Intruders-Alert

Well, it happened. Riding to meet some buddies, coming off the highway and some idiot cut in front and slammed on the brakes. Sadly I'm no isle of man racer and my brakes weren't up to the task. Rear brake locked and the bike laid down... Didn't want to risk going into the other lane, no way to know if there was anyone coming up from behind.

Anyway this was a week ago, and the stars aligned and I'm fine. Even ride the bike home, though maybe not the smartest decision of my life.

Ended up with some scratches on the pipes and foot peg supports that I'll keep as a reminder, and more importantly a banana shaped right foot peg and a badly scraped and bent front master cylinder. Surprisingly, that's all the damage. Heck, the front brake still works, the lever just won't return.

Anyway I figure this is a good a time as any to upgrade my brakes. I had just finished reoiling my air filters, did my oil change, and most importantly completely rebuilding my front and rear master cylinders and calipers. However, even after rebuilding them, the old cruisers brakes just weren't ever going to be that good...

How can I make them better? Braided lines are on the list, but what about drilling the rotors, or are there any better calipers that will fit? Already using good ebc pads, and I know there's no getting around the significant hefty of the bike.

Also... Anyone out there that wants to sell me a right foot peg and a front master cylinder for an '01? Or a whole footpeg support/assembly

IMO, drilled rotors are just for show; there's actually less braking surface, so a net loss in braking power. All that stuff about venting the gasses between the pads and rotor has been proven to be just so much hot air.

Braided lines, however, are a real improvement, as are ebc double-h sintered brake pads.

You can straighten the footpeg by removing the chrome and rubber layers.
Then use a section of pipe to bend the remaining tang straight.

If your rotors are thin, near the minimum thickness, EBC sells floating rotors.
Much better than stock IMO.

I'll see if I can't bend the peg... It's pretty bent though. I'll look into those ebc rotors

That's a real bummer had that same thing happen last year and broke my leg pretty bad...as for ur issue I'm with you how can we make the brakes better I've owned 3 intruder 1400 and have had the rear brake master brake at the mounting bolts on all 3 in fact I'm working on third one as we speak...long story short is it just me or are there others with the same issue and can I upgrade to a better rear master...we must ride on

Never laid my 1400 down in 45,000 but it fell over on its own more than any bike ever owned! I don't use the rear much on any bike but like to have both ends as good as can be made stock.Sport bikes kind of spoiled me in that they usually have better about every thing on the big ones.My old Harleys with so poor brakes taught me to ride like I did not have any! Bet others like may be Johnny and Wally can recall the old Harley non Hyd. brakes. They really were that bad! Heal fast and learn to look way ahead best advice IMO to ride into your 70s every day like some of us nuts do.
PS... peg steel is so soft it bends real easy the way they told you.To be such a good motor my 1400 had more soft nuts,screws,etc than any of many suzuki bikes owned.

Yeah, remove the rubber and you should be able to straighten out the bent peg. I laid my last Intruder down and due to a crash bar and saddle bags, that was the only damage. My current Intruder has Kuryakyn foot pegs, which I like better, and they match my Kuryakyn grips and highway pegs.

I believe the 1500 has dual pistons and have heard that the rear caliper is interchangeable. Anybody correct me if I'm wrong......

stillrolling wrote:I believe the 1500 has dual pistons and have heard that the rear caliper is interchangeable. Anybody correct me if I'm wrong......

The rear caliper of the 1500 looks the same as the 1400.

Go here for the parts list.

https://www.suzukipartshouse.com/oempar ... 2000/parts

They even have the same part number.

If they are the same part number, it's not an upgrade, just a replacement if the original is seized on the inner piston.

Looks like I was mistaken but, I remember from the old Intruder Alert page there was a simple swap with another bike that would give you dual pistons (per side). I can't recall if it was the rear or front.

WintrSol wrote:IMO, drilled rotors are just for show; there's actually less braking surface, so a net loss in braking power. All that stuff about venting the gasses between the pads and rotor has been proven to be just so much hot air.

Braided lines, however, are a real improvement, as are ebc double-h sintered brake pads.

I can second that, for street riding slotted and/or drilled rotors are just for looks, if anything they only chew up pads faster. If you look at road course racing cars, you can sometimes see the discs get red or even yellow hot. That's when the pads start almost boiling, or at least smoking. They give off gases that has nowhere to go but between the pad and the disc. When that happens you get something called "brake fade" where your brakes work less the harder you push. Slotted/drilled rotors give the gas somewhere to go. Unless you're endurance racing though, waste of money. [emoji106]

Prodigal_Sun wrote:

WintrSol wrote:IMO, drilled rotors are just for show; there's actually less braking surface, so a net loss in braking power. All that stuff about venting the gasses between the pads and rotor has been proven to be just so much hot air.

