Topic: Harley lower legs?

[Henkies]

Hi,

I like the style of available Harley Davidson calipers, and don't like caliper adapters.
 
So apart from other issues, would it be possible to use Harley lower legs concerning their length, or will it decrease travel? Some old ones have 37 and 39mm inner tubes, so it might even be possible with goldwing triple tree and/or tubes.

Thanks!
 

[Terry in Australia]

Hmmnnn, interesting question mate. My 1994 XLH1200 has 39mm forks, but the single front disc brake was about as piss-poor as the stock CB750 unit. I was pretty disappointed as the twin disc setup on my 1984 XLH1000 "Iron Head" Sporty (with 35mm forks) was much better, so I've no idea why Harley switched to crappy brakes on a later model?

I could have used later Harley forks with their excellent Brembo sourced brakes, but I like to tinker with minor engineering tasks, so I bought a nice used Performance Machine (PM) caliper taken from the rear of a custom Harley and made an adapter plate to use it on the front of my 1200. Aesthetics aside, the difference between a pissy single piston caliper and the four piston PM caliper is like night and day, I reckon it's the most powerful caliper I've had on a bike.

If you're going to use a Honda front wheel, take into account that you may have to do some fiddling with axle bearing sizes to make it all fit together. Cheers, Terry.

Sporty PM Caliper 1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

[754]

I can't recall 37 but many were eye probably made  by Showa, and Honda maybe too.
 But the 35mm  brakes were not the best.

[scottly]

Guess I might as well post this here, too.

[Henkies]

I could have used later Harley forks with their excellent Brembo sourced brakes, but I like to tinker with minor engineering tasks, so I bought a nice used Performance Machine (PM) caliper taken from the rear of a custom Harley and made an adapter plate to use it on the front of my 1200. Aesthetics aside, the difference between a pissy single piston caliper and the four piston PM caliper is like night and day, I reckon it's the most powerful caliper I've had on a bike.

If you're going to use a Honda front wheel, take into account that you may have to do some fiddling with axle bearing sizes to make it all fit together. Cheers, Terry.

I can do some machining, that's no problem. Just would like to keep the appearance as if caliper and fork are supposed to be together, instead of the DIY look of adapters.

Could you measure the length of your fork lower leg, to get an idea if it will stick too far up our CB wheels? My k7 legs are approx 37cm/14,5" from center of axle to top of dust wheel.

[Henkies]

I can't recall 37 but many were eye probably made  by Showa, and Honda maybe too.

Sorry, am not sure what you mean by this. Could you explain please?

[754]

Shouldcread, i dont recall harley using 37mm. Many of their forks were made by Showa, they also made 35mm..
 And I think Honda are Showa.