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Soft Brakes - A Feature?

Reply from: Bob La Londe
Date: 25 Apr 2008, 17:35
Soft Brakes - A Feature?

To early for thee hard stuff, but I won't notice if you want to slip a
little of the good whiskey off the top shelf into your morning coffee.

Re: 88ci 2003 FLTR-I
Yes, its a twinkie.

My wife hasn't been riding her Roadglide so I asked her about it. She had
bought it with a sidecar so she could ride and take the kids. Now she hates
the side car.

Cool I thought. With a variety of electric, air, and ratcheeting scalpels I
proceeded to perform a lumpectomy on that cancerous growth. What a pain.
Long story short I got the thing removed, bled the back brakes, put in a new
battery and took it for a ride.

The front brakes seemed awfully soft. Now this is a bike with only 5K miles
on it. (I said she had not been riding it) The last time she took it in for
service I had told the shop that the front brakes were soft. I can squeeze
the front brake lever all the way down so it touches the throttle sleeve.

I told Patti I didn't want her riding it until I got that figured out. She
told me that the local official Harley shop had said the brakes were
supposed to be that way. Some kind of new easy brake design.

WHAT?!? Is this true? If so I sure don't like it. If not I'm really
pissed because she took it in for service the last time just before putting
in a 600+ mile weekend pushing sidecar with children. I had gone in with
her and specifically told the shop then the brakes didn't feel right.

It feels to me like a bike that has too small a master cylinder. I bled out
both slaves last night, and I noticed two things. Even after bleeding I had
to pump up the brakes to get some resistance (I did get more than before
bleeding) and even then it seemed to not move enough fluid. By squeezing
the brake lever all the way down it does seem to finally lock up the wheel,
but it doesn't seem to much braking force until you get there. That makes
the front brakes slow to respond and touchy to modulate in my opinion.
Maybe I'm just spoiled since I've been riding something else the last few
years, but I don't remember any of my previous Harleys having soft spongy
brakes like that as being normal. There was always something wrong if the
brakes didn't feel right. The front pads are about half worn. Maybe a
little less.

Well, I've got more coffee on for any who are interested, and if you want
some more... HEY! Who drank all my good whiskey. Oh, well. There's more
in the cupboard if you have some good knowledge to pass on.

Bob La Londe
www .geocities,com /onebikenut


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