'Spongy' brake

Braking issues
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666damned
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'Spongy' brake

Post by 666damned »

evening people........manged to get some brakes finally fitted to the front end.............not sure of origin of front discs,but ...my question is ....having never experienced riding a KR i have no clue to the quality of the brakes on the KR...........she is currently using the standard hoses(all 3) on the front,did purchase some goodridge off the famous Daniel a while ago in preperation....but the buggers aren't long enough.....are the KR1-S different lengths to the KR1?..... :evil: ........the front was bled until i got pissed off,but just couldn't get a nice solid feel to it,the calipers have new seals and pistons in them with no leaks,the bike does 'pull up' but with no real assurance and have not used in anger as bike is not roadworhty yet......just wanted any pointers and advice guys..........

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Garry
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Post by Garry »

as far as i'm aware the hoses are interchangeable

2 of my bikes don't have a solid feel - lever comes back further than
i'd like but bleeding doesn't seem to make any difference

i'm going to try the syringe method to bleed them come spring to see
if that makes any difference
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Post by Bikemike »

I've always had trouble bleeding the standard Kr-1s tokikos, normal bleeding doesn't seem to clear all the air. I usually resort to cable tying the lever to the bar and leaving overnight, not much use if you are in a hurry though.....
By contrast the 'blade Nissins and Gsxr tokiko bleed up almost instantly with a nice solid lever, don't ask me why.

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Post by SHimmer45 »

the standard KR1-S brakes when in good nick are pretty much like hitting a wall :mrgreen: .

there is some useful information on possible cheap upgrades which work out cheaper than rebuilding the standard Tokio's.. (i think)

maybe some air is still getting into the system some where?
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Post by Red Devil 777 »

I agree with Mike, always had fun getting them to bleed up, I always resorted to the old trick of running two pipes from the bleed nipples to the reservoir, cable tie the lever back and go for a brew/kip/night out.Come back later and jobs a good 'un.
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Post by SHimmer45 »

gonna be in for some fun when i bleed my brakes then..... o the joy :roll:
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Post by Cliff »

Red Devil 777 wrote:I agree with Mike, always had fun getting them to bleed up, I always resorted to the old trick of running two pipes from the bleed nipples to the reservoir, cable tie the lever back and go for a brew/kip/night out.Come back later and jobs a good 'un.


Never thought of that one Mark, i will try that method. My brakes work fine, but lack feel.
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Post by alanw »

Dave, buy one of the those big syringe's & suck the fluid through "it's a gift ! " Alan
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Post by the-elf »

The KR is almost over braked as standard. Try the syringe method as that works great. The brake lines on the KR1 and S are the same but 20 year old rubber hoses will be well knackered by now so you're best off getting a set of braided hoses. Best fluid I have found is Halfords 5dot1.
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Post by headcoats »

SHimmer45 wrote:gonna be in for some fun when i bleed my brakes then..... o the joy :roll:
I will be doing the same shortly :-k
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Post by 666damned »

thanx for the reply's guys...........i'll get some braided hoses on my crizzy list.........can you get Hel lines for the KR1?......and i'll also get a syringe kit bought as well,..............
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Post by Red Devil 777 »

headcoats wrote:
SHimmer45 wrote:gonna be in for some fun when i bleed my brakes then..... o the joy :roll:
I will be doing the same shortly :-k
Do it the way I said and you'll find it a piece of piss, all you need is some line suitable to run from bleed nipple to reservoir, and if you're struggling for that I'll even post you some 'cos I've yards of it spare (I use it on pub irrigation systems and it comes in 100m rolls!)
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Post by the-elf »

666damned wrote:thanx for the reply's guys...........i'll get some braided hoses on my crizzy list.........can you get Hel lines for the KR1?......and i'll also get a syringe kit bought as well,..............
Yes you can, Hel will even make you custom lines to your spec for the same costs. Cause I use a radial master cylinder on my ZXR400 front end I needed slightly longer lines with a different thread on the banjo bolt and they made them up for me for the same price.

I run a two line setup with each line going from the master cylinder straight to each caliper, so doing away with the splitter. This setup is not only cheaper but complies with current ACU rules.
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Seals sticking

Post by geezagillard »

I've recently had some success with bleeding both my KR1 and KR1s. I could only get both levers to engage about half way back to the bar and then on one it was still mushy and the other reasonably solid (braided lines). After thinking about it I decided the combination of old seals and little use were causing the caliper pistons to seize in the most comfortable position and no amount of lever pressure or bleeding was going to budge them. It would explain the half way lever pressure and mean all I had to buy in terms of parts was some brake grease (not likely to upset brakefluid or be temperature sensitive). So I have split the calipers (after pumping the pistons out as far as possible) extracted the pistons and seals, cleaned everything up (1200 wet and dry and brake cleaner) and reinstalled with sufficient grease to allow the pistons to move freely on the old seals. In all cases I have found at least one seized piston...enough on its own to give a spongy lever.
With the KR1 being a two piston caliper I found the 2 rubber 'socks' that the caliper slides along on to be extremely dry, and lubing this had the same level off success, full pressure and lever distance.
Everytime I have done this (4 bikes so far) the results are the same...brakes like a new one. The things I used to blame on air in the system and pour another 500ml of Dot5 (now service station Dot4) thru chasing, were ghosts. Try it.
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Post by Jiffi77 »

666damned wrote:thanx for the reply's guys...........i'll get some braided hoses on my crizzy list.........can you get Hel lines for the KR1?......and i'll also get a syringe kit bought as well,..............
]

Can anyone tell me what these syringe kits are ??
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