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Old 22 Mar 2011
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Cast Iron or stainless
My BMW GSA1150 has a set of cast iron disk brakes.
Why?
Are they better in some way, lighter, cheaper.

I still have the original stainless and so I suppose I can put them back on but why would someone want to have rusty cast iron brake disks?
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Old 22 Mar 2011
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Were the original stainless disks damaged or bent in anyway?

Can't see why you'd want inferior disks from my point of view, but maybe I'm missing some key piece of information... I'll put this out to any 1150 gurus that care to shed some light.
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Old 22 Mar 2011
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The only thing wrong with rusty cast iron discs is they don't look very good, until you put the brake on and clean them, I am not sure about actual braking performance compared to the originals on an 1150 but my R80GS stops better particularly in the wet with cast iron. They are cheaper than the originals and last longer.
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Old 23 Mar 2011
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Cast brake disks are superior to SS in stopping ability, but are softer and do not last as long as SS. Cast discs have a higher coefficient of friction, therefor improved stopping ability and better feel. Race bikes use cast. I personally have replaced the SS disk on my old GS with a cast replacement from EBC, much better braking in stock form.
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Old 23 Mar 2011
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Cast iron discs presents no surprices. They act the same way dry, wet and cold. All my bikes have Motorworks cast iron-discs - BMW factory/original discs on /7 are crap; they warp, crack and bend: this does not happen to the cast iron discs.

Downside - cast iron disc do rust... ss tents not to rust...

I choose the better braking over the better look, since I -use- my bikes.
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Old 23 Mar 2011
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Stainless is purely cosmetic, it is in most other ways inferior to cast iron.

You would want an inferior stainless disk if your bike was sat in a display case, kept in the garage 50 weeks a year or was sat in a dealers showroom. The only way to make it more inferior is the Honda approach of coating a steel disk in chrome (a lubricant!).

If you ride you want cast iron. Don't forget to change the pads at the same time, while it doesn't make a huge difference off the race track, pads designed for stainless disks loose some of the CI's performance.

Andy
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