This is a wild one. Ray Wheeler, the USA W8Less Rotor rep, busted his ass for two or three years promoting these mysterious and amazing rotors, while the engineers struggled to design the ultimate floating, light-as-a-feather rotors. Here's what the doctors of the Matrix have to say:

W8LESS motorcycle disc brake rotors utilize advanced materials commonly known as metal matrix composites (MMCs). Products containing MMCs exhibit the toughness, wear resistance and strength of ceramics enhanced by the properties of advanced alloys. MMCs can be found in jet fighter planes, racing engines and other high performance applications. Advances made by W8LESS engineers have created this patented and patent pending technology, and also made it affordable and available to the general public.

After two years these magnificent developments in braking technology are dialed in and ready for the market. They can be ordered in two different floating center designs, in five different colors and finishes, with a myriad of colored fastener selections. That's not all. The actual rotor surface can be ordered in polished, gray or black-too cool.

Here's the list of W8Less Rotor Attributes:

-They are up to 60 Percent lighter than common rotors. For example, an 11.5 inch rotor weighs less than two pounds
-They cool five times faster than steel rotors
-They won't warp, won't rust and produce less brake dust
-They have 10 times the noise dampening of a steel rotor
-They are true floating rotors with 0.2 mm floating clearance
-They cost less than any iron or steel rotor

So why composite rotors? Here's what the engineers said:

WHY COMPOSITES: Webster defines a composite as “a solid material which is composed of two or more substances having different physical characteristics and in which each substance retains its identity while contributing desirable properties to the whole; especially, a structural material within which a fibrous material (as silicon carbide) is embedded.”



While we think of composites as modern inventions, early composites were a great benefit to the United States Navy in the late 1700s and the early 1800s. Old Ironsides, now docked in Boston Harbor, has composite masts. By the late 1700s, New England forests did not contain trees large enough to be the masts of large battleships. Thanks to American ingenuity, American craftsmen glued timbers together to create the large masts.

British ships had masts made of tall trees found in Russian forests. While both types of masts worked equally well for sailing purposes, the American mast could take a direct cannon ball blast but not break even though a chunk of wood may have been blown away. Conversely, a mast made from a single tree would break right off where a cannon ball hit, tumbling into the sea with all its sails. Old Ironsides, with its masts intact, could continue to maneuver around the British ship, which was now a motionless sitting duck.



The most common modern composite besides those made of wood or concrete, are mixtures of resins and glass or carbon fiber. Fiberglass boats and Corvette body panels are common examples. One of the best examples of the strength and durability of a composite can be found in a Formula One carbon fiber composite transmission case, just 2 mm (0.07874”) thick, which will handle over 750 horsepower and a large amount of torque for an entire Formula One season from March until late October! Truly Amazing.



No other single front end component can save as much weight as a W8LESS ROTOR, including tires, wheels, or calipers. In short, switching to W8LESS ROTORS is like adding an upgraded suspension and more horsepower to your bike.

There you have it. Let's install a set:

I have a dirty 2003, blacked-out Road King that would work as a hot test bed for the W8Less rotors, so we reached for the tool box. I first broke out my Road King Manual and a jack. The manual at my side was sort of a mechanic's bible. As soon as I stumble I look to the manual for guidance.

The first obstacle was the rotor Torx screws. Since the heat, vibration and factory Loctite can make these real bastards to remove, it's terrific to have extra tools when it comes to Torx. They're easily accessible, but tear up fasteners and tools on a regular basis. I tore up one socket tool during this operation.

Before I dove too far into the operation I jammed to my local fastener store for a set of black domed Allen heads 1-inch long, in two sizes, 5/16-inch for the front and 3/8-inch coarse for the rear. I always buy extras for several reasons: in case I lose one; in the event one is damaged or contains bad threads (it happens); and I'm always bolstering my fastener supply so a couple of extras reach the storage bin after any operation.

Since the W8Less development has transcended many stages, I had to switch the centers in one set of rotors for the black centers, which I preferred. This was an opportunity to show how easily the buttons or centers could be replaced for a different color or design. I turned the rotors over and used the butt of a ball pein hammer to prevent the button from turning, while, with a flat blade screwdriver, I twisted the clip ring free.

I set the rotor over a piece of clean paper to prevent damage and after popping all the stainless clips free, carefully removed one rotor and replaced it with the other W8Less unit. I tried not to jostle the buttons, so the rotor set down comfortably in place, but one time I fucked up. Then I set the sprung shims down over the button shafts, centered them and slipped the clip on from the center of the rotor facing out, with the rolled, finished clip edges up.

I quickly learned that if the sprung shim was positioned so the nub at the center of the clip didn't slip under it, my operation for returning the clip to its final resting place amounted to a couple of taps of the ball pein against the screwdriver handle.

Next we needed to remove the calipers from the Road King Legs. This was an interesting exercise. Most everything on a late model Harley is American, except the Showa front end, which uses metric fasteners. That's the sketchy part. I didn't know where metric ended. The 12-point fasteners holding the calipers to the legs were 10 mm metric, yet the fasteners holding the pads in the calipers were American Standard ¼-in, 12-points.

The Torx holding the rotors were also Standard. The lovely Sin Wu drove to a tool store and scoured the isles for a 6mm, 12-point metric. She scored, but it didn't fit to remove the pad shafts.

My long craftsman ¼-inch wrench didn't work either and I was stuck, until she dug through some other tool boxes and discovered another ¼-inch, 12-point box end wrench. It fit like a glove. The fasteners were as tight as the hubs of hell, but I used a spray called Yield, a super WD-40 concoction, and we pried them loose.

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