Rear brake stalling engine

1 goose

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Hi, Have noticed my bike stalling while braking on a slow down hill, this has happened a few times, I'm not braking hard enough for the brake to actually stall the engine it's more like the brake is causing an electric fault and stopping the engine. Is this possible or have I just a heavy right foot. The bike is an 04 1200 gs with 23000 miles.

Any ideas what might cause this, I'm worried it might happen approaching a fast corner and cause problems.

Thanks in advance. Goose
 
Has your bike got ABS? If so, the brakes are semi-linked and the front brake lever applies both front and rear brakes. If you then add additional rear brake you might well be applying too much, although you might anticipate the ABS kicking in at that point. In any event if you do this, you'll also wear out your rear pads much more quickly. In normal use, it's sufficient to use the front brake lever and leave the foot pedal alone.
 
Go down said hill at 80mph.....OK not quite so fast :-P pull the clutch in and just apply rear brake until you stop/lay a big streaky :-D Then check if the engine has stalled.
 
Does the engine stop if you apply the rear brake when stationary?
 
Has your bike got ABS? If so, the brakes are semi-linked and the front brake lever applies both front and rear brakes. If you then add additional rear brake you might well be applying too much, although you might anticipate the ABS kicking in at that point. In any event if you do this, you'll also wear out your rear pads much more quickly. In normal use, it's sufficient to use the front brake lever and leave the foot pedal alone.


A major benefit of having linked brakes operating on the front lever only is that the rear can be operated in isolation. Your normal use is certainly not mine :rob If the lad is braking whilst cornering a bit of back is a much safer option than relying on the front lever
 
Hi, Have noticed my bike stalling while braking on a slow down hill, this has happened a few times, I'm not braking hard enough for the brake to actually stall the engine it's more like the brake is causing an electric fault and stopping the engine. Is this possible or have I just a heavy right foot. The bike is an 04 1200 gs with 23000 miles.

Any ideas what might cause this, I'm worried it might happen approaching a fast corner and cause problems.

Thanks in advance. Goose

I've had a couple of bikes (one was a K1200) that had similar problems of the brake servo causing the bike to stall. It was due the battery being fecked and using the brake in heavy traffic of keeping the front brake held on while in traffic sucked all the life from the battery and made the bike stop.
I think BMW did a software upgrade to stop it happening.

But those were on bikes used in very heavy slow moving commuting traffic.. Your bike isn't being used in those circumstances so i'm not sure if it's your problem, but checking the battery will tell you if that idea has any bones on the flesh.

Also putting the rear brake on full while stationary won't tell you anything as the servo motor turns off.
 
A major benefit of having linked brakes operating on the front lever only is that the rear can be operated in isolation. Your normal use is certainly not mine :rob If the lad is braking whilst cornering a bit of back is a much safer option than relying on the front lever

That depends on how and why you're braking. Of course if you're trailing the rear brake in a corner to tighten your line, that's another matter. However, in normal use it shouldn't be necessary to apply the brakes in a corner. Even so, in extremis, I've found it's possible to use the front brake and hence the linked rear, right up to the apex if you overcook it on the way in. If you do use both the front brake lever and the foot pedal simultaneously, you do risk applying too much rear brake, activating the ABS and wearing out the rear pads prematurely.
 
I brake only when necessary, hardly ever touch the rear pedal but still managed to totally shred a seat of organic pads in under 4000 miles and Fup the disc. The shagged pads would jam the back wheel when stopping which was of course when they were taking the disc apart. Ive fitted EBC sintered pads and now have an over-braked back end though its never likely to stall the engine.

The bike really does need a way to adjust the rear brake bias.
 
Organic pads in the rear are shagged in 4K which is less that the service interval and therefore not fit for purpose IMO. I use sintered pads front and back as the advice is that you shouldn't mix pad types (front to rear). I was told they knacker the disks more quickly but the disks are fine at 57K and counting
 
Thank you for all the replies and help. Aaaa linked brakes why did I not think of that :blast, that could be the problem as I almost always use both, it certainly explains the scary moment I had after arriving in a 40mph corner at 60 and panic braking around same back wheel must have locked then abs saved me but kind of pulsed around corner, couldn't understand what had happened :confused:. Raced MX for 15 yrs but still a bit green on the road.

Have to say I would prefer to distribute brake to front and rear myself rather than the bike deciding.

Thanks again for the help guys. Goose.
 


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