No Savage came with drilled rotors.

I believe it is mostly for looks........Sport bikes and race bikes have it.....so I want one too.

I just drilled mine - but I will not be riding it for a few months and can't give a performance report for a while.  I also have made som many other changes......I probably won't be able to identify if the drilled rotor changed anything.

Might be a EBC disk which is a better quality disk.

wreckers always assume what came off a bike is stock, but in this case didn't see specific wording as such.

BTW: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1327803868

Total waste of time and money, no benefit whatsoever.......  
...that said, mine are drilled...
I like holes... ...

teabowl13 wrote on 01/28/13 at 20:36:53:

What size holes?

there's alot of good answers here, but to what effect is the value of drilled rotors besides the cool factor? From my truckdriver training, early love of automotive tech and science, I can do a tad more than speculate.

Everything has a flash point even rocks. Two surfaces subjected to rubbing together cause friction. Friction produces heat and heat will accellerate wear and composition break down. Thats the basic science portion.

On big rig trucks, their brakes are the weak link in the system. To stop the large masses forward momentum, the brakes apply resistance. Not only does this resistance cause heat, it degrades resistance quickly as expansion occurs. Not only that, but the braking material will liquify under hard braking just before the flash point is met. If flash point and liquified point are controlled before they happen, extreme heat is generated. A metalurgical occurance happens called Martinizing, which alters the metal and causes heat checks (very small cracks) and metal weakening to develop
This is an extreme version for motorcycle brakes, but the principles apply, sport bikes came out with drilled rotors first for this very reason.

Now for our little cruiser. For those in the big cities where stop and go traffic exists, heavy braking happens. Since the bike isn't rolling down the roads at a good clip, the rotors do not have the time to cool off fully (try grabbing your rotor bare handed after going across town). The stock rotors mass/thickness is increased for structural integrity to counter city driving and breaking heat build up.

EBCs drilled rotors are thinner, lighter and they shed the heat faster in low speed usage than stock. Having your stock rotors drilled (correcttly) will aid in heat dissapation at low speeds (also reduce a little mass, lightening the rotor weight). The added benifit is water shedding between the pads and rotor (reduces hydroplaning of the pads on the rotor). This is seen on slotted and fluted brake rotors.

You have to remember these bikes are the low line bikes now, designed for economy and city commuting where the occasional express way is encountered. They are made to be fast enough for city driving, but have to be upgraded in critical areas, such as brakes for use beyond this.

Some of you may say BS, but hey, thats your take on it.

Serowbot wrote on 01/28/13 at 17:03:29:


Bot nailed it, I think.  MOST of what we do to our bikes is because we want to and we like it.

At least that is what I tell my wife.

Best answer, short, sweet, to the point.

spacepirates wrote on 01/29/13 at 06:28:52: