I was at Mid Ohio today and Grattan last week and noticed a weird feeling with my braking. When the brakes are cool the initial feel is "chattery" (I don't know how else to explain it; maybe a little vibration) but then after a second they grab just fine. I even occasionally feel this after a long section of the track where I don't use the brakes much and then the same thing. They are stock brakes and stock pads with plenty of thickness. The overall feel of the lever is soft and I have bled them several times to get rid of the spongy feel; I now think it is the stock brake lines giving me the spongy-ness (I bleed brakes all the time on my cars and my brothers RC51 and they are rock hard so I am pretty confident in my ability to bleed brakes). But what about the "chatter"? What's going on with that? Anyone else had this experience? My bike is an 06' Kawasaki 636. Again, I have a stock brake system. At my current level on the track (intermediate group) I would assume the stock system would be more than adequate for my needs. Any help on this would be appreciated. I actually am planning on getting stainless lines for Gingerman next weekend for the spongy feel but would still like to understand this problem (who knows, maybe everything will be stellar after installing the lines). Thanks, Adam O.
My 600 was like what you describe .Changed the pads and never thought about it again . Your pads are probably glazed over .
You still running the stock lines? My 06 636 was kinda like that until the stainless lines were added. I am now running Gold Fren GP5 pads, single finger braking.... John
you'll definitely want to go to stainless lines, they will dramatically improve the feel when braking. the brand that you get is ultimately not that important, they'll generally perform equally well. I have Galfers on my gixxer and spiegler's on my other bike. pads will make a huge difference too. if you ride your bike on the street, EBC HH are the way to go, if your bike is track-only, SBS Dual carbon's, Vesrah RJL's or goldfren's are even better yet. I tried a set of SBS Dual Carbons on a friends 636 and was astounded by their performance. ymmv. cheers, Lance
I went with Goodridge because they were on sale when I bought my GPR. I believe they are all about as good as each other for what we do.... John
As far as the vibration, I would check that everything is torqued to spec on the front end and that your rotors are not warped. Do you see heat spots on the rotor? If so you may have a sticking piston that will generate excess heat.
All fasteners torqued to spec and no heat spots noted. I even checked runout with a dial indicator and dial never moved more than 0.001" from "zero". I would be surprised if my rotors were warped as I tend not to used the brakes very heavily during a track day. My front straight speeds aren't crazy fast as I am still working on being smooth and comfortable in the corners. I tend to scrub speed mostly by rolling off early so I can be ready for the corner when it comes up. I'll work on late braking down the line a bit.
Tell you what then, have your bike ready to go at Gingerman this weekend and I'll give you my first hand opinion after a few sessions. :mrgreen:
Awesome! If we're swapping bikes, I'll take the 996... (insert mental picture of me with evil grin rubbing hands together)
Well, placed the order for Speigler lines and the Gold Fren GP5 pads. That whole "single finger braking" thing just sounds so nice. Should get the lines tomorrow and the pads at Gingerman. Adam O.
Make sure you bleed the master cylinder first, then calipers, and then master again. The radial master can be a pain, I used a mity vac with no issues. John