Noob with Tyre and Brake Questions.

[Big Daft Lad]

OK I’ve just bought my first FZR600 Genesis and there are a couple of questions that hopefully you guy’s will be able to answer. Sorry if these are tedious for you, be gentle with me!

1: Tyres

I’m running a 3.5” x 18” rear wheel. What size should be on there? Can I get radial tyres for it and what size? There is a 150/70 on it at the moment and it looks huge for the rim. Too big I think? Any tyre recommendations?

2: Brakes

The front brakes seem to lack feel and bite. I’ve seen a few of your bikes with the R series blue spot callipers on. Do they fit straight on or do you need new calliper carriers? My bike has the four pot callipers on it at the moment. Oh and do you use the r Series Master cylinder as well?

I think that’s all for the moment. Thanks!

[1993FZR600]

Welcome bro

[ragedigital]

You have the smaller rear. Someone will respond that should clear some things up concerning tires that will fit.

You might be better off in the long run doing the YZF swingarm like a lot have done. This will give you a lot more choices down the road due to the larger size and 17" rim.

darrin

[megaloxana]

You can use the yzf or R6 front calipers(blue ones, not gold) and they are a direct swap. Also replace the master cylinder from a yzf as this will probably give you the most improvement in braking. Run some stainless steel brakes lines too if you have some spare cash afterwards as well.

[ragedigital]

You can use the yzf or R6 front calipers(blue ones, not gold) and they are a direct swap. Also replace the master cylinder from a yzf as this will probably give you the most improvement in braking. Run some stainless steel brakes lines too if you have some spare cash afterwards as well.

While this may be true for newer models of the FZR, I do believe that he is stuck with the ones he has. I think 89-90 had to stick with what came with the bike due a diffferent fork design.

Someone with an 89-90 model needs to chime in...

[yamaha_george]

OK I’ve just bought my first FZR600 Genesis and there are a couple of questions that hopefully you guy’s will be able to answer. Sorry if these are tedious for you, be gentle with me!

1: Tyres

I’m running a 3.5” x 18” rear wheel. What size should be on there? Can I get radial tyres for it and what size? There is a 150/70 on it at the moment and it looks huge for the rim. Too big I think? Any tyre recommendations?

2: Brakes

The front brakes seem to lack feel and bite. I’ve seen a few of your bikes with the R series blue spot callipers on. Do they fit straight on or do you need new calliper carriers? My bike has the four pot callipers on it at the moment. Oh and do you use the r Series Master cylinder as well?

I think that’s all for the moment. Thanks!

BDL<
we need to know the year of the bike .
The '89 had the narrow 3.5 rim, all the others have 4" rims, what puzzles me is that the '89 had two pots (opposed front calipers) BUT you say you have 4 pot the blue spot is a direct bolt on 4 pot a swell & with the later model master cylinder (has aremote reservoir ) coupled by Stanless brake line will be a real life saver on these bikes. You can see details on my web site:-

http://www.saltmine.org.uk/fzr/project-1.html

and follow thro from that page for all the most MUST do things for the FZR before you get into customisation.

[YAM93]

For more bite on those brakes try EBC HH (sintered metal) pads, give them 250 miles and see if they aren't what you need. That will probably get you 50% there at least. You can also install (Spiegler makes both front and rear, Russell makes front only) stainless steel brake lines. The ones from Spiegler are what I used, hopefully a shop where you live can order them, they're made in Ohio, USA, I got a set last year, you can specify the exact colors you want, I got purple banjos with black lines. They come in the exact length for the FZR, so no twiddling around with "will it fit ?" ... There may be other options across the pond if they can't get them. Yamaha George can advise here. (also be sure to bleed your lines and replace brake fluid with fresh DOT 4 type, Motul RF600 is the best if you can get it) Try the new brake pads first, since you don't need to bleed the lines for that. However, brake fluid should be replaced every couple years, unless you ride a lot of miles (8,000+) then you could replace it every year. After a few years brake fluid gets full of crap, starts changing color, gets water in it, and becomes less effective.
http://www.spieglerusa.com
I just noticed on their website it only says USA and CANADA, but they carry items from Germany too, so maybe some international dealers / specialty shops can get them. If you run into a brick wall and you really would like a set, shoot me a PM and I can order them from a local shop here and mail them to you. Entire process would probably take 6 weeks though (and unfortunately I don't have PayPal) Or possibly Darrin or someone else can help you a little quicker.

I'll warn you they're pretty expensive. I think mine were $200 for both front & rear. It might actually be cheaper to find a used Master Cylinder / calipers / brake line set-up from a used R6 someone might be selling on E-bay or other sites. People here have had great success going that route.

(another thought -- I guess brake lines are like everything else now, very few big manufacturers are making items for our FZR's any more, so if you can upgrade to something from an R6, that might be the wisest choice, since, likely you'll have more options to choose from and parts will be easier to get in the future)

Welcome to the forum. (Reinforcing what Darrin said above, we need to know if your bike is a 1989 / 90 model or what, perhaps someone did a fork / brake retrofit to it before you bought it, so take some pictures and post them here, you can use the gallery to upload or photobucket etc.)

[Big Daft Lad]

Hmmm, just been out to the garage. It definately has four pot calipers on it AND a 3.5" rear rim. must be an 89 that someone has put 90> forks on.

If i got a 4" rim would i have to change anything else? and would a 150 tyre be OK with that as I see Bridgestone make sticky 090's in that size. Anyone used them? i want some good tyres as i plan to use the bike for some track day fun.

[ragedigital]

Instead of the BT-090 which I've been told requires the use of tire warmers, go with the new BT-016 which replaced the BT-014.

Do a Google search on the new BT-016 from Bridgestone. Looks very promising.

darrin

[Big Daft Lad]

Thanks Darrin, the 016 does indeed look the business. Bit pricy though. Oh well!

I think I’ll try to get a 4” rim and an R6 brake setup of e-bay and then go and have some fun on the track!

[ragedigital]

You can also get the YZF600 brake set-up - same thing. Probably cheaper.