Bolt-on brake upgrade

[scottly]

The stock Honda front caliper has two 30mm pistons. V65 Honda's used 32mm pistons, which will fit directly onto the FT caliper bracket.
In the rear the stock FT caliper has 27mm pistons (at least mine does, even though the manual says they are 30mm?) The front right-side calipers from several '82-'85 Honda's, such as the 650SC, are 30mm, and will fit directly onto the FT rear caliper bracket.
All the 30mm calipers I've seen are marked 30, as well as the 32mm calipers I sourced from a junkyard, but the stock 27mm rear caliper wasn't marked, and I found at least one unmarked 25mm caliper while rummaging through a pile of calipers at the junkyard.

[J6G1Z]

Look forward to hearing more about this upgrade.

I need to either rebuild or replace the rear master on my FT. I have a rear master from a CBR600, but I believe the piston bore is a larger diameter. I'm thinking about trying it out to see how well it works.

J.

[scottly]

Hey John, the stock rear MC is 14mm, IIRC.
I did a test ride with the 32mm front caliper between the recent thunderstorms, and I'm pleased with the results so far. There is a noticeable increase in the hand lever travel, as would be expected given the larger caliper, but this isn't an issue.
On a side note, I also fitted a Shorai battery that I had used on my SOHC 750, and found the starter seemed to work more reliably than previous lead-acid batteries; in the past, the starter would occasionally do the common FT "turn for one revolution then spin freely" thing.