Lifeline

Hi Testrider, No, what I found was the levers (both front & Rear) would come in EXACTLY as before. The front lever will still feel "mushy" like it does factory, but the Power of the brake application for my XX anyway is WAY more then linked set up was ever. On a scale of one to 10, the linked set up gave a brake force of maybe 6 1/2 or 7 (anymore and the porportioning effect came in and you'd skid rear tire right?) the brake lever feels the same, but the force is now honestly a high 9 or more out of ten ... it's really that good. The thought of replacing my factory front caliper and lever set up with an rc51 or GSXR 1000 unit did come into mind, to get away from the mushy ness, but at $400.00 canadian for a new GSXR front master/ lever/ reseviour set up, I'll stay pat for now, the braking energy is totally in a different class even though the lever effect and effort is the same. hope that helps. chris

Hi my fellow CBR -XX riders. Lots of great stuff on this site. I'm a Canadian from Trenton Ontario, and a huge Fan of the XX. I've tracked almost 60,000 Kms (40,000 miles) in the 4 summers I've owned my Silver 2002 XX (Josephine is her name). To the Yukon 2 up, down the west side of the Rocky Mountains from the Yukon, and B.C. Twice now. I have a Givi Wing Rack with all three Givi Bags ( I think it's called the 460 Bags side and 52 Litre top trunk). I also use this bike for track day use at Shannonville racetrack in Ontario. What bike can you do all this with? The Suzuki 1300 would be great, but I'm 6'2" ... as much as I tried to fit that bike, I'm just too tall. Here's the GREAT improvements I did on my bike now. I'll add pictures soon as i can. New fork springs: I bought and installed the Race Tech 1.0 springs. I had the forks off for a steering bearing change FINALLY (I like to wheelie this bike lots when out for what we call "Two Wheeled Tuesdays" in Belleville Ontario. It kills the steering bearings however. Anyway, Simply, this was my end set up : I installed the Race Tech 1.0kg/mm springs (I weigh 225 lbs and I'm 6'2") and used Bel-Ray 15W fork oil (483 mL I think... check shop manual). This Race Tech spring set cam with a Pre-load adjuster tube. For my prefered Sag (20 mm) i found the perfect length to cut Preload spacer bar is 135 mm total. Also : Rear shock: I took out rear shock, and with the top mount, I used 9 mm of spacers, in effect lowering the rear shock 9 mm at the shock (top end) ... this translates to quite a raise at the swingarm / rear axle location. In effect, I was shocked that when I went to raise rear tire UP to put axle back in, I realized that the axle hole was now LOWER then the wheel axle hole now while tire was still on the ground!! I had to jack bike up with lift to lift rear of bike UP to meet up wheel/ axle hole now. The XX now sits with BOTH tires on the ground with the centre stand ON. When I used the side stand for the first time, I felt like I forgot to put it DOWN, as the bike was going WAY over on it's side before the side stand touched down finally. I set the rear up like this as you must take into account the new height of the front, and meet that change with the rear. I also lowered the forks into the top triple 5 mm (measurement taken from top of triple clamp to fork retainer groove). Suspension wise NOW? I have a truly amazing motorcycle now! Stunningly different and vastly superior to what it was before. No comparison. Te bike does not dive into hard corners now, it merely takes them without flinching. The is Zero chatter now. It thought I might have gone the wrong way with fork oil, but it responds perfectly to bumps, not too slow damping as I thought it might end up being, it's perfect for my weight now. How I de-linked my brakes (which I really liked for touring, but HATED for hot riding/ sport riding) : There was a kit avalable which I wanted to buy for 4 yrs from England, but at up to $900.00 Canadian, was not worth the investment, as the only time it would be vastly better (to have delinked set up) would be for track days. If you've ever done track days on a CBR - XX with the factory linked set up, you'll know EXACTLY what I mean !! (read skidding rear tire side to side at 240 mph while trying to apply hard braking... read HORRIBLE, and VERY Dangerous). I had a great work-around for this terrible dilema; I bought a 2004 CBR1000RR for my play bike, and for track days and what we in Belleville Ontario call our "Two-Wheeled Tuesdays" when we get together and go RIDING!! We really should be locked up!! However, I had to sell that 1000RR for a house I now don't own (what was I THINKING ??) and have track days coming up, as well as another Summer of Two Wheeled Tuesdays. I had to De-link the Brakes on Josephine my 2002 CBR- XX. Here's what I FINALLY DID: I Bled all brake fluid. I then systematically took all calipers off bike (KEEP one of the rear brake lines that go from the rear master to rear caliper, you'll need it for new set up, as Gafler doesn't make rear braided precut line), and took all calipers apart totally. REMEMBER THIS: keep parts from each caliper separate, they are different. Take seals out, I reused mine, no problem there. I stripped calipers down to front and back pieces, gave them a good cleaning in WD-40 first, then