those in our size.

I'll admit it would have been mainly for show anyway.  :blush:

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I did the top box base plate as well. Re-painted it and replaced every bolt with stainless, adding plenty of copper grease.

Brembo all the way...

Brembo radial Front Brake master cylinder $275
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Brembo billet radial clutch master cylinder $375
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Brembo billet radial Front Calipers... $1,500
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4 pot Gp Brembo... $1,500
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My friend Andre got lucky and bought Pedrosa's used Aluminum Lithium MotoGP
Calipers off his RC213V racer... I photo them just for fun...

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Yeah, that's pretty corroded. I did the HEL lines on the F2/F3 because they were the one brand I found that explicitly stated they used stainless steel end to end. Most other brands didn't come with stainless banjos or banjo bolts, but were almost the same in price.

When I ended up buying the HEL lines for my '09, I recall doing a lot of price comparisons, ultimately the HEL were only a few dollars more, but like what was stated, stainless steel end to end. Ironically if you wanted colored banjo bolts, they are aluminum, so I went with what the kit comes with, stainless steel. Still holding up strong.

Regarding EBC brake pads. I also had the same experience of them glazing and scoring discs really badly. I think they are just too aggressive a compound to use on street bikes....... I just go for Honda OEM pads now..... They last long, they brake good and are kind to the stainless steel discs used on most Honda bikes! :fing02:

BusyLittleShop, very nice indeed! I rode a bike (Aprilia) that had an ex-Corser Lithium rear caliper. Very fancy but not what I wanted to share, no offense of course, as the VFR1200 isn't exactly a track bike.

But hey, great pics so thanks!

Update: got it set to the 'red' position for over a week of commuting now and I like it very much. The one-finger possibility of hard braking relieves me from a lot of pain in my hand after a hard day's work. I can hit my brake marker at the same speed with just one finger and slow down just as fast. Okay, two fingers is safer but this isn't something I could manage with the OE brakes. 

The EBC pads still aren't feeling okay but I guess getting anywhere near my previous bike with Spiegler full-floating cast iron discs (only 300 mm, similar bike weight) and brake pads to match is never gonna happen anyway. Still, I'll be trying different pads as soon as I can. Need to recover some from this bill first!

It hasn't rained yet but I doubt if I'll need to change the red setting for that. I like it a lot as it is.

Maybe important to know: I don't like the phrase 'panic stop or brake' as that implies you're in a panic. I prefer 'emergency brake maneuver' although that also implies you're riding a little over the limit or you just described the situation inaccurately.

What I mean to say is that my ABS light has never come on in 3 years of commuting and rides and it hasn't come on since the brake upgrade. And that's the way - uh-huh uh-huh - I like it! :wink:     

Bef, were you able to reuse all the junction blocks?  For example, the block in "Junction 1" looks like it is the OEM block that still has the hard line attached to it, so the 2 replacement hose thread into it.  Is that correct?