Rear brake & linked brakes

[GSmonkey]

Three questions on the brakes of my GS:

1. The rear brake requires a lot of pressure, compared to my previous bikes, to work. Is this normal?

2. The idea of the linked braking system as far as I'm concerned is great. Unlike Honda, in their wisdom, BMW have not linked the back brake to front brake. My question is do people apply both brakes at once, or only the front lever?? It would appear to me that the bike brakes OK using the front alone.

3. Does ABS work on the back brake if used alone?? (haven't tried a rear wheel skid yet)

 

[Clive]

1. Seems to be normal.
2. I only use the rear brake when off-road or when very low speed turns/traffic etc.
3. Yes.

 

[Shep]

Hi there

1, Yup rear brakes seems to need a good prod to be effective

2, IMO No need to use rear brake in normal conditions, I only use rear brake on its own if i'm on mud/ice, or if i'm too hot into a bend and I need to scrub a bit of speed without upsetting the front end.

3. ABS seems to work on both wheels but the rear appears to have no ABS sensor ring so not sure where it picks up its information from

I just took the bike around the car park, the rear wheel skids for a split second then releases, this feels a bit more crude than front ABS, this locks the front only slighty then returns control in a much smoother fashion. As I said nothing scientific just a quick hoon around the car park (for research only you understand!)

Just changed rear pads today 9000mls, do not trust the wear indicators on the pads, my inboard pad wore less than the outboard pad. (same pads as 1150)

Regards Shep

 

[JayGee]

My rear brake takes quite a bit of pressure to lock it momentarily or even to get any noticeable braking effort. I only use the pedal for slow speed manouvering or for the last bit when stopping. This isn't really necessay on the GS with so little dive but it's a habit I'm finding hard to change.

 

[Clive]

3. ABS seems to work on both wheels but the rear appears to have no ABS sensor ring so not sure where it picks up its information from

The drive unit has a "Rear speed sensor" which I presume is part of the ABS

 

[TheJoker]

It's quite amusing 'stamping' hard on the rear brake in the wet to slow you down to the maximum grip of the rear tyre and let the ABS do all the work - do try it out


Just want to find out how I could turn the linking off; hard to do burnouts otherwise

 

[Dutchman]

The drive unit has a "Rear speed sensor" which I presume is part of the ABS

The rear wheel rotation/speed sensor is just like the front one except it's built into the inner face of the final drive unit.

It appears to be pointing directly at the five spoked rear disc carrier, so presumably it only measures five times per wheel rotation rather than the 100 or so times for the front wheel.

Perhaps this explains the 'crude' feeling of the rear ABS in action...?

Rear wheel lock-ups/skids are rarely as much of a drama as those of front wheel, so perhaps BMW in their infinate wisdom decided to take yet another element of motorcycle control away from the rider........?

I've owned six ABS equipped BMW's since 1995, the last three with Evo I or Evo II linked brakes and I've yet to have the ABS work in anger.......must try harder, methinks.......?

Cheers

Dutch

 

[Joyseeker]

on my first GS and thus BMW

in the first 600 mls found the rear brake needed more pressure then my multistrada.... ditto. but now at nearly 4000mls the pads must have worn in or i just have got used to them.

been trying to get the front abs to work. it should have worked but the dealer told me i would not feel it worked on the front (like on a car) but just a little when it does on the back. i have met GSers who's rear, they say, have been saved on the leaves this fall.

i'm also told it is best to use the front bake only in normal conditions as the evo system applies a different ratio of front and back depending on speed and rate stopping...... but why stop a good habit eh?

also make sure you don't interrupt the 'self check' that occurs when you switch on the ignition. the black box is dependant on one ‘bus’ and if it does not get a signal back from the evo due to the bus being loaded with a start signal...... the black box drops it and lights up 'brake failure'. you will then be on residual braking till 200yds or so down the road when it checks again and gets the ok signal again from the evo. (see my thread on oil warning light also applies).

 

[GSmonkey]

Cheers for the info guys - still getting used to the brakes on my new machine. I did wonder about ABS on the rear, as it felt so weak and I couldn't see a sensor ring. Just thought I couldn't stamp hard enough to lock it up

Think I may have used the ABS already on the front. I was braking quite heavy up to a pedestrian crossing. If it'd been my previous non-ABS bike, I would have sailed through. Anyway, whilst braking, braking effort was momentarily reduced by 75%, then a split second later it was back on. I'm hoping it was the ABS and not a servo fault or something. The tarmac looked ok from what I could see in the wing mirrors.

 

[TheJoker]

Think I may have used the ABS already on the front. I was braking quite heavy up to a pedestrian crossing. If it'd been my previous non-ABS bike, I would have sailed through. Anyway, whilst braking, braking effort was momentarily reduced by 75%, then a split second later it was back on. I'm hoping it was the ABS and not a servo fault or something. The tarmac looked ok from what I could see in the wing mirrors.

I use ABS on almost every ride I do. It mainly activates when going over bumps in the road; brake hard(er than normal) over a bump and the ABS engages to prevent the wheel from stopping "mid-air". It's a bit of a scary feeling sometimes as the bike just sails past the bumps.
So, while the suface might have been nice and clean, you migh have hit a little bump which the ABS detected and thus momentarily released brake pressure.

 

[GSmonkey]

So, while the suface might have been nice and clean, you migh have hit a little bump which the ABS detected and thus momentarily released brake pressure.

...think you might be bob on there mate. I seem to remember that there is a slight rise in the road at that point. I shall investigate on my ride home tomorrow