As mentioned in my newbie post I have a few mods coming up for the HM. Now one of them is a front brake upgrade. When I first rode a 2013 HM SP I was amazed how good those front brakes worked but after that was sold I had a couple of Multi 1200S which use the M50 calipers and they seemed a lot firmer and felt a lot stronger/better especially up and down the twisty mountain roads we have here. Anyway, I found a set taken off a brand new Panigale 1199 over here in Italy which was then modified for team track use. The seller did mention that the pads are different from the standard M50 set that Ducati use on the other models. That true? Standard calipers will be swapped over for these but as the bike has ABS it complicates it a little more. The inlet or outlet (not sure what you call it) on the caliper is slightly at a different angle than the stock so it would be forcing (bending) the brake line to the new position which doesn’t sound too good. I’ve looked around on the web : Speigler/EBC/HEL but as it’s not a standard/OEM fit I'll have to supply them with current length for them to create custom lines for me. That’s a pain for me as I don’t have the bike with me yet (it's still in the UK) and would like to order the lines in advance so i can get it done as soon as it arrives in Sept. Anyone done this before? Or know the OEM lengths? Note: Diameter of disks are slightly smaller, it has 320 whilst donor bike has 330, hope this isn't an issue. I'm keeping the standard brake reservoir + master cylinder. Here's some pictures of the calipers.
What are the modifications made to those M50s as they look standard to me? They will work fine with your 320mm discs provided your bike has 100mm centres on the caliper mounts (to use them with 330mm discs spacers are placed under the caliper). Can't help with the length of lines on your HM as I don't have one. What is the piston size and ratio of your master cylinder - it is this in combination with the piston size of your calipers that determines both the braking feel and the braking force for a given amount of lever pull. For example if your bike had 34mm pistons originally you may well find that your new set up offers little feel and travel as the M50s are supplied with a much smaller master cylinder. The brakes work as a designed 'system' and replacing one component with a different sized one isn't a good idea unless you are going for a specific result and know what you're doing. Google master cylinder ratio and read up on it a bit there are loads of pages out there talking about this, probably loads on this site too. FWIW the M50s are supplied with a 16mm master cylinder whereas most other Ducatis are supplied with either an 18mm or 19mm master cylinder. If you are not careful with your design you 'could' end up with a braking system that has very little usable travel.
Hi, Thanks for your reply! So, no mods to the calipers, straight off a donor bike and so share 100mm centres. I did do a search as you suggestion… wow so much info on the net but from what I read in general people say that the ideal ratio of volume caliper to master cylinder is approx 27:1 Below I did copy and paste the general scale from another site but the calculations I did myself and hopefully I haven't made a mistake as I had to read through it a few times! General scale is: 30:1 - soft feel 27:1 - sweet spot for design 23:1 - firm feel 20:1 - wooden feel So I did 5 calculations just to see what I came up with. No.1 Standard bike M4 setup : 25.6:1 (looks pretty good on chart of course… Ducati did this made it like this!!) M4 - 34 mm piston diameter - 19mm master cylinder No.2 M50 with 19mm MC = set up I calculated : 19.9:1 M50 - 30 mm piston diameter - 19mm master cylinder No.3 M50 with 16mm MC = set up I calculated : 28.1:1 M50 - 30mm piston diameter - 16mm master cylinder No.4 M50 with 17mm MC = set up I calculated : 24.5:1 M50 - 30mm piston diameter - 17mm master cylinder No.5 M50 with 18mm MC = set up I calculated : 22.2:1 M50 - 30mm piston diameter - 18mm master cylinder ----------------- Piston size, divide it by two, then multiply it twice by 3.1416 (pie). 1a 34/2= 17 x pie x 2 = 106.8 2a 30/2= 15 x pie x 2 = 94.2 3a 30/2= 15 x pie x 2 = 94.2 4a 30/2= 15 x pie x 2 = 94.2 5a 30/2= 15 x pie x 2 = 94.2 So, to figure out what the system is, take the master cylinder divide that by two and X 3.1416 1b. 19/2=9.5 3.1416*9.5*9.5 = 283.5 sq. mm 2b. 19/2=9.5 3.1416*9.5*9.5 = 283.5 sq. mm 3b. 16/2=8 3.1416*8 *8= 201.0 sq. mm 4b. 17/2=8.5 3.1416*8.5 *8.5= 229.9 sq. mm 5b. 18/2=9 3.1416*9 *9= 254.4 sq. mm And then the same for the each of the pistons on the calipers. 1c. 3.1416 x 17 x 17 = 907.9 x8 = 7263 7263/283.5 = 25.6:1 2c. 3.1416 x 15 x 15 = 706 x8 = 5654 5654/283.5 = 19.9:1 3c. 3.1416 x 15 x 15 = 706 x8 = 5654 5654/201 = 28.1:1 4c. 3.1416 x 15 x 15 = 706 x8 = 5654 5654/229.9 = 24.5:1 5c. 3.1416 x 15 x 15 = 706 x8 = 5654 5654/254.4 = 22.2:1 So looks like i have to have use a 16 or 17mm M/C (just as you wrote!!) This was a good exercise for me, well... if i did the calculation correctly!
Anyone know the lengths of the stock front brake lines? It will save me having to completely remove the parts as they go back to the ABS unit and more time off the road.
21" for the loop over. 40" down from the master cylinder. These measurements are from the end of the fitting. I might be out slightly as its a bit difficult trying to follow the cable while its in situ. I might be out by about 5 - 10mm or so....
Guys thanks for the replies and very appreciated... but I wanted the length from the ABS unit to the front if someone has an old cable which they haven't thrown away yet then would need that measurement. Other than that it's either strip the bike (bike out of action for a few weeks...) or buy an OEM new standard one & measure that and try to take it back after measuring it or just ask Ducati to measure it for me if in stock!
