Why are the brakes junk?

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Don14R

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Nov 13, 2020
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Damn near $50k 2014 US dollars so didn’t understand why the bike wouldn’t come with better brakes. How could my 1994 900RR Honda come with better brakes than my R did 20 years later? Makes no sense - this thing has 330mm rotors, M50’s and can’t have a worse master than my Honda did 20 years ago. So I figured the culprit was the pump and didn’t plan on putting it back on when the bike goes back together. Today someone filled me in on what really happened. And why our bikes don’t come w M4’s and matching master

Did the factory really do this intentionally cuz the starbucks crowd can’t ride a bike with good brakes??????????
 
Apparently too many guys buying bikes from dealer that can’t ride. Either crash or complain that the brakes are too touchy

Why else would they have went backwards?
 
Wishful thinking?

It does add length to the lines and more places for air to get into the system. Dunno

I did not picture Ducati going to smaller less powerful calipers and turns out they did
 
@Don14R Are you saying the brakes are purposefully mushy to silence the critics that say they're too touchy? I don't get what you are eluding to.
 
Well I never tried them w/o the pump but mine were terrible w it. Both in feel and in performance

I got some buttons to float some stock rotors (320mm to save a lil weight) then found out it will be a bad combo w these small piston calipers. No matter what master I got

The stock master supposedly sucks. The rotors aren’t even semi floating. And the calipers have 30mm pistons x4

Aren’t the 34mm x4 M4’s less money? Wtf Ducati
 
'15R here and still have my ABS connected, run in Setting 1 (front only, no rear lift control).

Personally I love a brake lever with a lot of travel and have always hated brakes (both cars and bikes) that are over boosted and want to throw you over the front at first touch. My home track only has one serious braking zone (155 - 50) and I have never experienced fade. Once I put the ABS in a more intrusive mode and my braking distance increased dramatically, immediately went back.

At a DucRev event last year Eric Wood was working with me on braking, his advice of using a smidge of pressure to settle the nose prior to nailing the brakes had me adding preload to the forks to stop from bottoming out and lifting the rear, probably +1.5 full rotations over the course of the day.

I also use a fair amount of trail braking so the "squishy" lever some people hate gives me leeway to modulate into the corner.

Just like everything else in this hobby/sport, whatever you need to do to boost confidence will make you faster. It's cool if you don't like the feel, but I wouldn't say they are trash unless they fade on me or I notice a severe lack of deceleration (like in ABS 2/3).
 
I am on the same page as Kev242. I race competitively going for podium positions and battling for championships and i have no problems with the brakes.

I still have my ABS unit and use setting 1. I have used stock master, 19x20, 19x18 and 17rcs with the m50 calipers and i prefer the 19x18 the most. Lots of power but not as on/off as the 20 ratio. I use carbon SBS pads but have also used sintered pads. Have used OEM rotors, 320mm tdrives and now 330mm braketech iron rotors. Brakes are very personal and there really is no right and wrong. Use whatever you can afford that gives you the most confidence. But I have never felt the ducati brake system even in OEM form to be inadequate.

With regards to ducati going to m50s over the m4. M50 weigh less(about 100grams each) probably due to smaller pistons and overall calier body size. And m50 also contain less fluid inside the caliper and this reduces the possibility of brake fade. Stock master size on panigale is 16mm and for bikes that used the m4 calipers, ducati paired an 18mm master.
 
Prolly. The rotors are fer shur. We used to take mill ....... file to the pads and I can’t remember what grit disc to the rotors? Not 60 maybe 240? Break the glaze off ea side of the rotor (while spinning of course) made a huge difference : )

Thx Swan that explains A LOT. I like light and the idea of less fluid. Not going for no championship here but hoping to come up w a combo that will work well enough w 320mm

Has anyone kept stock master and ended up satisfied w the feel? That’s my biggest complaint. Mine was really mushy

I will use sintered pads but no idea which brand : (
 
www.revzilla.com

EBC EPFA447HH Road Race Front Brake Pads | 10% ($8.85) Off! - RevZilla

EBC’s Extreme Performance Brake Pads are a more aggressive version of their legendary Double-H Sintered Pads. The copper alloy used in EBC’s sintered …
www.revzilla.com www.revzilla.com

Ran these about 3 weekends into last season, switched from stock pads, burned through the pads by the end of August. Very pleased with their performance, consistent feedback.
 
I run the stock setup and hated the feel when I got it, but after using a vacuum bleeder they are the best brakes I've used. I vac'd at the calipers and the master cylinder, just doing the calipers didn't help much. I think that the MC just holds air which is difficult to bleed out manually.
 
Thx. I’m pretty good at bleeding. Picked up some tricks over the years

I get it... complicated/multiple calipers almost always need to be bled from the bottom
 
Kev242 said:
www.revzilla.com

EBC EPFA447HH Road Race Front Brake Pads | 10% ($8.85) Off! - RevZilla

EBC’s Extreme Performance Brake Pads are a more aggressive version of their legendary Double-H Sintered Pads. The copper alloy used in EBC’s sintered …
www.revzilla.com www.revzilla.com

Ran these about 3 weekends into last season, switched from stock pads, burned through the pads by the end of August. Very pleased with their performance, consistent feedback.
Click to expand...
What’s the difference between those and the UK ones? Anyone know?
 
Hey Don, certainly not doubting abilities. I've always had success doing it manually for the past 20 odd years, but only got the awesome feel using the vac method (now the first time I've ever owned a vacuum bleeder).
 
Don14R said:
What’s the difference between those and the UK ones? Anyone know?
Click to expand...
What do you mean UK ones? Are you referring to SBS brake pads? Many companies make sintered pads but not all sintered pads are the same.

Personally I am not a fan of the EBC HH pads but they are a very popular option. I would use them on a street only bike.
 

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