For reference, my bike came with the OE BMW discs and does not have ABS. I since replaced those with the wavey type from Braking.
I was not impressed with the OE discs. Mind you, they are ok, but the brakes were not very convincing even after several different pads. Which was a bit weird, as the same discs are used on the R12S and the other bikes with servo brakes. With the servo brakes, they definitely work. They just need a good hard squeeze I guess. Not my usual 2-finger squeeze. Anyway, these discs were worn, so in the bin.
The Braking wave rotors were just plain garbage in my opinion. They are not hardened, so they wear dramatically fast with the wrong pads. I have measured ¼mm over 6500 miles. That translates gone in 12k miles. With the Braking pads, the wear was ok but the braking characteristics just just for my riding style. Shame of the money, but they followed the OE's to the bin.
So, in my search for something better I decided I wanted full-floating discs on carriers, as I don't like the BMW design. They appear to be floating, but they are only semi-floating and prone to warping. Enter Alth.
These discs are full-floaters and specifically designed for each bike. This means you cannot take just any disc and mount it on any carrier, as it will only fit the carrier of the bike it was designed for. The discs are lasercut from high quality carbon and chromium steels, after which they are CNC machined to garantee a perfect fit and finish. They are hardened through and through for better wear. Alth is the only disc manufacturer doing this, all others use surface hardening or no hardening at all. They are slightly heavier due to the additional carrier, I could not notice any difference in handling.
So, how does all this PR blabla actually work in the real world on a real bike? Well, very well.
Very well indeed. It really transformed the brakes on my bike. The brake power is there, like right now, whenever you squeeze the lever. Two fingers and a gentle squeeze and you feel the rear wiggle side to side as it barely skims the road. Do some practicing your emergency braking, and chuckle when you are stopped and your speedy is still moving. These things STOP.
My preferred brand of pads are DP. I love them for their initial bite and linear characteristics. Well, after mounting these discs with a set of fresh DP pads and about a 100 miles, I stopped by the BMW dealer to get a set of OE BMW 'white' pads originally for my bike. Why, you may ask? Cause the OE pads are a bit more gentle and less aggressive. The braking with these discs is so very different and so much harder than it was before, I have/had to completely retrain my brain and my fingers on how to brake on this bike. The aggressive bite of the DP pads was not helping in this regard and I decided to change this before it ended up in tears. They'll be back in there though.
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So, if you need new discs and want brakes make your eyes pop out of your skull and also look the bits, have a serious thought about these full floaters. They are expensive. Think twice that of Braking/Galfer. But damn do they work.
They are worth every penny I paid for them.