Something I noticed when I got my bike is that it didn’t have a brake stay and instead it had a piece of aluminum angel bar bolted to it,which held it directly to the swing arm.
The aluminum angel was bending from use and I figured stock was best so I bought a brake stay.
I have been looking at newer bikes and I haven’t seen brake stays,the caliper just bolts directly to the swing arm.So I was wondering if there is an advantage to have the caliper bolted directly to the swing arm and if so what is it?
Well – long brake stays were used in the days of drum brakes to keep the brake from rubbing as the swingarm went up and down. Having a long brake stay kept the brake and the brake activation lever (attached to the frame) parallel as the rear wheel bounced up and down.
With a disc brake you don’t really need a long brake stay to the caliper because there isn’t an activation arm, it’s controlled through hydraulics. There are some older dirtbikes with disc rears that have a long brake stay – but that’s pretty much phased out these days. Generally the calipers will mount to an axle spacer and slide into a slot in the swingarm to hold it steady. This is just a more simple and lighter solution. They both work though.
Oh alright.
I just thought there may be some reason they had them,like I was thinking maybe having the brake stay makes the swing arm go in when you press the brake which maybe makes it easier to stop or maybe softens the brake so it’s not so harsh.
That’s all I could figure.
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