I am planning on putting on new rotors as mine have been warped since I got the bike (40000 miles). Just wondering where you guys have purchased from. Honda OEM is around $260 each!!! About fell out of my chair. Aftermarket wave rotors that look pretty badass (probably don't help stopping and brake feel like they say they do, but I don't know) for the same price of around $520 for both. You guys got any better sources? Looks like Honda CBR F4's used the same rotor. Wonder if that applies to the F4i was well? I could pick a couple of those up used at a local salvage shop pretty cheap, but who knows if those are a couple of thousandths out. You couldn't tell by looking. Here is a link to the waves: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1998...018QQitemZ280004006260QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
You could always take a vernier caliper with you to the salvage yard and check the rotor thickness yourself. However, it might be difficult to determine their trueness, esp. with them not mounted on the bike. Otherwise, have you checked http://servicehonda.com/ or http://www.hondadirectlineusa.com/ for a better price on OEM rotors?
EBC Pro-Lite Contour Brake Rotors look like Galfar wave rotors for about $60 less per side. Ron Ayers sells them for $182.38 each: >Link< KneeDraggers.com has them too for $190.00 each: >Link< Forgot to mention that you should check the bobbins that hold the rotor to the spiders (thats what I know them as anyway) and see if they are free to move. Sometimes the bobbins get gunked up and can't move and that causes what feels like a warped rotor.
Cyclebrakes.com has good prices and info. They also usually set up a booth at the cycle world motorcycle shows and have a "show" discount if one of the shows comes by you. Personally, I found a bigger difference when I went to steel braided lines than when I switched out for the Galfer Wave Rotors. Don't get me wrong, I liked them, but for me the change in lines was a bigger difference. Although the wave rotors did apparently cool better. I managed to warp the stock rotors doing some more "spirited" riding, twice. The Galfers Waves never warped for me.
Thanks for the info. guys! I'll check it out. I am liking the sound of the EBC rotors. Does anyone have experience with them? When I replace something I like to go with high quality, but the Galfers may be a little extreme no harder than I ride. At the same time I don't want to warp a new set of cheap rotors during the first ride. Good point on the bobbins that allow the rotor to float. Didn't think about that. I would assume they are warped though because they do have a lot of miles on them. Thanks again.
Just wanted to bring this topic forward again and see if anyone else has any information and what new rotors to get. I'll probably be ordering some in the next week to get ready for spring. Man, I wouldn't be sad at all if I could just skip straight to April and do away with February and March all together. Let me know what you guys think on rotors.
For my 954 front end swap, I'm ordering the Galfer wave rotors, with stainless steel braided lines. I could have gone with stock rotors, but like you said, stock is more $$$, so why not upgrade the whole package?
You could get a dial indicator to check runout on the rotors. Set it up so it can run against the rotors while the wheel is on the bike. Lift the frontend off the ground so you can spin the wheel and, watching the dial readout, see if the needle moves. You will be looking for runout exceeding the tolerance specified in the manual. Im not sure what the runout is for the rotor so you will have to look in the manual to get that info. Check the other one the same way. There's another way to see if your rotors are warped. Get a sheet of glass, put it on a flat surface (table, counter, etc.). Disassemble the rotors so that all you have is the actual rotor itself. Lay it on the glass and, using a feeler gauge the same thickness as the maximum runout, try to slip it under the edge of the rotor. If you can't fit it under the edge, your rotor is within tolerance. Then I'd look at the bobbins, although once you have disassembled the rotors, you will have cleaned the parts.
So should I be able to wiggle the bobbins with my hand? I have checked and I can't right now. I will check the runout to make sure the rotors are warped, but the bike has 40,000 miles on it, so I am betting they are. It definitely acts like warped rotors. Faster pulsating at high speeds and a slower pulsing action at lower speeds. I can't decide if I want to update to the braided stainless lines right now. The brake system has been recently flushed and basically I am being lazy and cheap right now and just want to ride. Would the braided lines be worth the money/hassle? I noticed cyclebrakes.com sells the rotors & lines as a package, so I may opt for that package.
Hold your hand on your stock rubber lines and sqeeze the brake lever with the other hand, you'll feel the line swell. Braided lines don't swell at all and you will feel it on the street. Changing lines should take less than an hour. The EBC rotors work pretty well, don't let the lower cost scare you.
Just put Galfer wave rotors and Galfer's performance/street pads on and they feel great. Haven't had the time to get my stainless lines on though, too many tubes to swap. haha They are WELL worth the money, plus they look hot too! Of course anything you do is going to be an improvement over what you've got now.
Are you interested in OEM ones at all? I was going to put the Galfer ones on my bike, but was putting it off for next year. If I had a ready buyer now for my stock ones, I might move that up. Bike is an '04, with ABS (don't think that matters on the rotors, but wanted to mention it. I am sure someone here knows for sure). Bike has 7,000 miles on it, original pads. First 4,500 miles appears to have been very gentle. Other 2,500, well, was with me! ;-) No, seriously, no track days or even any fun rides, thus far all my miles have been commuting unfortunately. Can take and send pics if need be.
I found a set of PVM rotors that work nicely. They are cast iron and, as you can see in the photograph taken shortly after I washed my bike, they do tend to rust, but where the brake pads touch, they get cleaned up pretty quickly. jD
Spike, Actually, I may be interested in your OEM's. I usually like to make an improvement and buy a higher quality part than stock when I go to replace something, but those Galfers are pretty expensive, and I don't ride really hard very often. My current rotors were warped when I got the bike and I am pretty sure that is just due to the high mileage of the bike. I am pretty sure all the VFR's from 98-on have the same rotors and the Honda F4 99-00 also used the VFR rotor. I was going to check out a local motorcycle salvage place to see what they had, but I would rather buy some off of a bike where I new they were still good. Shoot me a price on your OEM rotors and I will decide whether I would rather pay that price or go ahead and go big right now with the Galfers. If you would rather email me the price, my email is im11@evansville.edu. We can negotiate through email or I could shoot you my phone number.
IM, I just sent you an email. But I sent it from work, so let me know if you don't get it. Sometimes my email from here can get tagged as Spam. But what say the Masses? What is a fair price for the 3 rotors, with pads (all admitedly used of course). I really have no idea, usually I would, for something like this, after I took them off, put them on EBay and let the market determine the price. Looking for the tipping point where it is low enough to make im want to go the OEM route, rather than aftermarket. But a high enough price to make me order and do my braking upgrade to Galfer rotors, pads, and lines now, rather than next year. Might be common ground there, might not.
Oh there are these, want to use that to determine price im? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...RK:MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=260080817402&rd=1,1 with a little extra for the rear?
IM or anyone else, I am going to buy the Galfer wave ones, if you or anyone else would like my current OEM ones soon. I was going to buy the new ones today, but got a little busy at work, and never got around to calling them.
