Hello, I have a Multistrada 1200 ABS 2011. I have recently upgraded my brakes to the M4 Calipers,and new Brembo T drives are on the way(OE discs are warped). Is it possible to upgrade to a Brembo RCS brake master on this bike, while keeping the handguards? It is really hard to find some info or pictures from people who have done this upgrade. Would RCS19 be the correct one? What about the brake light switch? Also I am not sure if there are problems in other areas with this upgrade,such as ABS being activated too easily?
There is a number of upgrades you can do in this area and it's all about what you're looking for. I am also collecting part numbers to upgrade all of the braking system on my 1260. I'm a little busy today but I'll post my selected parts as I've created a bunch of 'kits' on documentation for the upgrades. For example, here is a sports/track kit that I've bundled together. Brembo RCS 17x18 Radial Master Cylinder Brembo Stylema R 4-piston calipers Brembo ORO T-Drive 330mm Full Floating Discs Brembo RSC Carbon Ceramic Composite Brake Pads But again, I'm new to the subject and still need to do a tonne more research. The above list is what I'd like for track days, but I imagine it'll be horrible for daily rides on the roads. The best question you can ask is what do you expect from the upgrade, or better yet, what are you missing. Then you can design the upgrades based on those requirements. For me personally, my goal is to get the perfect blend of track performance and touring comfort for day long rides in and out of cities... A tall ask and certainly not a situation for ceramic pads! As for fitting around handguards, I am led to believe there is some modification needed, but not much. Just expect to do a bit of dremel or hacking. After all, the bike was designed for the OEM system.
I want to achieve that instant braking in case it is needed,it may br overkill for the street,but hey,these bikes are overkill for the street whether they are stock or not. And i just like to have maximum control over braking,feels right. I have thought about putting 330mm discs but i think it is impossible to remove the calipers then. Maybe if you had stock calipers and then you can remove the pads when they are on the wheel,but with monoblocks you can't. At least on the first gen multi(10-14),I believe your comes stock with the 330 disc so it is designed to be able to fit
It's possible with the 330mm, that's the size they are as they come from factory. I am currently running series oro 320mm. The spacers had to be put at the top of the caliper to account for the smaller size. That's it. I'm thinking of going back up to 330 though as I just added a tonne of extra weight from crash bars... But I'll see how these perform for now.
A lot of instant feel is lost with abs imo. Was never a problem on the road with my v4sf road bike, but I've just got a née to me v4 panigale for the track. It had new fluid and pads, but the lack of initial bite was terrible. My 2018 gixer track bike was the same till I bypassed abs. Just fitted a hel master cylinder and direct line to the v4. I tried both the hel and rc19 on the gixer, and much preferred the hel. Just my opinion
On the first gen you can, while it came stock with 320 it could be upgraded to 330 with some spacers. The calipera can be removed you just needed the pads pushed as far back as you could get them to be able to get the right angle to slip it out. If they aren't full back you can't get it around enough to clear the inside rim of the wheel. I have 330 series Oro's on both the 1200 13" and 1260 and can swap the wheel with discs around between the two. I also swapped to the Hel master 18x19 and was very pleased. I did have to take a dremel to the hand guard to make enough room. You lose a mounting point that was at the top and into the cylinder but I put some foam in for support and it seems stable enough. Switching the clutch to the Hel was a bigger pain as I had to make a little bracket to hold the clutch in switch.
I’ve been pondering for a while to reply to this thread and decided on safety grounds I should. This would be massive overkill on the roads, you will get no benefit using T-Drives, they are a fully floating RACE disc and the company I work for is the importer of Brembo products into the UK and only two weeks ago the emailed me about the dangers of using race derived products on the road. T-Drives and Z04 pads along with RC pads are not road legal and would need so much heat and warmup to work. I have a 2015 Multi and have a set of Serie Oro discs on it and Brembo LA pads as that’s the best suited for the bike. On a race bike getting everything up to temperature HPK discs or the T-drives would be good along with RC pads on curcuits but I even advise TT riders and advise to use SR pads which are road legal as they can’t keep the heat in the race pads over the course. With reference to MC, 19mm will feel like wood, you need the 17mm one also because the 19mm would be to powerful for the ABS. M4 or M50 calipers would pair nicely and you could go to 330mm disc. But again T-Drives will not be right and I find only miss informed people who like to think they know about bike setup would use them but those in the know just shake there head.
Thanks for the heads up mate, I haven't looked at any running temp ranges on any parts, so it's good to know the T's will be a waste on the roads. I'll be going 17 as yea, I keep reading the 19 is like pulling on a block of wood. In your experience, what would you say is worth keeping an eye out for when upgrading all this stuff? Any rule of thumb to abide to?
I thought the correct choice was RCS19 for 34mm piston calipers(M4) and RCS17 for 30 mm(brembo m50). It is written like that literally everywhere When you use a 19 mc with 34 mm pistons(m4) you get a volume ratio around 25/1 which is close to ideal 27/1. If you were to use a 17 mm with the same caliper you would get a ratio of 32/1 and therefore having very very soft feel at the lever.
Which part number is for the 330mm serie oro? I canceled my T drives delivery. Is it the same p/n as buying discs for the 1260? And the spacers are 5mm along with the standard bolts,or you need longer bolts? One technical question, is it possible to bend the disc over time,from removing the calipers? I have to twist the calipers quite a bit left-right to push the pads back,with the M4 monoblocks
I have RCS19, 320mm HPK discs and M4 calipers on my track bike - I can confirm that although the braking is great, the feel at the lever is lacking finesse.
Maybe the better solution os the Brembo billet master which is around 500 Euro. But with that you have to choose whether you want 18 or 20 lever center
I’m not sure if this is allowed and the monitors can take this post down if so but give me (Darren) a call on Tuesday at my work, Bike Torque Racing on 01373 464252, I’m there technical advisor and I can go through the whole setup, as mentioned we work in partnership with Brembo and I can give you all the advice you need, you would be better off with a 330mm Serie Oro conversion and we do the spacer and bolt kits and this will save you a heap of cash and a far better setup. We also stock the calipers and master cylinders so can give you the correct setup for a stunning front end that will perform. Regarding fitting of the RCS, I’ve never done that on a multi so don’t know the logistics of mounting the hand guard so you would need to do your research on that and if it’s possible with minor fabrication.
The advice and assistance is always going to be welcome. One note, it might be worth masking that number and providing it via private messaging as these posts are public on the Internet. I'll be pinging you in the near future mate, would love a chat!
