Hello to all of you from a new user of this forum and a new owner of a 2003 GS500.
I am currently in the process of getting my license, meaning I am kinda new to the whole motorcycle world.
So I have a question regarding the front brake lever. I have bought the bike and until I get my license I decided to put some effort in and service it with the help of my friend.
We have carefully changed the brake fluid in both brakes as to not get any air in the system (pumping, bleeding and adding new fluid) and cleaned and greased all the caliper parts that need to be greased. When all that was done, my friend - also a motorcyclist said that the brake lever goes too far towards to the handle.
It actually leaves about 1cm or a bit less space to the handle (it is not gradually sinking in but stops at such clearance) on the highest setting "1". I was not sure if this is normal or not and I was thinking that maybe it is normal on a bike this age as he had two bikes (ktm supermoto 950 and adventure 1190) both new and might be used to things being different on new bikes.
So is the ~1cm clearance too small or is it normal? If it is not supposed to be like that what do you think is wrong?
Thank you in advance for your help and I hope that my explanation is good enough (not a native english speaker)!
Sounds like air in the system to me. I usually run the standard front brake lever on 5 to get it closer into my hand. I haven't measured how much space I have left but at the 4 setting I feel like I don't have enough grip on the lever.
I did mine with a vacuum bleeder. I noticed that after I changed my fluid I ended up with a lot less lever movement compared to when the previous owner had it.
Yes I was also thinking in that direction but just have to find the time to air it out. Only reason I asked here is because my friend was so persistent in telling me that it was too close to the handle and that there is no way we got air in the system. I guess a second of carelesness was enough for some air to find its way in.
I will try to air out the system ASAP and report here in any case for future reference.
Thanks.
I had a good look at my brake lever yesterday on the way to work and I have a 20ish mm gap to the bars when hard braking with the lever on setting 5. I can still comfortably fit my fingers between the lever and the grip when braking (I only one finger brake).
So to summarize - the front brake is ok. Changed the brake lines and the space is bigger now. I also added two plates to the brake pads to improvise a bigger thickness of said pads (they were removed later of course) and the lever had even more space. It would seem that the space gets smaller as the pads wear.
Thank you for your replies!