Wave Brakes........

[catso]

I've just bought some lightweight 10-spoke Forged Aluminium wheels in Black for the 916, these are much lighter than the standard wheels, which got me thinking that while I'm on a 'diet' (the bike not me ) that I ought to look at some lighter front discs.

I have researched the weight of discs & carriers and, other than super-trick (read expensive) carbon-ceramic type discs etc, the lightest available seem to be the 'Galfer' Wave discs, whilst the heaviest are the ones I've got.

I have heard good things about them & I found this article online which is very positive; www.webbikeworld.com/carym/wave/ but does anyone here have any experience, good or bad, of this type of disc. I must admit that I prefer the look of the conventional discs but function over form is the name of the game here and I'm looking for the lightest, best performing setup without (further) breaking the bank.

Anyone?......

Edited by catso on Tuesday 15th August 17:37

[Steve_T]

If you go ahead and your old discs are servicable, let me know.

Ta,

Steve

[kevp]

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=266596&f=74&h=0&hw=galfer

If your asking for my input see above.

May not be relavent as these are not ceramic discs.
If its the standard waveys I recommend - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/dpsracingltd - they were very helpful I,ll try & find my invoice. Otherwise I have a spear set of new wavey's, not sure of make.

Edited by kevp on Tuesday 15th August 20:26

[catso]

Interesting......

I've noticed that they (Galfer) do make a big point of saying that you must use their pads - no warranty if not but then they say their pads are like the EBC HH (which I use).

I want lighter discs but don't want to sacrifice braking power or feel, I understand (Galfer even say so) that the pads wear quicker due to the amount of leading edge but I can live with this if the brakes are as good as they claim.

Thanks for the info, anyone else?

[catso]

Steve_T said:

If you go ahead and your old discs are servicable, let me know.

Old discs are still good and have been converted to fully-floating (EBC buttons)



but I want to leave them on the wheel so that I've still got the original setup.

[mtbr]

Catso,
I run my 996 on Marchisini magnesium wheels with iron "fully floating" discs and sintered pads. I also have K tech cartridges and softer springs in the forks and a high spec Ohlins shock on the bike.

The light wheels made a huge difference to the bike, as I'm sure you have already felt with yours. It's hard to imagine saving a few more grams on the discs will make much further difference, while the improvement in feel, reduced lever pressure and increased fade resistance you get with the iron disc set up will transform the bike (especially on the track)

Perhaps wave discs have similar braking performance to iron racing discs, while saving some more weight?
If so, I would have thought the works race bikes would be using them.

I always felt my Duke was under braked until I changed the discs. I was going to fit a Brembo radial master cyl as well, but to be honest the set up I have now works so well I don't see the need.

These bikes are very sensitive to rear ride height adjustment, a combination of the K tech fork conversion, careful set up and a stiffer rear spring on the std shock, made almost as big an improvement to the bike as the light wheels.

The Ohlins shock has made a smaller difference, but perhaps I still havent found the ideal settings for it (More likely, I am not riding fast enough to experience the full benefit of it.)

M

[catso]

mtbr said:

Perhaps wave discs have similar braking performance to iron racing discs, while saving some more weight?
If so, I would have thought the works race bikes would be using them.

This is the one thing that makes me wonder......

I've also recently had K-tech overhaul the suspension and I've altered the geometry (raised rear/lowered front) to the point where the bike handles great and I've not even fitted the light-weight wheels yet as I've just got them and need to get some rubber fitted BTW when I got them in the box I thought they'd only sent me one as the total weight of both wheels + packaging is about the same as my standard rear (with tyre), so I'm expecting a big improvement.

Here are some pics of the wheels;





Will post some more gratuitous bike pics when I've got them fitted.

The standard brakes work fine IMO and with lighter wheels they should be even better, for the time being I'll use my original discs (apart from anything else I've just blown all my money on the wheels) but I will upgrade to something lighter when I can.

Edited by catso on Wednesday 16th August 11:49

[Mad Dave]

I've just fitted Braking Wave disks to my ZX7R and I really rate them - admittedly my old disks were very worn but the braking power and feel is great. Plus they're light and look luuuurvely:



Dave