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Bike Brakes
DorsetStrider - 16/6/05 at 10:30 PM

I don't know if this is the right place to put this question but I figured since it's bike related.....

I know NOTHING about motorcycles I'll admit it, so I was hoping someone could tell me how motor cycle brakes work? are they hydrolic or cable operated?

mangogrooveworkshop - 16/6/05 at 10:39 PM

Smaller older bikes had cable brakes but the larger machines have hydraulic systems with a few BMW bikes offering ABS

dern - 17/6/05 at 08:16 AM

I've never had a bike with cable brakes... the thought scares the bejesus out of me.

My blade has 2 330mm floating discs on the front, one on each side of the wheel each with one 4 piston caliper. The back brake is a single 220mm (can't remember whether it's solid or floating) with one single piston caliper. Both front and back brake systems are hydraullic and completely independant.

Regards,

Mark

[Edited on 17/6/05 by dern]

andrew.carwithen - 17/6/05 at 08:34 AM

Showing my age now...but the old Honda CB200 had a cable operated front disc.
Anything bigger had hydraulic fronts (twin discs if you were really lucky!) and either a rear drum or hydraulic single disc.
My old '79 Kwacker Z650 (what a beautiful bike that was) Had both front and rear discs.



Andy.

Taz Surfleet - 17/6/05 at 09:40 AM

all proper british bikes have cable drums up front cept the last of the bonnies and commandos

Peteff - 17/6/05 at 09:47 AM

Yesterday a convoy of old British bikes went through here. There were Ariel, Velocette, Matchless and AJS that I spotted and they all had cable drums. Not one of them had an aluminium frame or a fairing either. I didn't see a Vincent.

phelpsa - 17/6/05 at 10:01 AM

My dad's BMW has servo assisted ABS hydraulic brakes! Overkill? I think not considering it weighs nearly 300kgs!!

Adam

dern - 17/6/05 at 10:33 AM

quote:
Originally posted by phelpsa
My dad's BMW has servo assisted ABS hydraulic brakes! Overkill? I think not considering it weighs nearly 300kgs!!
Maybe it would be useful in an extreme emergency when you feel compelled to slam the brakes full on but I've never had it and had to do a number of emergency stops (once when a little girl ran out in front of me... I managed to stop but it taught me not even to touch the rear brake in an emergency) and you just don't brake like that on a bike and you can feel when the wheel locks much more easily than you can in a car. Getting into the habit of slamming the brakes on would be a dangerous thing to get used to imo because in the wet you'd probably never stop.

I went to france with a load of mates a couple of weeks ago on our bikes and one of the lads hit a car some 20 miles from the chunnel on the friday. She just pulled straight out in front of him, it was wet and he wasn't going particularly fast but he would have stood no chance of stopping with or without abs. As it happens he braked, the front wheel washed out and he decided (he thinks) to get off. The bike embedded itself in the car and he slid off to the side and is fine. My opinion is that if he had of had abs and was used to using it in the rain he would still be on the bike and upright as he hit the car. Having said that, the outcome of situations like that are pretty random.

If you apply the brakes smoothly and firmly on the blade in the dry the bike will flip before the front wheel locks anyway.

Mark

phelpsa - 17/6/05 at 11:49 AM

If the ABS had been optional I doubt he would have opted for it, as he has only felt it come into effect on one or to occasions.

Having such a skinny front wheel on a GS means that doesn't have a lot of grip, making the ABS more useful.

Adam