| Author | Message | ||
     Discochris |
So I was riding to work this morning on the freeway in rush hour traffic, and I stepped on my rear brake when slowing down. Nothing happened. Uh oh. No disaster fortunately, I just engine brakes and used the front to get to work. I examined it when I got there and found that one of the caliper hanging bolts was gone, and the pads were all crooked. Arrgh. I carefully rode home over lunch (22 miles) and stopped at the dealer to order a bolt, and of course new pads now, because mine are gouged. | ||
| Zane_t |
Examine everything real good to make sure no other damage was done and then use blue Locktite on the new caliper bolts as a preventative measure. | ||
| Discochris |
Doesn't appear to be. I won't know until I pull the pads, which I probably won't do until the bolt comes in next week. Rotor doesn't appear to be scored at all. This is why I usually do my own maintenance. I've never left a brake caliper bolt loose... The odd thing is that I was just down there examining the rear bearings and didn't notice it then. | ||
| Teeps |
Bolts don't fall out when properly torqued. The Torque Wrench is your friend... | ||
| Hughlysses |
Bolts don't fall out when properly torqued and Locktite applied where called for in the shop manual! | ||
| Discochris |
And I've never removed the rear wheel myself either... I suspect a certain ham-fisted dealer mechanic is at fault. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Who uses a rear brake? | ||
| Pso |
+1 Bluzm2 I have replaced my rear brake pads once in the last 25K miles. I have gone through 3 sets of fronts however. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I've got original brakes, both front and back on my 06 with 27,000 miles. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Who uses a rear brake? People like me, who realize the value of a rear brake, the situations where it is more important than the front brake (such as just about anything on loose gravel or dirt or wet grass), and the fact that the more you use it (and once you bed it in properly), it can stop the bike just as well as the front. Since I DO use mine...please feel free to send me your unused rear pads. I can always use spares  Oh. And balanced braking does wonders for pad life. 15k miles on the Uly and still nearly half the pads left, front AND rear. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Rat, gotta dissagree with ya on that one. over 70% of your braking power is in the front. The rear cannot stop as well as the front on normal pavement. Physics is very tough to beat.. | ||
| Swampy |
When in a corner at high speed using the rear brake helps to load the rear of the bike and settle it while using the front brake. But really the Uly rear brake is perfect, I have tried using it hard and it is just perfect, it doesn't suddenly lock up but simply slows the bike down, it is very predictable. Yes, entering a corner hot I will use the rear brake to set the bike and get some speed off. | ||
| Ratbuell |
You're right, Brad...70% is up front. That leaves.... hold on.... math class was a while ago.... *30%* for the rear. That's more than a quarter of the total braking force. And yes, the rear can stop just "as well" as the front on normal pavement. Not as *aggressively*..but just as well if you know how to modulate it. And if you feel goofy, you can pull a nice J-slide like I used to do on my BMX bike as a kid  I've done too many track days...had too many 'stand-ups' going into a corner hot and fingering the front on entry...too many understeer situations from the front tire doing more braking than steering...and too much time NOT on "normal" pavement, especially on the Uly. My rear brake gets a lot of use. On all my Buells. That is, after all, why they bothered to stick it on there. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Seriously, I use mine quite a bit as well. both on the Uly and on the S2. The S2 and M2 rear brakes suck, especially the S2. Trail braking is a bit tough without a rear brake! I usually go through 2 fronts to one rear. I'll have to wait and see how the new pads on the Uly last. I'm a bit overly sensitive about the rear brake thing, I've seen more than my share of accidents because the rider has NO clue how to use anything but the rear brake. I've have friends who have been riding for years that I had to take to a parking lot and prove to them the front brake is not "a bad thing". Honestly the two work pretty damn good together, like you said, "That is, after all, why they bothered to stick them on". Brad | ||
| Ratbuell |
