The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: Rodeogeo on June 12, 2017, 09:45:51 PM
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I picked up an R65LS a month ago that has a warped front rotor or two. The previous owner bought it from someone that had let it sit for years and was trying to get it up and running. The previous owner replaced the front brake calipers with new ATE calipers. I'm guessing the old calipers were hanging up and heated the rotors which caused them to warp.
The dilemma is I'm trying not to spend the $370 for each rotor that I can see on several BMW sites parts fiches.
I did some research and EBC rotors seem to be a popular choice. I went to their site and they recommended Perfect Brakes Inc. to get my rotors in the states. That site listed MD606RS and MD606LS for a R65LS. Those rotors have the correct width and bolt spacing but they are 1.935" (49.1mm) deep and the BMW rotors I pulled off are 1.485" (37.7mm) wide. The rotors hit the forks...
I contacted Perfect brakes and did some research on the EBC UK catalog. EBC lists MD606 for the Brembo caliper R65LS and MD605 for the R65LS (doesn't list caliper type). Perfect Brakes sent me the MD605 rotors and they are too wide, a bit too shallow and have four bolts to the wheel instead of five. Perfect Brakes has been great to deal with but I want to get this bike running!
Does anybody know the correct EBC front rotor parts number?
Do I have a Frankenbike? I doubt that since the original rotors do fit (its stamped BMW, AlSi10Cu2, 1231343, 3.11 on the center piece).
Should I have just bought the factory rotors?
Thanks!
Jay
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Can you transfer the new "disc" to your old "hat?" As an aside, my '82 LS had Brembos...
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The LS bikes have, or should have the composite wheels, which are wider at the hub than the snowflake wheel, so the depth of the disc carrier is not as deep as the rotors for the snowflake wheel .
I went through this about 10 years ago .
Got the wrong discs the first time .
Can't find the receipt for the discs right now .
You could opt for a rebuild of the rotors, to semi floating type .
https://spieglerusa.com/brakes/brake-rotors/bmw-conversion-old-models.html
https://spieglerusa.com/brakes/brake-rotors/bmw-conversion-old-models/year/1981.html
If you have the OEM rubber brake lines, time to replace them as well .
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Brake lines are all new. The EBC rotor mounts to the hat much differently than the BMW rotor.
I do have the "snowflake" wheels.
Here's a picture of the original rotor and the first one EBC sent me:
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The Spiegler conversion looks nice but it's getting close to the new rotors from BMW (which might not be the right ones either).... But it'd certainly fit!
Thanks for all the help!
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To the best of my knowledge all R65LS's came with dual discs using Brembo calipers. 1981 R65's had an option of dual disks with ATE calipers. According to the Max BMW parts fiche the rotors have different part numbers pn 34 11 236 566 for the ATE caliper dual disk and pn 34 11 236 005 for the Brembo dual disk. Don't know if that is the source of the width issues you are having but I do know that the rotors that fit a snowflake wheel are considerably shallower that the rotors that fit a R65LS "Y" spoke wheel and are not interchangeable.
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Just rereading your initial post I noticed the four bolt rotor mention. They are for post 1984 wheels and would fit a mono shock R65 which uses a different frame/fork combination that the dual shock models. Wheels are more closely sized to the K series bikes.
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Send us a picture of that front end. I want to eyeball the ATE equipped, Snowflake wheeled 82 LS........ your serial number too so we can see how your bike started it's life.......
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Very early production LS' had dual ATE calipers. Mine does. They later switched to the brembos
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I have two NOS set of Galfer "Green" pads for your ATE calipers if you are in need... they don't fit my LS equipped with Brembo calipers and I would let them go for a song
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I'll send a picture of the bike, wheels and also post the serial number when I get home. I have put several miles on the bike before I pulled the rotors so I know the ATE calipers and the rotors "work". Thanks for the replies!
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Just looked up snowflake wheels on the internet and I might not have them after all...
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Here's a few pictures of composite and snowflake wheels and the difference between the rotors .
First LS composite wheel .
Spiegler conversion rotor .
Brembo caliper .
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Picture of the rotor on a composite wheel .
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Snowflake wheel .
ATE calpier .
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Rotor on a snowflake wheel .
This is an EBC semi-floating rotor .
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From the picture you have of your used rotor, you have a composite wheel .
A note about the Spiegler conversion, they can be rebuilt, order just a rotor and the attachment parts .
https://spieglerusa.com/brakes/brake-rotors/spare-parts/page/2.html
I have a set of Spiegler rotors on the '82 LS .
As a another note, the caliper has no influence on the rotor, the ATE and Brembo calipers are interchangeable .
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Another shot of the snowflake wheel rotor .
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It does look like the EBC rotor is for the snowflake wheels, and that they basically forgot all about the composite "Y" wheels that are used on the LS models. The EBC website says fitment for 80-85 R65 "all models", but it really should say "snowflake wheels", I think.
IIRC, someone may have found a way to get the EBC rotors without the carriers, and install them on the original LS carriers - but I cannot find the thread...
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Bob_Roller.. Thanks for the pics! It looks like I have the snowflake wheels after all. The hat's on the rotors look too deep compared to my original hat-rotor set up in your photo.
The depth between the hat mounting surfaces on the wheel is 2.64"
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Here's a pic of the calipers. They are new, but one or two of the bolts is rusting... Might need to replace the Home Depot bolts
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No, you have composite wheels .
Consistent with the wheels that came from the factory on the LS version bikes .
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The serial number for my R65LS is WB103650XC6370597. Here's a picture of the front end and the model plate. I do need a garage...
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Front end
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That is definitely a "Y" spoke wheel and not a snowflake wheel.
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That's what I get for glancing through the posts quickly. Obviously not a snowflake wheel.
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Are you sure you ordered/received the correct rotors? I have EBC rotors on my '82 LS (with Brembo's) and the offset is around 1.5", not 2". There is a small "602" stamped on both of the carriers, although I don't know if that is a partial part number or not. I would think that the offset of the ATE and Brembo calipers would be similar and that they would both use the same rotors.
From my research, your best options for rotors are EBC or to have your factory rotors converted by Speigler. There may also be another option available in parts of Europe by a sub brand of EBC, but I could not find a way to buy them stateside, nor can I remember the brand name, but my recollection is that they were about half the cost of the EBC rotors.
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MisterPepper! I think you solved the dilemma! When you search the EBC catalog or vendor sites for R65LS rotors they direct you to the MD606 rotors. I can't believe that I didn't look on the left side of the page that lists the rotors for the R65LS and there's the R65LS listed again with MD602 rotors!
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Wow, that's confusing! I'm glad I was able to help. It looks like EBC screwed up in their catalog and listed the R65 LS twice. Luckily I ended up with the correct rotors when I replaced mine last year. For the record I've been happy with my EBC's, running the EBC organic pads I think. Much less pulsing and noise than stock and they seem to wear great (as in I can't tell that they have really worn at all in ~3k miles). I was tempted to go with the Speiglers, mainly because the second time I needed new rotors would be less expensive since all the machining would have been done already, but I don't ride a lot and the second time I would need rotors might be 20 years away, so it didn't make sense to spend the extra money now on the conversion.
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I'll certainly keep the original rotors if I need to replace them again with Spieglers in 20 years
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I went through this getting EBC rotors for my '81 R65, snowflake wheels, in March, 2007 .
From the posting of the EBC catalog, they have not changed it since I had my issue with it . >:(
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I finally got the MD602 rotors on Tuesday. The MD602 are supposedly discontinued but they had some at the UK factory. Perfect fit and now my bike stops properly!
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Good information, that the rotors are no longer available from EBC, not many available options, if you need a set .