scott s
XS650 Guru
I have a '75 that had rebuilt stock brakes: New pads, new fluid, bench bled master cylinder, new hoses, etc.
The brakes worked, but the lever was soft and I felt like there was more there. All the bleeding in the world made no difference.
I picked up some braided stainless hoses and a new master cylinder from David Silvers Spares in the U.K.
I've used this same m/c on my Honda CB500 and it works great. Vintage look and a rock hard lever. Excellent, firm brakes.
However, the same m/c on the XS650, while much better than stock, still has a soft feel to it. The bike stops MUCH better now and is 100% safe to ride, but I'm wondering why the lever feels so much different than on the Honda.
Could it be that the early style caliper with the two floating pistons just has a different feel than the later calipers with the single piston (which is what the Honda has, although a slightly different set-up than the XS).
I've always been able to get good brakes with a hard, firm lever...until I had this early bike with the different caliper.
Could it be the two piston caliper?
The brakes worked, but the lever was soft and I felt like there was more there. All the bleeding in the world made no difference.
I picked up some braided stainless hoses and a new master cylinder from David Silvers Spares in the U.K.
I've used this same m/c on my Honda CB500 and it works great. Vintage look and a rock hard lever. Excellent, firm brakes.
However, the same m/c on the XS650, while much better than stock, still has a soft feel to it. The bike stops MUCH better now and is 100% safe to ride, but I'm wondering why the lever feels so much different than on the Honda.
Could it be that the early style caliper with the two floating pistons just has a different feel than the later calipers with the single piston (which is what the Honda has, although a slightly different set-up than the XS).
I've always been able to get good brakes with a hard, firm lever...until I had this early bike with the different caliper.
Could it be the two piston caliper?