I recently undertook to sort out the brakes on the Skorpion, not that
they didn't work but rather they worked in two modes: on and off.
I decided to attempt a swap for Brembos which have a reputation for
being better quality than the OME Grimica items. So I bought a set of
gold calipers off a Cagiva Mito, the front is a straight swap but the
rear is not and would require a new carrier as the mountings are
closer on the Brembo than the OME caliper. I bought a master cylinder
and lever for the front off a KTM Duke and a Ducati rear master
cylinder. The KTM item didn't fit as the clamps for the clipons get
in the way and the cylinder won't seat on the handlebar. The Ducati
rear requires a longer actuation pin than the Grimica as the plunger
is deeper inside the body, as it turned out mine (bought on ebay) was
faulty and so had to be re-replaced with the OME item.
The original rear having been thoroughly bled works much better and
it was an opportunity to lower the pedal making things much more
ergonomic and therefore useable.
The front caliper was cheap and has made the braking nicely
progressive even with the OME master cylinder. The rear of course
will now just clutter up my shed.
In summary: if your front brake is really savage as mine was then a
swap for the Brembo is worthwhile. With this proviso: according to
importers in the UK Brembo no longer provide seal kits for calipers
after 1990 so if you get one second hand and it doesn't work then in
all likelihood you have bought a lump of scrap.
Verdict: if it is the caliper that has improved the braking and not
the bleeding then it is a worthwhile mod, otherwise with hindsight I
wouldn't bother.
Stephen
