Upgraded the brakes on the SV650

[ontwo]

Background: When I purchased the SV650, the first thing I heard was "you will want to upgrade the brakes." After a few rides, I knew what they meant. I'm used to bike that I can use one or two fingers on the front brake and stop whenever I wanted. Well...the SV braking system reminded me of my days on a cruiser. Having to use the rear brake to get stopped at an intersection. I really didn't like that.

So after lots of research and shopping, I set out to upgrade the brakes.

First, this is the stockers. Two piston Tokico POS



The first thing I did was get the old fluid out of the lines. Notice how dark the fluid is. Should have already been changed.



I used a clear hose and a Maxwell house coffee bucket to bleed the lines. Notice how the hose fits nicely into the handle of the bucket to keep it from flipping out of the bucket when loosening the bleed valve.



Next, unhook all the hose clips.





Then take the caliper off the fork



POS from the underside



Unhook the banjo bolt from the master cylinder



Hasta la vista old system



Here are the new goodies



Upgrading brakes on the SV requires an adapter bracket. I attached the bracket to the calipers using the attached spacers to perfectly align the caliper on the rotor.







I dry fit the calipers to check the alignment. Notice how the pads hit just below the bevel of the rotor. Perfect fit



After locktite on the calipers, I proceed to the stainless lines. I'm using the Galfers. First, attached the banjo bolts to the master cylinder. Galfer clearly identifies the right and left line. Be sure to use three copper crush washers at the master cylinder (provided with the Galfer lines)



Attach the lines to the calipers. Then bleed the lines





While I was at it, I got rid of the stock turn signals, made a fender eliminator ($2) and painted the chrome headlight housing black.





I was completely frozen after this project. (My workshop has some huge holes in the siding that I've been needing to fix) I will get some outside pics soon. Thanks for reading.

[Cass]

Looking forward to hearing how you like it! I put new pads and SS lines on my SV when I brought her home, and new fluid all around, but I didn't swap out the calipers.

[derf]

Why did I think it was more common for folks to swap out the whole front end for GSXR fork and have better suspension and brakes?

[Cass]

Originally Posted by derf

Why did I think it was more common for folks to swap out the whole front end for GSXR fork and have better suspension and brakes?

I know this is more common on the 1st gen SVs.. I haven't kept up with the more recent models.

[BobTheBiker]

Originally Posted by Lola

I know this is more common on the 1st gen SVs.. I haven't kept up with the more recent models.

No, its very common on ALL SV's. especially for track riders. the USD GSXR forks offer a lot of improvements over the softly sprung flexi flyer stock forks.


particularly they flex less, have better springs and more widely adjustable setups, and stock are set up with great brakes. nevermind the fact that USD forks just look kickass.

all of the above are generally issues on SV forks as I understand it, so people upgrade.

[dReWpY]

Those look like zx636 calipers...

[ontwo]

Yeah, the front is swap is very common. I decided to go with just the brakes for now for three reasons.

1. Lack of funds
2. Given my limited skill, I probably won't benefit as much from the suspension as someone who pushes a lot harder on the track. However, the lacking brakes are very noticeable even around town.
3. Lack of funds

Those calipers are off an F4i, drewp.

[Gas Man]

Absolutely awesome!!

[ontwo]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

Absolutely awesome!!

Thanks dude.

[Trip]

You should at least do a spring/oil swap on the forks and run an old gixxer shock on the rear.