Upgrading Your Surron Brakes
Brakes are often considered one of the most important systems on any moving vehicle. Stopping quickly could make the difference between a close call, and a trip to the hospital. Especially for E-motos due to their high speeds.
Most small-medium size E-motos such as the Surron Light Bee, Talaria Sting/X3, and E-Ride Pro SS come with 4 piston mountain bike brakes. Although 4 piston brakes are considered heavy duty for most mountain bikes, they leave much to be desired when it comes to E-motos. The stock Surron and Talaria brakes are capable of stopping reasonably quickly, but as you upgrade your bike with an aftermarket battery and controller, you may find yourself needing more stopping power. Especially for aggressive riders, upgrading the brakes can make a huge difference.
Stock Brake Upgrade Options:
First we will discuss some of the most popular stock brake upgrade options in the E-moto market.
The stock brakes that come with Surron, Talaria, and E-Ride Pro SS bikes are based on the popular Shimano Deore XT brake design. These all follow the same format, using a 4 piston design with mineral oil brake fluid. If you compare the brake levers and calipers between each brand, you will notice striking similarities.
Although this 4 piston brake design is more than sufficient for mountain bikes, the stopping power isn't quite enough for E-motos. However, the stock brakes can be upgraded to achieve much better stopping power with a few simple tricks.
The first step to improving stopping power for the stock brakes is to order larger rotors. The rotor is the metal disc which attaches to the wheel hub and provides a surface for the brake pistons to squeeze, bringing you to a stop. Most stock E-motos use 203mm brake rotors while the E-Ride Pro SS 2.0 comes with 220mm brake rotors. Upgrading to a 220mm rotor will significantly increase stopping power for relatively little money. This is the number 1 upgrade for those looking to improve stopping power on a budget.
Another upgrade you can make to improve the stock brakes is Shimano H03C brake pads. The brake pads that come with stock brakes are made from sintered metal and are quite cheap. Conversely, Shimano H03C brake pads are made from a resin compound and offer far superior stopping power. The only downside to Shimano H03C pads is that they do not last as long as sintered metal pads and they cost about 3x more. You can also look out for some other variants of Shimano Deore pads such as N03a and J03a. Although we haven't tested these pads out yet, they show promise as a more cost-effective alternative to the H03c pads.
If you've upgraded your brake pads and rotors but still aren't happy with the stock brakes, there are other options out there...
High-End MTB Brakes
As riders look for more powerful E-moto brakes, they turn to the downhill mountain biking world for options. There is currently a variety of 4 piston and even 8 piston MTB brakes on the market which are compatible with E-motos. These designer MTB brakes often come with high price tags and proprietary components. Some examples are Magura MT5, TRP Evo, Hope Tech 4 V4, Lewis EP8 and many others.
Although many riders have good experiences with these upgraded MTB brakes, most offer little improvement over the stock brakes. 4 piston MTB brakes are limited by the surface area of the pads and pistons. This means that no matter how well-made or fancy your upgraded brakes are, there is a maximum amount of stopping power they can provide with only 4 pistons and MTB brake pads. Lewis EP8 brakes offer a solution to this by incorporating 8 pistons into one caliper. This can be seen as the "brute force" approach of fusing two brake calipers into one. Lewis EP8 brakes are able to provide a real increase in stopping power compared to stock brakes due to the larger brake pad size and friction from 8 pistons; however, this comes at the price of specialized mounting hardware and proprietary brake pads. Lewis EP8 brakes are also among the most expensive on this list.
If you are considering upgrading to designer MTB brakes, keep in mind that most 4 piston brakes will perform exactly the same as the stock brakes. Many riders report brakes like Magura MT5, TRP Evo, and Hope Tech V4 as being very similar to the stock brakes in terms of stopping power. Some of these brakes will come with higher quality pads which create the illusion of more stopping power, but the true performance is similar to stock due to the limitations of the 4 piston design.
Moto Brakes
For many E-moto riders, MTB brakes don't cut it. This had led to the development of various kits to mount motorcycle brakes on E-motos. Motorcycle brakes typically have much larger brake pads and pistons which results in exceptional stopping power. Due to the larger pistons, motorcycle brakes usually only have two pistons which is more than sufficient to stop a mid-size E-moto like the Light Bee.
Unfortunately, motorcycle brakes do not have a standardized mounting bracket like MTB brakes do. This means that Honda brakes will only fit on Honda bikes, Ultra Bee brakes will only fit on an Ultra Bee, etc. A moto brake kit for Surron or Talaria will have a specialized mounting bracket designed for the specific motorcycle brake being used and the specific bike it is mounted on. The most popular moto brake conversion kits use Ultra Bee brakes.
Ultra Bee brakes are proprietary and designed specifically for the Ultra Bee. They do not use any known motorcycle brake mounting pattern and require a specialized adapter to mount on the Surron Light Bee or other mid-size E-moto. Although Ultra Bee brakes are more expensive compared to similar brake sets from Honda, Kawasaki, and other motorcycle manufacturers, they are the go-to choice for most E-moto enthusiasts looking to upgrade to moto brakes.
There are a variety of Ultra Bee Brake mounting kits available, including our very own MBZmoto Ultra Bee Brake Kit which is available for both front and rear versions. Our kit is designed to be both heavy duty and budget-friendly, but there are other options such as the Prickly Motorsports Ultra Bee Brake Kit. Regardless of which Ultra Bee brake kit you choose, the Ultra Bee brake set is the same. The only difference is the mounting bracket and rotor that comes with the kit.
For more budget-oriented riders, we also offer an Ultra Bee Hybrid Brake kit which uses authentic Ultra Bee calipers bled to aftermarket motorcycle master cylinders. This kit offers the same stopping power as Ultra Bee brakes, but uses a non-branded master cylinder and lever. Through our testing, we have found that these Ultra Bee Hybrid brakes perform exactly like the genuine Ultra Bee brakes but have the added benefit of longer brake levers. We are also able to offer this kit at an extremely competitive price compared to moto brake kits using the branded Ultra Bee master cylinder.
Summary:
At the end of the day, deciding on the right brakes will depend on your riding style and power upgrades. For those who ride casually with a stock E-moto, the OEM brakes are usually sufficient. Especially if they have been upgraded with larger rotors and Shimano brake pads. But for aggressive riders with aftermarket batteries and controllers, we highly recommend motorcycle brakes such as the Ultra Bee Brake Conversion Kit. Although some are happy with their premium MTB brake upgrades, we think you will get more bang for your buck from motorcycle brakes. Especially for riders running 72V and 81V batteries.
If you are in the market for upgraded brakes, don't hesitate to reach out to us at MBZindustriesLLC@gmail.com and we will be happy to help you decide. Whichever brakes you choose, ensure they are properly installed, tested, and bedded in before you take them for a spin.