Tokico six-pots: cool or fool?
We love a good internet barney here at CMM, so – when one erupted on our Facebook page – we got Scott Redmond to light the fire and take some notes.
Tokico six-pot calipers were big news in the early 1990s: they graced everything from the last water-cooled GSX-R1100S to the new kids on the block in the 750 class including the ZX-7R and GSXR750WT SRAD. Then towards the end of the decade they appeared on bikes like the ZRX1100 (and later 1200), ZX-6RG model and were even in charge of stopping the mighty fast Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa. Adding to their appeal was the fact that you could retrofit them to the Slingshot GSX-R models and even the RGV250. No mods were required; simply unbolt the four-pots and fit the sixers. Magic! Time though hasn’t been kind to the Tokico six-pot, and ironically many owners of bikes that had the six-pot fitted have ditched the six-potter in favour of the four-pot! So what’s going on? The six-pot calipers should offer better braking performance, but they also use more moving parts and require plenty of TLC to keep them working well, it seems. With six pistons to keep healthy that’s a total of 12 pistons and seals per caliper to keep on top of. Turn your back on them though and you’ll be storing up trouble for later. We took to the CMM Facebook page to do some digging; here’s a round-up of what you had to say when we asked if the Tokico six-pot was ‘cool or fool?’ Our first bite came from Loz Birkett. “They are utter dogsh*t! The slightest bit of binding on any one of the pistons and the lever comes back to the bar. They corrode within minutes of the first rain cloud appearing 50 miles away and when new have the stopping power of an ER6;S pathetic two-pot sliders: in the bin with them!” In every negative lies a positive and it was Ian Patterson who was next to add to our Facebook thread. “That’s odd: mine work fine. They wear too quickly if certain makes of pad are used but plenty of other calipers do that!” Pads can be a personal choice so we tried to keep the post on track. Paul Lewis
(no not the Angry Ant) made a worthy point about road conditions: “I’m lucky that here in NZ they don’t put salt on the roads so no corrosion issues. I found the binding issue was the dust seals so have removed them and not had a problem since. I’m using Brembo brake pads.” Away from the sports bikes owners we had a comment from Jim Mason; they are standard fitment on his Kawasaki ZRX: “Nothing wrong with them. Strip down every winter, clean, put back together and take time bleeding them. Obviously they are not going to be as good as modern stuff.” Mart Brewer proudly shared a photo of his six-pots, and offered his input. “Cool. Built right they are great: here are mine on my 1999 SRAD 750.” A worthy comment was made by David Molyneaux, who suggests people who haven’t even
experienced them are often quick to sling the mud. “Fit ’em right and they look and work great: never had a problem with ’em. They are usually rubbished by peeps who can’t bleed ’em properly!” The Suzuki Hayabusa was another bike that came with the Tokico stoppers. We found an owner who has had issues and found his own way to keep them good. Here’s what Daniel Matthews had to say: “In the first couple of years on my Hayabusa they felt a bit woolly but still had good stopping power. After riding 300 miles home on salted roads they seized. It took a little while before I’d got them sussed and the following 13 years they’ve been brilliant, plenty of feedback and loads of stopping power. I made up my own bleeding kit, like a saline drip feed, but in reverse. The rest is all down to keeping them clean and the seals lubed.” Gary Gray also still puts his faith in them: “They work fine. I added steel braided lines and they still work perfectly after 80,000km. A few years ago had a deer jump out of the ditch, literally howled the front tyre at 120kph or so and missed the deer. Maintenance and proper cleaning they give great service.” Yes, he’s from somewhere foreign. Kawasaki fitted the Tokico six-pot to their ZX bikes from the 1990s: the ZX-6RG, ZX-7R and ZX-9RC onwards models. Wayne Dann swears by them on his ZX-9R. “I’ve got them on my ZX-9R. They’ve been stripped, pistons polished, re-sealed and bled well and you can stand it on its nose. They just need looking after properly. I’m getting a set of braided lines next though cos they look nice!” Robert Hayes gave us another perspective, he’s popped a set on his 70s two-stroke. “I’ve put them on my 1976 Suzuki GT750 and as someone said, miles better than the 1970s brakes.” We mentioned earlier that some people are dumping six-pots for Tokico four-pots, Eric Pike joined in the fun and even shared a photograph. “Just put Tokico four-pots on my ZRX1200R to replace the six-pots which were terrible: no feel and no power.” Helping to keep the mood light was Steve Dolman, he added this witty remark: “Stick with four-pots or literally ‘stick’ with six-pots.” Alex Truten wasn’t so light-hearted and told us exactly what his thoughts on the subject are! “Crap: got them on my Kawasaki ZX-12R. If you don’t service them they will bind and warp discs. Bin them. A better fix is the four-pots off the Suzuki bandit!” So, many owners were for and many against the Tokico six-pot, but who’s right? If they are looked after and loved then the Tokico six-pot can still haul you up and if you want to change master cylinders and explore pad compounds there’s further braking happiness to be found. We’ve seen the Tokico six-pot on all manner of specials that we’ve featured over the years, and with a decent set making around £100 a pair on ebay they are still a very worthwhile upgrade for the bikes from yesteryear. But we couldn’t leave the question hanging... cmm