The stopping and cornering capabilities of our 1974 Norton Commando 850 has been improved in ways the engineers at the British factory could have never imagined. High-tech running gear was molasses-in-January slow to reach British motorcycles back in the 1960s and ’70s, even though disc brakes had been standard issue on many British cars and most Japanese streetbikes as early as the mid-1960s. We recently visited an RAF Battle of Britain museum in the County Kent seaside town of Folkestone where, much to my surprise, we spotted a 1940 Spitfire fighter plane rolling on upside-down forks. That it took another 50 years for this sort of suspension damping to reach the motorcycle industry isa damn shame.
Nevertheless, bikes like the Commando with its radically modified fork conversion, prove there’s still a need for braking upgrades on older machines.
Sitting adjacent to the Norton in the bustling CRM garage is our 1977 Honda CB750K, a very capable motorcycle by the standards of the day. However, in modern traffic conditions, the single-piston front disc brake offers only a paltry level of stopping power. Regular readers of CRM will know we’ve mounted a second stock Honda brake caliper and EBC rotor to double the braking ability on this 450-pound roadster. Still, the extra parts add unneeded weight and slow the steering response of the 750 while making the mounting of a front fender nearly impossible. Compared to the Norton which has been fitted with a pair of inverted, fully-adjustable forks from a Honda CB1000RR superbvike, the CB750 has only 20 percent of its braking capabilities. As Blair Powell, a rider accustomed to riding classic Harleys and Triumphs will attest, stoppers like these could best be described as “squeeze-and-pray” brakes.
Is there a simple solution to this age-old problem? Unfortunately, modern brake caliper conversions are a hit-and-miss affair with parts availability as spotty as the stopping quality of old brakes themselves. Scouring the ‘net for bolt-on solutions, we failed to find a single listing for a conversion kit that allows the fitment of a modern Brembo four-piston caliper for the CB series Hondas. Though they exist for Norton Commandoes, Yamaha XS 650s and a few other classic motorcycles, there’s a genuine dearth of easy braking solutions for classic Japanese machines.
Some riders opt to simply replace their entire front ends with forks from late-model sportbikes; this conversion has become so popular, high-tech aftermarket parts manufacturers like Virginia’s Cognito Moto have sold thousands of front wheel hubs and triple clamp conversions to make such changes possible.
If anyone reading this knows of a bolt-on caliper replacement for early Hondas (or BSA, Triumph or Matchless machines) please drop us a line via rockersrule@caferacermag.com. We’re eager to bring things to a very rapid halt.
