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Anyone ever do a full floating rear brake on a shaft drive?

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by Holeshot, Aug 10, 2011.

  1. Holeshot

    Holeshot Member

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    I did the search thing .... nada.

    I've been goofing with the idea of converting my wife's 82 XJ650J to a full floating rear brake assy. Wouldn't take a whole lot of doin' to get it done, there's a spot for a new mount for the brake stay right on the frame near the centerstand mounts. Fab a small bracket and weld it to the frame, make a new/longer brake stay arm .. done.

    Yea yea .. whatever. Right? Point?

    My issue is this: After doing some basic geometry on this idea, it seems like a full floating rear brake would help a shaft drive bike out as much (if not moreso) than on a chain drive bike. A shaft drive bike is already trying to wrap the swingarm so that the frame squats when the throttle is shut off. The non-floating rear brake just aggravates that issue even more, adding even more rotational torque into the mix.

    Seems like a full floater would reduce rear squat and chatter. Entering a turn a gear higher than usual and applying a bit of (full floating) rear brake helps reduce frame squat by a LOT on these shaft driven beasties .. at least from my own trials. You want to reduce the amount of *brake horsepower* used and try to compensate with rear brake instead (which doesn't work unless the rear brake is floating and not prying on the swingarm in the exact same manner that the rear drive unit does when the throttle is closed and applying BHP).

    Anything to keep that swingarm from "wrapping" and squatting the rear of the frame like it does. Y'know?

    So it all makes sense. However motorcycles sometimes do not make sense. So the reason I'm asking about a full floating rear brake on a shaft drive is that there may be some geometric oddness that I've not taken into consideration that makes using a full floating rear brake a ~no no~ on a shaft drive. So ... is there?

    Just asking ...

    Thx!
     

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