New Madass front brake kit (2015)

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madass140

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New Madass front brake kit (2015)

New Madass front brake kit (2015)

New Madass front brake kit (2015)

A more economical option to my other single disc brake kit in that the slider is not supplied, use your own stock one.
CNC machined caliper bracket from 6061 1" plate. uses most of the parts from the other kit , slightly modified the fender bracket from that kit to clear
the caliper which results in spacing the R.H. leg out 1".
This brake should be used with a 1/2" mastercylinder of which most of you know I supply , it accepts the Lucas switch block. or use your own.
320mm Floating disc
Caliper bracket with Titanium caliper mounting bolts
6 Piston caliper , Black, Gold, Silver or polished for a bit extra.
Fender stay
Chrome bulkhead fitting bracket and bulkhead fitting
Short braided stainless/teflon hose
I'll only make them available for the members here for a while for $400 + shipping. 1/2" mastercylinder and hose add $100
Available in small numbers to start with sometime in the new year (very soon)
All the best
Don
 
Are the pistons all the same dia? if so this will also fit a MK3 by bolting straight onto the left slider. In the UK the caliper has to be fitted correctly with the small dia piston leading, this is usually ignored or or not spotted by the MOT examiners, but would be a failure if noticed.
 
I think that is a really good looking adapter bracket Don, nice solution for another option. Cj
 
Cool! I had been thinking I would order the kit with the slider once we got past the Christmas spending season, but now I can afford to do it as soon as you have them available. :D
 
Madnorton, I have calipers with one small piston and calipers with all pistons the same size.
The small piston is the trailing one (the one furtherest from the banjo fitting) if you fitted the caliper to the left side then it would be the leading piston.
The kit is made for Pre MK3, If you fit this kit to a MK3 then I wont be held responsible for any problems you may encounter with fitment or its operation

Brake pads are always available Suzuki and Kawasaki both use them on different models
 
madass140 said:
Madnorton, I have calipers with one small piston and calipers with all pistons the same size.
The small piston is the trailing one (the one furtherest from the banjo fitting) if you fitted the caliper to the left side then it would be the leading piston.
The kit is made for Pre MK3, If you fit this kit to a MK3 then I wont be held responsible for any problems you may encounter with fitment or its operation

Brake pads are always available Suzuki and Kawasaki both use them on different models

What's the difference between MK3 and pre MK3 (with regards to front brake) ?
 
madass140 said:
Madnorton, I have calipers with one small piston and calipers with all pistons the same size.
The small piston is the trailing one (the one furtherest from the banjo fitting) if you fitted the caliper to the left side then it would be the leading piston.
The kit is made for Pre MK3, If you fit this kit to a MK3 then I wont be held responsible for any problems you may encounter with fitment or its operation

Brake pads are always available Suzuki and Kawasaki both use them on different models

I the caliper is mounted on the R/H side behind the fork leg then the piston " furthest away from the banjo" as you describe is the leading one as it is the first to grip the disc as it rotates past the three pairs of pistons within the caliper.
 
Fast Eddie said:
madass140 said:
Madnorton, I have calipers with one small piston and calipers with all pistons the same size.
The small piston is the trailing one (the one furtherest from the banjo fitting) if you fitted the caliper to the left side then it would be the leading piston.
The kit is made for Pre MK3, If you fit this kit to a MK3 then I wont be held responsible for any problems you may encounter with fitment or its operation

Brake pads are always available Suzuki and Kawasaki both use them on different models

What's the difference between MK3 and pre MK3 (with regards to front brake) ?

Mk3 has caliper on L/H fork leg on front side of leg. The earlier models have it on R/H leg behind the leg. Norton swapped it over by swapping the leg and just turning it around to save changes to production of parts. The bearing assembly of the hub was atlered as the L/H retaining nut would have been spinning the wrong way as the front wheel wad also just fitted the other way around. It is said to cure issues of the bike pulling to one side when braking as the rear disc fitted to mk3 bike is on the R/H. As with jist about everything on Commandos opinion is shall we say politely mixed.
Hopefully Madass your thread will not now get highjacked by Eddies question. Fingers crossed
 
not a lot, this is how it would look on a MK3 although I do have left side discs 9different drilling on the outer)
New Madass front brake kit (2015)
 
It looks like a very nice setup. However I wonder about the modernity of it - most Commandos are classic bikes. I think you have a choice. If your bike is British - keep all the add-ons within ten years of the date of manufacture of the bike. Otherwise if the bike is a hot-rod - do anything. I'm still trying to rid my bike of anything which is obviously Japanese. Italian bits are bearable, otherwise I feel it should be all British and of the period. I think British or Italian parts used on a Japanese bike are simply a waste of good bits.
 
