Brake upgradE

[Guest]

Hi, just picked an 81 Gs450e. The front brake is crap! I have been searching and keep seeing "dan's adapter" for an alternate caliper but can't find anything specific in terms of tracking one of these adapters down. I would like to keep the single rotor setup. Can anyone pass on the info? A good 2 pot caliper and upgraded rotor suggestion would also be great, what is working best for everyone?

[cowboyup3371]

Do a search on here for the Kawasaki TwinPot upgrade. It's a way to take brakes from the Connie and Ninja with similar rotors or even the older single rotor on both sides to give better braking power.

Welcome.

Hope to see pictures soon of the bike. In the meantime, throw your location in your profile and the bike type in your signature so others know if they are close enough to lend a hand.

[pete]

Welcome to the forums!

Dan's adaptor is for the bigger bikes with twin discs, although rumour has it that it may work on others...

For my choice though I've rebuild my caliper and replaced my master cylinder with one from Mikes XS and I will be getting a braided steel brake line for it.

My guess is the age of your bike and the stock rubber hose are what's letting you down in the braking department...

[7981GS]

Have you tried replacing the front pads with SBS pads?
MUCH better than several others that I have tried over the decades.

Daniel

[spyug]

Welcome aboard.

As the others have said, you might find changing the pads and fluid and going with stainless steel lines might be all you need to do. With ss lines you will be able to generate two finger stops with ease.

The manuals call for changing the brake lines every couple of years but I doubt that most folks ever do that. The old rubber will expand resulting in a mushy feel.

If the brakes have not been serviced in awhile you may find you also have a sticky piston which could be contributing to the poor performance. It might be worthwhile to pull and clean the calipers too.

Good luck with it.
Cheers,
spyug

[Cdnpt1]

One of those forest for the trees kinda moments on my part, start with the basics right? Thanks guys, will start with servicing the caliper, new line, and new pads. Good to see a fellow Canuck here too.

[koolaid_kid]

One of those forest for the trees kinda moments on my part, start with the basics right? Thanks guys, will start with servicing the caliper, new line, and new pads. Good to see a fellow Canuck here too.

Yeah, we don't normally let him on, but sometimes he tunnels through the firewall..
But they are all correct; the replaceable parts in the MC and caliper need to be replaced. The current pads are much better than back in the day, and the stainless steel lines will firm up the feel a great deal.
And welcome to GSR, BassCliff will track you down with his MegaWelcome and you will see all the things to do to bring your bike up to snuff.

[Cdnpt1]

Thanks, appreciate the help. I have been buying from alpha sport, any recommendations there? Will the vented rotor from a 450 L interchange? Any other suggestions on rotor interchange?

[Steve]

I have been buying from alpha sport, any recommendations there?

Just one: FIND SOMEONE ELSE.

Alpha has a great interface and does a fantastic job of showing updated part numbers but usually charge about 10% OVER retail, while others are 20-30% UNDER retail.

BassCliff will have a list of vendors in your welcome package, but some of the favorites are:
Babbitt's
G&S Suzuki
Part Shark
Z1 Enterprises

There are plenty more, but these are probably the top runners.

.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. Cdnpt1,

Let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS lovin'.

I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Cleanup Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. This is what NOT to do: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...



Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed. I will put you on my prayer list.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[pete]

I use Boulevard Suzuki myself and have found them the best prices with reasonable service as an international buyer.

[Cdnpt1]

Well, the power is back on so I have been doing a lot of reading, some mistakes already but seems I am on the almost right track. Thanks for the info and wisdom. Now, about the bike. I found it on ebay from a fellow a few miles away. He had picked up from a friend, been sitting since 97, for his lady who wasn't too excited about it. I traded him a 72 cb350 straight across. He had tried to get it running, not knowing about the petcock and vaccuum line. The line was hooked to the left carb drain plug. I have never seen a float collapsed on itself like that. Sorted that and she started right up, well, after I took apart the petcock and drained the crap out of the tank. All sorts of weirdness on this bike. Wrong clutch handle so safety switch kept it dead. Did I say my first purchase was a manual? Anyway, it looks like i will take a step or two in the right direction now and deal with all the stuff suggested here: carb clean(for real this time), then rebuild with a jetkit and pods which i already have from 6sigma, will let you know how that goes, progressive springs, complete front brake refresh as suggested as i already have the back done. Now for that second job.....

[pete]

Cool, definitely sounds like you're on the right track!

When doing the carbs, don't forget to get your O rings from cycleorings.com, and I would actually suggest get the combo kit for the 450 so you can have some shiny new stainless intake boot bolts.

I've heard mixed reports on the 6sigma kit, so don't be surprised if it's not all it's cracked up to be.

I'm just going to do jets on mine and I've raised the needles one notch too (found out mine are adjustable). Rapidray on here also sells adjustable needles that suit our carbs, except he only sells in lots of four as he does the kits for the bigger bikes that happen to share the same needles as ours.

Keep us up to date, and feel free to start a project thread so we can all follow on with the whole deal

[Cdnpt1]

I am thinking after reading what and how to service the carbs that not too much tweaking beyond the bigger jet and fine tuning the mixture, synch, and needle height, will be needed. At this point she runs nice up to 5k rpm then leans out and i havent done anything beyond spray out passages and run seafoam through. It's going to be a bit anyway, turns out my middle finger feeler guage is too tight for the clearance between an xterra caliper and rim. Once the nail comes off i will be back in business : )

[pete]

I am thinking after reading what and how to service the carbs that not too much tweaking beyond the bigger jet and fine tuning the mixture, synch, and needle height, will be needed. At this point she runs nice up to 5k rpm then leans out and i havent done anything beyond spray out passages and run seafoam through. It's going to be a bit anyway, turns out my middle finger feeler guage is too tight for the clearance between an xterra caliper and rim. Once the nail comes off i will be back in business : )

Ouch! I also discovered my thumb was not a good bumper stop for my improvised slide hammer a while back... it's nearly normal again...