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My turn, my turn!
When I did my rebuild in 2000, my front MC was toast, and I didn't want to try to rebuild it...all rusted/corroded. SO..I got a functional used MC to replace mine. However, I didn't learn until a while later that it was one off of an XJ which is smaller and designed to drive only 1 caliper.
BTW, The 81 MNS and the 82 XJ's have the linked rear/front brake lines with the proportioning valve built into the rear MC, but many have actually UNLINKED theirs, because they didn't like the idea of apply FRONT brake especially in a turn when they were only wanting to apply rear brake!
Anyways, used the OEM vinyl lines, and with the smaller MC, I had to actually PUMP it to get decent pressure without hitting the bar/grip with the lever!
Then a little while later I got the SS lines and put on there. Then the small mc was adequate, provided plenty of braking pressure with just 1 pull and didn't hit the bar/grip since the lines weren't expanding wasting the small volume that it pushed out with just 1 pull.
The SS lines provide a better feel and sense of what's happening with the front. The smaller mc also can provide a more precise control feeling because it can develop more pressure, but you can input/control the rise of that pressure a bit more precisely because it takes more lever distance to create it. The larger bore MC's can push more fluid faster with less lever travel, but they also can provide plenty of pressure with a moderate more amount of lever pressure...no real beefy forearms required.
Marty, I remember being able to lock up the rear with the OEM lines, but I still put on an SS line anyways. I learned to apply both brakes fairly quickly in panic stops which is hopefully being done going straight, not necessarily in a turn. I do prefer to use my rear brake if I've over estimated my in turn speed, would rather handle the rear sliding than the front sliding=no handling really in a turn . There are ways you can adjust the rear lever and the mc piston so that it would require more lever action before you could reach the point of locking up the rear brake. YMMV.
I'm sure one of these days I'll get a new front MC with teh 16mm bore, close to OEM, larger than the 14mm small bore, but not quite as large as the OEM 17.5mm. I'm also wanting to do a mod to be able to mount a better set of calipers on the SPECIAL forks, need to fabricate a bracket or such, but I think it can be done to be able to get rid of the slanted pads!
T.C.
When I did my rebuild in 2000, my front MC was toast, and I didn't want to try to rebuild it...all rusted/corroded. SO..I got a functional used MC to replace mine. However, I didn't learn until a while later that it was one off of an XJ which is smaller and designed to drive only 1 caliper.
BTW, The 81 MNS and the 82 XJ's have the linked rear/front brake lines with the proportioning valve built into the rear MC, but many have actually UNLINKED theirs, because they didn't like the idea of apply FRONT brake especially in a turn when they were only wanting to apply rear brake!
Anyways, used the OEM vinyl lines, and with the smaller MC, I had to actually PUMP it to get decent pressure without hitting the bar/grip with the lever!
Then a little while later I got the SS lines and put on there. Then the small mc was adequate, provided plenty of braking pressure with just 1 pull and didn't hit the bar/grip since the lines weren't expanding wasting the small volume that it pushed out with just 1 pull. The SS lines provide a better feel and sense of what's happening with the front. The smaller mc also can provide a more precise control feeling because it can develop more pressure, but you can input/control the rise of that pressure a bit more precisely because it takes more lever distance to create it. The larger bore MC's can push more fluid faster with less lever travel, but they also can provide plenty of pressure with a moderate more amount of lever pressure...no real beefy forearms required.
Marty, I remember being able to lock up the rear with the OEM lines, but I still put on an SS line anyways. I learned to apply both brakes fairly quickly in panic stops which is hopefully being done going straight, not necessarily in a turn. I do prefer to use my rear brake if I've over estimated my in turn speed, would rather handle the rear sliding than the front sliding=no handling really in a turn
. There are ways you can adjust the rear lever and the mc piston so that it would require more lever action before you could reach the point of locking up the rear brake. YMMV. I'm sure one of these days I'll get a new front MC with teh 16mm bore, close to OEM, larger than the 14mm small bore, but not quite as large as the OEM 17.5mm. I'm also wanting to do a mod to be able to mount a better set of calipers on the SPECIAL forks, need to fabricate a bracket or such, but I think it can be done to be able to get rid of the slanted pads!
T.C.
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