I still haven't had time to install my $29.99 rear wave rotor yet, but I took a few pics for those interested in the cheap knockoffs. Guys on the Blackbird forum love them

 

Well my one friend who raved about them now is a bit unstoked as his are warped. His are full floating though, unlike ours.

More info to come. It could be a different issue entirely.

 

Full floating rotors main advantage is to allow thermal expansion without "coning" Coning is where the rotor warps due to heat, mainly at the outer edge.

There is an F2 on page 47 of the media section. Shows a Repsol paint job bike with the wave rotors on it. They look like they have much less material than the stockers. Kind of looks too light weight. The bike has a stock rear disc. Looks beefy by comparison.

The rears in these pictures show a wear limit of 4.5mm. Honda specs 4.8mm as minimum on theirs. Corporate liability safety net? Racers used to thin their discs for AMA supersport, but would replace them if they warped.

So, thinner and with more cut outs = less weight = less gyroscopic force to overcome = quicker handling, but....less material to withstand warping. Brakes function by converting energy to heat by friction. Over and over and over.

 

FYI, that's a Blackbird rotor not an F2. The pics are just to show what the rotors look like (the company makes the same basic rotor for a lot of models). Both my Haynes manual and the Honda service manual give the min. thickness for the stock Blackbird rotor as 4.0 mm, so the service limit on the wave rotor is actually more conservative than stock.

 

upon closer inspection of the pics on pg 47, it looks like the bike has the Galfer wave rotors. They are more cut out than the pics of the ebay rotors. Both sites say that their discs are 5 mm thick and made of 420 stainless steel.

The service limit i was quoting was from my Honda F2 manual, for the front rotors. They get the most workout, so maybe honda was being more conservative back in 91. The rear rotor for the F2 is probably the same as the Blackbird. It got used a lot in Honda's lineup.

The ebay rotors have less cut out on the inner run of the discs. My initial skepticism was based upon the lightweight appearance of the Galfer versions. Haven't heard any negative feedback about Galfers, so all things considered, the ebay versions might be a good deal after all. Guess I'll have to try a set. Maybe.

 

The full floaters for my ZZR were thicker and heavier than stock. The first thing I noticed was the gyroscopic effect. The second thing was that they stopped heaps better.

 

Not even close to the same rotor -- F2 rear is 218 mm disc (single piston caliper), XX is 256 mm (3 piston caliper). Service limit for the stock XX front rotors is also 4.0 mm. Not sure what the spec is on the ebay fronts for the bird.

One guy on the XX forum also has these Arashis front and rear on his Busa with no issues. And another guy has trouble with stock rotors warping repeatedly within a week of installation. Obviously the rotors weren't the problem . . . not surprising, a brake rotor is about as simple as a modern manufactured item gets. Barring massive design defects or defective materials, there isn't much that can go wrong with one. I work at a place that does a high volume of cnc machining, and you wouldn't believe how cheap something like a brake rotor is to produce when you have the equipment set up and get the raw materials at industrial volume prices. There's nothing magic about Galfer (or Pazzo, or <insert name of vastly overpriced stuff that's getting owned by knockoffs>) that makes it worth the exorbitant price. They just charged what the market would bear when there wasn't much competition.

 

I installed these ebay Arashi rotors about a month or so ago and have been waiting before I posted. I have them on a 2002 CBR F4i with Goodridge SS lines and Vesrah RJL pads. I track my bike... I havent had these on the track yet which is where Ive been wanting to test them but Ive done some very spirited street riding with them... I did the pads,rotors, and lines all at the same time running Motul DOT 4 Race fluid... As I was braking them all in, I pulled my first stoppie lol. Now that its been a while, they have not warped on me yet (that seems to be the only complaint.) Still strong braking power but now Ive decided to upgrade my master cylinder as I still want more initial bite. For the price, I say go for them and give them a shot. For me it was either these or Galfers and I certainly cant afford the Galfers... I wouldnt say these are as good as Galfers but better than OEM. At the same time being chinese stuff, every set could act differently on different bikes. SOme may experience the warping but as of now I have not. Give them a try, its not like breaking the bank if they do end up failing... Just my 2c...