Braided lines, however, are a real improvement, as are ebc double-h sintered brake pads.

I can second that, for street riding slotted and/or drilled rotors are just for looks, if anything they only chew up pads faster. If you look at road course racing cars, you can sometimes see the discs get red or even yellow hot. That's when the pads start almost boiling, or at least smoking. They give off gases that has nowhere to go but between the pad and the disc. When that happens you get something called "brake fade" where your brakes work less the harder you push. Slotted/drilled rotors give the gas somewhere to go. Unless you're endurance racing though, waste of money. [emoji106]

I have a drilled disk on the back of my 1400, only because I caught it on closeout at an online dealer. Cost of it was 1/4th of the cost of a new stock rotor.

Herb wrote:

Prodigal_Sun wrote:

WintrSol wrote:IMO, drilled rotors are just for show; there's actually less braking surface, so a net loss in braking power. All that stuff about venting the gasses between the pads and rotor has been proven to be just so much hot air.

Braided lines, however, are a real improvement, as are ebc double-h sintered brake pads.

I can second that, for street riding slotted and/or drilled rotors are just for looks, if anything they only chew up pads faster. If you look at road course racing cars, you can sometimes see the discs get red or even yellow hot. That's when the pads start almost boiling, or at least smoking. They give off gases that has nowhere to go but between the pad and the disc. When that happens you get something called "brake fade" where your brakes work less the harder you push. Slotted/drilled rotors give the gas somewhere to go. Unless you're endurance racing though, waste of money. [emoji106]

I have a drilled disk on the back of my 1400, only because I caught it on closeout at an online dealer. Cost of it was 1/4th of the cost of a new stock rotor.

That's the only reason to buy drilled or slotted rotors; with modern brake pads, they have no function, even on race cars:
https://www.good-guys.com/hotnews/tech- ... ke-rotors/

WintrSol wrote:

Herb wrote:

Prodigal_Sun wrote:

WintrSol wrote:IMO, drilled rotors are just for show; there's actually less braking surface, so a net loss in braking power. All that stuff about venting the gasses between the pads and rotor has been proven to be just so much hot air.

Braided lines, however, are a real improvement, as are ebc double-h sintered brake pads.

I can second that, for street riding slotted and/or drilled rotors are just for looks, if anything they only chew up pads faster. If you look at road course racing cars, you can sometimes see the discs get red or even yellow hot. That's when the pads start almost boiling, or at least smoking. They give off gases that has nowhere to go but between the pad and the disc. When that happens you get something called "brake fade" where your brakes work less the harder you push. Slotted/drilled rotors give the gas somewhere to go. Unless you're endurance racing though, waste of money. [emoji106]

I have a drilled disk on the back of my 1400, only because I caught it on closeout at an online dealer. Cost of it was 1/4th of the cost of a new stock rotor.

That's the only reason to buy drilled or slotted rotors; with modern brake pads, they have no function, even on race cars:
https://www.good-guys.com/hotnews/tech- ... ke-rotors/

I have never had a key for the fork lock, so the only way to lock it was with a bicycle lock. Now a master lock works on the drilled rotor to lock the bike up. I learned, the hard way, to use a yellow stretchy cord from the lock to the right mirror stem. So the drilled rotor does serve a real purpose.

A cable lock would work as well, though. They just take a bit more room to carry.

I had drilled disk on one of my drag bikes.Had loaned a set of 29 smooth bore racing carbs to another shop while they waited for a back ordered set to come in.Was last run before winter and had my bike apart at the time.They told me to give my disc to them and they would have a place drill them for me that did them as I refused any pay for the carbs loan.They do look race looking.
While on a cold ride stop at local dealer yesterday a new bike made me do a turn around. A new 900 Kaw with so close same colors as the old 1973 first year KZ 900. Tail looks same. The junk below the tail and water cooler on front took away but the colors made me think just how many of the old 900 and 1000 KZ I had lined up next to in drag races in the 70s and 80s.

WintrSol wrote:A cable lock would work as well, though. They just take a bit more room to carry.

But I have a drilled disc and don't have to carry a cable. I would not deliberately buy a drilled disk, but when I can get one for a whole lot less than the solid one, it only makes sense to use it.

Herb wrote:

WintrSol wrote:A cable lock would work as well, though. They just take a bit more room to carry.

But I have a drilled disc and don't have to carry a cable. I would not deliberately buy a drilled disk, but when I can get one for a whole lot less than the solid one, it only makes sense to use it.

Drilled is not as bad as slotted for chewing up pads. Those slots are just edges that take chunks out every time the caliper squeezes. Might as well use a lathe for your brakes. I've seen some high end sporty type cars (supercars) use some kind of a brake pad like material for the disc itself now. Fancy (expensive) stuff. Must keep the heat from being a problem.