Get it while you can:

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1391549028

ShawnRYCA who builds the Big Brake kits is not a part of RYCA.  His name is Shawn, and he once had a RYCA Cafe' bike before it got totaled by a car.  He uses RYCAShawn as his forum name.

The only part in the kit that is specially made from scratch is the bracket to adapt the caliper to the fork.  The caliper is one from a big Japanese motorcycle companies, and they are readily available new or used.  (The squids that own the donor bikes like to crash and total a lot of good bikes.....so there is a good supply).  Brake pads can be purchased off the shelf at almost any bike shop.

The big rotor is also from a big Japanese bike.....with a small amount of machining.

Parts will be easy to get.......except for the adapter that is only available from Shawn.

I have ridden on my big brake from Shawn all year....and it works really well.  I think it looks fine, and I seriously doubt that I will ever wear the rotor out.

Unless you have access to a machine shop or want to change front ends on the bike......you don't have too much to choose from.

I got the RycaShawn brake kit last week.
I haven't had time to fit it yet.

What I can say though, is that the product is top quality.

Also, Shawn has been a pleasure to deal with, answering all my questions and more, and shipping to the UK wasn't a problem.

Honda-redrider wrote on 10/09/15 at 07:17:19:


The Brake Rotor is from a production bike, and any machine shop can easily make the change to the production rotor that is needed.  I really can't see anyone wearing this rotor out on a Savage...the bike just isn't heavy enough and doesn't go fast enough to put any thermal stress on this big rotor.....we are not riding a 175 mph sport bike, a muscle bike, or a big heavy touring bike.  If you do track events on your Savage....maybe you could wear a disc out - but you will never do it on the street.

The caliper is from a production sport bike, and is reliable and easily replaceable, as are the pins, pads, etc.

The only 2 special parts are the aluminum adapter, and the modified stock disc used as the brake center....not sure what you are going to do to break them.  Let's say the bike is crashed and they are damaged....well that means you either get replacements from Shawn if he still makes them, or you have your machine shop duplicate them - or you end up exactly where you are now - with the stock brake and a desire to have something better.

Obviously you are not going to be one of Shawn's clients - but for a lot of us it is has proven to be an excellent choice, at a bargain price, and the best brake we will ever have on the front of our Savage.  The "what if I wear out or need" issue has not been a problem for me, as I know where the disc and caliper have come from, and I can get a replacement very easily.  And if it proves I can't get replacement parts in the future........I most likely will have gotten years of service out of the kit and not regret the price I paid for the kit.  

The rotor is from a bike similar to the GSXR that you mentioned - but it is not GSXR and it is readily available.  Unless you get careless and wear out your pads and do some metal pads on metal disc stops - most likely you will never need a replacement.

I switched the original factory pads to EBC organic pads so I could be easy on the rotor disc, and they are working very well and provides smooth, predictable braking.




 

Drestakil,
You got me there...

Honestly, with the exception of the cam chain tensioner these are a solid little bike.  I bought mine from my brother in law as a gas saver and was pretty surprised that I actually liked it.  My first road bike was a CBR 600 and once I bought my first liter bike I swore I'd never buy another smaller bike.  Two years later I find myself still riding this thing (well up untill about three month ago) and still enjoy it, I just have that itch to customize it, rather make it mine.  With that said, I have a different tank for it and some other parts however the brakes were something I never liked, obviously going from a twin disc sport bike brake it is understandable why.  I'm not trying to make some kind of sport bike out of this 650 however I have a slew of sport bike parts and brake rotors and calipers are just some of the parts so if I could use them it would be great.  

I wasn't trying to start an argument here or anything like that, I more than anything was wanting other savage/s40 owner opinions on options.