Rear rotors

[GARYD]

I just brought in my 2014 TG for the 10K service and to have Hyper-Lites installed. Dealer called me yesterday and said my rear pads and rotors need replacing.

Thankfully the rotors are covered under warranty.

My question is how long should rotors last?
I am a front brake kind of guy which means I rarely use my rear brakes.

Dealer said he had a TG that he even had to replace rotors at only 8K miles.
10K seems ridiculously short. That's an expensive yearly cost.

Yesterday I also had the brakes replaced on my car that had 64K miles. Why can't Harley design a bike that can use an automotive rotor.
Also they told me it would take 5 days to get them in. Thankfully I get a free loaner on all scheduled service appointments so they gave me a new Street Glide.

What are you guys getting out of a rear rotor???

[jaxbobg]

Good question. I'm sure you'll get a lot of different opinions.

First off, please get used to using the rear brakes because that is where the stopping power resides on a trike.

Next, I've owned 3 trikes now with 20K, 40K and 50K miles, and have never had to replace a rear rotor.

I've seen on other boards that there is a Tri-Glide rear rotor upgrade package with 11.5" rotors, high performance calipers, and larger diameter master brake cylinder. Start with the J&P Cycles site for more info.

Disclaimer: I've never owned or ridden an HD bike, but I am an totally committed to being a friend of all true bikers, whatever their ride may be.

[rhino 2]

I've got 30 thousand miles on my 11 T/G, Still have the stock rotors, I'm on the second set of front brakes, And third set of rear brakes... But my roaders are getting close... Tri-Glides are hard on rear brakes, Especially in hilly terrain...

[GARYD]

Good question. I'm sure you'll get a lot of different opinions.

First off, please get used to using the rear brakes because that is where the stopping power resides on a trike.

Next, I've owned 3 trikes now with 20K, 40K and 50K miles, and have never had to replace a rear rotor.

I've seen on other boards that there is a Tri-Glide rear rotor upgrade package with 11.5" rotors, high performance calipers, and larger diameter master brake cylinder. Start with the J&P Cycles site for more info.

Disclaimer: I've never owned or ridden an HD bike, but I am an totally committed to being a friend of all true bikers, whatever their ride may be.

I do use the rear brakes, but not on normal day to day riding unless I have to stop in a hurry....or when the front ones starts squealing.

[lboos]

Garyd,
70 to 80% of your braking comes from the front brakes, same as on a car, you might want to ck. on those wimp a$$ parking brakes to see if they are dragging.

[jaxbobg]

Garyd,
70 to 80% of your braking comes from the front brakes, same as on a car, you might want to ck. on those wimp a$$ parking brakes to see if they are dragging.

Are you riding a 2 wheeler or a trike? A 2 wheeler gets about 60 to 70 percent of its hard stopping power from the front brake. But when you add the front rake and another 300 to 400 pounds of weight, the rear brakes become more significant,

BTW, most cars have larger master cylinders on the rear brakes (either disc or drum), therefore the rear brakes provide most of the stopping power, even with a front wheel drive car. Look it up.

[clint44]

BTW, most cars have larger master cylinders on the rear brakes (either disc or drum), therefore the rear brakes provide most of the stopping power, even with a front wheel drive car. Look it up.

Sorry,that is incorrect. My cars have one brake master cylinder and it is adjusts line pressure to all four wheels. The front calipers & rotors will typically be larger and will see a higher line pressure. The vehicle's weight transfers to the front under heavy braking. If the brake bias was the same on all four corners,the rear brakes would lock up,first. If that happens,the rear can swap ends with the front. Not good and very scary.

[lboos]

Clint is right,... jaxbobg is confused, or got some bad info. if your on a two wheeler, a trike, or in a automobile most of your braking power is on the front, not the rear.

[geezerglide11441]

Clint is right,... jaxbobg is confused, or got some bad info. if your on a two wheeler, a trike, or in a automobile most of your braking power is on the front, not the rear.

[Sloufoot]

Garyd, If the rotors have even a small wear ring on them Harley wants to sell new parts. They won't even discuss having the rotor turned, which is entirely possible to do & keep within the specs of a safe rotor. You may have even had a small rock get on the pad & scrape a ring in. The way most techs think is if you have a bad rotor they have to be replaced in pairs. Might be the other side doesn't show much wear, & would work just fine, but they don't want to take that liability (as they see it) on them selves.
Have 20,000 miles on a set of tires on your car & have a tire get damaged beyond repair ? Why not buy all the other three tires ??? Same same......

[jaxbobg]

Sorry,that is incorrect. My cars have one brake master cylinder and it is adjusts line pressure to all four wheels. The front calipers & rotors will typically be larger and will see a higher line pressure. The vehicle's weight transfers to the front under heavy braking. If the brake bias was the same on all four corners,the rear brakes would lock up,first. If that happens,the rear can swap ends with the front. Not good and very scary.

You're right Clint. I wasn't very accurate in that statement. It's true that cars have one master cylinder, but many have slave cylinders at the wheels. And, yes, cars do have most of their braking applied in the front.

I was specifically referring to the behavior of trikes. Maybe the Tri-Glide is different, but on my Lehman, Hannigan and Roadsmith conversions, I could use only the rear brake to stop the trike pretty easily.

Normally I use both, and on my trikes that had linked brakes I recall that about 60% of braking was on the front.

