Is there any reason why the brake callipers are on the fornt of the forks on the big twins and is there any reason why they shouldn’t be reversed?
I put the calipers to the rear on my T3 in the hope they trapped less road dirt.
If you are running Dash -AN (Braided) hoses, I think it makes the run a little easier.
There are some bikes on eBay at the moment with pictures of the front ends with the calipers on the rear of the legs. These may be useful reference pictures.
Been done on loads.Not heard of any problems over the years.I’ll bet someone else had 'thoughAll the bestSteve
It was a fashion thing of the late 70’s. The earlier models had them in front such as the T3, G5 and the Converts, LeMans 1 the newer models Spada, LeMans 2 etc had them in front.
The only problem might be with your mudguard mounting. They look odd if fitted backwards and the T3 etc has a bracket to mount the rear stay that would move to the front.
Should be fine as far as i can see
The reason for putting them behind the forks was the slower moving air then cooled the calipers better.
So it would be an improvement to move them behind.
That’s from Allan Cathcart who knows a thing or two.iandunmore2012-11-29 08:15:14
Thanks chaps, I saw a picture and thought it would make the brake pipe’s routing easier, but didn’t take into account the mudguard stays. Now need to go and check this out.
??? will it put the bleed nipple in the wrong orinatation for bleeding the brakes without removing the caliper as it will be below the highest point of the piston ??
There are differences, BUT as it says in Guzziology …OE works so leave it be UNLESS you are building a special.
Mine are in front and have never been any problem whatsoever. ESB is correct tho’ unless you really check the engineering a difficult job of bleeding front brakes will become a total nightmare.
They were put on the rear of the forks to follow racing practice of the time, the pads work better on the discs with them behind the forks as they are in compression (as opposed to tension in front) We had a thread about this in the summer.
Try holding a ruler (disc) between finger and thumb (pads) and see if it is easier to pull it towards your fingers (tension) or push it towards them (compression)
If you want them behind the forks you realy need calipers with two blead nipples each, so I would leave them alone, it makes very little difference unless you want to go racing and run your brakes to their limit.
In the mid 70’s the thinking was that there was an imrovement in the steering by moving the calipers to the rear of the forks. Something about a lower inertia or something similar.
Chris, wherever they are on the disc they are both pushing and pulling.
Allan Cathcart brought out the slow air/better cooling reason when he explained why his Triumph triple racer had a small water cooler under the seat as opposed to a massive one in the front of the engine.
Apparantly following F1 technology (don’t know on that).
Ian that is how it was explianed to me many years ago and it seemed to make sense to me. Anyway unless you are racing it makes no difference.Chris750s2012-11-30 13:55:02
Totaly agree with that.
I wasn’t thinking of moving them for any other reason than the front brake line is a bit tight. It is a braided one and runs from the calliper through a clip on the rear of the mudguard before travelling up to the splitter. I’m not sure if it was made a little short when the lines were changed for braided, I just thought if I changed the callipers it would have an easier route. But the mudguard stays could be a fly in the ointment, unless they work t’other way round. I do need to bleed the system too!
Hi Mudpie, not too sure but moving the calipers behind may just look wrong on a period bike.I have a couple of spare lengths of stainless hose here - how long would yours need to be to sit ‘right’
Re bleeding - I’ve had a lot of success using a large syringe connected to the bleed nipple with a short length of hose and sucking the fluid through.
Take it out of the clip it is useless any way. Had to do that with mine the old style rubber hose needs the support the braided ones less so.