brake question

[cmyers_uk]

I have just noticed that when i pull the front brake lever there is some play before the brakes start to bite. Once it gets to this point they work perfectly. I have checked the pads and each side of the caliper still have 5mm of the cut out remaining (i.e seems plenty of pad) and the fluid's are at the correct level. The brake fluid was changed at the last service 2k ago.

This may be my lack of understanding and just normal wear but I expected the brakes to compensate for wear and start biting the minute I pull the lever no matter what the wear of the pads in the normal wear range.

Is this normal?

 

[Pukmeister]

Excess lever travel can be caused by either sticking brake pistons, meaning the disks 'bend' as they are pushed across to the worn pad on the stuck piston side, or pads that aren't centred:

To test for this (assuming all caliper pistons move freely), try squeezing the brake lever whilst feeling with a finger tip on the brake disk for sideways movement. If you can feel the brake disk moving sideways under lever pressure, you need to pack out the closer of the disk-to-pad gaps with a screwdriver or similar then use the brake lever to close up the bigger of the disk-to-pad gaps.

Once the pads have the same distance to travel until they squeeze the disk, lever travel isn't wated in bending the disk sideways.

I hope all that made sense.......

 

[cmyers_uk]

Makes good sense and something I had never heard of so result all round. Cheers much appreciated. Ill test tomorrow.
Thanks
Chris

 

[crawling finn]

Pukmeister's comment is valid and makes perfect sense.
However, brake lever has always SOME play. It is just how it works.

When brake lever is fully extended, hole in the master cylinder is open to the handlebar reservoir. When you start pulling the brake lever, i.e. operating the master sylinder, first part of the piston travel will close the opening before beginning to apply pressure.

Cheerio,
Sami