The brakes on your electric dirt bike are vital for stopping safely. The thing is, most riders talk about increasing the power, but not as many mention braking. It’s just as important! It is a known fact that the stock Surron LBX brakes are less than ideal. Add in extra power, and you’ll be quickly on your way to overheating those brakes.
The good news is brakes are an easy upgrade. Even if you haven’t done a power mod, upgrading your brakes is a way to ensure you’ll get decent stopping power every time you pull the lever.
(If you would like your build to be featured in our articles, join our email community to learn more.)
The Best Brakes!
This article is a list of the top selling brake kits, rotors, and pads we sell here at GritShift. Not only that, but I’ll mention which ones we personally use and what we think make them the best.
If you’re new to the idea of upgrading your brakes, you can purchase different components to create your own brake system. You need to be careful of particular items being compatible with others, but I’ll explain that shortly. The parts you can change are:
- Brake Kit: This comprises a hydraulic line and lever. It is usually only one lever and line and caliper, so make sure you purchase the kit that corresponds to the front or rear wheel.
- Rotor: The shiny disc that attaches to the wheel. There are two main types, fixed and floating. They come in different sizes and thicknesses.
- Caliper: The component that sits over the rotor and applies the stopping force. This is usually purchased as part of the brake kit.
- Brake Pads: The part that contacts the rotor. The pads will wear down over time, so are considered a consumable part.
Want to learn more?
Check out this article on Surron Brakes, how to troubleshoot, fix and replace your brakes.
Best Brake Kit
Let’s start by looking at what the best brake kits are, why we consider them the best, and what we run on our own electric dirt bikes including the shop fleet of Surron LBXs. Click here if you’re looking to purchase a brake kit today
Hayes Dominion A4 Brake Kit
Type: DOT 5.1 fluid
Features: Crisp bite point, adjustable reach, correct brake line length for Talaria Sting and Surron LBX
The Hayes Dominion A4 Brake Kit is a favorite among our team. The DOT 5.1 fluid has a higher boiling point than similar systems running mineral oil. This means you’ll be able to ride for longer without any brake fade.
“I run the Hayes Dominion brakes on all of my bikes” Bullet
This brake kit is set by the factory to have the lowest dead stroke possible, giving you a really good feel for the brakes. If you’re not familiar with that term, the dead stroke or dead zone refers to when you’re pulling in the brake lever – the section from when you first start pulling in the lever to when you actually get stopping power. The lower this section, the more responsive the feel. This is also known as deadband or dead zone, and it’s critical for accurate braking response.
The price point for this brake kit makes it one of the best value-for-money mods you can do.
SRAM Maven Ultimate Series Brake Kit
Type: Mineral Oil
Features: Big 18mm and 19.5mm caliper pistons, extra long brake line fittings included, tool-free lever adjustment
The Maven Ultimate is a top-quality mineral oil brake kit. This system is set up with extra large caliper pistons, which have greater fluid volume to help prevent brake fade. The lever is designed with a swing-link, giving a nice smooth pull.
Best Surron Rotor
Rotors come in all different designs and sizes. However, the best type of rotor dissipates the right amount of heat quickly and evenly. Look at upgrading your stock rotor if you can feel any pulsing or vibration when braking as this can indicate the rotor has warped.
Check out this article for a brake troubleshooting guide
Our Tips:
- Check the diameter of your new rotor before you purchase it, especially if you’re looking at a size larger than what you currently have. You may need to add a caliper spacer (read the notes in the product descriptions)
- Check whether the rotor is designed for your front or rear wheel. Sounds obvious, but sometimes the bolt patterns can be different. This will also be noted in the product description.
- If you increase the rotor thickness, check to see if your current caliper will allow sufficient spacing.
Here is a selection of awesome rotors that we love to use:
Warp 9 Floating 220mm Rotor
Features: Extra large 220mm diameter and a two-piece design. Looks cool!
This rotor is one of the best heat-dissipating rotors on the market for electric dirt bikes, and it’s a massive upgrade for the Surron LBX. This is due to the larger surface the brakes contact, the extra thickness, and the overall design and material quality. Uncontrolled heat is simply bad for brakes, so anytime you can minimize heat troubles, your brakes will be more reliable.
To fit these rotors onto your stock e-moto, you’ll likely need to grab yourself a caliper spacer. Check out this caliper adapter to see how they work.
Warp 9 Fixed Surron & Talaria Rotor F/R
Features: 203mm or 220mm rotor diameter, 1.8mm thickness.
This Warp 9 rotor comes in either a 203mm or a 220mm option. Remember you may need to purchase a caliper spacer if you go for the 220mm rotor. It’s made 1.8mm thick, so it’s a little thicker than stock, giving it improved heat dissipation.
This rotor is excellent value for money, it’s much cheaper than the floating rotor options and even if this is the only upgrade you do to your brakes, it will make a massive difference in stopping power.
