Bybre Brakes – The Indian Brembos : First Look + Exclusive Photos!

A few days back you must have read about Bajaj planning to introduce Brembo’s on its bikes under the name Bybre. What you see here are the exclusive pictures of Brembos, known as Bybre in India installed on a commercial bike.

Brembo’s Might: Italian auto component manufacturer Brembo is a highly acclaimed maker of braking technology for automobiles which operates in 13 countries. It supplies high performance braking systems to the biggest automotive brands of the world which include cars, motorcycles and other commercial vehicles. Brembo has also won more than 200 racing championships. Brembo, which is the owner of the Brembo, AP Racing, Marchesini and Sabelt brands, acquired 50 percent stake in KBX motorbike Products Private Ltd. which was earlier owned by Bosch Chassis Systems India Ltd in 2008. KBX, the largest manufacturer of braking systems in India with a market share of more than 50 percent, was established in February 2006 as a 50:50 joint venture between Brembo and Bosch. With this acquisition KBX had become a 100 percent subsidiary of Brembo.

BYBRE has been made as a new global brand of components dedicated to two wheelers under 600cc for India. The products would be engineered in Italy, before being mass produced at company’s manufacturing facility of Brembo Brakes India Ltd. at Chakan in Pune. The good part is that the first product from this brand would be made exclusively for use by Bajaj Auto Ltd. Bajaj would use Bybre on majorly bikes from KTM and a few high performance products from their own stables.

This is actually my bike which sported the regular traditional KBX at the rear like all other Pulsar 220 DTSi’s initially, however, Bajaj changed mine to BYBRE after all efforts to curb the infamous rear disc noise failed miserably. They initially installed only the BYBRE calipers with the stock disc plate, but, upon persistence of the issue, a few days back, the disc plate was also changed to a more compatible unit from the BYBRE set. Ironically though, a little humming sound could still be heard upon harder braking. But I expect it to curb down in times to come.

Talking about the braking part, rear braking of Pulsar 220 has always been very less effective. Many of our readers complain that despite regular complaints to authorized service stations, service center personnel play down the whole issue citing “progressive braking” as the reason.

Much to my dismay, braking has left me wanted for some more bite with rear BYBRE as well. This feeling becomes even stronger when I ride the R15 and Apache RTR 180, especiallly the later which has set a high held benchmark with its pin point braking from the petal shaped discs it comes equipped with. My bike has been running under constant observation from Bajaj and they have time and again come to my rescue upon any complaint. Good news for customers is that Bajaj would soon be launching these Bybre in their future bikes which might include some existing models from their ProBiking stables, which was confirmed by one of the R&D member from Bajaj. Installation and use of this new braking setup has been approved by ARAI recently.

Looks:

The setup definitely looks more robust than the earlier KBX. The caliper unit installed on my bike is whitish grey in color in comparison to the golden KBX previously installed. The fluid carrying pipe is also little thicker. On the face of it, a big bold silver colored ‘BYBRE’ tag greets you protruding from the caliper, which, however, doesn’t exude great quality. Golden colored KBX at the front and white-grey Bybre at the rear do look a little odd but if it helps me in better braking I wouldn’t mind looking at it with an ogle eye. I will definitely keep you updated about the advancements on this front.

Can you?

I know the next logical question which you must be curious to know “Can I ask Bajaj service center people to install these Bybre on my Pulsar 220?” I wouldn’t say a definite ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ but I will give you a direction. If you are genuinely facing this issue of rear brake screeching, try to get it rectified at the company’s authorized service stations but if it doesn’t solve the issue shoot a mail directly to Bajaj’s customer service (customerservice@bajajauto.co.in) without spoiling your mood involving yourself in unnecessary brawls with service center people. Do mention issue history and what steps have been taken by the authorized service center personnel. Pursue your issue with the company officials, till it gets resolved (now that might involve rectification of the existing setup or installation of these Bybre’s ).

- Saad Khan
saad@bikeadvice.in

Get Free BikeAdvice Buyer's Guide... Riding Tips, Fuel Efficiency Tips, Info about all Indian Bikes all in 1 amazing ebook. Free!

We hate spam just as much as you