In case anyone is interested in improving braking performance on the "street" here's my experience with the EBC brake upgrade - I wish I had done it sooner. Of course it doesn't change the mushy braking feeling but it allows you stop more quicly. Before this when riding on the street and moving with some speed (40+) it was sometimes scary how long it would take to stop, say coming up to a light. Now I can stop with confidence. I haven't tried it on the dirt yet but I don't foresee any issues. I imagine the floating rotor and the wave pattern will really help in long descents. Pictures are below. I got the 280mm disc (vs. the stock 260). It's a floating rotor too. There was a 320 upgrade option but I figured that would be overkill on dirt and it's more exposed to being damaged. Comes with a relocating caliper bracket (gold piece) and is a direct replacement for the stock piece. What's cool is it retains the stock speedo. All I had to do was remove the magnet from the stock rotor and JB-weld it inside one of the buttons. And the speed reading was spot on. That was a nice touch by EBC. The package did not come with any documentation but it was pretty easy to figure out - there are only 2 parts after all. I got this from Perfectbrakes.com (the only official online re-seller for EBC in the US).
That's cool- thanks for posting. I've not been dissatisfied w/ the TE's brakes, once I changed the pads (I think I went w/ EBC pads, if I'm recalling correctly.) I'll be curious to hear of the longer term results on your set up- two things. First, I tend to be a hard front braker so tires end up w/ angled/cupped knobs...I'd think this would exacerbate that on a knobbie or DS tire. Second would be the increased force (tire to rim) and need for a bead lock...doesn't look as though you run one on the front (nor do I, but I leave the lock down nut of the tube stem spun up against the valve cap for fear my over zealous front braking on the pavement causes a tire slip thus a stem shear.) I like the idea of a floater and if I get the sense to use a more road oriented DS tire then I'd be interested in doing this. I ride more pavement than I thought I would so need to be smarter on my next tire selection. Thanks for posting.
EricV: No bead lock - I run high tire pressures on the street so I'm not too concerned. I air down once I get to dirt but never below 17lbs PSI (I don't want pinch flats). pinocono: One of the first things I did with my TE630 was to swap out the stock pads with HH-Sintered pads from EBC. It definitely was better than stock but I thought it was still lacking on the street. For this go around, I replaced the pads with the same kind. I also have the Motocross Race pads from EBC that I didn't want to try it yet - I wanted to give the normal sintered+rotor upgrade a chance. When that wears out I'll give those race pads a try.
FYI, I run 12-14 psi offroad and never get pinch flats. However, I wouldn't run that low without rim locks. Installing rim locks on my bike so that I can air down the tires is one of the single best things I have done to it for offroad performance. My stock front brake is perfectly adequate for all the offroad riding I do. I run an EBC 320 mm rotor with supermotos (but I would not run it in the dirt).
Does the TE come with different brakes from the SMS 630? Just curious. Haven't had any issues with mine really (other than a mildly annoying buzz due to me not bleeding the lines quiiiiite well enough when I swapped fluids) but want to know if it's something I should upgrade next go around.
