Thoughts on drilling rotor hole larger - disc lock

[kissfan]

Hey gang,

2019 RT/L.

Bought a disc lock, thought it would fit. Whoops.

Thoughts on picking 1-2 rotor holes to drill larger to accommodate the lock. 10mm.

“Don’t do it” is perfectly acceptable, just tell me the consequences.

Thanks!

-Mike

[Possible]

What size are the holes now? You'll be going to 10mm?

[kissfan]

What size are the holes now? You'll be going to 10mm?

They’re approx 8mm... opening for a 10mm shackle.

[Possible]

I wouldn't. But I don't have any good reason, just thinking it's probably easier to buy the disc lock with the right size shackle than it would be
to take the wheel off, carefully drill out the holes, clean up the holes and re-chamfer the holes, and then put the wheel back on.

And there's always the off chance, since you're only going about 1/16" bigger, that the drill bit will grab and really booger up the hole. But, like I
said, I don't have any OMG DON"T DO IT!!!!!! warnings.

[Bfromla]

Definitely would not try with a hand drill maybe the lock can fit something or somewhere else sell or trade

[JayBros]

Why? Unless you're going to park it overnight in the highest crime area of every city, town or burg you plan to visit.

[Peter Aawen]

DON'T DO IT!! Seriously, DO NOT DRILL OUT JUST ONE HOLE!!
In fact, reflecting upon it a little more, I should've written 'if you value your life &/or your Spyder,
just DON'T DO IT!!'

At the very least, drilling out any one hole in a brake disc is very likely to create an imbalance in the disc.... possibly not enough for you to be driven to disctraction or off the road by the resulting wheel vibration as you ride along, but there again.... And if you have one hole larger than the rest, how long before the disc warps or maybe cracks, possibly even shatters due to the imbalance & the braking variation that could cause as the disc rotates & that one larger hole causes an intermittent variation in the ability of the caliper/pads to slow the disc??

Besides, doing that WILL vary your braking efficiency in other ways you may not appreciate!! And even if you try to 'even out' the imbalance by drilling out more than one hole in whatever disc you choose, how sure are you that you will remove equal amounts of metal from each hole?? And what about the imbalance caused by drilling out saaay, your LH side front disc & leaving your RH side front disc alone?? What would that do to your directional stability under brakes; and even if you drill out both front discs, how much will that reduce your overall braking capability?? Even if you drill out the rear disc instead, then you're still left with the issue of how much drilling out any holes in any disc might effect the structural integrity of whatever disc/s you touch?! Do you want to risk any disc shattering under emergency braking pressures?? At it's very best, the result of that occurring is really not pretty - and I ain't just talking about the mess in your shorts!

So please, just DON'T DO IT!!

[kissfan]

So what you’re saying is, don’t do it.

That’s the good information I was looking for. Structural integrity, I can absolutely buy that.

Thanks, everyone!

[Bfromla]

So what you’re saying is, don’t do it.

That’s the good information I was looking for. Structural integrity, I can absolutely buy that.

Thanks, everyone!

not to mention the probability of finding that 1 hole when you stop wherever & tried to use the lock well

[Gwolf]

Turn or grind the lock pin down to fit the holes you have.

[Grandpot]

Turn or grind the lock pin down to fit the holes you have.

That's not a bad idea. I vote for this one.

[hypurone]

So what you’re saying is, don’t do it.

That’s the good information I was looking for. Structural integrity, I can absolutely buy that.

Thanks, everyone!

Not mention the difficulty in PROPERLY drilling stainless steel! It is an animal all its own! Ask me how I know!! It requires a very precise RPM and proper bit with cooling....

[cruisinTX]

Sounds like you've gotten plenty of good advice to not do it, have you considered a lock like this? Keep in mind, locks only discourage amateurs and they generally move to an easier target while the pros will get what they want, no matter how secure it is. This style lock fits all of the discs on all of my bikes, but I have not tried it on the Spyder and found a different use for it on one of the bikes due to the previous statement about pros getting what they want--and I rarely go anywhere near high crime areas.

[Gwolf]

Sounds like you've gotten plenty of good advice to not do it, have you considered a lock like this? Keep in mind, locks only discourage amateurs and they generally move to an easier target while the pros will get what they want, no matter how secure it is. This style lock fits all of the discs on all of my bikes, but I have not tried it on the Spyder and found a different use for it on one of the bikes due to the previous statement about pros getting what they want--and I rarely go anywhere near high crime areas.

What you say is true, but I remember the time I was traveling, when I was in front of the motel room chaining the bike to the steel post there and putting motion alarm locks on it. Some guy walked up and told me all the locks in the world couldn't stop a good thief. I told him I didn't intend to stop them. I just wanted to slow them down to less than 1400 feet per second. The guy walked on off and my bike was still there the next morning.

[Possible]

In all my 50+ years of traveling on motorcycles, here and abroad, I've never locked a bike, and never had one bothered.
But it's all in what makes you comfortable.

[Mikey]

Locks only keep out the honest people!!! Your insured I hope? Good luck!!

[cptjam]

Never a problem in 50 years. So rare to hear of a Spyder being stolen. Spyder people are honest. No market for hot parts, no value in hot bikes. No worries!

[cruisinTX]

What you say is true, but I remember the time I was traveling, when I was in front of the motel room chaining the bike to the steel post there and putting motion alarm locks on it. Some guy walked up and told me all the locks in the world couldn't stop a good thief. I told him I didn't intend to stop them. I just wanted to slow them down to less than 1400 feet per second. The guy walked on off and my bike was still there the next morning.

now; that's funny. hehehe 1400fps hehehe.

[BajaRon]

Frankly, I don't think drilling out one hole to a slightly larger size in a rotor is going to hurt anything. It isn't going to remove enough material to alter balance as the holes are pretty close to center rotational mass. It's not going to compromise rotor integrity or braking characteristics. You'd never notice the difference.

Would I do it? Probably not. As mentioned above, You'd always be looking for that hole to be clocked correctly to install the lock. I think I'd just bite the bullet and get the right tool for the job.

Do I lock my Spyder when I travel? No. But then, I probably will after the 1st one is stolen. Frankly, I'm more concerned about vandalism than theft. But I've never had a problem with either one.