Tokico 6 pots

[dusty350]

Hi
I got some Tokico 6 pot calipers in amongst some spares with the 385 Lc, and wondered if anyone was using them on their bike ? Probably overkill I know, but they bolt straight on to the Rgv/Gsxr forks and look pretty trick, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that they lacked feel ? Not sure if that's correct. I would need to buy pads for them so wondered if it's worth replacing the standard Rgv calipers already fitted.



Dusty

[muttsnuts]

just fitted some to a hybrid for somebody, thye are awesome, but a right bast*rd to bleed !

[JonW]

I have em on my LC421. I hated bleeding them and never really liked them... until I used a 14mm master cylinder. Thats only part of the story tho, they are not easy to bleed and seemed to have horrible lever travel when shifting the bike in the garage, but on the move they are really strong and a good caliper. On my next build Im using natty Brembos but thats cos I had em... my view on these is that if you can clean em up for little money (buying and swapping 12 pistons and gets old very quickly) I would use em since you have em. Are they better the OEM 4pots... dunno, never used them, flogged em on before the bike was built, there was something cooler about using 6pots as i could...er, LOL! HTH.

Saw Mutts posted the same bleeding story whilst I was LOL! I put a lot of fluid thru em before I changed my master cyl from a lovely radial GSXR100 to the ugly old conventional Nissin 14mm... but, hey it worked much better... I did try a smaller brembo radial from an R1 that had 6pots on it as well, but I didnt like that either... get the 14mm, it was much better feeling than the 5/8 I had on there for a while as well.. damn reading that back I can see that I worked hard on these... haha!

[muttsnuts]

Hi Jon, yes I am, going through that pain at the moment, trying to find a suitable master cylinder that works well, way too much travel at the moment, only plus side is that I have a vacuum bleeder so its not such a pian to do, just had several attempts at getting a lever before realising it wasn't that they weren't bleed, it was just the master cylinder was no good for the calipers !

[JonW]

I feel for ya mate, and Im glad I dont live closer or you'd have me nipping round I bet LOL! I also have a vac bleeder... Dusty you need one with these, and to be honest they make any brake work much more pleasurable, plus you can use em yp vac test your engine... Anyway, I also did the same thing Mutts! Someone once explained that if you think of a small amount of movement that needs to be taken up by each piston that doesnt quite touch the pad and then press it onto the disk... now times that by say half the recalcitrant 12 you have and you see why they need to be in good condition and all functioning well. Ive found that if you push them out a bit and then press back on the pad before fitting it helps get them 'on the pad' (Can I even say that on a forum without Ravedaddy as username? LOL!) a bit better. Anyway, even with half working they are great, trust me with all 12 you will need to use caution when braking.

[muttsnuts]

yeah, I am waiting for a master cylinder to come, think its a 14mm, anyway, I'll soon find out !, they are working, but as you say, the lever goes nearly all the way back to the throttle grip before they bite !

[Yogi]

Got them on my hybrid and there brilliant,if I remember rightly I'm using a gsxr600 master on it

[midlifecrisisrd]

Using them on my 385 with gazer master cylinder

No excessive lever travel and bled easy using a vacuum pump.

Absolutely f*cking awesome! Can pop your fillings out

I found worn discs were the biggest issue with feel. Started with gsxr 400 discs that were slightly marked and we're a bit wooden. Fitted galfer discs and they were transformed

Steve

[dusty350]

Hi
Cheers for the replies fellas. There is nothing wrong with the Rgv 4 pots I have fitted at the mo, but as I had these spare I wondered if they were worth the effort - sounds like they might be I hate bleeding brakes at the best of times so a vac bleeder will be on my list when I get round to bleeding them.
Thanks again.

Regards

Dusty

[JonW]

Interesting about the disks, I changed my worn ones at one poit for better OEM RGV ones and youre right it did help the feel. picky little suckers perhaps. LOL

[yazza54]

I had these on my old NC30, very good but renowned for needing looking after but I hazard a guess these aren't the kinda bikes that are gonna be left out in the elements!

[dusty350]

Haha
No, mine live in a carpeted, centrally heated garage ! In fact, due to the small size of the garage and the large double radiator, it's the warmest/hottest room in the house. I come home and find my missus has put the clothes airer in there in the winter months - what is she thinking !! I was considering getting the calipers vapour blasted for a different finish - still thinking about that.

Dusty

[1966baz]

Been using them on my tuned zx7r for the last 15 years and have definitely got me out of a couple of situations. The only thing I would say is there is a bit more work servicing them with 12 pistons etc.

[frosti]

I used them on my GSXR 1255 turbo with the original 5/8" master,,and after bleeding (not to much hassle) they start braking BEFORE the microswitch for the brakelight clicks,,they were awesome i think.
Used original GSXR 750 -95 discs, 310 mm.
Cheers.

[JonW]

I was talking to LB the other day when he was here about these brakes and we both noticed I had put back on the R1's 16mm radial Brembo master cylinder onto the bike with the 6pots, so Im not running the 14mm GSXR master anymore. oops... my memory's failing me... lol. The 14mm went on my other bike with brembo 4pots... and thats another story, and yes they or nicer/stronger/better looking (LO!) but also were lot more spendy of course! Anyway, LB and I agreed the brakes on my LC are pretty awesome (he was comparing to his N1, so 'at least better than standard', er...! hahaha, so i think if you can find an R1 radial master from the 6 pot radial brake setup, 2007/8 i think, then Im pretty happy with mine. FYI the master looks like this:

[dusty350]

Cheers for that Jon. I've got an Rgv master cylinder at the mo - may try that first but I will keep an eye on ebay for an R1 radial too.

Cheers

Dusty

[looey]

Got em on my GSXR1000 and they are well up to the job stopping that.

Like has been said, they need looking after if used in all weathers and quite interesting at rebuild time

When I researched rebuilding mine, I found out that it's nearly always the outer dust seal that causes the seizing problems and indeed on mine the dust seals were starting to come out and jamming the pistons. A couple of places that offered a rebuild service said that they leave the dust seals out but I did mine myself and fitted them

I rebuilt mine with all genuine seals about 4 years ago and they are still perfect .

[JonW]

Also worth knowing is that there are two types... one with a set of smaller pistons like shown above and one with all the same size... they work the same.

[russie]

Dusty. Your timing was immaculate with this thread. I've just been contemplating what brakes to use on my hybrid build. I'm using a VJ22 front end so these may well be an option.

[JonW]

This is what I fitted to my other VJ22 front end - adaptors from trc0809 (or similar) on ebay:



I would say the 6pots are 90% of what these are and for the price you cant argue.

[steeley]

yes I have recently had a look at a mates tokico four pot caliper and there was a lot of white crud in the dust seal housing .I have often wondered why these areas were not anodized.