Clueless question: Running in brakes

I have a compressor driven one. I'd still be inclined to take the bike
back to the dealers tomorrow; unless it's now totally fixed.

 

Will update you when I get home tonight after having the lever
gaffered up again.

 

I'd agree there - sounds like there's still air in the system.

If the disc or the caliper's a bit worn then the pads will settle
slightly as more and more pressure is applied; they won't fit the
profile of the disc exactly.

IME it makes a noticeable difference for several hundred miles but
nowhere near as much as the OP is describing.

 

<big sigh> Gaffer taped it this morning, took it off in my lunch hour,
had a quickie around the car park featuring no helmet (officer) and it
seemed fine - back to normal. Left the gaffer tape off afterwards and
now the brake works, but it just doesn't feel right - spongy?

I'm concerned that I may have just got used to my old front brake
which was "almost down to the metal" - would a brake like that feel
odd for any reason compared to new pads?

My inexperience has stumped me on this. My entire riding life has
been on a CG125 with two drum brakes and this ER-5, so I have no
comparison. I suppose I could walk up to random bikers in the street
and say "Oh hello, young sir, would you mind terribly if I had a
squeeze of your front brake to see if it feels harder than mine?" but
I doubt I'd last long.

 

BGN wrote

You would notice the new pads and you are also a bit more sensitive to
it because you have had an "issue". Just get on the thing and start
working on needing a new set of pads.

 

I dunno, maybe it has got air in the system? How many miles have you
done on the new pads so far?

I've never had to tie the lever back with anything overnight to get a
firm brake lever. Maybe I'm just a god at bleeding brakes?

Heh.. you can squeeze my brake if you want. The FZR has a very hard
lever, the Bandit less so, mainly because the calipers flex more than
the FZR, and I've still got a small bit of OEM hose on the Bandit still.

 

Over a hundred. Mostly stop/start town riding.

I wonder if ER-5 brakes are hard normally.

 

Ta.

 

Not just ordinary bollocks, but the genuine big fat hairy sweaty
elephant's bollocks. **** me, but you'd have to try hard to **** a
brake hose. And the shiny ones would be Goodridge items - Goodyear
make tyres and blimps.
[/QUOTE]

Well, that serves me right for trying to explain something that happened to
me while being completely rat arsed. Where goodyear came from, I have no
idea, but I did have old damaged brake pipes myself that ballooned instead
of pressing the pads in. Shat myself on the first major stop for a
roundabout. A change of brake fluid did nothing, but nice shiny Goodridge
pipes cured it though. This was on a bike I'd just bought, a little Gpz305.
Handled a lot better than I thought it would.

 

Hmm, on the times I've been doing brakes I've spent *hours* doing it
because there was an airlock in the system. Hours and hours. And
hours. And a few more, and then left it overnight with the lever tied
back to the bar, and the cover loosened off the reservoir.

Next day, check brakes for firmness, tighten the reservoir cap when
happy, and Bob's your Uncle and all that.

I've never had any problems after that, but perhaps I was under a
naaive assumption that whatever liquid bubbles come out of, they do
actually burst? And as they are no longer held in the system itself..?

--
Lesley
CBR600FW
SBS#11 (with oak-leaf cluster)
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18
Real burds don't take hormones, they rage naturally

 

It may have given you a rock hard lever, but did it make the brakes any
better?

 

Sounds even worse than a ZX-9R...