Putting front brake caliper behind fork?

Q

quadracer351

Coast to Coast
When i get my front suspension put back together I was thinking about possibly changing the front brake position from the front of the fork to the rear. I was just curious if anyone else on here has had experience doing it and/or if you can give me advice on how to do it. Would it be too much trouble for the little bit of breaking power it adds?

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First off - what bike?

Usually flipping the caliper means the speedo drive is running in reverse too. Could be very wrong though......
 
Sorry. Currently in the hospital for kidney stones and on morphine.....my lame excuse for leaving out the bike....74 cb750. I wouldn't imagine it changing brake location would change the speedo drive. I saw it done on a cb550 in the latest cafe racer magazine. I'll find a better picture to post on here to show what I'm talking about.

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If the caliper is mounted to the front of the left fork, and you swap the forks left to right, the speedo drive would follow. Couldn't imagine it would be a problem on a digital speedometer, but is a deal breaker on an analog speedo. Then again, I don't read CR magazine, so I don't know how they did it.

Fwiw, sorry about the stones. Hope the morphine works well!
 
Big Rich said:
If the caliper is mounted to the front of the left fork, and you swap the forks left to right, the speedo drive would follow. Couldn't imagine it would be a problem on a digital speedometer, but is a deal breaker on an analog speedo. Then again, I don't read CR magazine, so I don't know how they did it.

Fwiw, sorry about the stones. Hope the morphine works well!
Click to expand...

You can change the lower legs without trouble with speedo. i do conversions to double disk all the time on 500/550 cb's, wich is in esscence the same as changing one disk to the other side.
 
Speedo drive is in the wheel, has nothing to do with the forks. Swap forks from side to side and your done. What makes you think you will get more braking (not breaking) power from mounting this way?
The only differences I see in doing that is cosmetic and brings the caliper weight more towards CG (minimally) and whether the force is pushing on the mounting arm or trying to pull the arm.
 
Bert Jan said:
You can change the lower legs without trouble with speedo. i do conversions to double disk all the time on 500/550 cb's, wich is in esscence the same as changing one disk to the other side.
Click to expand...

If the bike originally was a single disc and you put a lower left leg for a disc on the right side wont one caliper be leading and one trailing. They would need to have symmetrical mounts in order for both calipers to be leading or trailing would they not? On some bikes the fender mounting is not symmetrical so that may cause issues as well, maybe not on the CB.
 
o1marc said:
If the bike originally was a single disc and you put a lower left leg for a disc on the right side wont one caliper be leading and one trailing. They would need to have symmetrical mounts in order for both calipers to be leading or trailing would they not? On some bikes the fender mounting is not symmetrical so that may cause issues as well, maybe not on the CB.
Click to expand...

cb500/550 all have those mounts already casted, drilled and tapped on both legs.
The caliper arm is designed to work left and right.
Calipers can be changed around, as they are designed to work both ways.
The only fab work you (might) need is to get the speedo working as the chrome retainer ring is no longer mounted due to the disk being there now.
Very common upgrade to go dual disk.
 
You have to check alignment as most forks are not fully machined, just drilled and tapped
Personally I think the dual disc conversion is mandatory, stock brakes are real weak on 500/550, the 750 is much heavier so really needs some extra power to slow down
 
I have read that some front mounted calipers will not function properly when moved to behind the fork tubes, make sure your bike is not one of these. On some bikes the axle only fits one way and this means you have to flip the hub as well and this would affect you speedo.
 
The Honda forks have clamps at the bottom so you keep wheel in original position just swap legs left to right
The Honda 'link arm' calipers don't care which way they are fitted, behind fork is supposed to give more 'servo effect' plus the weight moves backwards and down a substantial amount
I did mine in 1979 or 80, forget exactly when
You will have to modify speedo drive or fit electronic speedo, check on SOHC 4, there are probably hundreds of 'how to's' there
 
I would love to upgrade to dual but it seems like it would be more work then I know how to do comfortably. Last thing I want to do is screw up my front brakes. I'm confused about the Speedo drive. Why would running the caliper behind the fork change the Speedo drive? I can't picture the Speedo drive changing but maybe I just need to be in front of the set up to see it.

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quadracer351 said:
I would love to upgrade to dual but it seems like it would be more work then I know how to do comfortably. Last thing I want to do is screw up my front brakes. I'm confused about the Speedo drive. Why would running the caliper behind the fork change the Speedo drive? I can't picture the Speedo drive changing but maybe I just need to be in front of the set up to see it.

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Click to expand...

i've done one the other week but its already shipped to the customer. I'll ask if he already fitted them and if he could snap a couple pics if not.

The speedo can only be mounted on the right side of the bike, due to the direction it needs to rotate. If you decide to swap the disk to the other side, the disk and the speedo gear will clash. You can however keep the caliper on the left leg and behind it.

