My front brake lever is too on or off. Is there a way to adjust the lever or am I suppose to adjust myself to the bike. I want to give the lever a little slack
Also my rear pedal is too low. Is there an adjustment for that?
Do you have the standard rubber brake lines or have they been changed to the braided stainless? The rubber ones should be a little spongier. Could change pads to a different kind or friction rating. I think HH is the going one to upgrade to so maybe if you can find some GG or something like that they will be less grabby. I believe there is an adjustment for the rear that you are supposed to check but I never have so I don't know how to steer you on that one.
the front brake lever should have a knob that sets the position. Adjusting the lever may help you control the brake better. Other than that, I'd suggest trying to improve yourself. The Gs is verry mellow compared to a lot of bikes. Don't degrade your brake performance in order to avoid adapting. If you want something rhat comes on more graduallt but delivers incredible power, consider the ebc extreme pro. Rear brake lever is adjustable. Loaten the loxknut and twist the shaft to adjust. Setting it a liTtle low will help you avoid overbeaking and locking the rear.
Quote from: LEMON8 on May 05, 2011, 03:51:06 PM
My front brake lever is too on or off. Is there a way to adjust the lever or am I suppose to adjust myself to the bike. I want to give the lever a little slack
Also my rear pedal is too low. Is there an adjustment for that?
Sometimes that non-linear brake feel is due to crud in the MC / caliper. The lever will feel "sticky" as you apply it. What's the condition of those parts and the brake fluid? You may be due for a rebuild.
I think I suck at wording/explaining.
My front pedal being on and off means like when I pull the pedal it instantly brakes. Like a car pedal most go down to about half way before it stops the car. I'm expecting to be able to pull the brake pedal least like an inch before the brakes fully engage. But I really have like a fourth of an inch. That's what I mean by on and off.
Where is this adjustment knob?
I'm confused.
"front pedal"? and you "pull the pedal"?
FRONT brake is a lever on the handle bar that you pull with your right hand.
REAR brake is a pedal on the right foot that you press on with your right toe.
Which has the problem? :dunno_black:
Front brake lever. typing fast on my phone. I use car logic rather then bike logic.
My main issue is i want to give a little slack to the front brake lever.
Time for a brake expert.
Mine all have a little play then they are a little squishy because they g=have standard rubber brake lines that expand a little. It shouldn't be a hard on/off. Maybe they need to be used a while if the bike hasn't been used lately and the rotors are rough from some surface rust/dirt? Maybe you need less grippy brake pads? Maybe the brake pistons are stuck out? Don't know. This is where a brake expert needs to chime in.
As you're new at the bike, maybe you simply need to get used to how it works and how much force is needed. Could you be pulling too hard? It requires much less force than a bicycle brake lever (where the right hand usually does the back brake and requires more force)
As for adjustment of the lever, older bikes had a brake lever where you could adjust its position. It only adjusted the distance from the bar to the lever to allow for different sizes of hands. It didn't adjust how the brakes work. It is always nice to replace a non-adjustable brake lever with the adjustable one. I change the span whether I am wearing thick or thin( i.e. summer) gloves.
Somewhere around 2004 or so they stopped putting on adjustable brake levers. They are easy to find and simple to swap. Other threads list compatible levers, buy really good after market ones (like ASV) or just get the older one from your dealer or ones from fleay bay (avoid the "carbon look" ones. They look like crap. Go for a single solid color).
There's no simple adjustment that's going to add some free-play to the front brake lever on a GS. For that matter, there's no adjustment to change the free-play on a set of car brakes either. Adding an adjustable lever may help, but it's not strictly speaking, a way to achieve your goals.
FWIW, If I were you I'd swap the brake fluid and bleed the brake system on your car. Perhaps you can get rid of some of that freeplay.
i looked at pad life on the front. Comparing to my knowledge on car brake pads. These pads are about 60% of life. There is pad material on there but easily not new comparing the pictures of new pads i've seen in pictures.
I will bleed the brakes but like in a car that will just add for a better pedal feel or firmer. Mines way more firmed then i would like it. I dont cover my brakes lever at all now because its so touchy. I'm getting my tires replace this weekend if it doesn't rain, i'll talk to the guy who is doing the tires see if he has a opinion on it, if its normal and i'm on crack or something. Judging by the fact the bike still has original tires from 03, i'm going to assume brake fluid was never replaced. But i was told pads were replaced last year.
I adjusted my riding to it now, i use my rears first and then use the fronts for the final stopping.
I was suggesting you bleed the car brakes, so that they work more like the bike. ;)