My experience is the opposite - working at the dealer, probably 90% of folks I saw were all front brake, all the time. "out of sight out of mind" was clearly at work. They can see the front brake lever, so they think about it...they can't see the rear lever though (and let's face it, it's hard to push on it in sandals). My S2 brake will lock up just fine, just like my others will. Maybe you need a bleed? Or do a round of hot-bedding on the pads and rotor - 50mph stops right near lockup, six or seven in a row, get 'er nice and hot - to clean the surfaces off. Since I have so (too?) many bikes, I try to hot-bed a couple times, every time I ride one after its been sitting. Part of my "warm-up" routine, helps keep 'em all in good working order. Also good for my fragile brain - reminds me where lockup threshold is on each one..."just in case". | ||
| Snowscum |
Wish mine wasnt tweaked....... | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Rat, you work at an HD shop? I'm betting not if most of your customers use the front.. Sport bike types seem to use the front more... | ||
| Discochris |
Well, I didn't intend the discussion to turn into "who uses the rear brake..." I'll admit, that the rear brake on the Uly is very weak compared to other bikes I've ridden, but I use it to scrub down speed in traffic. Anyway, the issue with mine is a bit of an uncomfortable one. The rear wheel was pulled at the dealer when my tire fried out on a trip, and as I said in a previous post, praising said dealer, they went above and beyond to help me get home on a Sunday, bringing in a tech to change my tire on his off day. I'm still incredibly thankful for that, and I let the dealer know it with a nice letter. I'm also going to be featured in their newsletter as a result. I suspect he was in a hurry to put things back together, and didn't put loctite on the bolt, and it worked its way loose over the past month. Any other time, I'd be a lot more pissed off, but under the circumstances, I have a hard time getting upset, even though it's costing me about $60 and a couple days off the bike. I suppose I could have gone and checked all the bolts etc., but at what point do you do that? Do you check every single thing someone else does to a vehicle you own? Normally, I'd pull my own wheels and bring them in to a shop for tire mounting, but in this case, it wasn't an option (and I do almost all my own maintenance). I guess I'm just going to write this one off as an unfortunate incident and leave it at that. I've certainly made my own share of stupid mechanical mistakes (like when I had a wheel fall off a car while driving a number of years ago...) | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Chris, sorry for the hijack... That caliper business could have very easily gone bad for you. You were fortunate that you discovered it before it bit you. Just as a heads up, did you let the dealer know? | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Use both brakes all the time, 70/30, and when that car turns in front of your bike you will automatically save your life because you just do what you always do. You don't have to think in emergency situations when you condition your reflexes to do the same thing each and every time. If all you use is your front brake then that is all you'll use when you should of also used that rear brake....crunch. | ||
| Snowscum |
Thats what they teach you in ABATE. And I have followed that since Ive been riding. Now that my rear is an issue it does freak me out not to have for the 30% part. | ||
| Bobh |
You may want to carefully check your rear brake rotor. The only problem I have had with my Uly (knock on wood) was a rear inner brake pad had the friction material disbond and disappear. The dealer replaced the pads and ordered a new rear brake rotor because the original was scored by the steel backing plate when it rubbed the rotor. I was a bit surprised as the rotor looked pristine. All replaced under warranty. | ||
| Snowscum |
Tore it apart for another buddy to take a look at it and were pretty much at the conclusion I have a tweaked bracket. How it got that way is just so weird. Im gona call Zak tomorrow and see if I can get a new one. Maybe the front larger pin since it has some running torque towards the end of the travel tightening it to the caliper. Sorry to hijack...... | ||
| Discochris |
I did not call the dealer. Under the circumstances of how well I was treated, I decided against it. Had it been someone local, and it was a normal maintenance thing, I'd have been raising hell. In addition, there's no way they can prove that I didn't pull the wheel or caliper myself in the last month (I did not). I'm waiting for the bolt from a local dealer now. I did find out that the thread is a pretty standard M8 1.25, and picked one up from the hardware store, so if it's going to be longer than this week, I may just button it up for now. I suppose that's a good thing to know in case something freakish like this would happen on the road. (Message edited by discochris on July 28, 2010) | ||
| Discochris |
I changed the pads out tonight. The rotor and caliper are both fine, but the old pads were scored terribly. Bolt is still on order from a local dealer, but the regular flange bolt from the hardware store fit perfectly, so that should be a decent temporary fix for now. |
