banana alternative ?

[LilBill]

anybody ever mount a different caliper on a banana front fork ? i'd like to upgrade the brake without going to a pm, willwood etc. high dollar unit.

[FSG]

Check out Fab Kevin  http://www.fabkevin.com/

http://www.fabkevin.com/banana%20caliper%20replacement.htm

[gryphon]

Yeah,
   Kevin does some really cool stuff. I've got one of his rear brake setups and it works killer.

[LilBill]

yeah, kevin makes some killer products but his kit for replacing a banana is like $255 so he's right there with pm and wilwood on price.  i'm interested in seeing some other systems that someone might have come up with though.

[76shuvlinoff]

 Check this list in swap meet.

http://harleytechtalk.net/htt/index.php?topic=6912.0

I have the Fab Kevin stuff for FLs for sale. Good set-up I just never mounted it because the project died on the vine. 

[baldoldfxr]

Use whatever caliper suits you (bearing in mind the the master cyclinder bore size ) & make up an adaptor bracket to suit ,
I have put a twin piston brembo from a guzzi/bmw etc on these forks in the past , I go for modern jap calipers from a breaker nowadays, Also people have been fitting the newer HD calipers .

[Fab Kevin]

yeah, kevin makes some killer products but his kit for replacing a banana is like $255 so he's right there with pm and wilwood on price.

PM has a caliper and bracket kit to bolt directly onto banana caliper front ends for 255??  I can't even buy a 4 pot caliper by itself from them for 300, much less a bracket for that front end??  Wilwood 4 pot calipers retail for 325 or more too, and I am pretty sure that neither of them sell a bracket for that fork.

[LilBill]

hey kevin, i meant your stuff was above a price i would pay. i've been making my own parts for so long that the word "retail" makes my skin crawl. you make some really nice products and for someone that needs to or prefers to pay for a ready made solution, your products are a good deal. i'm from the "old cheap bastard" school of thought though ;-) . if i can't make it or modify something to work then i'll try to trade for what i need or find it at a reduced price.
"A PENNY SAVED IS ONE MORE PENNY TO SPEND ON GAS AND BEER" :-)

[Fab Kevin]

No prob, Bill.  I just think that even if PM made a kit to fit a banana slider, it would cost more than double what I sell for.  I also have a 4 piston kit that will stop that FL better than a new '09.  If you have your own caliper, my bracket for that bike is 175.00 in stainless steel, and for the machining involved thats about as cheap as I can make it and keep the doors open.

[ricochet]

For reasons besides the cost alone I like your (Fab Kevin) approach to fitting different choices.  There are some nice performance oriented calipers out there that can be had real reasonably used if you look around.  And the looks of those types of calipers suit our machines well.  Bracket, spacers and hardware can be made up by the home mechanic but takes a lot of figuring and time to make up if you don't have the machines to cut metal.  I do that with hand tools but it takes me days for something that should take minutes. 

ricochet

[monty101]

yeah, I'm running a kevin bracket on the rear that's a tokito 4 piston. Stops great. I think he sold it to me for 175 bucks a couple years ago.