Brakes and ABS

[fishburger]

My bleeding brakes need bleeding, I have a 800GS with ABS. I don't have a workshop manual yet and was wondering if anyone knew of any special procedure required when bleeding abs brakes on these? Or can I just go ahead as normal

Hi
I have bled my brakes front and rear,no problems,what goes in the brake fluid reservoar comes out the bleed nipple.
I have ABS.
Just a straight forward operation,as you would do it on a none ABS bike.
fishburger

 

[bingbong]

Sorry I cant offer advice on the ABS side of things, but what is the reason you need to bleed the brakes?.

If it is because of a spongy lever then there is another optiion than to bleed the brake lines manualy.

Get a cable tie and wrap it around your front brake lever and pull the tie up reasonably firm.

Get a weight of some sort (I use a 3 lt drink bottle with a loop os string throught it) and hang it off you rear brake lever.

Leave both overnight.

Next day or whenever, remove the above and you should have nice firm brakes both front and rear.

Try it... I dare you.

If this method does not work, take it to BMW because something is seriously wrong and its not just a case of bleeding the air from the brake lines.

Cheers and merry Xmas frim downunder
Tony[/QUOTE

Tony, I'm gonna try this just for the fun of it .
I do have spongy brakes but it is compounded by the fact the pads have very little initial bite so more pressure is required at the lever and after a few good brakes into some twisties they are down right dangerous I am researching some different pads to try (EBC HH?). ABS bikes are known for being hard on brake fluid for some reason . Probably due to the extra work the fluid has to do.
Thanks for the tip ........now cable ties he says.......

 

[bingbong]

Hi
I have bled my brakes front and rear,no problems,what goes in the brake fluid reservoar comes out the bleed nipple.
I have ABS.
Just a straight forward operation,as you would do it on a none ABS bike.
fishburger

Thanks Fishgurger that's good news, I am going to give Tony's tip a try first . Great if it works
Has anybody out there tried different pads yet?Or am I the only one complaining about the brakes on these 800's? Maybe I'm being too hard them

 

[zerocool]

I had a set off steptoe about 15- 20k miles ago, must be due for a set soon im sure, but all these miles on and they still stick like the preverbial, on top of that I got a bit heavy handed with the ACF 50 and the similar cheaper products and even after wiping excess off the disks they still stuck strong.

I was under the impression that you need to tap/flick the lines before removing your cable ties or weights to get any air out of the cables.

Changing the fluid is easy enough on a none ABS system so cant imagine its that much more difficult on a ABS system. I thought it was just replacing pads that could be difficult. Im sure some somebody will be on with the difinitive answer.

 

[bingbong]

Sorry I cant offer advice on the ABS side of things, but what is the reason you need to bleed the brakes?.

If it is because of a spongy lever then there is another optiion than to bleed the brake lines manualy.

Get a cable tie and wrap it around your front brake lever and pull the tie up reasonably firm.

Get a weight of some sort (I use a 3 lt drink bottle with a loop os string throught it) and hang it off you rear brake lever.

Leave both overnight.

Next day or whenever, remove the above and you should have nice firm brakes both front and rear.

Try it... I dare you.

If this method does not work, take it to BMW because something is seriously wrong and its not just a case of bleeding the air from the brake lines.

Cheers and merry Xmas frim downunder
Tony

Bloody hell mate, it worked
nice one cobber thanks
onyack

 

[pacix]

Modification on the front brake circuit?

This weekend I was in a really muddy place of the center of Spain. Well, it was not mud, it was clay and we had a real hard time; we spent 4hours to make 3kms. There was 1DR650, 1KLX650, several F650GS (old), 1 R1200GS, 1 100GS, 2 Africa Twins and 2 F800Gs. Both F800Gs broke in exactly the same point.
All the other bikes were able to dismount their front mud guard and to continue (in the hard and difficult way), but we (the owners of the F800gs) were completely stuck for something that I consider a design failure as this bike is in the “enduro” section of the BMW Motorrad web site and the commercial slogan was “unstoppable”. The second one is not true.

Here you can see some pictures on how the situation was.
http://picasaweb.google.es/carlos.aisa.luis/20090118OdiseaEnElBarro?feat=directlink#

Well, what happen is that we broke the front mud guard as described in the following picture:

Mud started to accumulate under the guard and we have to ride 100meters, stop to clean it, ride 100m, stop and so on. However, at some point the mud guard broke from the red lines in the picture above and this part of the guard was out while the part signalled with the pink arrow remained in its position.

This small piece of plastic was able to turn due to the screw with the yellow arrow, so when the well did 2 turns and accumulates mud, this was forcing the plastic to move to front and breaking the wheel (the yellow screw has not the same center as the wheel).

We decide to take out the remaining plastic bit and this even worst because the mud we accumulated in the wheel and when it reached the breaking conduit that passes close to the wheel, they collide and the conduit was forced against the wheel, so the knobs of the wheel collide with it and the wheel was suddenly stopped. This every 3meters….

Why our “enduro” bike has the break conduit so close to the wheel? Why is not together with the conduits with green arrow?

After hours of trying to advance, it was 17.00, it was becoming dark and cold, so we had to call for help to the people that was able to get out of here and they came back with a tractor from the nearest village.

Therefore I want, either:
• To increase the arch of the braking conduit over the wheel, so I can remove the mud guard without the conduit being crushed by the mud in the wheel.
• Or even better, to make a split after the ABS box and to have an independent conduit for each brake, going down by the front forks.


Do you know if this might have impact on the ABS working mode?
Has anybody done something similar before?
Any recommendation?

Thanks and regards,

 

[D6]

• To increase the arch of the braking conduit over the wheel, so I can remove the mud guard without the conduit being crushed by the mud in the wheel.
• Or even better, to make a split after the ABS box and to have an independent conduit for each brake, going down by the front forks.


no reason why you cant use seperates, (goodrich?)

 

[everywherevirtually]

They might be categorised under the enduro section but these are essentially road bikes with off road pretentions. When you see a true off road bike there is virtually nothing to it. Including front mudguards like the ones on the 800GS. The unstoppable tag is appealing to the mid life crisis bunch who like the idea of being unstoppable but in reality are not willing to go somewhere where they might actually wind up being... er stopped and more importantly stuck.

To my mind these bikes are designed for dusty trails off the beaten track, light mud, light sand, a bit of water and that's about it. If they are abused they will break and so it shouldn't be any surprise.

Clay is nasty, heavy stuff and would not be my medium of choice to ride through.

 

[rin_sun]

Nice one everywherevirtually

My thought was, did you do this on purpose? or was the track dry last time you tried it?
Oops.
I am just asking Goodrich about creating separate lines myself, because Gary has spotted this potential issue. But if people suggest I ride through bog I say this does not look suitable for a bike with wheels, I think a horse would be more suitable transport …
Catherine.

 

[Magwych]

Looks like Touratech have spotted this : See Here

 

[pacix]

Believe me when I say that this was not my choice. We just went for a short Sunday morning ride and we ended up in the middle of this “surprise”. We made 1,5kms and we realized that was not possible to continue… but doing the opposite way was a killer; in addition to the clay, we have been “pressing it” and walking over so it was more difficult that in the way in. So, this thing might happen to anybody; you do not have to be “targeting” to do this.

Yesterday went to the dealer and they told me that is not an enduro bike (even when it is sold in the enduro section of their web site and when it is the front page of their enduro magazine) and that the dealer will not do any modification to the brake circuit at all; not even a small ad-on.

During all the year I have been doing “trail” rides, never saw something similar to the clay we found last weekend, so considering I still have 15months of warranty, I think I will replace the mud guard for another one and hope to do not find again this kind of surface… but internally, I am not happy with this approach because I do not like the approach of being frightened because I might eventually being stuck in the middle of Africa is I find this type of surface again and this is not the spirit of a motorbike that is supposed to go anywhere (see Touratech pictures, for instance or BMW promotional ones).

 

[D6]

any good shop can make the lines up, you dont need to buy an expensive kit

 

[rin_sun]

diameter of banjo bolt front brake, anyone?

I'm replacing my brake lines on the front, partly to remove the trip line over the front mudguard. I need to know the size of the internal of the banjo bolt at the brake lever/reservoir end. Just in case anyone knows, I'm asking before I resort to taking it to bits to measure it as well as when I come to replace the lines. I didn't know there was a choice …
I think 10mm is standard.

Thanks guys,
Catherine.

 

[swredbeemer]

Rear Brake pads

Help!! I need some directions on how to remove the pin holding the rear brake pads for the 800. I removed the wire keeper but cannot see how to remove the pin. Also, can the pads be replaced without removing the caliper or wheel?

thanks

 

[sijohnston]

Help!! I need some directions on how to remove the pin holding the rear brake pads for the 800. I removed the wire keeper but cannot see how to remove the pin. Also, can the pads be replaced without removing the caliper or wheel?

thanks

no, you have to remove the wheel (but not necessarily the caliper). once the wheel is out, the pin is handy enough to remove.

 

[tr5esu]

I have changed the rear brake pads without removing the wheel. I pushed the pin out with a screw driver and a hammer (carefully). It's a bit harder to get the pin back in place but still possible.

Cheers.

 

[sijohnston]

I have changed the rear brake pads without removing the wheel. I pushed the pin out with a screw driver and a hammer (carefully). It's a bit harder to get the pin back in place but still possible.

Cheers.

 

[Tim Cullis]

Needs new front disc at 12000 miles

OK, so the F650GS only has a single disc, so I guess this means it wears twice as fast as a twin rotor setup, but seeing as the bike's been used mainly for long distance gentle cruising, I'm a bit surprised at this.

Also my riding style is to ease off in bags of time for bends, roundabouts and I use the brakes far less than many other riders.

But then... (I'm thinking as I'm typing here) the brakes are not linked as they are on the 1200GS/A and I don't use the rear pedal very often. Maybe this has a bearing on the rate of front wear.

Tim

 

[Timolgra]

Much depends on the brake pad material and any dust/grit etc. in addition to BMW recent problems with disc wear on the 1200s.

 

[everywherevirtually]

My 800 has recently had it's 12K service. the rear pads have 1500 miles left on them as it's only a single disc while the front pads are good for another 12000. So the single disc / double disc wear rate holds true.