brakes

[dlnoble]

can someone tell me if its possible to disconnect the link between the rear and front brakes without affecting their individual performance? i live on a dirt road and just had a deer jump out in front of me. i hit the back brake which immediately locked up the front also and the bike went down. so now i'm looking at 2 new turnsignals and a new headlight. luckily i had on my leathers on so no damage there. thanks.

[HobbyMan]

What bike do you have? As far as I know, XS's don't have linked brakes. Not sure about XJ.

[knewsom]

glad to hear you're ok - bummer 'bout the bike, but luckily, it sounds repairable.

I've never seen a link between the front and rear brakes on an XS before either - if it IS on an XJ, and removing the link causes you problems, I suppose you could try replacing your MC's with some from an XS??



Good luck man!

[dlnoble]

thanks guys.
it's an '82 xj1100j and it does have linked brakes. i've only had this bike for about a month. when i took it in for a safety the back brake wasn't working so after bleeding the brakes and still no luck i ordered a rear mastercylinder kit. when the mechanic was checking it out he discovered the left front caliper piston was seized. once it was freed up the back brake worked great with no need of the cylinder kit. guess the smart thing to do is go back to the mechanic.

[Fredjohny]

I too have to ride on gravel and dirt roads. I took the link out and changed to an XS style. You have to change both master cylinders, and remove the portioning valve.... now it works good. That is some wierd set up......do not know what the engineers were thinking that day?

[skids]

I would do the same thing! Unless I was handicapped, like no right foot, I would never go with linked brakes! There are some past posts/threads about it in here. Try using the search engine.

[dlnoble]

thanks. i'll go to cycle salvage this week and get the parts along with my turn signals and headlight. i don't think the engineers were thinking that one through.

[andreashweiss]

I still have a complete rear brake syatem for a xs1100. Every piece price includes shipping. $45.00 andreas

[Brian_D]

FYI,

The '81 LH (Midnight Special) also came with the same linked brakes as the XJ.

Took awhile, but now I've become so used to the linked brakes, I don't think I could ride without --- even had to perform the "stop test" for my mc license test twice as I keep stopping UNDER the minimum allowable distance