Problem with front brakes.

[motobiker]

Brakes have always been a bit of a mystery to me... best left to the experts.

At the moment I have almost no brakes on the front.. from 'cold' the lever will pull right back to the bar and have no effect. a few pumps on the lever and the brakes are almost back to normal.. but after a short while.. will come back to the lever again. This made for a very interesting ride from Builth back to nottingham on friday night!!

fluid levels are ok,,, pads have plenty of life in them. etc and so forth.

Just need help diagnosing the cause so I can get any parts needed from Motorworks tomorrow and get the bike fixed asap.

Bikes an 1100GS (abs) - which engages as per usual.

I tried the search function.. but the searchwords I used returned far too many results.. those I looked at were for different problems to this.

many thanks.

 

[Welshman]

Brakes have always been a bit of a mystery to me... best left to the experts.

At the moment I have almost no brakes on the front.. from 'cold' the lever will pull right back to the bar and have no effect. a few pumps on the lever and the brakes are almost back to normal.. but after a short while.. will come back to the lever again. This made for a very interesting ride from Builth back to nottingham on friday night!!

fluid levels are ok,,, pads have plenty of life in them. etc and so forth.

Just need help diagnosing the cause so I can get any parts needed from Motorworks tomorrow and get the bike fixed asap.

Bikes an 1100GS (abs) - which engages as per usual.

I tried the search function.. but the searchwords I used returned far too many results.. those I looked at were for different problems to this.

many thanks.

Bleed them.....

 

[Beak Freak]

Brakes

You must have air in the system, so like Welshman says...bleed them.

 

[Wrigsby1]

Yip, 1st New fluid and a good bleed through. Go to an auto store and get a non return brake bleed pipe for less than £10. get a new bottle of Dot 4 fluid and bleed brakes. If you are not confident then get someone who is or a shop to do it.

Also read the "sticky" on top brake lines on ABS models. It may need replacing.

Also check your master cylinder for leaking where the brake piston slides in.

 

[GADGET]

Could be corrosion of the master cylinder bore, I believe it is an issue with early 1100s, they didn`t used to anodise the bore. About £100 for a new replacement

 

[bowser]

my brother in law had a similar problem and it was a leaking fitting on one of the pipes on the abs pump, however the anwser is there is air getting in the system somwhere, till you find out where you wont be able to sort the problem

 

[Wrigsby1]

Old fluid will also make the brakes spongier as (I remember?) it absorbs air easier and might be moisture contaminated. Or that might just be me

 

[waterloo700]

Brake advice

I admire your honesty in the first line of your text when you say:

"Brakes have always been a bit of a mystery to me... best left to the experts"

Its a wise man who knows his limitations - hydraulic brakes are essentially simple things but there are a thousand ways you can cock them up.

I know you are asking for advice on what might be wrong and you will be offered lots of well meaning opinions.

Get it to an expert - anybody recommend a good spanner-man in the Nottingham area? Now that would be useful advice.

 

[motobiker]

I admire your honesty in the first line of your text when you say:

"Brakes have always been a bit of a mystery to me... best left to the experts"

Its a wise man who knows his limitations - hydraulic brakes are essentially simple things but there are a thousand ways you can cock them up.

I know you are asking for advice on what might be wrong and you will be offered lots of well meaning opinions.

Get it to an expert - anybody recommend a good spanner-man in the Nottingham area? Now that would be useful advice.

Aye.. thats precisely what I've done.. will be taking the bike to the local BMW independent chap this week... won't be till thursday though.
Never occurred to me that there could be air in the system.. brakes performed flawlessly on my recent trip to the Grossglokner, Dolomites and Slovenia... My first thought was that some non-return valve or seal had 'gone'. And so the question was placed so I could get any parts ordered beforehand. but hey ho.. we live and learn.

There are a lot of tasks I'm happy to tackle myself.. but Brakes? no.. I'll change the pads but thats it. I pay about £100 a year for servicing I wont diy.. this includes brake fluid changes. (normally every other year)

Bike is one of the very last 1100s made.. So.. can't really be down to flaws in the earlier versions. I replaced all the hoses a year or so ago with 'braided' - fluid is around 12 months old. and still 'pale gold'

many thanks for the hints... hopefully the bike will be back on track: Thursday.

When I described the symptoms to the 'indy' his first rsponse was the same: air in the system.

cheers.

 

[Wrigsby1]

Ah, mountain tours. Now if you were "spirited" in the mts then you may have got your fluid nice and hot which can get the air in Great fun... Remember having a similar probs after a long run down the mts in France once on a sprorts bike

Ind man will have it sorted in a short time

 

[motobiker]

All sorted... fluid was full of 'air'. Just so glad this problem waited to manifest itself AFTER I got back home.