Hayabusa Brake Upgrade rant.

Looks like there are plenty of Busa owners happy with their Busa's brakes , either Gen . Those of us that have experienced closed circuit track days or have regular access to corner rich , multiple speed roads may share another view . Riders of current crop of modern race replicas co-owning or jumping over to Busa may also share a different view . Personally I have had experience with Gen 2 only , so my opinions will be in regards to this Busa .
My L2 was ridden for a fair while on the standard tokico calipers , and as most know , all the Gen 2 up to 2012 were equipped with these units . The bike was only street ridden while fitted with standard brakes .
My previous ride was a modified '92 GSXR 11 , refitted with custom 320mm cast iron rotors and mated up to UK made Alcon 6 piston billet calipers and Brembo RCS m/cyl. .
IMG_20180113_100703.jpg
IMG_20180113_100459.jpg
Coming from this very strong setup , the Busa's brake felt wooden , let down by huge lack of feel , but to be fair , did stop when you grabbed a big handful of lever . Personally I was always going to upgrade this setup , to me it was worth full system replacement , but even lines , HH pads and new upgrade m/cyl. would of had to been done at the very least if not .
I guess the standard setup is adequate..... , but to debut on the ' all new 2008 Hayabusa '.... to be equipped with a shite m/cyl. and really , a low end caliper such as this tokico ... is cheap and nasty . There were better options available from both Japanese and Italian companies for Suzuki to consider for there flagship model . Kawasaki ZX14 nissins set up , or B-King setup as example .
Luckily there are steps you can take to beef the Gen 2 standard setup , and this has been extensively covered on this forum many times over , and by all reports , improvement is there to be had .
The roads I mostly ride are corner rich , I like plenty of feel and stopping power ( this pictured set up is excellent ), and if your needs are like mine , you will have to do something about your pre -Brembo ABS Gen 2 brakes , either way .
 
I would have to agree that the brakes maybe adequate if riding within the limits of the bike but push that near the limits and it becomes real apparent the brakes lack power and control to support that kind of riding. I’ve never understood the mindset of increasing power delivery by 3 and 4x’s what the brakes and suspension where engineered for and feeling confident the oem setup with upgraded pads is sufficient. They might just be if one is riding well within the limits but that could change in an instant should one venture outside those limits. Power means nothing without control and the level of precision in that control is everything. I personally couldn’t even imagine piloting 500+ HP without the level of braking power that I have at my finger tips. I would say without a doubt it’s the difference between life and death. The absolute best if not most important investment in your bike.
 
Busashot said:
I went the inexpensive route......or so I would claim.

On my 2006 Hayabusa I went with proven Nissin radial calipers and adapters to my Ohlins forks. Braketech floating rotor, Brembo 19x20 master cylinder, SBS HH brake pads, HEL brake lines with Motul DOT 5.1 brake fluid. With lighter wheels, ceramic bearings and sticky tires, I think it brakes quite well.

View attachment 399523

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On my ZRX 1200R, I have ZX9 forks with radial adapters holding Yamaha R1 calipers, Galfer HH pads and Nissin 19x16 master cylinder. Not as agressive as the Busa but also quite effective.

View attachment 399525
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So I know old thread but how does that MC attach to the brake switch or lights ?
 
bigoltool said:
If you look at his old pic it shows a Hydraulic Banjo bolt/Brake switch. If you go with a Brembo RCS or similar, they have the switch already on board so no need to do anything but make the hookup from the stock wiring to the Prewired Bullet Connectors Brembo provides.
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Ok so if I went the same route as you I would get these calipers. Could you recommend a good adapter bracket ? And I would look into a brembo rcs19 probally use my reservoir and would the 320 galfer rotors I have or would buy replacements of work under this ?

Screenshot_20220918-161214.jpg
 
Sweet it saying it's built for 310 rotors is a typo or something? And what are obvious clues between the 4 pad and 2 pad.
 
bigoltool said:
Ok so after I started this thread several weeks ago, I made an ~$300 budget, and a plan, and went about gathering the parts I needed. After doing a lot of searching all over the (literally the entire) world for information I had decided that going to radial calipers was not going to be worth the cost or the trouble involved. So that meant going to either bolt on 90mm Nissin Axial calipers or 65mm adapters and Axial Brembo’s. I opted for the latter. And I stayed within about $25 of my budget so I consider it a win.

There are a few good choices in Brembo calipers here. The 4 pot, 2 pad, P4 30/34 “Goldline’sâ€￾ (which were used on lots of bikes) or the P4 34, 4 pot, 4 pad which were stock on the Ducati 999, Aprilia RSV and several other front line sport bikes from the pre-radial era. I opted for the latter after reading rave reviews of them in multiple locations. And I could not be more pleased with the aesthetics! I sourced a pair of them from a Ducati 999 off of eBay for $195. And aside from missing the banjo bolts they were in great shape and even had a set of nearly new EBC HH pads in them. So I saved a chunk of change there. I took them apart and cleaned everything up and put them right back together.

The adapters were the one part that I spent a lot of time trying to find. I reached out to numerous sources, but in the end I bit the bullet and bought some adapters from an eBay reseller in Taiwan for $105 with shipping. Have to admit I was skeptical! However the parts arrived in less than a week and were beautifully machined, and black anodized at my request, and included the M10-1.25 x 25 mm SS Allen head hex bolts for attaching them. The Stock bolts are around 35mm long and slightly protrude from the back side of the mount. Nothing to be concerned with, there is nothing for them to contact as I have them. I may either cut them off or buy 4 more 25mm bolts to replace them.

Turns out the Banjo bolts became far more of a pain to source than any of the big ticket items. I had ordered a pair of Lightech M10X1.00 Banjo bolts from OPP racing to fit the Brembo calipers fine thread. The Stock Tokico’s use a M10 x 1.25 (coarse)banjo bolt and will not work. Anyway the first order arrived and had one of the correct (fine thread) bolts and one of the M10x 1.25 (coarse thread). I called them and they sent out another bolt two days later. But it was also Coarse thread. They finally got me the right one today and allowed me to finish bolting everything together without further incident.

After thoroughly cleaning my rotors with contact cleaner, I bolted and safety wired everything together and thoroughly bled the brakes with ATE TYP 200 Dot 4, I literally ran for my riding gear. After doing a brake bedding lap of the island I let them cool off for a bit and then tried some more aggressive stops. I have to say that these puppies are as advertised! I am glad I put the Tech Spec Grips on my tank because they are necessary now! The improvement to the stopping power is amazing and I have no doubt that as I get the pads further bedded with my stock rotors they will improve even more. The modulation seems to have improved as well. While its still early I think this might be my favorite mod so far!

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I'm very grateful for this information. I'm about to start building a 2007 Busa and have heard about the weak brakes in the 1st generation bikes. Could you list the sources for all the components needed to duplicate your setup? Thanks again
 
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