Since by your own admission you have never ridden a Commando on the road (!),
not having to worry about being buried in the back of the vehicle in front could have even you enjoying good brakes on a Commando !

That (original Commando) front disk was only rated as ordinary even in its day,
and good brakes are something you can never have enough of.
And, maybe you wouldn't have crashed as often if they were permitted .....

New Years Resolution - get better brakes ?
 
[quote="acotrel" I think British or Italian parts used on a Japanese bike are simply a waste of good bits.[/quote]

Nothing much comes to mind in this dept ??

Amals on your GoldWing 6 ?
Desmo cams in your pushrod postie bike ?
Tardozzi rearsets on your Yamaha MT01 cruiser ??

But we diverge. Very muchly.....

Nice kit from madass.
 
Madnorton said:
Are the pistons all the same dia? if so this will also fit a MK3 by bolting straight onto the left slider. In the UK the caliper has to be fitted correctly with the small dia piston leading, this is usually ignored or or not spotted by the MOT examiners, but would be a failure if noticed.

Just flip the forks and wheel and put the caliper back where it belongs, on the right side.
 
"Just flip the forks and wheel and put the caliper back where it belongs, on the right side."
that would be my suggestion also, any other caliper than the stock MK3 setup mounted in front of the forks doesnt look nice in my opinion.
 
toppy said:
Fast Eddie said:
madass140 said:
Madnorton, I have calipers with one small piston and calipers with all pistons the same size.
The small piston is the trailing one (the one furtherest from the banjo fitting) if you fitted the caliper to the left side then it would be the leading piston.
The kit is made for Pre MK3, If you fit this kit to a MK3 then I wont be held responsible for any problems you may encounter with fitment or its operation

Brake pads are always available Suzuki and Kawasaki both use them on different models

What's the difference between MK3 and pre MK3 (with regards to front brake) ?

Mk3 has caliper on L/H fork leg on front side of leg. The earlier models have it on R/H leg behind the leg. Norton swapped it over by swapping the leg and just turning it around to save changes to production of parts. The bearing assembly of the hub was atlered as the L/H retaining nut would have been spinning the wrong way as the front wheel wad also just fitted the other way around. It is said to cure issues of the bike pulling to one side when braking as the rear disc fitted to mk3 bike is on the R/H. As with jist about everything on Commandos opinion is shall we say politely mixed.
Hopefully Madass your thread will not now get highjacked by Eddies question. Fingers crossed

Its hardly a hijack. There are lots of mk3 owners out there who may buy this stuff. I have a mk2a and my disc was on the left... does this mean that a mk2a is the same as a mk3 with regards to front brakes? If so, does this mean this kit is not for mk2a as well?? I simply wanted to know why Maddass wrote the following:
"The kit is made for Pre MK3, If you fit this kit to a MK3 then I wont be held responsible for any problems you may encounter with fitment or its operation"
They are strong words from a supplier! I assume your explanation is the reason though.
Can you confirm Don? Not looking for a silly prolonged debate here, I'm just genuinely intrigued to know what the issue is. I would imagine others are too.
 
Period correctness and style questions aside, that strikes me as a lot of caliper working on a typical Norton rather skinny front tire. I have no experience with that particular caliper, and depending on the master cylinder and pad compound choices with that set up, I would be concerned about how easy it would be to lock up the front in a panic stop situation. I'm in the camp that believe good brakes should be a the top of a bikes to do list, but I've gotten front brakes "too good" on a couple of my other bikes and had to de-tune them because of the limits of front street tire traction. It does look like a very nicely done kit though.
Bill
 
I've got the full kit single disc version of this brake on my MK3 and I don't find it to be "Too much brake" at all. The lever action is quite progressive, that is is easy to regulate the amount of braking with the amount of squeeze. The brake is nowhere near as touchy as the double disc GSXR setup I have on my Special, but it also does not require near the effort that the original two-blocks-of- wood-rubbing brake did. Even though the old brake required a very hard squeeze for hard braking, I would never have changed it if not for the brake fade that occurred when used for hard repeated braking ( downhill switchbacks)

Mounting the Madass brake on the MK 3 was pretty easy, however there is a bit of fiddling involved in fitting the Mastercyclinder to the MK 3 throttle and switchgear. The Mastercylinder is designed to fit right on the pre MK3 switchgear, so it was expected that there would be some time spent making it work on the MK 3.

Glen
 
this kit looks awesome... I'm seriously tempted to swap my current disc set up for this. Since my '70 commando doesn't have a stock drum brake on it, but has a later model (I'm not sure what year) disc brake with the caliper mounted to the rear of the timing side fork leg of the bike, does this system fit my bike, or do I need to know more about my current forks/brake/rotor to judge compatibility?? thanks...
 
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