Linked Brakes

I'm in agreeance, after spending 10's of thousands Km's on both found my non ABS non panniered Gen 6 feels similar in weight and handles slightly better out of the box than the Gen 5 due to its stiffer frame and forks but look out for MD wheeling out some mags dubious wet weight figures next. :tongue:

 

I haven't driven a VFR with linked brakes but did own a BMW R1200GS with partially linked brakes and grew to like them. Now that I am on a bike without I can tell a difference. One thing I notice is that when going into a corner hard the linked brakes made the bike "squat" evenly as opposed to nose dive to some degree. I think they can save you sometimes if driving too fast on an unknown road.

 

We can move on to rider weight at that point. And maybe the Gen 6 brakes being less linked. That'd be daft though, they're both great bikes. :smile:

 

Is that the one where they weigh a 5th gen and say it's a lot lighter than a 6th gen with luggage fitted? :smile:
Link?

 

from what I've read,

most of the people who "hate them" have never ridden with them



I, for one, love em
it would probably be different if I was tracking my bike regularly
but it's amazing how fast I can stop this pig (800lbs loaded)

 

the biggest downfall to the LBS/ABS I see is when I go to ride another bike,
I have to remember it's not gonna stop as fast

 

Moved to its own thread " The definitive Gen 5 Vs Gen 6 weight Thread "

 

Linked Braked Gen 5 outbrakes the Super Sports bikes of its time.

While trying to locate VFR stopping distances found these .pdf links from US Motorcycle site " mcnews.com " which interestingly shows the VFR800Fi at 107.9ft has a shorter 60-0 stopping distance than the 'Blades 113.8fr, R1's 113.9ft and Gixers 114.4ft of its time, admit this is not the same as repeated braking as on a track but interesting in the context of a single on road emergency stop at Hwy speeds.

Check out the Testers comments re the VFR's linked brakes Specifications Data .PDF's links below:
http://www.mcnews.com/mcnews/articles/TestBike-Index1-2001.pdf
http://www.mcnews.com/mcnews/articles/TestBike-Index2-2001.pdf

 

Mello Dude...I like your conclusions and you are an anomaly...most of us have not the skills nor engineering backround that you have on a bike (or a car) when it comes to brakes. The analogy I used in the past was that a great guitarist can take a piece of crap guitar and sound way better than I can on a $5000 guitar. But, BOTH of us WILL sound better on the expensive guitar. When I ride my bike, only I am controlling the brakes...not a test rider, not a professional, not a new rider. Just me. We all choose what tool is best for each of us. I chose the 2007 Honda VFR for many reasons but some of the strongest reasons were the ABS/LBS. Powerslave said it well...life is not a clean, dry racetrack with a big area to save your sensitive bits when running wide. Life is where you are at any given time, and that "track" is in crappy shape!

 

Found the real reason MD delinked his brakes.. :wink:

VFR Vid Link:
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-5014084958720407003

 

I didn't vote, there have been times I've liked them and times I've hated them.
Starting from a stop sign pointing uphill is annoying vs unlinked.
I think unlinked offers much better control riding on a track.
There have been many times in traffic where an OMG situation where it probably helped me out. I didn't have time to hit the other brake.
<edit>
If given the choice I would have purchase a VFR without linked brakes though.

 

Holy Old Thread, Batman!
I feel so nostalgic for the old days of linked brakes.

 

^^^^Agree with this^^^^^