Week front brake

[Gilson]

Hi Guys, more help required from the tome of knowledge that is the GSUK forum...

Having been ridign my 2000 1150GS with 16K on the clock I have noticed that the back brake is considerably better than the front. I have to give the front a good squeeze for it to really stop me quickly. Using the back brake in addition to teh front really does stop very fast but the front does seem to be lacking.

When stationary I am able to pull the front brake lever to the bar which to me suggests air in the fluid. There is plenty of fluid in there and it was serviced about 4K ago by BMW.

There is also ample pad left, about 3-4mm...

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

(PS I love the bike)

 

[Steptoe]

ABS or not.

 

[Ming]

The first place to start would be a good bleed and fluid change .

if your not comfortable doing this yourself i would suggest taking it to an independant Bmw specalist such as steptoe .

if the bke was bought from a dealer take it back .

 

[Mzokk]

Bleed the brakes. Take off the calipers remove the pads and clean the pistons(push them out with the brake lever using a piece of wood to stop them coming right out!) and pad retaining pins (I use brake cleaner, brake fluid and a V soft toothbrush for this) work the pistons in and out with your fingers and rotate them as push them back in to ensure you expose all of the piston surface for cleaning. If the retaining pins are rough polish them with fine wet and dry. Assemble everything (torque the brake caliper bolts correctly and use blue loctite on the threads to keep them from comming loose) and the brakes should feel like new. I do this every 2months in the summer and every month in the winter! all three calipers and have never had seized pistons!(apart from the bleeding bit I replace the fluid every 6 months)

If you think the front pads may be glazed roughen them with fine sandpaper (NOT EMERY AS THIS HAS OIL IN IT) before refitting them.

Hope this helps

 

[Mzokk]

The above is for non ABS I believe the ABS system is a bit funny about having brake fluid pushed back up towards the reservior!

Good Luck!

 

[Gilson]

My bike does have ABS...didn't realise that it made a difference.

I might buy one of those bleeding pump things from hein gericke...I'm pretty competant with cars, how difficult can a bleed be on a bike?

I'll give it a go myself as soon as I can if that doesn't solve it, I'll go to Steptoe..(didn't realise "the 'toe" was a mechanic..)..legends, all of you...

Self love
Martyn