front brake-more needed

Try fitting a dinner plate SM brake :lol:

A larger master cylinder bore would require more effort to stop the front wheel.

What you need is either a larger caliper with more piston area or a larger diameter rotor. Both of those will increase the leverage ratio and give you better stopping force with the same input from the lever

I always fall offf if I use the front brake....................... 8O

Front brakes

Hi, Taff....
My '98 fc will spit me over the bars if I "dab" too hard, wet, dry, muddy, whatever. Might check for master cylinder differences that would give ya a bit more on a swap. Uh, I have access to a couple of trawler anchors if ya need one!!! :lol:

Taffy

More brakes? What are you super man?

What pads are you using? are they metal or organic?

Fryguy

what yah using the brakes for..?

Taffy the pads on my bike are the metallic and they seem to work almost to good. If you clamp down on them to hard it feels like the forks want to twist just a little. I hate to ask but your pads might be glazed ,that will cause your brakes to do what you are describing. Funny you have that problem with your front brakes while my back brakes does the same thing. Might be the pins sticking a little.

Taffy said:

...
the pads are sintered and called 'gold pads'. ...

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Rear I use GOLD fren ceramic carbon. When I replaced the second OEM pad set I noticed that the pads were identical but the price was 30% of the OEM pads. It is no problem to lock the front wheel with the original pads.

Taffy said:

...
i've taken the ferodo number down from a 'vegard' who got the sintered. the code is LTKFDB2018SG. he could have had carbon ceramic i believe.

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Were the pads made by Ferodo?

anybody got the bee's knees for pads?

wildbill said:

...
I hate to ask but your pads might be glazed ...

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Do you have a blueish colour on the disc as well? The surface could be glazed and then you can rub the surface of but if the pads have been really hot you must replace the pads. The disc can be ruined as well.

brake pads

taffy
After the oe pads wear out the backs seem to be made of cheese ive used pads from BRAKING do notice on the front once they get to half worn the bite,s not as strong

regards
steve

point is, when i touch the brakes i want a 'bang' from them and i don't get it.

regards

Taffy

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I see, you need perhaps replace pads and disc both. You need components with high friction at low temperatures.

brakes

Taff, I reckon the problem is that you need to bleed the front brake system from the bottom up?
I went to a riding school taken by the top enduro riders in Aust and at lunch time they reach down and force the front caliper hard outwards? And they do this while racing to keep the air out of the system.
So its worth a try.

Alright Taffy, great info sheet its been a big help since I bought my FE400. The tweaks and mods will keep me going for months.

Regarding the instant "bang" you want from the front brake system. You may already have tried or still have fitted braided steel hoses? If not this mod will almost certainly improve the response from the front end. Most standard hoses "bellow" under presure when the brakes are applied. I remember fitting them for the first time on my proddie racer back in the 80's, what a difference to the response.

The other main reason for brake fade if they seem to get worse is overheating. Thinking in terms of roadracing the tendacy is toward materials that need more heat or a level of heat to work effectively i.e. carbon and ceramic. I wouldn't have thought you need to go to the extent of these materials for offroad work where there is less emphasis on the front end which gets serverely punished in roadracing.

Don't forget to de-glaze the pad surfaces as suggested earlier, glazing has the same effect, harder materials = less friction.