On a recent tyre change, I put a vernier caliper on my front discs to discover that they were below minimum spec. One was 4.25mm and the other was 4.23mm. Minimum is 4.5mm Now I wasn't too worried that they were going to explode or anything but I started looking around at the possibilities. Wavey, Galfer and EBC discs were coming in quite expensive. So I was tempted by some eBay Chinese discs, here: Full SET Brake Rotor FOR Ducati 900 907 916 944 992 996 | eBay They would have worked out at about eur220 delivered. Then someone on another forum pointed me to http://www.blackshadow-uk.co.uk/Ducati.html For 30yoyos more, I could get a pair of front disks. A quick bit of Googling found that apart from all out racing (for which they are not design), the Blackshadows had an excellent reputation. I got in contact and the guy there was very good in communication and I ordered a full floating set, with black carriers. They arrived promptly and were better than described. The quality looks superb. I got a set of EBC HH pads and fitted the lot, with new fluid and a clean and grease of calipers with Castrol Red Rubber Grease. The old ones came off pretty easily and apart from a minor rub of the disks studs on the speed drive, which sorted itself out after the first run, it all went together very easily and without issue. The olds ones were very worn between the carrier bobbin mounts and the disks. There was a mil or two of movement between the carrier and the disk, which was a bit worrying. I took it for a spin afterwards and it was cold, wet and miserable. So after a good 25 miles or so of stop start riding, the pads were only just beginning to bed in with the disks. The 20 miles of motorway to work this morning was a better experience as heavy congestion meant a lot of filtering, and braking which got more reassuring with every mile. They look the business and when they are finally bedded in properly, should outlast the bike! All in all, I'm pretty happy. A
Bit of an update: After taking quite a while to bed in, all in all about 500 miles, I am very impressed by these discs. The EBC HH pads would judder slightly on initial contact but then began to grip. But even though there is a noticeable grindy sort of feeling as the pads contact the discs, when they bite properly that goes away. Now that it is all bedded in, the stopping power is very strong, builds consistently and feels very good. There is now a noticeable grip pattern on the discs but I am slightly concerned about how long the HH pads will last as I suspect that the wavey pattern will eat them Not to mention the temptation to pull stoppies at every opportunity. A
I have some of these fitted to my SS project, I have not tried them in anger as it is still in the build stage but they are great quality. Yorkie
