Gymkhana

I go up to LA a lot on the bike. Might be worth a trip, I just need to track these guys down.

Session this Saturday, 08.10.13
For people who attended before, same place, 9am.
Otherwise pm me for more details, or join our Facebook group to get event schedule, photos, videos and chatter.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/motogymkhananyc/

So I rebuilt my front master cylinder, and that made it worse. I think I'll have to re-bleed brakes a few times as it feels I still have air in the system.

I can pump lever to make it somewhat firm, but after a few laps, its pinching my fingers again.

As I took the master cylinder apart, I inspected everything including the inside of the MC housing. Everything seemed in good order, no rips, no scratches, inside its nice, smooth and polished. All holes are free and not clogged up, and there was no gunk anywhere. So it wasn't MC's fault in the first place.

I'm really getting frustrated with this whole brake issue. I finally learned how to properly use front brake, and having this dangerously mushy front lever detracts from me practicing at full potential.

I'm stubbornly refusing to switch to a different MC and calipers, as I want to keep this bike stock for now. So my next step is to add a banjo bolt with a bleeder to master cylinder, so I can bleed air directly out of MC.

After that, the only step left, is to upgrade to better lines.

man i hate that. have you tried pulling the calipers off, putting them up on a table higher than the MC, and then bleeding them ? if you get the last bleeder the highest, it helps sometimes.

good luck, i'm really digging your rainy route66 video, and the honda hawk.

Thats actually a pretty good idea, to take calipers off completely and raise above MC. I'll try that.

Thank you for kind words about video :) Yup that Hawk is a very pretty bike, tiny too.

Silly question, but when you say the lever is firm, are the brakes working? It just seems really weird that you would have working brakes and then suddenly you lose brake pressure. It's a closed system and once you have firm brakes, I feel like it should stay that way. Are you sure there are no leaks in the system? If you pump the lever a few times, does it firm up again and you have good brakes again?

I'm struggling with the understanding of this myself. Nothing is leaking, I'm sure of it. I checked, rechecked and triple checked all connections. Everything is dry.

Basically what happens is that I squeeze lever 2/3 of the travel, without any major engagement from the brakes. They do start to scrub against the rotor, but barely. Then the last 1/3 of the lever travel, it firms up, and I can actually feel brakes engaging and stopping the bike.

So when I pump the brake, the initial travel distance before brakes engage, reduces, but not by much. So that I can still squeeze the lever, without anything noticeable happening and only only the last bit of travel actually engages the brakes.

It does feel like I have air in the system, where I'm basically compressing air first with the initial travel of the lever, and once air is compressed to its maximum, brake fluid starts moving, and it finally pushes on the pistons in the calipers.

I have a suspicion that there is some air trapped in the master cylinder itself. Its the highest point, and I don't have a bleeder on it, so there is no way for me to suck that air out forcefully. I just ordered a banjo bolt with bleeder in it, and will install it on MC once it gets here. Hopefully this will help.

Last few bleeds did not produce any visible air bubbles in the tube from the bleeder to the mytivac, so I'm under impression that the system was air free.

However there might be few bubbles stuck somewhere, where they do not get moved from bleeding procedure and that gives me the mushy lever.

I'm really frustrated with this. I know I can't compare my Speed Triple to SV650, but from Speed Triple I know what a good lever suppose to feel like, and SV's lever is anything but good.

Could definitely be some air stuck in the system then. Loosen up the banjo bolt by the master cylinder and squeeze the lever. Use a towel to protect the tank and prevent brake fluid from getting on the bike. You might be able to squeeze some air out that way. You could also take the front calipers off the bike and shake around a bit to see if you can dislodge any air stuck inside.

watch for a bulging line too. I understand lines can fail internally and bleed fluid back to the mc, without giving good braking. sorry, I'm not up on how/why.

we had an early participant last night before the big kids showed up..


http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...4Og/Wj0B00bN_vs/s1024/IMG_20130808_184152.jpg

we had 13 show up, and 12 participants. gp8, circle of trust, increasing/decreasing 5 radii, and the left/right hotshot stop n go.

one soon to be new rider got introduced to the idea that bikes are meant to be shared, ridden, and sat on, instedad of polished and pampered.... she's going to really infect people with her enthusiasm.

we have two a local dealer onboard for biweeklys, and cyclegear stepping up for possibly once a month gp8's, thanks to some folks that don't mind spreading the cheer.

the fall gk event is going to be HUGE, at the montivallow msf center. stuff is coming together well, and riders are realizing riding is more rewarding than posing. ;-)

I think the debate about air in brake sistem is offtopic in this thread.

I think someone who has two posts in 9 months and has added nothing to anything is off topic to comment about the OP of this thread asking for specific brake advice.

Sorry!

Even though I only have two post, I read this forum a lot. Especaly this threed.
Better to have only two posts, then beeing offtopic.

If due to the low number of post's I can not express my opinion, then accept my apologies and ignore my previous statements.

The problem isn't your post count. The problem is that your comments are useless and your sarcasm on top of it makes you an asshole. Go back into hiding and don't post negative remarks when we try to help each other out.

Heh, trolls will be trolls.

Kudos!

With the regular turn out of 10 bikes or so for the past few weeks, if we keep this up, I think we'll be able to get a couple of dealers on board as well. Would be nice if one of them could offset a cost of a nice big timer for us

There is an interesting post over at Amgrass.com from a guy who was organizing Battle Trax back in the day, or at least claims he was the organizer. Would be really interesting to hear the whole story on why it fell apart. Seems there is a definite interest in this type of activity, especially if its a lot more accessible than a track day.

Vulfy, I'm off to see the guy who will do my brakes on Monday, want him to check out a strange & untraceable noise in the DT. I will see if he has anything to contribute to your problem. Er, contribute to fixing your problem.


Oreh, your right, but this thread exists because of the riders who are out there doing it & discussing their issues for betterment of all.
If you have chicken strips & your back brake does not squeal then you do not pass muster.

What a great session today!

Great thread!!! Subscribed!