Soft and hard

Motorcycling
1

I own an Aprilia Falco with a side-stand that tries to keep the thing absolutely vertical. This I blame.

Dumb-ass that I am, whilst bungie-ing up some touring luggage, I managed to pull my bike over and consequently snapped the front brake lever. I sourced a new one from wemoto (traders in pattern parts and very nice to deal with).

However, in the three 26 mile rides to work and back since I fitted the new lever, the movement in the lever gradually gets harder until it’s rock solid and the brake starts binding. Then for no apparent reason it goes back to normal again. Last night it got rock hard (!) at the start of the ride but then it was suddenly fine for the remainder of the journey.

WTF is going on? Genuine question (Apologies for not posting this in the LB Q&A forum but this one gets more hits.)

[FYI: Anyone responding with an erection joke will shot on their next track day using a tranquilising dart filled with rapid action viagra. :D]

2

take off the new lever, identify the curved cam section that actually push’s the master cylinder, then with a file or bench grinder, carefully remove some of the material (about .5-1mm will do) polish the surface as best as you can and try it again.the most likely cause is that the lever is not allowing the master cylinder to return fully, trapping fluid in the brake line, then as you use the brakes the fluid warms up and expands,after a bit of this the pads will be in hard contact with the discs, causing the problem you have :slight_smile: or you could just buy the OEM lever :stuck_out_tongue:

3

im with kenny :slight_smile:

4

Many thanks guys – will try this!

:slight_smile:

5

Good spotting Kenny.

6

Before you go grinding off bits of the lever take the lid off the reservoir and make sure the fluid isn’t overfilled. Your symptoms sound like the brakes are pumping-up. This can be caused by too much fluid in the reservoir which prevents the pistons from returning and can also happen after the bike has been on it’s side.

Worth a look.

7

Hi,

I did grind a bit off the lever – not the bit that pushes the plunger but the bit that, when you release it, stops the lever going any further. It was easier to do it this way.

Worked a treat. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the tip about the reservoir, but it wasn’t overfilled.

I’m not happy about the quality of these pattern parts. It cost £14 as opposed to £40 for the Aprillia part so you can see the logic. Hell, it’s only a brake lever. (Had to return the first one as it had a hair-line crack in it :w00t: )

Thanks for the help guys. Lovin’ LB!

8

good job! :slight_smile: I had exactly the same problem 20 odd years ago on my 400/4 you would think that they would have got the size sorted by now :stuck_out_tongue: