1989 front brake upgrade

[DougK109]

Hi all! First post.. My wife has, as you can guess, an 89 200. It has a single piston caliper. Does anyone know if a later two piston caliper from another KDX will bolt up with no mods? I assume I need master cylinder and all, different amount of juice being sent. Any info would be great!! I did try searching before posting, couldn’t find directly what I was looking for. I don’t have a KDX myself yet, am going to be on the lookout soon.

[KDXGarage]

Hi. Welcome to kdxrider. As best I remember, the mounting locations are different between the 2 piston calipers and the single piston caliper.

Since the brake was made in 1988, that puts it at 35 years old. A rebuild might help it out.

[SS109]

There are no two piston calipers that just bolt on to the best of my knowledge. Of course, if you have access to a milling machine you could make an adapter to bolt on about any caliper you like. Another way to gain an upgraded front brake is to do a front fork swap and use the brakes that fit the donor forks/wheel.

That said, why do you feel the need for an upgraded front brake? Like KDXGarage said, the system is old so doing some upgrades to what you have will do wonders. Running a good aggressive brake pad compound, along with a modern stainless steel braided hose, will make the KDX's front brake work extremely well.

[DougK109]

I was hoping for good bang for the buck. I do happen to have a mill, machinist on the side. I am taking the bike all apart this winter and was hoping to upgrade to a newer caliper while I was there. I just might get one and give it a try. We are not racing at all. I didn’t want to change forks for our riding. Thanks for the info though.

[SS109]

I was hoping for good bang for the buck. I do happen to have a mill, machinist on the side. I am taking the bike all apart this winter and was hoping to upgrade to a newer caliper while I was there. I just might get one and give it a try. We are not racing at all. I didn’t want to change forks for our riding. Thanks for the info though.

Well, just an FYI, the '95 and newer KDX's came with a two piston caliper from the factory. They won't just bolt straight on but it should be fairly easy to make/modify the bracket to fit it. I used the stock master cylinder from my '90 KDX with the later two piston caliper and it worked perfectly.

[jakeslouw]

Almost sounds easier just to upgrade to a later and better set of forks.

[SS109]

Almost sounds easier just to upgrade to a later and better set of forks.

Maybe. A simple plate, with correct offset, with four drilled and tapped holes is all that is needed to make another caliper bolt on. Many modern bikes use a bracket adapter like this to mount the caliper so that the manufacturer can easily change calipers and/or forks yet still keep using one of the two.