Takin' a brake

Early on, during the design portion of the build process, the desicion was made to run a newer style Sportster front end for several different reasons.  The newer Sportster front end would allow for the use of sealed bearings, matched right up with the "lane splitter" look we were going for, and would allow for the use of Biltwell's Keystone handlebars which marry up perfectly to the narrow trees from Chassis Design!  After scoring a smokin' deal on Craigslist on a 2003 Sportster front end, it wasn't long before I discovered that finding a brake caliper to work with the front end wasn't gonna be so easy.  I contacted several different brake manufacturers and almost all of them said the same thing... that I couldn't run a caliper on a late model Sportster lower leg with a custom spoke front wheel.  The problem was that the back side of the caliper would rub against the spokes at the hub as the wheel rotated... not good!  The closest I could get was one company who said they made a "thinner" caliper that would work with my application, however the bracket that it came with was for a pre-'99 setup not a '03... which obviously didn't help me much.

I remembered meeting Kevin from Fabricator Kevin's and talking with him about some custom brackets I might need for the build, so I figured I'd contact him and see if he had a solution for me.  Much to my amazement he already manufactured a part that fit my exact application.  Basically the setup is a Tokico floating front brake caliper with a custom bracket that "moves" the caliper out and away from the hub area of the wheel.  According to Kevin, I shouldn't experience any clearance issues whatsoever.  And lemme tell you, this guy knows his stuff!

Unfortunately I haven't had time mock things up so once again, I'm afraid you'll just have to stay tuned...