Brake cleaner. Then I noticed that there is a brake fliud channel in the calipers that feed brake fluid from the one outer piston chamber to the other outer piston chamber. THIS Feed hole runs directly behind the Centre brake piston chamber, as it's shallower then the two outer ones. All I did (it's not reversible) is to place the caliper on my drill press and drill straight down in the line of that feed hole and drill the CENTRE Brake caliper piston chamber to the depth of the feed hole that runs to/ from each outer piston chamber (it's REALLY EASY, you'll see exactly what I mean once you take a caliper apart). When all three calipers are drilled out, I taped up chambers for brake pistons, and gave them a good cleaning, then primed and painted them RED (Thanks Tremclad). I then put brake pistons back in, and blocked the centre Brake line holes (one of the two brake line (oil Bolt holes)) with the used CRUSH washers and new 10 mm long Metric FINE bolts. This leaves only one thread left on each caliper for the new (front) Steel Braided Brake Lines. Once installed back on bike: I installed the new Galfer CBR1100XX front "Two Line KIT" and used the one rear factory line I kept to the rear caliper again, using one of the MANY single OIL BOLTS I had left over from the pile of brake lines and stuff I tore off bike in the beginning, to connect it to the rear master. It was a bitch bleeding the brakes at first, took 3 guys four hours ... nothing !!! kept getting only solid fluid out while bleeding, but the Lever would keep coming right into the bar!! We couldn't figure it out for the life of us!! One call to Peter Furst Racing in Shannonville solved the problem. I had to bleed the front MASTER first! You bleed the master the same as you'd bleed the caliper, you sqeeze the lever/ hold ... but then : while holding: you loosen off the OIL BOLT at the front master, and bleed the lines up top! This was a five minute fix to a four hour dilema. Brakes were bled now. Result: I now have a CBR1100 XX that can brake SO HARD that it's almost scary! It is truly stunning now! Because of the nature of the different size of brake pistons on each caliper, it is like the brakes come on PROGRESSIVELY! It's like... apply brakes lightly, fine. from high speed, apply brakes ... good ... good ... HOLY cow ... starting to bite HARDER NOW ... then with twoo good fingers full ... WOOOOOW ... loose your eye balls into your visor braking force. VERY PROGRESSIVE, easy to modulate ...and POWERFUL! I remember talking to the guy in England who had the kits on de-linking, I asked him in 2002 if his kits alowed the use of aftermarket calipers, and he told me then "you de-link those Nissins, trust me, you won't need more brakes on that bike, they are fabulous DE-LINKED". He was right!! As a note, that kit ... don't know where they are now, could be reversed! My way cannot. Keep that in mind ok? However, now that it's done, I 'm glad I had four years of riding the linked setup and 60,000 kms to really see how much better it is DE-LINKED! If you've been like me for years thinking of it, but looking at all those lines terrified to try it? I did, it's easy, cheap (cost me $140.00 for the Gafler "Two Front Kit"), and $2.00 for three Metric fine bolts for the second caliper line plug. OH ... I used the left side caliper support with the "Secondary Master" as a solid mount for the left side caliper. (remember, as stock it would pivot upwards a bit to plunge the secondary master, which would send fluid back to the porportioning valves (tipped off and in porportioning valve heaven now thank God) ... all I did to solidify the Left front caliper Secondary master was rip the plunger rubber off, and unscrew the bottom of plunger and to keep it from plunging anymore (to keep Left caliper fixed) wass put a store bought piece of 1/4" copper plumbing tube around the plunger shaft and the base. Now it's fixed, cannot plunge, and of course, the top of the "secondary Master" whichhad lines coming into in from the top, I just capped with an OIL BOLT from the original brake system. It's JUST a LEFT CALIPER Support now, that's ALL. So from around 14 brake lines, i went to 3 lines: two braided fronts, directly to the front master (that's how the kit works, and one on the rear to the rear master (which was re-used from stock braking system). I now have a bike that my buddy Mike with a Suzuki Huyabusa WANTS, he couldn't believe how beautiful it handled and said the brake feel FANTASTIC NOW, like they should have been all along. Even my girlfriend says it's totally different from HER perspective too. Must more easily into corners and more sure footed now she says. Any questions, please feel free to email me here, or at my email address : lifeline_photo@mac.com Hope this inspires you now too, you won't regret it ... I cannot wait for track day #1 now, nor can I wait for my Cross Canada trip this August with GOOD Suspension and Brakes! Life is Good in Trenton Ontario.

Hi there folks. as anyone done a successful fork swap for the 1100XX? I've got mine all apart for fork Bearing replacement, and thought now would be good time to measure for new forks and triple clamps say from a CBR954 / CBR 1000RR ideally ... anyone help me?? Thanks from Canada[attachmentid=592]