no brakes on R's

[faf_racing]

why do they take rear brakes off the R's..... for racing? mine dont have them and a couple of friends dont have them on theirs, they are hard too find in complete and good condition,when you do find them like ebay they still not complete and very expensive.

[Orangecnty250r]

Never seen that before. I would hate to race with no rear brakes. Maybe someone knows of a reason I sure don't

[grundlegrabber]

Brake parts are so hard to come by in working condition. They are all 20 years old now, and nobody ever changes the fluid so the insides of the master cyls and calipers get corroded. Nobody ever lubes the caliper slides and they rust up and sieze. All the 350x and 250r calipers and cylinders are rebuildable and the parts are all still available thru honda. You can get used, non-working parts cheap and rebuild them. The parts aren't that expensive, and you will have brakes that work like new!

[hrc85250r]

poeple steal them four quads too.....

[trikezilla]

Yeah...i dont have the fronts on my R. I think I am Gonna Rig some trick lookin ones off an older bike and make them work with some custom brackets. DOES ANYBODY KNOW SOME THAT WILL FIT?? sorry...dont mean to change the post or anything..im j/w

[350x'inNY]

Someone had rigged up a motorcycle front brake system on a 83R parts bike I had.... I gave them and the bracket to Kintore here on the boards....

How much does it cost to rebuild a calipar? I have a 85 350X and a 86 350X rear calipars and a 82R and 86 350X front calipar laying around here that need rebuilding as spares!

Bruce

[deathman53]

all of the r's I bought had all brakes. I have 2 extra front calipers and 2 extra rears, my goal is to have all my bikes use 85-89 250r brakes, my crf450r quad, 86 atc250r and my 86 350x when its done is gonna have rear 250r brakes. Still looking for a way to use them on my 86 200x. I noticed that 350x calipers look the same as 85-86 250r calipers and the pins line-up also, 83-87 200x and 83-84r's(maybe 82 also) use the same calipers. The drag racing guys take the front brakes off all their bikes. Hcr85250r is right, alot of the trx250r guys took the rear caliper off the 85 and 86 r's as well as the motor and swingers.

[350x'inNY]

82R is an odd duck.... 81 had drum brakes, and the 83-84R bracket setup is different.

Bruce

[trikezilla]

[QUOTE=deathman53] The drag racing guys take the front brakes off all their bikes.

Why do they do that?? maybe the guy i got it from actually did drag it after i asked and he said no???? wouldnt it just make the front come off the ground a little bit easier because of less weight? do most drag racers take the rotor off too?

[deathman53]

they do it for less drag, its one place to reduce weight and friction. You ever notice how much drag brake can have? And think about it by taking off the rotor you are removing rotation weight(about 2-3 pounds, maybe more) then removing the caliper is another 2 or so pounds. A TRUE drag race bike has everything that is not needed taken off, light weight parts put on, they even go so far to grind off the little tabs that hold on the cables to the frame. Think about it, a pound of 2 here and there adds up to 20+ pound throughout the whole bike and less weight equals a higher power to weight ratio. The old race trikes(factory and sponsered racers used lighter weight front hubs(factory honda one were aluminuim).

[Dirtcrasher]

why do they take rear brakes off the R's..... for racing? mine dont have them and a couple of friends dont have them on theirs, they are hard too find in complete and good condition,when you do find them like ebay they still not complete and very expensive.


Worse than that is when you buy a used caliper to rebuild most of the time it can be difficult to rebuild. So many of these have seized pistons with a bad bore or especially when the slide pins have been neglected they are almost impossible to remove without destroying the caliper. I am a self proclaimed master caliper rebuilder as I came up with a few ways or getting them apart without destroying them, however there were a few casualties in coming up with solutions :rolleyes: . The 250R front and rear calipes share a bunch of parts so I grab either of them if I can find them cheap. All the parts are fairly inexpensive to buy but it's the cores that are hard to find in good shape. I wouldn't sell one of my rebuilt rear "R" calipers for less than about 150$.

[trikezilla]

hmmm..w/ all this info about drag racing i am beginning to think my air cooler was a drag bike. it also has an after market front hub and wheel. (i will look today to see what brand they are). i have also noticed a couple grinder marks on the frame here and there...

[Wickedfinger]

they do it for less drag, its one place to reduce weight and friction. You ever notice how much drag brake can have? And think about it by taking off the rotor you are removing rotation weight(about 2-3 pounds, maybe more) then removing the caliper is another 2 or so pounds. A TRUE drag race bike has everything that is not needed taken off, light weight parts put on, they even go so far to grind off the little tabs that hold on the cables to the frame. Think about it, a pound of 2 here and there adds up to 20+ pound throughout the whole bike and less weight equals a higher power to weight ratio. The old race trikes(factory and sponsered racers used lighter weight front hubs(factory honda one were aluminuim).
While I think you are correct about the weight and drag savings and all of the tricks and butchering that goes along with it - its ALWAYS the front brakes that get removed, not the rears - ask any hillclimber, dirt or sand slinger about that. Personally, I feel the main reason you find so many older Trikes and even Quads missing their rear brakes or components is based on the sheer fact that the rear brakes get used that much more than the fronts through human nature and they wear out, thats all. After that, people are basically lazy, just rely on the front brake for the time being (that never ends), take off the broken parts for whatever reason (probably to "try" and fix it) and loose them when the go to sell the thing. I can't tell you how many resto projects I've gotten where the rear brakes were in disrepair. Heck, I don't think I've ever seen a 200X for sale or on the trails that had a working rear brake. I know the 3 that I've owned didn't have them in good order when I got them.

[deathman53]

my 200x didn't have working rear brakes, the pads were down to nothing and the pins were stuck, I fixed it, but in the process destroyed a dust seal and stripped a bolt. I'm always taking apart my brakes and bathing them in anti-seize and changing the brake fluid. you know whats funny, I almost never use the rear brake(it didn't work for months on my 250r, loose banjo fitting causing air to slowly leak in), but the pads gets worn down and the pins get rusty, while the fronts are the primary brake I use and they never need maintance