I've struggled to get good performance with the J Juan rear brake on my 2014 SR. The brake wasn't progressive and even with a left hand brake lever it was hard to control brake pressure between gentle slowing to locking up the rear.
I was looking at brake pad catalogs and stumbled across the fact that many of our Zeros use the same rear pad as that available on the BMW S1000RR. I figured that bike would have a capable rear brake and so looked out for one to try on my 2014 SR.
Fortunately I picked up a new one cheap on eBay including bracket and then went about fitting it to my SR. The S1000RR uses a 220mm disk rotor versus the 240mm used on many of the Zeros. I then went in search of a 220mm rotor that would fit the 108mm 4 bolt pattern of our Zeros. Lo and behold I found the Ducati 748/916/996 around the year 2000 use the same bolt pattern. So I acquired one of those to complete the package. I understand some Zero 2013 models also use a 220mm rear rotor so that would have worked as well.
When the bracket arrived it needed to be machine down on the outside (too wdie) and the axle hole filled with a spacer/ring to match the smaller axle of the Zero. With some additional machining of the bracket to fit the Zero's swingarm lug slot and the creation of a slightly wider wheel spacer to go up against the rear wheel bearing, the caliper and bracket fitted nicely.
So how does it work?
Well it is a much more progressive brake that the J Juan with better feel. I matched the 15mm piston of the BMW caliper with a 5/8" clutch lever which gives a good combo of leverage and travel (the J Juan caliper is 13mm). Worth noting that the brake doesn't lock as easily as the J Juan (requires more lever pressure) using the stock Brembo pads (I previously used EBC's HH road/track pads).
All in all, I'm very happy with the upgrade. Total cost about AUD250-300 for parts and modifying the brake bracket.
Author
Topic: Brembo rear brake upgrade (Read 1323 times)