| Author | Message | ||
     Electraglider_1997 |
The iron buns dude commented on the ULY rear brake being kinda weak so I checked mine and have to agree. I don't think it will even lock up the back wheel no matter what. I'm a front brake kinda guy so I hadn't even noticed until yesterday after reading the Iron butt guys comments. I've only got about 450 miles on my ULY so it's brand new and shouldn't be glazed over. Can you fellow ULY owners lock up the back wheel with the rear brake?? Maybe it's better that it won't but I'm not convinced about that either. Love that front brake though. | ||
| Chadhargis |
Why would you want to lock up the rear tire? Highsides suck!  | ||
| 2old2bfast |
Yeah, I can lock it up on pavement but it takes allot of pressure on the pedal! The good news is that it isn't overly sensitive set up this way when your in the dirt. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Welcome back EG. I haven't seen your posts for a few days. I can lock up the back brake on demand, and with very little pressure. I have to disagree with the nonexistent comment, though I remember having read that in other reviews and I believe it could probably be a little stronger. I use the back brake quite a lot in traffic and most generally while taxiing (i.e. parking lots etc...), so I don't demand very much of it in terms of pure stopping power. | ||
| Guybones |
My two cents... While dodging a wily coyote on a fave backroad the other day, I applied the front and rear brakes, and missed the trickster. The action on both front and rear was excellent, great brakes. I noticed though that the rear had locked up just a tad, for a fraction of a second - and I wasn't giving it much pressure, and normally it doesn't lock up at anything under a firm stomp. What I figured out is, when applying the brakes hard and proper, the rear end will get light, therefore an easily locked rear brake would not be an asset. Maybe this is behind the design? | ||
| Jim_sb |
Hi guys, The rear brake on my Uly is the weakest I've ever had on a motorcycle. But I suspect it has to do with the pedal adjustment - on my previous bikes you could increase/decrease rear brake power by raising or lowering the pedal. Raising it allowed much more leverage and made it much easier for the rider to lock up the rear. This is perhaps a setup item at the dealership, in any event I'm betting it's easily adjustable. Which is why some guys think their rear brake is fine and others report limited stopping power. You can only press your right toe down so far below the peg - especially with stiff boots on. As for the "why", I'm generally a front brake guy on the street, but the rear can be quite valuable on the dirt, especially in a steep, slippery descent. Toss in a switchback or two and you'll really want it. Take the Uly down a steep, off camber downhill on a rain-soaked / muddy gravel road and you won't want to be using that front brake... BTDT. As for on the pavement a maximum stopping effort with the front may lift your rear tire off the ground, or make it so light that it will skid with even a minimal braking effort. Of course if you're not intellectually against backing it into a corner every now and then you might enjoy it... I'll adjust mine when I get around to it and report back. Best, Jim in SB | ||
| Fubar |
I too am a front brake guy on the street, but know you have to have a decent rear brake in the dirt. I will try to wear the rear brake in and see if it improves from it's current *very weak* condition. fubar | ||
| Cygnus_x1 |
I adjusted my rear brake up as high as I could get it, only about ½" was all I could get. But I know what ya mean, not much there, but it does me fine. | ||
| Chris_in_tn |
The Buell guy at a demo ride at my local dealer a couple of months ago, said the rear brake was designed that way. No reason was given but it is designed that way. | ||
| Henrik |
The earlier Buells had "less powerful" rear brakes as well. In the promotional literature it was touted as an advantage - in that you'll have a harder time locking up the rear and risk highsiding yourself into the next county. I tend to agree, and am currently working on decreasing the braking force on my SV650, which will lock up the rear, even upright with good traction. So forget about using it to tighten a line in a turn etc. Anyway, just a point of reference. Buells have long had less powerful rear brakes - but it's for a good reason (or at least was on older bikes). Henrik | ||
| Mrvvrroomm |
Motorcycles have rear brakes? How are they actuated? LOL I'm a front only, always. | ||
| Lowflyer |
I alternate. Some days I use the front only. Other days I use the back only. | ||
| Paul56 |
I was warned by the Buell demo ride guide to be aware of a strong, sensitive front brake and a "high effort" rear brake. The demo bike was as advertised and so is mine. The first time I had to get on the brakes hard to avoid a moron cager I was rather surprised at the front end dive and weight transfer. The front brake is all powerful, but when the back end lightened up the rear wheel locked pretty easily. I'm training myself to brake a little harder with the rear in normal situations but lighten up if needed to stop short. | ||
| Grimace308 |
i dunno paul. the only time i use my rear brake is under reduced traction conditions and uber-low speed handling drills. other than those two situations, i use %100 front brake. i know not all of you will agree with me. | ||
| Thunderbox |
The braking Bias on the Uly is outstanding. Maybe not the best effect for offroading but on the ashphalt it is almost perfect. The weight transfer when using the frt brake gives the rear brake great feel and still avoids lock up. | ||
| Mrvvrroomm |
I could remove the rear brake pads from all of my bikes and sell them on Ebay as new. Hell, I could do the same thing with the rear brake levers! LOL | ||
| Windrider |
