It will be no surprise when i tell you that the front brakes on my 87 LT are crap.  The hoses have never been changed and several times this week i have found myself pulling the lever all the way until it touches the bar and still not slowing down enough.  I don'y knwo if i should be able to lock the front wheel but right no i've not a chance.

So i'm going to change the pads and hoses.  I have seen hose kits for sale but they seem to only come with two hoses and not the three that i will need.

Any ideas where i can get a kit of all three?

Mike

I bought a set of Venhill hoses from Motobins and they were spot on and quite reasonably priced for stainless braided.
I had that on my K1100 some time ago and the brake hose was leaking into the outer sheath but not onto the ground and when I spotted it the bulge was near as big as my thumb and ready to pop.
I happened at the same time as I was bleeding it and I just couldn't figure why the brake was still spongy till I saw the bulge.

Hi Mike,

As well as Motorbins, there is also:

Motorworks who supply Goodridge hoses.

James Sherlock

Mike

You need to understand that when the brake pads wear down you need to squeeze the brake more and more (possibly you do   ). With the brake you push the pads against the discs, but if the pads wear they become thinner, which means you need to push the brake pistons further out to get contact with the discs. Your brake is a simple, small plunger that pumps (displaces or pushes) a bit of oil in your brake line. The more the pistons need to be pushed out to brake the more you need to squeeze the handle. On the earlier bikes the plunger was only 12 mm in diameter, a later upgrade brought that to 13 IIRC and later up to 20, again IIRC. Have a look at your pads (any ferodo left??) and replace them and see how it feels then. You might be surprised :-)

You don't really need three lines, unless you want to keep the original setup.

I went for a SS line from the MC to left caliper, and a line bridge from Motorworks:

BRA10076: https://www.motorworks.co.uk/vlive/Img/Int/t.gif

Reduced the number of connections from 6 to 3

ReneZ wrote:You need to understand that when the brake pads wear down you need to squeeze the brake more and more (possibly you do   ). With the brake you push the pads against the discs, but if the pads wear they become thinner, which means you need to push the brake pistons further out to get contact with the discs. Your brake is a simple, small plunger that pumps (displaces or pushes) a bit of oil in your brake line. The more the pistons need to be pushed out to brake the more you need to squeeze the handle. On the earlier bikes the plunger was only 12 mm in diameter, a later upgrade brought that to 13 IIRC and later up to 20, again IIRC. Have a look at your pads (any ferodo left??) and replace them and see how it feels then. You might be surprised :-)

This is definitely not the case: one of the advantages of hydraulic disc brakes is the fact that they need no adjustment for wear.  Lever travel will remain the same whether the pads are at the start, or end of their useful life.

If the lever is coming back to the bars without much braking effect, then fitting new pads will not cure the problem.  Brake fluid cannot be compressed, so after the initial lever movement closes off the access port in the master cylinder to the reservoir there is then a closed system.  After the pads have met the discs any further lever movement will be caused by leaking seals in either the calipers, or master cylinders, leaks at joints, or the hoses actually swelling and bulging. Another cause would be air in the system.  A quick check on the level of fluid in the reservoir will reveal a leak, as will a visual check of all joints, calipers, and master cylinder.  Get someone else to apply the brake while you have your hand wrapped around the various hoses in the system - you can easily detect a swelling hose as it bulges in your hand.  If you have a bulging hose, then replace the whole hose system.

If you cannot detect any leaks, or bulging hoses, then your problem must be air in the system.  A good bleeding session will get rid of it, but you need to ask how it got there in the first place.

JHMO but get rid off that stupid "Y" that goes through the steering head.  I use generic SS line straight form the master to the right caliper and then a BMW metal line from the right caliper to the left. Doesn't cost a whole lot (about $50 plus shipping for the brake line and banjo bolts another $18 more for the metal BMW line) and maximizes the amount of pressure to the calipers.

You may also want to consider using sintered pads.  They grab better that "organic/Kevlar" pads.  They wear the rotors slightly faster but it's worth it to me to optimize braking.