Galfer Wave Front Rotors
Features: 203mm or 223mm rotor diameter, lightweight design.
Made by Galfer, a company that started way back in 1952, the Galfer Wave rotor is a high-quality rotor that’s massively popular in the street bike world, sometimes for its looks alone. It’s a sturdy rotor with a powerful, progressive feel. Like the rotors above, the 203mm rotor is the standard stock size for most e-moto. You’ll need a caliper spacer if you would like to go for the 223mm rotor.
The bonus with the larger rotor is the larger area the brake pads contact. This gives better heat dissipation, making the system even more efficient.
Best Brake Pads
Brake pads are part of any bike, motorcycle, e-moto – or car for that matter – that require replacement at particular intervals. But that doesn’t mean you need to wait until the stock pads wear out!
A brake pad upgrade is something that is relatively cheap and simple, and you’ll get an instant upgrade in braking performance.
Here are our favs:
Semi-Metallic Brake Pads
Features: Semi-metallic construction, sold as a set of 2 (front and rear), OEM fit.
These brake pads are a simple, great value-for-money upgrade that you can do at any time on your e-moto. We’ve all heard that squeaky noise of someone on the trail! You’ll be glad to hear these particular pads are quiet! They are also heat resistant, exactly what you need to stop as much heat transfer as you can to your fluid.
Hayes Dominion A4 Brake Pads
Hayes Dominion makes excellent brake systems. Their brake pads are no different. These pads, made specifically to fit in the Hayes Dominion A4 Caliper, come in a few options:
Sintered: Great for wet or muddy conditions
Semi-Metallic: Warms up to best operating temperature slighter faster than sintered, with smooth modulation
Keep in mind, if you want to try out these high-performance brake pads, you will need to fit the Hayes Dominion A4 Caliper also. These pads won’t fit in the stock caliper.
HardHeaded Ram Shimano/TRP/Tektro Brake Pads
Hardheaded Ram is a brake company. That’s what they do! Started by self-proclaimed everyday rider Carlos, Hardheaded Ram is dedicated to providing high-quality brake parts to riders like us.
Here are the options you can choose from:
- Downhill: 30% Ceramic, 15% Copper, 40% Kevlar, 15% Resin
- Ceramic: 40% Ceramic, 15% Copper, 30% Kevlar, 15% Resin
- Sintered: 40% Ceramic, 60% Copper
- Resin: 20% Ceramic, 20% Copper, 40% Kevlar, 20% Resin
You’ll find most of our e-motos that are running an MTB-style brake have HardHeaded Ram brake pads. It’s because they just work. The construction is unique – Hardheaded Ram integrates copper in their brake pads, which gives them a longer wear time, the ceramic allows for better performance under high temperatures and the Kevlar helps keep everything quiet.
These are slightly more expensive than other brake pads, but they’re super high quality. The fact you’ll likely get more run time from them means they’ll last longer too.
Upgrade together or part by part?
While it would be easy to say ‘Upgrade it all at once for the best result!’ we all know the wish list keeps getting longer, and something needs to give!
There is no real right or wrong way in the order you upgrade your brakes. However, it pays to know the path you want to take, so you don’t upgrade something unnecessarily.
Upgrading your brake pads could be the component that gets you the best value for money result. Upgrading the rotor will give you better heat dissipation, leading to less brake fade, but to really get the best result you need to look at upgrading the whole system.
Here’s a tip: If you change the compound of your brake pads, consider changing the rotor also. This stops different materials from trying to grip onto the rotor, which would lead to a longer bed-in time.
Having said all that, if you notice you need to replace something due to wear, that will need to go higher on your list!
What is the most important part of upgrading?
What do you want from your brakes? If you’ve done mods with big power upgrades, you’ll need to seriously consider beefing up your stopping power.
A commuter will have different requirements from someone who takes their Surron or Talaria to the MX tracks.
If you’re finding your brakes are getting spongy after a bit of use, or even worse – not gripping when you pull the lever in, it’s time to upgrade to something better!
We love the Hayes Dominion A4 Brake Kit for the full-on riding we do, but there are cheaper alternatives if you don’t push the limits on your bike.
When is the best time to upgrade:
There are two answers to the best time to upgrade. Firstly, if anything looks worn, especially the pads or rotor, then you’ll need to replace them ASAP and you might as well upgrade at that time. However, if you want to plan an upgrade and get something much better than stock, then work out if you’ll be upgrading everything at once or a component here and there.
Just remember, if you go for a rotor that is bigger than stock, you’ll probably need to add a caliper spacer to your order. Nothing worse than getting your new parts and working out you need something extra!
Have a search on www.gritshift.com, see what might be the best fit for your riding style and requirements, and start planning your new brake upgrade so you’ll never need to worry about your stopping ability. Any questions about what will work with your setup – just contact us and we’ll give you some ideas.
Leave a Reply