Review: Hong Kong Brake Rotors

Introduction

Lately my bike shakes whenever I brake hard at speeds above 50 mph so that's a sign the brake rotors are getting warped. However, the prices for name-brand rotors like EBC aren't exactly cheap, starting at around $250 PER rotor. That's more than $500 for two front brake rotors.

And quite frankly, I can't afford that so I look up ebay for a slightly used name-brand set of rotors. And to my surprise I see that you can buy a brand new set of rotors for the low price of $200. Yes, that is TWO rotors at a total of Two hundred dollars.

Here is the eBay ad that I bought my rotors at

FRONT BRAKE ROTOR HONDA VFR 800 VFR800 98 - 02 01 00 99 : eBay Motors (item 370341589540 end time Mar-08-10 11:14:44 PST)

How can you say no to a company like HedgeHogMotors?

Installation

I get the rotors about two weeks later (it takes a while to get from Hong Kong to USA) and it's wrapped in about 20 layers of bubble wrap, I gotta give them props for careful packaging!



With them open the only imperfections I see is that the powdercoat blue isn't perfect with some rough surfaces. Plus I see that
there are "spare" drilled holes. The rotors only need 6 mounting holes but I see 9. I guess to cut corners they just used the same drill set up on a whole bunch of different rotors.


Plus I saw a bit of rust:

However, I'm not going to whine about it because even the my fancy EBC rotors have some rust spots on them.

What's important though is that the 6 holes line up and I'm able to install them onto the wheel just fine.


Here's the bike with the rotors installed:


Initial Impressions

I put approximately 40 miles on them and so far I have to say I'm satisfied with them. I'm not getting the high speed shake anymore and compared to the EBC rotors I had on before I have to say the "Hong Kong" rotors provide a very progressive braking experience. You can go from 1% to 100% braking in tiny increments. With the EBC it was more like 10% to 100% in 20% increments.

I'm not a huge fan of the powdercoat blue but I'm not going to throw a fit because they're so cheap. And I'm not going to enter bike shows so who cares?

What remains to be seen is how durable they are and I will be adding notes periodically on how they hold up so far. I got to say with the low cost and the fact it's from the land of knock offs I'll be happy if they last me a year or about 20,000 miles.

 

Use a micrometer to measure the original thickness.....that will give a useful reference for rate of wear, and inspect frequently for cracks around the outer preimeter where the fancy and unnecessarty scollops might have removed too much material.

 

you gotta be kiddin', bro...that avatar is totally creepin' me out...2 squirrels doin' the nasty.....ugh

 

Thanks for the info, will see how they hold up. Good I hope.

 

I don't really care for the blue, either, but I have the same braking issue you describe, and have considered those same rotors. Let me know how they hold up.

-Matt

 

The extra holes in your rotors are most likely to fit the ABS ring of the 6th gen.

I faced the same dilemma this winter on my 5th gen.

I previously bought similar cheap wave rotors for my 1st gen (with F2 wheels) on eBay from Australia but I am pretty sure they were from China, based on the pattern I saw on rotors advertised by other eBay seller. They look nice, well wrapped but the seat for the bolt was not as deep as the stock one and cause me some clearance issues. I was then afraid to try again for the 5th gen. Honda dealer was asking 438$CDN for one before tax, I finally opted for a pair of slightly used Galfer wave rotors on eBay for 425$ with shipping, no tax, and by chance no custom.

I would say that as long as you can report on your rotors, it's good news

 

Well, I've put in another 150+ miles on them and so far they're holding up. The only minor issue I have is when I brake really hard, I mean so hard my fingers hurt I can hear a quiet squeak. I'm not getting any signs of warping so it's all good!

 

Now you just need some hot pink forks and you'll be ready for the 1st annual VFRW homo ride.

D

 

Comments like that with a user name like Deez-Nutz may get you invited to join said ride. Or is that what you were secretly hoping for all along?

 

Sorry for the jack Joey, I actually kind of like the way the blue looks, no mistaking that they're aftermarket. I will be needing brakes next season, so I'll be following this thread. Thanks.

 

Keep the updates coming mate- i'll be needing some soon!

 

You know you could take that powdercoat off with EZ-off oven cleaner!!! Works like a charm!! Little late now...

 

I bought some brakes and rotors for my subaru for less than $100.00, all four disk pads and 4 rotors...needless to say...there wasn't much of a difference between the Chinese crap and the stopping power of the Carbon fibre brake pads and the Behr rotors I had on before....my mechanic friend said I wont get more than a year out of the Chinese stuff but since I saved like $600.00 bucks I was happy...I sold the car so didn't get to see how long the brakes lasted...hope the guy that bought the car is ok and the brakes didn't send him into a ditch or worse!!!

I would also be interested in how long your rotors last...

 

The past weekend I went up to north carolina and stayed at a friend's. I put in about 600 miles in a 4 day weekend putting it through some hard spirited riding even taking it up to 100+ mph and squeezing the brakes hard. They are still holding up well and the only thing I've noticed is that if I ride faster than about 70 mph and squeeze hard I can feel a clicking as the wave rotors are rubbing against the brake pads. I'm not worried about it because the bike does not shake and the braking performance is not affected at all.

I got to say it's looking like a great deal so far!

 

That sound may be normal. I recently upgraded to drilled and slotted rotors on my car and when I apply moderate pressure I start getting some noise from them.

I am definitely interested in seeing how they hold up over a period of say 10-20k miles. I haven't put anything cheap on the bike but lately I have been less than unimpressed with the cheap brakes that have been on my car the last 4 years (5 sets front, 3 rear). I am happy I finally spent the money on some quality brakes and would do it again in a heartbeat to stay away from the constant maintenance that has plagued me from the cheap ones. Keep us updated.

 

I haven't needed to do the rotors on my VFR800 yet, but I did do my Hayabusa's a month back. I have had no problems whatsoever, funny that you saw rust because the ones I got are actually stainless steel:



These combined with the cheaper HH pads from Sixity on eBay and some stainless lines work GREAT!

 

My local powder coater quoted me $25 to have both of them done so no, it doesn't cost much at all.

 

For that matter even powdercoating the wheels isn't too expensive either. I had both of my black wheels powdercoated silver for $135. You might want to think about that if your wheels are looking all scratched up and nasty and you're gonna have to take the wheel off to replace the brake rotors anyway.