This is my first post on Bad Web so here goes! There are quite a few unique aspects to the Buell motorcycles. The front brake has a 6 piston caliper, the rear brake is a single piston caliper. Clearly, the front brake is designed to be very powerful while the rear is designed to be weaker. My personal opinion is that this is a purposeful design and it is a good design since 70 - 80% of a motorcycles braking power comes from the front brake. Locking up the rear brake can lead to a painful high side crash. Most motorcycles are designed with rear brakes that are too powerful and are too easy to lock up in my opinion, and from the feel of Buell braking systems, Buell engineers think so too. During emergency stop practices with my new Uly I can lock up the rear wheel with the brake so it does have adequate power, it just takes a fair amount of pedal force to do it. Personally, I like this as I think it makes it easier to make a very controlled, very fast stop using BOTH brakes. To use just the front brake ignores that extra 20 - 30 % stopping power that the back brake (and that meaty rear tire) can provide. To use only the front brake gives you a longer stopping distance. I make it a point to use both brakes on every stop, every time. This makes the use of both brakes an automatic function and that way when I have to make a panic stop my body automatically uses both brakes in concert to make the shortest stopping distance possible. Like many aspects of the Buell experience you have to recalibrate your riding habits a bit to get the most out of the unique handling characteristics of these motorcycles because the Buells are designed with different ideas than any other motorcycles. After a bit of practice and a willingness to "recalibrate" my brake foot I really like the way these brakes feel and operate. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Wind, Excellent first post. Yours is the best one on this thread so far IMO. Welcome. | ||
| Bosh |
I totally agree with Windrider, excellent post. My complaint with the back brake isn't that it's under powered [it will easily lock the back wheel if you try] but the feed-back through the pedal sucks. I cant tell when the back is about to lock up until it does. My Honda VTR has excellent brake feedback and I can really tell what is going on back there. It makes a big difference when you are riding hard or need a fast emergency stop. | ||
| Blake |
When the rear tire on the Uly I test rode was coming off the road due to clamping on the front brake, how much braking was I missing out on? On clean pavement, all/100% of available emergency braking power resides entirely in the front brake. | ||
| Bosh |
Depends upon available traction and center of gravity. If you don't use it, take it off and save 5 lbs of unsprung weight!  | ||
| Lowflyer |
I have locked up both brakes. So, the rear tire skidding on pavement accounts for 0% of the stopping power when the front brake is also locked up? I haven't had that math class yet.  | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Wind: Small point, the rear is a dual piston caliper, one piston on each side of the pads. Thanks | ||
| Thunderbox |
The braking force is determined by other factors not how many pistons are used. It depends on the size of the master cylinder piston and how much area the slave pistons have. So if the master cylinder has an area of .250 sq inches and the applied force is 200lbs then the pressure will be 800lbs per sq inch. If the slave cylinders have a combined area of 3 sq inches then the applied braking force will be 2400lbs. To increase the rear brake braking force you need to change the master cylinder to a smaller diameter or increase (not practical) the slave cylinder area. I hope this sheds some light on the subject. | ||
| Snub13 |
I think the rear break is a bit on the weak side. I use both breaks all of the time (on the street) and there isn't much coming from the rear. I also agree that there isn't any feedback from the pedal. In a panic stop not long after I got the bike I grabbed big gobs of both breaks, the rear locked up due to, what I thought at the time, the weight shift (this is along the same lines as Guybones and Paul56 but I was dodging a moron biker (me!). For future reference, those signs that say "stop sign ahead" are telling the truth.) In any event it was not a big deal because as stated the vast majority of the breaking force is in the front. As far as the dead pedal, maybe it's a good thing that the break is weak. Off road, I agree with Jim SB the rear break is very handy. I also think the pedal needs to be adjusted as I have a hard time putting enough pressure on the pedal while standing. PS: Welcome to the Badweb Neil! | ||
| Henrik |
Brake feel; you may be able to improve the feel with a good bleed. I've had to take a rear caliper off to be able to move it around to get the last few air bubbles out of the system If a good bleeding doesn't do it, stainless steel braided brake lines may. Henrik | ||
| Thunderbox |
Adjusting the pedal height will not change the braking force see my post above. That will just make the brake come on quicker or later in the pedal travel. (Message edited by thunderbox on February 16, 2006) | ||
| Roadrailer |
When the rear tire on the Uly I test rode was coming off the road due to clamping on the front brake, how much braking was I missing out on? On clean pavement, all/100% of available emergency braking power resides entirely in the front brake. The key word is available. If the rear is off the ground, then obviously it cannot provide any additional braking force. Of course, that also means you're doing something wrong, but that's a different story. Just because you lift the rear doesn't mean you're getting max braking. However, if the rear is still rolling (and on the ground), then it can provide additional braking force, up until the point that it locks or comes off the ground. Not much, granted, but enough to help. | ||
| Jim_sb |
Thunderbox, Regarding my former '96 S2 and my former '91 Sportster your comment is inaccurate. Adjusting pedal height dramatically changed the amount of leverage I could place on the brake pedal. More leverage = more braking power. On both of those bikes I intentionally adjusted the pedal downward (reducing leverage) to make it more difficult to lock the rear brake. On both bikes my perception was it was too easy to lock the rear unintentionally, hence the need to adjust pedal height. These adjustments were very effective and have been done by others for many years. As I said before I will attempt to adjust the pedal height on my Uly and report back. The limiting factor is how far below the footpeg you can depress the lever without running out of "travel" with your boot. An improperly adjusted lever height will adversely impact your ability to fully depress the lever. Raising the lever's starting position greatly increases the leverage the rider can place on the pedal. Of course we can get into off-road riding technique and using the rear brake with your right boot in the air (not on the footpeg) but I don't ride that way on the street. There was a time in my riding when I thought backing into corners on the street was fun and proper and I probably did more of it than I should have back then, so I think I have a pretty fair idea of how the whole thing works. I choose not to back it into corners these days. Okay, well, once in awhile I misbehave a little bit... Regards, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Thunderbox |
Jim I see your point but what you really changed by moving the position of the pedal was the relationship between your foot and the pedal. You are now pressing harder with less apparent effort. The laws of physics can't be changed by adjusting the pedal and that was my original intent. |
