[gabethematthews]

Okay, so this is my first post here. I've been driving a 2007 Kawasaki Ninja EX500 for about a year and a half now. The rear brake rotor is in need of repair (apparently I let the pad wear down too far.. oops!) However, my bike shop is quoting me $260 for the rear rotor (just the PART, not including labor) and around $360 for the front rotor. $620 for two brake rotors. Oh my god.

So... as you can imagine, I'm looking around for a cheaper source. Of course there's ebay, and there are online dealers, but the main issue I'm running into is the difficulty in finding the parts for exactly my year & engine size. I can find all sorts of stuff for 2007 EX650's, or 2003 EX500's, or things like that (where the year is off but engine size is on, or vice versa) but not a lot for my year specifically.

My question, that I'm hoping someone can help me with, is: how standardized are ninja brake rotors? Are they specific to the years, or the engine size, or both? I'm hoping that I can go with an EX650 from the same year, for example. Thoughts? ??? Any help will be appreciated.

 

[spooph]

I have no idea how consistent brake rotors are between models, and I know very little about the ex500. What I do however know is that Kawi didn't change that bike much over the course of it's production, as they did with the pre-gen 250's. I'm not willing to put money on it, but I think a rear rotor from an ex500 close to the same year as your bike should work just fine.

I however think that you can find a significantly better priced rotor if you look towards the aftermarket. I personally like EBC. Other have had some tough luck with them. I've gone through many pads by them, and a few rotors as well, and have never had an issue, and they're usually about half the price of the stock factory replacements.

Concerning where to buy, I personally don't look any further than bikebandit.com. They're usually just a smidge pricier than most online retailers, but they have great customer service, quick shipping times, reliability and a great reputation behind them. There are a few others much like them, but I forgot their names. Bikebandit has never let me down. Try finding your part on their site, and try google shopping, and if you have no luck, let me know and I'll help.

 

[gabethematthews]

Wow, I don't know how I didn't find bikebandit.com previously. That's a really nice site.

Bikebandit.com OEM part number: 1409820 - $226
Bikebandit.com EBC Pro-lite part number: 84345 - $184
Bikebandit.com EBC Standart part number: 1570239 - $151

So... still kinda pricey, but at least that's better than the $260 that the dealer quoted me. I could go with the fancy after-market one and still be doing better.

Thanks a ton for your help!

 

[spooph]

your welcome! And your also very welcome here. I like people who can help themselves! Post up in the new members section and tell us a bit about yourself, eh? And how 'bout throwing up a pic of the bike as well. Obviously we'd like to see your face as well, but understand if you decline..

 

[gabethematthews]

Okay, I've been looking around a bit more, and I found this:

EBC Pro-Lite Contour Brake Rotor | ZA24871 | J&P Cycles

Now, I've seen that part elsewhere (bikebandit doesn't have it for the rear, only the front) and I like the price for that on jpcycles. However, under Specs, I see:

Floating: Yes

So... what's a floating rotor? I know to some this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't want to order the wrong thing. Everything on my bike is stock, so if this means that it only goes on modded wheels or something, then that'd be good to know before I buy it.

 

[spooph]

Floating means the outer silver parts is a separate piece from the gold inner piece. This allows the part that comes in contact with the break pads to move more freely side to side, and doesn't freeze up, or bind up like solidly mounted breaks, like the ninja has. It's a high-performance option for high performance bikes. The ninja 250 doesn't have a floating rotor, because it doesn't need that much force to where binding is going to be an issue. I think the 500 is not floating, but I'm not sure...