Front brake M/C options?

[bikerphil]

I run one of these on my Standard with SS lines and I am very happy with it. The bike stops better than it ever has before. It has a smaller 14mm piston which will give a much more linear feal at the lever. It has a left hand thread for the mirror and uses the OEM type brake light switch. This MC will work on Standard models only, not Specials.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brake-Master...item4174b1ea70

[IanDMacDonald]

Hi Phil- Using the stock MC with SS brake lines. My lever is stiff right after the free play. How would my level pull with your MC feel versus stock?

[fredintoon]

My '80 standard has the OEM MC but has stainless lines following the stock pattern. I thought something was wrong as I have almost no lever travel and it is VERY stiff when squeezed. That said, the old brakes are not overwhelmingly strong. If the hard lever is a normal response to going to SS lines, I won't replace it as I was planning on doing, but rather do new brake pads and drill the rotors as I had intended as my second step. What do you experts think?

Hi Spivester,
whaddya mean by "stiff"?
Swapping in stainless lines will certainly remove most of the "spongy" brake feel you had with those 30 year old fabric lines.
FWIW, after I double disked my XS650 the "wooden" brake feel went away to become just about perfect because I'd effectively halved the master cylinder's area by doubling the caliper area.
What I'd do before becoming traumatized would be to do what you proposed, replace the brake pads and drill or slot the brake disks.
Also, check your fork seals. Fork oil contaminated brake pads don't grip worth a damn.

[bikerphil]

Hi Phil- Using the stock MC with SS brake lines. My lever is stiff right after the free play. How would my level pull with your MC feel versus stock?

Nice feel with gradual full stopping power, not all in one small area of travel. Huge improvement IMHO over the wooden feel of the stock unit with SS lines. It doesn't feel like you are driving a 50 yr old truck with manual brakes anymore if you know what I mean.

[jetmechmarty]

You will get better feel if you get a master cylinder with.slightly.smaller bore..

[bikerphil]

Yes, and also with the factory MC, the piston size was calculated for use with rubber lines which 'give' a little, providing a softer feel. Once the SS lines are introduced, the soft feel is gone, the SS lines have no 'give'.

[TopCatGr58]

Before you go spending $$ on a new MC with a slightly smaller bore, to get a little more feel and leverage of the handle....there's an adjustment on the lever that controls how deep the handle /rod pushes the piston of the MC. You can adjust that rod so that the lever comes CLOSER to the handlebar before the rod starts to engage the MC piston, this will give you a little more finger leverage for pulling on the lever instead of having your fingers almost fully open/extended trying to reach and pull on the stiff lever! JAT!

T.C.

[IanDMacDonald]

Yeah, pulling on empty space. Not sure I'd feel comfortable having that much useless pull on my front brake.