A properly matched master and single caliper with a floating disc will stop nearly as well as most twin disc setups. It lacks the ability to do repeated roadracing braking, but for normal street use it's entirely adequate. I have a Grimeca 2 piston caliper and a Grimeca master, sized to a 27:1 ratio, with a 12" floating disc that has the stopping performance of my twin Brembo setup on my BMW K 75. The whole key to having a good disc brake setup is to have the correct size ratio between master and caliper. You can have all the high dollar Brembo components, but if they aren't properly sized the brake won't be worth a damn.
is this fok assembly compatible with a disc brake
- Thread starter goo
- Start date
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- Nov 20, 2004
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- 20,458
You might want to look at the vintage brake website too, Goo. They have some interesting stuff there and good info. Not sure what you're looking to spend money wise, or what "look" you're aiming for but there's lots of choices out there now. I really like the look of that big huge stock caliper but the kit madass140 is putting together looks really promising.
A while back I saw a picture of a really well set up MKIII and the owner was nice enough to send me this response, so I'm gonna take the liberty of posting his e-mail since he is a fellow enthusiast : Hi CJ
sorry for the late reply, I used a Yamaha Virago twin disc front hub to go with a set
of 3 drilled Yamaha RD400 discs for £30.00 at an auto jumble.
The pattern of these discs suit the Norton visually and work well but require alot of
careful setup with alloy spacers to get the correct fit to be central in the Norton callipers.
The hub and speedo drive were £10.00 but the ratio was wrong for the Mk 3 speedo
so I,ve had to adapt a Triumph T140 drive to suit because I wanted to have the speedo
driven off the front wheel.
You would not believe how much fiddly work this entails but the end result looks perfect.
I wanted to use Avon Storm radials which are 120/70 ZR18 front and 150/70 ZR18 rear
so used 3.5 x18 front and 4.25x18 rear Morrad flangless alloy rims, and once again, this
required alot of careful setup including a special swingarm with 520 chain and sprockets.
The big Avons work superbly, don,t let anyone tell you Commandos don,t work with wide
tyres, if they do, they haven,t engineered it properly. I,ve now done 11,000 miles with this
setup and the tyres lasted 8000 miles including alot of motorway work but they get used right
to the edges of the tread in some of the lovely roads around Surrey and Hampshire
This is a fairly hard core mod though and I would advise using Avon Roadriders either
130 or 140 x 18 with 3.50 or 3.75" rims and the standard swingarm (modified) if you want
bigger wheels. Recommended rims sizes MUST be used, the standard WM2,s are too
narrow.
I modified a standard disc slider to use on the left and welded a special bracket to the other
side of the Norton calliper with the old lugs cut off and a special steel fluid line to the hose.
The mud guard brackets were removed from the sliders and the chromed steel mudguard is
fixed with stainless hoseclips which give a very well braced set of forks which looks much
better than the standard setup.
Suspension front and rear is Maxton, no better for this bike in my opinion and work perfectly
with the Avon radials. Superb.
I saw a Mk3 at the Begonia rally in Belgium with the Norvil twin disc sliders and AP Racing
4 pot callipers I think, not the old style 2 pot lockheeds and this looked brilliant.
More traditional than the Norman White Brembo setup but may be more expensive.
I think the discs were standard size but came with the callipers as a set I believe.
Not sure of the hub but I would probably use the RGM twin disc hub with O.E. discs and the
4 pot Lockheeds on the Norvil sliders as above to keep the Norvil/Norton Lockheed theme.
Alot of the current big disc conversions for Commandos look hideous.
I love the standard Commando callipers, a unique piece of alloy art which is why I went to all
this trouble, and they can be made to work well, even the standard setup but with EBC pads
and the master cylinder mod.
Rearsets are Yamaha XJR1200 with special adapters to suit the Commando Z plates.
Rode the bike to Spa last year, 1000 mile round trip including 140 miles on the track, check
this link and scroll down to the end where the Manxes are and there,s a pic of me on the
Mk3, I,d just finished fitting a Quaiffe 5 speed, another great Commando mod.
spa-francorchamps-2011-t10231.html
I,ll send some photos of the sliders if you want.
Cheers
Neill
A while back I saw a picture of a really well set up MKIII and the owner was nice enough to send me this response, so I'm gonna take the liberty of posting his e-mail since he is a fellow enthusiast : Hi CJ
sorry for the late reply, I used a Yamaha Virago twin disc front hub to go with a set
of 3 drilled Yamaha RD400 discs for £30.00 at an auto jumble.
The pattern of these discs suit the Norton visually and work well but require alot of
careful setup with alloy spacers to get the correct fit to be central in the Norton callipers.
The hub and speedo drive were £10.00 but the ratio was wrong for the Mk 3 speedo
so I,ve had to adapt a Triumph T140 drive to suit because I wanted to have the speedo
driven off the front wheel.
You would not believe how much fiddly work this entails but the end result looks perfect.
I wanted to use Avon Storm radials which are 120/70 ZR18 front and 150/70 ZR18 rear
so used 3.5 x18 front and 4.25x18 rear Morrad flangless alloy rims, and once again, this
required alot of careful setup including a special swingarm with 520 chain and sprockets.
The big Avons work superbly, don,t let anyone tell you Commandos don,t work with wide
tyres, if they do, they haven,t engineered it properly. I,ve now done 11,000 miles with this
setup and the tyres lasted 8000 miles including alot of motorway work but they get used right
to the edges of the tread in some of the lovely roads around Surrey and Hampshire
This is a fairly hard core mod though and I would advise using Avon Roadriders either
130 or 140 x 18 with 3.50 or 3.75" rims and the standard swingarm (modified) if you want
bigger wheels. Recommended rims sizes MUST be used, the standard WM2,s are too
narrow.
I modified a standard disc slider to use on the left and welded a special bracket to the other
side of the Norton calliper with the old lugs cut off and a special steel fluid line to the hose.
The mud guard brackets were removed from the sliders and the chromed steel mudguard is
fixed with stainless hoseclips which give a very well braced set of forks which looks much
better than the standard setup.
Suspension front and rear is Maxton, no better for this bike in my opinion and work perfectly
with the Avon radials. Superb.
I saw a Mk3 at the Begonia rally in Belgium with the Norvil twin disc sliders and AP Racing
4 pot callipers I think, not the old style 2 pot lockheeds and this looked brilliant.
More traditional than the Norman White Brembo setup but may be more expensive.
I think the discs were standard size but came with the callipers as a set I believe.
Not sure of the hub but I would probably use the RGM twin disc hub with O.E. discs and the
4 pot Lockheeds on the Norvil sliders as above to keep the Norvil/Norton Lockheed theme.
Alot of the current big disc conversions for Commandos look hideous.
I love the standard Commando callipers, a unique piece of alloy art which is why I went to all
this trouble, and they can be made to work well, even the standard setup but with EBC pads
and the master cylinder mod.
Rearsets are Yamaha XJR1200 with special adapters to suit the Commando Z plates.
Rode the bike to Spa last year, 1000 mile round trip including 140 miles on the track, check
this link and scroll down to the end where the Manxes are and there,s a pic of me on the
Mk3, I,d just finished fitting a Quaiffe 5 speed, another great Commando mod.
spa-francorchamps-2011-t10231.html
I,ll send some photos of the sliders if you want.
Cheers
Neill
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