chris perry 1 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Dear All, Alcon/Performance Braking in Monmouth have agreed to re-supply the Alcon upgraded front brake calipers as offered originally by James Whiting Sevens. The calipers are 4 piston and use the standard 232 x 10mm brake disk and mount onto the standard caterham upright with no additional brackets. The price per caliper is £346.79 + vat. No brake discs, pads or hoses are included in this price. The minimum order quantity is 3 pairs of calipers. I certainly want a pair. Are there another two seven owners who would like to join in on this purchase? Regards, Chris Perry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myothercarsa2cv Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Just to confirm, that is per caliper and not per pair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris perry 1 Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Hello, Yes you did read that correct. The price is PER caliper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2GBR Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Just asking if anyone could please point me in the direction of a close up photo of these fitted to a 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERLIGHT91 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I will let my friend know that is running a set of these on his Fireblade 7 - may be of interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R300 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 The caterham upgraded front brakes are £687.65 inc vat including discs pads hoses and all fitting req What's the difference between the two as the caterham one look a good deal and cheaper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mankee Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Not really a close-up, but James Whiting does have a picture of the caliper on the website. Nice piece of kit: http://www.jameswhiting.com/page15.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klunk Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I believe the Fireblade ones are 2-piston (shown in Mankee's link) 4-pot Alcons were standard fit on the Blackbirds I believe - at least they are on mine and another member's car. Even with a non-vented disc, they have fantastic stopping power with the uprated master cylinder. I know a Blackbird is significantly lighter than a K etc, but I think they would perform more than adequately in most circumstances and offer a significant reduction in unsprung weight over the Caterham big brake set up. Regards, Giles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted March 4, 2014 Area Representative Share Posted March 4, 2014 My Blackbird was fitted with standard caterham brakes - Ford M16 calipers. James Whiting did not build any Blackbirds just the Fireblades. I fitted a HiSpec Ultralite 4 Caterham kit that bolts straight onto the standard 232mm disc set up, no mods required. Weight per caliper 0.9KG. Price £250.00 + VAT including new discs, pads, hoses and 5.1 fluid. They work fine. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavic82 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Alternative would be the Canley Classics upgrade which is near identical the the caterham one and bolts straight on. £345 for the kit - calipers, discs and hoses. Just add pads Here Brake kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klunk Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Quoting bluenose: My Blackbird was fitted with standard caterham brakes - Ford M16 calipers. James Whiting did not build any Blackbirds just the Fireblades. Strange, I thought standard Caterham brakes were Triumph derived ... although the Blackbirds built by Mr Newman do seem to be an eclectic mix! 😬 Anyway, back on topic, my point was merely to highlight how good I felt the Alcon brakes were for anybody interested. There are, as indicated, a number of good options Edited by - Klunk on 4 Mar 2014 20:15:07 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade_runner Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 My whiting prototype blade has the Alcon 4 pots on and they are fantastic, last year when I gave them an overhaul and spoke to Performance braking to get a seal kit they mentioned the Alcon 4 pots with solid drilled discs in their opinion were better than the Caterham big brake kit and less unstrung weight too. But they don't just bolt straight to the uprights, you will need a couple of washers or shims just to space the caliper slightly off the upright, just purely to centuralise the disc. There should be some pics on webshots on my link below. James doesn't sell the drilled solid discs anymore I simply bought discs from Canley classics for about £13 each then clamped my old discs to the new and drilled them in the same array. I'm also using the Pagid RS4 pads on recommendation from performance braking and they are fantastic. Edited by - blade_runner on 4 Mar 2014 22:26:06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade_runner Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Edited by - blade_runner on 4 Mar 2014 22:23:59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris perry 1 Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Hello, If you are looking for some photos of Alcon 4 piston calipers there are some good photos here: http://angus.zenfolio.com/p434475895 I think its fair to say that the Caterham uprated AP brakes and race master cylinder are considered to be the bench mark and i have never read a bad review about them. However, the Caterham uprated AP brakes use a vented disk which is heavier than the solid disk. Unsprung rotating weight. AP vented = 3.56 Kg, 10mm solid = 2.5 Kg. Whether you think you need a vented disk on a seven is open to opinion……… For those that are interested in the 2 piston Fireblade calipers Performance braking quoted £323.32 per caliper + vat. Again there is a minimum order quantity of 3 pairs of calipers. Regards, Chris Perry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Another happy Hi-Spec 4-pot user here ...... I went for 260mm diameter solid discs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy couchman Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Have the Alcons on my live axled crossflow and very pleased with them. The lower unsprung weight is a positive (even better with cross-drilled discs!) and they look great as well as working very well. Can't remember what pads they use. Anyone know? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Payne Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Also have these and very pleased with them. I believe they take the same brake pads as the early Caterham 4-pot AP calipers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERLIGHT91 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Does anyone find Alcon's are a bit more prone to binding then Caterham's chosen standard and big calipers? If this is the case are they relatively easy to loosen off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruff seven Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 My first Caterham had Alcon and drilled discs, they were fantastic I really think a lot more retardation than AP, have owned a few R500 with AP,s and have never liked them ; am really looking to change to Alcon again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evotell Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 How much! 😳 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp7 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Hi all, I was facing the same decision on which brakes to buy several years ago, AP Caterham, Alcon, Hispec, Willwood. I decided on the AP Caterham big brake but in hindsight should have gone for Alcon through James Whiting. The Alcon calliper looks very strong and stiff plus the lower unsprung weight of sticking with a 9" disc cannot be ignored. I hadn't really paid much attention to weight but the AP with the vented disc ones are damn heavy. I suppose that given that they don't make them anymore, the price reflects that Alcon are tooling up to make three pairs of calipers. May be the higher price is worth it if you can afford it. cheers Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris perry 1 Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Ruff Seven, So can you be persuaded to put yourself down for a pair then? Regards, Chris Perry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERLIGHT91 Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I love the idea they are substantially lighter than the AP big brakes and offer similar performance. I would say they are ideally suitabled to BEC concept and probably to the standard Superlight (K & Sigma) too. Would have been excellent if Caterham had adopted them on certain models leaving the AP 6 pots to the likes of the R400 & 500. That said I've never had an issue with Caterham's 'big' brakes myself (but then I'm more a fair-weather Sunday driver and tourer than a track guru when it comes to 7ing, and I probably would never get either hot enough to notice any difference in normal use). I first saw the Alcon's was on a JW Fibreblade 7 - I don't know how long it had been in storage but brakes were binding like it had the handbrake on which did put me off them initially (and I started costing-up conversion to AP brakes on the to-do list if I bought it, which would have been a shame on such a lightweight car). However, I'm sure if used regularly it wouldn't be as much of an issue. Looking into them a bit further I can see they are actually a brilliant set of brakes, and on paper, exactly what a lightweight Caterham needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooh_R Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 My recollection of a conversation with James is that he designed and specified these calipers be used with the standard master cylinder. I'm pleased to have purchased a second hand on here a few years ago! Anyway, to the b/b but 😳 to the £ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy couchman Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I'm pretty certain the binding would have been due to rust on the discs. As soon as you overcome the stiction, the car moves fine. Used to happen with the original brakes - still does with the Alcons from time to time. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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