I thought the brakes were ok until

[Geezer]

Originally posted by strom
I wonder if a guzzi california front end could go on XS11.
It has 18" wheel, should be long enuff and best: 2x 320mm brembo oro series rotors and 4 piston calipers. Now THAT can STOP you (almost over the handlebars on my test ride).
LP

That's one thing I really miss about my old Guzzi... Nothing stops like a Guzzi. They always had the best brakes.

I wouldn't mind a set of Brembo calipers on the XS11...

Geezer

[Axel]

Gawd

So my bike is now stopping the right front caliper and the rear disc unlinked . The rear brake seems almost nonexistant . This is just until I get the lines figured out but I want to ride this weekend without worry . How is your rear brake on the XS's ?
Even the leaking lines on the linked brakes were better than this .

[egsols]

Hey Axel,

What's with the shrink wrap?

I put Russel ss lines on the front of mine. Used three lines, same as stock, wasn't cheap and took a lot of bleeding to get right but now the lever is rock hard.

Still haven't done the rear but I can lock the rear without much effort.

The only problem I had with the russells was I couldn't get any 15 degree banjos of them only the 30's....I ordered them a tad long. (better then too short though)

[Axel]

And on ...

I have decided to send all the lines back to Rennsport for refund .
It will cost me another shipping charge. I am pricing a 3 line set from Paragon for $130 inc shipping . Smoke colored like I originally wanted . I am dropping the linked brakes . Right now I have the rear caliper alone on the rear master with a SS line and it sucks . No lock-up here . Pedal is hard . Its hardly a brake . Mech says its cause of the organic pads . Ideas?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Axel,

It's not the pads, but most likely the rear MC, since the part designed to send pressure the rear sends much less than to the front, and even though you have it unlinked, you may still be using the portion/outlet of the metering valve that normally goes to the rear caliper, and so that's partly why you're not able to lock it up or have much brake. I haven't worked directly on an XJ's rear MC, so perhaps others who have split theirs will chime in on whether you can use the outlet that would go to the FRONT caliper to feed the rear caliper, but I would suspect that doing that would give you more pressure and more braking!?
T.C.

[Axel]

Hmm

Funny . I raised this point to the mech and he said the rear caliper had straight pressure with the proportioning only on the front. I may have to raise this question again as he is getting another shot at the lines pretty soon .

[olebiker]

Axel that does not sound right. If that was true you would have a lot more brake pressure on that read wheel and would drag that back tire every time you used the pedal.

[Axel]

rear caliper porportioned

I did some reaserch and there is a bit of info in old posts about this . My mech may have been trying to save my life by having me stick with the current system . I have been using it as is for the weekend and am happy with it .Now to get both front calipers working together . I may get some used hoses(ODLIDLE on eBay) to test them .

[Geezer]

I have decided to send all the lines back to Rennsport for refund .
It will cost me another shipping charge. I am pricing a 3 line set from Paragon for $130 inc shipping . Smoke colored like I originally wanted . I am dropping the linked brakes . Right now I have the rear caliper alone on the rear master with a SS line and it sucks . No lock-up here . Pedal is hard . Its hardly a brake . Mech says its cause of the organic pads . Ideas?

Let me know if you need an XS11 line splitter for the front. I have a few sitting around and I'd be happy to toss one your way for the cost of shipping.

If the rear brake acts funny after the conversion, you can just drop in an XS11 one and be done with it. The larger rear master cylinder the XJ came with will lower the pressure to the rear not increase it. You might be left with a somewhat weaker rear brake but odds are it won't be much.

Geezer

[Axel]

Back to supplier

I have sent the defective lines and the good ones back to Rennsport for refund .

[Axel]

new for old

I though hard about just getting 2 used hoses for the front . The price was right ($50 delivered airmail) from ODLIDLE on eBay . He has a lot of parts for our bikes .
Problem is I would still want SS and I would like to think this confusion had a purpose . SO...I have ordered the updated lenghts( updated from my trials) from Paragon . They come in smoke (close to black) and are about $40 a line . Shipping is only $10 . So at $130 I'm in cheaper than before ,recouping some losses and getting some hoses that are better . Thats the theory anyway . I will advise ...

[mitch]

Brakes

Click on the link.
http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/parts/home.aspx
You can enter your bike and see a pic of your rear MC and where the perporintioning valve is. I just unhooked the front line from it and pluged that off with a fitting you can get at anyautomotive place and my rear brake would lock up with very little pressure.
Doug

[Axel]

Yes

Well that is how mine is. The front line blocked off but not much rear brake . I searched and found an old post where the fellow had used one of the short rubber hoses from the link and removed the prop valve . This put direct pressure throught the little steel line into the short rubber hoses and he used the front joiner to attach the rear hose . Sounds like there would be more brake than I want . I'm still working on SS lines for the front and letting the rear be . I am going to have to get used to UBER brakes at the front so I dont want to be able to lock up the rear wheel because I am used to the porportioned rear pedal . One change at a time.

[mitch]

Rear

You learn not to lock the rear up real quick
Doug

[planedick]

Real quick

Yeah, usually one high side fling will learn 'ya real quick.... LOL