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Our Low Rider ST Gets the Galfer Treatment

The 2022 Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST on the bench at Fast J’s Cycle Shop in Huntington Beach, California, ready for the Galfer Wave Rotor upgrade.

Our 2022 Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST project is starting to take shape. It’s by far one of our favorite factory Harleys to roll off the showroom floor to date. We’ve used Galfer USA’s tried-and-true Wave rotors and brake pads over the years and we know and trust the quality of Galfer’s products. Getting a set of Galfer Wave rotors for our project Low Rider ST was an easy choice. 

We rang up the crew and asked them what they’d recommend for our setup and riding style. They hooked us up with dual disc Wave setup for the front with Sintered brake pads, and a single Wave disc for the rear, also with Sintered brake pads. 

Galfer USA’s Wave Rotors offer a full-floating technology to ensure optimum brake pad-to-rotor contact. Every high-quality, Galfer-patented Wave rotor is made from a proprietary mix of virgin high-carbon 420 stainless steel, laser cut (never stamped), double-disc parallel ground to assure perfect parallel flatness and heat treated to each specific application. The Wave also seamlessly replaces the stock rotor setup (single or dual applications). 

The Galfer USA Sintered Brake Pads offer excellent feel and modulation, great heat recovery and they’re easy on the rotor. This is Galfer USA’s most popular high-performance compound. We like this pad compound because it’s made for moderately aggressive street riding and for ripping the canyons where you need aggressive or heavy braking performance. 

The Low Rider ST has a dual front disc setup so you’ll need to grab two Galfer Wave Rotors for the front (DF835CW) with two sets of Sintered Brake Pads (FD219G1370). For the single-disc rear setup, you’ll need Galfer’s Wave Rotor (DF681CW) with one set of Sintered Brake Pads (FD542G1370).  

We headed over to Fast J’s Cycle Shop in Huntington Beach, California to snap some pics of them swapping out the stock brake rotors and pads for Galfer USA’s Wave rotors and sintered brake pads. 

Galfer Wave rotors
Galfer sent the dual-disc Wave Rotors for the front and a rear single-disc Wave rotor with Sintered brake pads for our Low Rider ST.

 

We got started with the front rotors by removing the factory brake calipers from the fork tubes. We then removed the factory brake pads to make way for Galfer’s Sintered setup.

 

Making quick work of his time, the factory Harley rotors were removed from the front wheel, and the Galfer Wave Rotors were installed with a dab of red threadlocker on the factory hardware.

 

The Galfer Sintered brake pads were then installed on the right side…

 

Then it was time to swap out the factory pads on the left side with Galfer’s Sintered pads.

 

Once the factory pads were removed, a quick spray of brake cleaner prepped the surface for the new Sintered pads.

 

With the pads and calipers somewhat in place, the front wheel with new Galfer Wave Rotors was placed back between the fork tubes. Once everything was lined up, the axle was reinstalled and all hardware was tightened down to factory specs.

 

Moving onto the rear, the rear axle was removed in order to slide the rear wheel out for the rear brake upgrade.

 

And the rear caliper was removed to install the new rear Galfer Sintered brake pads.

 

The rear rotor was quickly removed.

 

And the new Galfer Wave Rotor was installed with factory hardware with a dab of red threadlocker on the bolts.

 

After a bit of brake cleaner, the caliper pistons were spread to make way for the new Sintered pads.

 

With the new pads installed, the factory caliper was reinstalled to factory specs.

 

To complete the Galfer installation, the rear axle was reinstalled and all that was left was to tighten down the axle nut after a bit of fine-tuning the axle adjustment. Overall, the installation was relatively quick and painless, taking about two hours for the front and rear brake rotor/pad swap. If you’re opting to do this at home, you should reference your factory service manual for proper torque specifications and proper procedures.

 

SOURCES:
Galfer USA
https://galferusa.com/

 

Fast J’s Cycle Shop

https://fastjscycle.com/

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