I have experienced a panic stop with front brake only. It's really scary. Wouldn't recommend it to anybody. A rear brake only panic stop tends to keep the trike in a straight path.

However, that's just my back country opinion. I didn't do Harvard or Yale or Stanford or those other fancy schools that most of you attended.

[flatfrog]

The dealer replaced(under warranty) the rear rotors on my 2012 at 6K miles.

[jaxbobg]

Good to hear they took care of the problem.

[Springman2007]

Gary,

May I suggest you ask the dealer to return the old rear rotors to you. I suggest this because if it was me, I would see if they could be turned and reused. The rear rotors are solid and as with a lot of car rotors, you may be able to re-surface and true them with the removal of a few thousands of material. Then you could put them up for a rainy day or such - probably saving hundreds of dollars.

All the above aside though, I have to wonder about rotor failure at around or under 10K. If true, I would wonder if there is some underlying issue.

Anyway, just my take on this.

Springman

[jaxbobg]

Gary,
................
All the above aside though, I have to wonder about rotor failure at around or under 10K. If true, I would wonder if there is some underlying issue.

Springman

Agree with Springman. What's going on here that the dealer is hiding?
Is it a manufacturing defect or engineering design problem?

[GARYD]

I think it's a design problem. Dealer said this is pretty much normal for trikes.

Is there any automobile in the world that has rotors as bad as Harleys? My car has 4 times as many miles.

Seems I read on some forum about replacing Harley rear rotors with car rotors. I remember Mazda being mentioned. Anyone know about this? I wasn't interested at the time so I didn't read further.

I don't care if they replace them since I'm not paying for them.

- - - Updated - - -

I think it's a design problem. Dealer said this is pretty much normal for trikes.

Is there any automobile in the world that has rotors as bad as Harleys?

My car has 4 times as many miles.

Seems I read on some forum about replacing Harley rear rotors with car rotors. I remember Mazda being mentioned. Anyone know about this? I wasn't interested at the time so I didn't read further.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to replace instead on resurfacing? Labor wise. Or are they resurfaced on the car?

I don't care if they replace them since I'm not paying for them.

[Springman2007]

I think it's a design problem. Dealer said this is pretty much normal for trikes.

Is there any automobile in the world that has rotors as bad as Harleys? My car has 4 times as many miles.

Seems I read on some forum about replacing Harley rear rotors with car rotors. I remember Mazda being mentioned. Anyone know about this? I wasn't interested at the time so I didn't read further.

I don't care if they replace them since I'm not paying for them.

- - - Updated - - -

I think it's a design problem. Dealer said this is pretty much normal for trikes.

Is there any automobile in the world that has rotors as bad as Harleys?

My car has 4 times as many miles.

Seems I read on some forum about replacing Harley rear rotors with car rotors. I remember Mazda being mentioned. Anyone know about this? I wasn't interested at the time so I didn't read further.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to replace instead on resurfacing? Labor wise. Or are they resurfaced on the car?

I don't care if they replace them since I'm not paying for them.

Well, I would be curious to see if they actually gave you back the rotors - see I have to wonder if they were really bad? I just find it hard to believe that if the rear braking was so bad that the rotors did fail or were damaged, you would not have felt or heard it or got some sort of feeling about it.

And, you ARE paying for it - we all are.... I would bet that increased warrantee costs for HD do translate in rising parts and vehicle costs....

But, this thread has made me think. Maybe we need a kit that would change the rear brakes to use a car rotor?

Maybe a standard diameter car rotor that is, or can be cross-drilled. I know I would consider a kit that could improve braking and reduce the maintenance costs - as you and others have stated the service life of a standard car rotor appears to be a lot longer and the rotors seem to be a lot cheaper to replace.....

As for the cost of turning the old rotors...I got the rear ones on my 2012 Nissan done for $50.00.... What did you say the new ones cost?

Springman

[rhino 2]

Any parts replaced under warranty won't be returned. As far as car rotors go Harleys use a 4 bolt Rotor, Cars use at least 5 bolt rotors.. You might get some one to recut the T/G rotors, But then they'll be under spec...

[Springman2007]

Any parts replaced under warranty won't be returned. As far as car rotors go Harleys use a 4 bolt Rotor, Cars use at least 5 bolt rotors.. You might get some one to recut the T/G rotors, But then they'll be under spec...

Well, I say you never know unless you ask on the used parts return; I guess if I was in that situation, I would at least want a look.....I just take that one without some investigation myself.

As for the car rotors, not all cars are 5 lug; but, what if the kit did use 5 lugs? That could/would open up a world of tire/rim prospects......

The funny thing is that since we have been talking about this, I have been surfing the web and I found a place that sells disc brake rotors for trailers and I have to tell you they look close - seem to be same lug pattern and under $150 a set.....could the Harley OEM rotors actually translate to a trailer brake rotor? That would be a kick!

Springman

[jaxbobg]

Original post said that dealer told him that both the pads and rotors need to be replaced after only 10K miles.

That got me wondering if the pad clearance was too close from the beginning. Why are the pads worn down at only 10K? Was the rotor blue colored from heat or scored from foreign particle abrasion? Are the rotors warped? Just a millimeter or two of warp can cause a big problem.

Could it be a problem with the pistons in the disc caliper? Seems like the dealer should have looked at the entire braking mechanism, from the master cylinder down to the pads themselves. Not enough info here, but more questions need to be asked. Just my 2 cents, though.