A dual disk conversion is fairly easy, the only thing that needs modding is the speedo pickup. Not necessary tho to ride safe. Like PJ already said, go over to 'the dark side' for some detailed how-toooooooooooooos

remember you will need an extra disk, longer bolts, extra caliper, new brake lines, brake fluid, copper washers and a day off. Furthermore, i strongly advice getting a new brake master cilinder from a cbr or gsxr or other sportsbike with 2 calipers. The extra caliper requires extra fluid to be moved around and the stock master is not up for that. It's only up for the bin anyway..

If you want to do it in one day, get an extra speedo drive gear, get it turned down to fit in the disk, weld 2 little knobs on them and mill 2 little flat areas in the rear of the second disk to accomodate the knobs on speedo pickup. Thats how i do it normally. Its the cleanest and easiest in my opinion. Like i said, will try to contact the customer for a pic or 2.
 
Bert Jan said:
i've done one the other week but its already shipped to the customer. I'll ask if he already fitted them and if he could snap a couple pics if not.

The speedo can only be mounted on the right side of the bike, due to the direction it needs to rotate. If you decide to swap the disk to the other side, the disk and the speedo gear will clash. You can however keep the caliper on the left leg and behind it.

A dual disk conversion is fairly easy, the only thing that needs modding is the speedo pickup. Not necessary tho to ride safe. Like PJ already said, go over to 'the dark side' for some detailed how-toooooooooooooos

remember you will need an extra disk, longer bolts, extra caliper, new brake lines, brake fluid, copper washers and a day off. Furthermore, i strongly advice getting a new brake master cilinder from a cbr or gsxr or other sportsbike with 2 calipers. The extra caliper requires extra fluid to be moved around and the stock master is not up for that. It's only up for the bin anyway..

If you want to do it in one day, get an extra speedo drive gear, get it turned down to fit in the disk, weld 2 little knobs on them and mill 2 little flat areas in the rear of the second disk to accomodate the knobs on speedo pickup. Thats how i do it normally. Its the cleanest and easiest in my opinion. Like i said, will try to contact the customer for a pic or 2.
Click to expand...

I had my CBR600 in mind, it is already dual disc so there is a caliper on the speedo drive side already. Upgrading to dual disc on a CB550 seems easier than trying to make the caliper trailing instead of leading. I couldn't find a fish for the CB550 front brake but if you are just moving the fork legs side to side the speedo drive gear should still remain on it's stock side with the wheel. Is the axle not symmetrical?
And it's "necessary". ;)
 
o1marc said:
I had my CBR600 in mind, it is already dual disc so there is a caliper on the speedo drive side already. Upgrading to dual disc on a CB550 seems easier than trying to make the caliper trailing instead of leading. I couldn't find a fish for the CB550 front brake but if you are just moving the fork legs side to side the speedo drive gear should still remain on it's stock side with the wheel. Is the axle not symmetrical?
And it's "necessary". ;)
Click to expand...


Yes, when you swap the legs to get the caliper on the back of the leg, the speedo can stay. You only need to mod the speedo when doing a double-disk conversion.

Sorry for being fuzzy, i have to think real hard to come up with the right words in english and it's often typed in a way that can be easily misunderstood.

No the axle is not symmetrical. There's a thicker piece on one side wich touches the bearing. Its like a spacer ON the axle.
 
Even if you keep single disc you still have to modify the drive bolted to wheel.
Moving the disc to the right side of hub spaces the drive about 8mm further out
It's easy enough to modify though as only the piece that engages drive dogs inside speedo gearbox needs modifying
 
crazypj said:
Even if you keep single disc you still have to modify the drive bolted to wheel.
Moving the disc to the right side of hub spaces the drive about 8mm further out
It's easy enough to modify though as only the piece that engages drive dogs inside speedo gearbox needs modifying
Click to expand...

true, forgot about that.
 
I already have a second disk off of the extra 750A rims got with my bike. Only thing I don't have is the extra calipers but those could be easily found. Also new breaks and master cylinder is no problem since I was planning on buying new ones anyway. But with putting the caliper behind the fork I was thinking the brake could stay on the left side and just flipping the mount or having another one made and keeping the brake on the left. If not I have no problem buying a digital Speedo. Just want to find a good one that won't have any lag.

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quadracer351 said:
I already have a second disk off of the extra 750A rims got with my bike. Only thing I don't have is the extra calipers but those could be easily found. Also new breaks and master cylinder is no problem since I was planning on buying new ones anyway. But with putting the caliper behind the fork I was thinking the brake could stay on the left side and just flipping the mount or having another one made and keeping the brake on the left. If not I have no problem buying a digital Speedo. Just want to find a good one that won't have any lag.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

You can not do that. The holes in the fork legs are casted in such a way the hinge is only attachable to the front of the leg. When you would do as you suggested, the hinge would go upwards, and the caliper would not even touch the disk. The hinge is mounted in an angle to the leg. When flipped, the angle changes dramaticly beyond functioning properly.

If you want the caliper at the back of the leg, a leg swap is required. You can easily do that, just switch the complete legs ;)
 
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