maybe braided's the answer??????????????

[DRZ4000grinner]

Still friggin round trying to sort my rear brake for my 06 rm250. f$%k knows what the answer is. Seems to me, people have tried new calipers, hoses and masters and still end up with crappy braking. surely its not an rm-only issue. why would they fit different stuff from same manufacturer to different mx models????

so......i'm gonna try a stainless braided brake line. trouble is, noone seems to sell them for the 06 model. they go up to 03. why wouldn't an 03 one fit? i'd be willing to try it, but the angle of the banjos in the picture don't look right to me - one of them at least has to be a lot more angled to bolt onto the master i'd have thought.

if this don't help, i'll go to local wrecker and look for an rm-z or other master to try. its a great bike, but the rear brake situation sh*&ts me. i'd be interested if we did a poll to find out for how many others its the same....?

[cantwait]

im running all stock components with the exception of ebc pads and I feel very confident with the rear binder on my 04 rm250??

[zig06]

You could just do what the street bike guys do (and race car builders do), and make one. Just go to your local automotive or high performance motorcycle shop and start picking through the Russell brake line catalog ~ it really is easy. Two banjo fittings and one length of hose, just pick one that's the same or slightly larger, and your done.

http://www.russellperformance.com/motorcycle/b-uni_brake.shtml

[cj_wai]

Still friggin round trying to sort my rear brake for my 06 rm250. f$%k knows what the answer is. Seems to me, people have tried new calipers, hoses and masters and still end up with crappy braking. surely its not an rm-only issue. why would they fit different stuff from same manufacturer to different mx models????

so......i'm gonna try a stainless braided brake line. trouble is, noone seems to sell them for the 06 model. they go up to 03. why wouldn't an 03 one fit? i'd be willing to try it, but the angle of the banjos in the picture don't look right to me - one of them at least has to be a lot more angled to bolt onto the master i'd have thought.

if this don't help, i'll go to local wrecker and look for an rm-z or other master to try. its a great bike, but the rear brake situation sh*&ts me. i'd be interested if we did a poll to find out for how many others its the same....?

what,s wrong with your brakes?what are they not doing for you?are they spongey?air in the lines?easy fix for that it will completely firm up your petal.

[DRZ4000grinner]

well....when i first bought the bike, the rear brake had heaps of travel and very little braking action at all. once home with it, i found it had a bent rotor, so i replaced that with a good quality wave rotor (and new fluid and bleeding). better action but not great. no leaking apparent, but still too much travel (ie, had to have lever right up above the peg). not really workable, so i put in a brake stop, and adjust the plunger up so there was less travel. took it out and was good.....till spotted oil leaking from the master, and no braking again. put a kit in it, and wound off the plunger in case that caused the blown master. that fixed the leak, and braking was good till it heated up, then back to lots of lever travel and no braking. but nothing appears to be leaking anywhere and i've bled it thoroughly! its driving me batty! its all a process of elimination i reckon. new pads, rotor, fluid. so either the line, the master or the chunk at the other end (who's name escapes me at the moment). i'll try the line first. then if need be the other two bits of hardware. and yes, i used new crush washers and bleed with a syringe and fresh fluid.

[cj_wai]

well....when i first bought the bike, the rear brake had heaps of travel and very little braking action at all. once home with it, i found it had a bent rotor, so i replaced that with a good quality wave rotor (and new fluid and bleeding). better action but not great. no leaking apparent, but still too much travel (ie, had to have lever right up above the peg). not really workable, so i put in a brake stop, and adjust the plunger up so there was less travel. took it out and was good.....till spotted oil leaking from the master, and no braking again. put a kit in it, and wound off the plunger in case that caused the blown master. that fixed the leak, and braking was good till it heated up, then back to lots of lever travel and no braking. but nothing appears to be leaking anywhere and i've bled it thoroughly! its driving me batty! its all a process of elimination i reckon. new pads, rotor, fluid. so either the line, the master or the chunk at the other end (who's name escapes me at the moment). i'll try the line first. then if need be the other two bits of hardware. and yes, i used new crush washers and bleed with a syringe and fresh fluid.

is your pedal traveling too much again?is your pedal soft?i think you have air in the system.i have a trick that helps with that.

[wrencher2s]

How many times have you replaced the pads? You said the original rotor was bent, but there may have been damage to more than just the rotor! Your wheel bearings may be causing a wobble you can't see or if the wheel isn't in line the rotor is gonna wear the pads right off in a day or less. I had this happen on a front wheel of an ATV and didn't catch the bad wheel bearing until after the second set of pads.

[mihylo33]

Still friggin round trying to sort my rear brake for my 06 rm250. f$%k knows what the answer is. Seems to me, people have tried new calipers, hoses and masters and still end up with crappy braking. surely its not an rm-only issue. why would they fit different stuff from same manufacturer to different mx models????

so......i'm gonna try a stainless braided brake line. trouble is, noone seems to sell them for the 06 model. they go up to 03. why wouldn't an 03 one fit? i'd be willing to try it, but the angle of the banjos in the picture don't look right to me - one of them at least has to be a lot more angled to bolt onto the master i'd have thought.

if this don't help, i'll go to local wrecker and look for an rm-z or other master to try. its a great bike, but the rear brake situation sh*&ts me. i'd be interested if we did a poll to find out for how many others its the same....?

I'm headed to the garage to screw with my braakes a bit. I will keep ya posted.

[DRZ4000grinner]

is your pedal traveling too much again?is your pedal soft?i think you have air in the system.i have a trick that helps with that.

cj - what's the trick???

will also check wheel bearings, etc. pads are new, good quality. i notice that in the clear section of hose that curves round to where it bolts onto the master, there's a lot of dark coloured stuff in there. who knows, fluid may be leaking into the outer hose. (but you'd think this would swell and burst if so).

[cj_wai]

take off the master lid and top up fluid.then use a ratchet strap or wood clamp or anything to fully depress the brake pedal.it should be held down with as much force as possible.this works best if the caliper is the lowest point in the system.leave it clamped down for 2 days.all the small bubbles will rise up and out of the system.this works super on the front brake.i was having a hell of a time getting a firm lever on my yz, i then removed the cover and zip tied the lever to the bar for a day.it worked and i now have a perfect brake .i also did this to my rear and it worked there just as well.

i later did it to my xr650r after changing fluids,it worked perfect there too.

i read of this some where and gave it a try,best method for getting the last bit of air out of a brake system i,ve ever tried.i read where they do it on cars with the same result.

thanks cj

[hefe055]

I was having similar problems with my 06's rear brake and it almost got me in trouble more than a few times thank god it didn't!

If you're still having trouble try a steel braided line I didn't like them on my cr for the rear they are GREAT for the front but the rear was waaaay too touchy.

Like I said I was having similar problems with my rear brake and it did have a lot of travel too so I just raised the pedal a little higher than I usually do and now it works just as good as any of the best rear brakes I've had.....did you try raising the pedal a little more? There is some excessive free-play with Suzuki's design so I compensated by raising the pedal.

[DRZ4000grinner]

hmmm, that's a good point - don't want to end up with back brake that's totally on/off either. what are others' experience with braided rear lines? maybe i should perhaps just try a new or good used oem line (and bleeding as suggested)?

[wrencher2s]

The worrisome part on your condition is that it fades after you ride the bike/the fluid heats up which is a symptom of something else.

[DRZ4000grinner]

Exactly! I'm buggered if I know what that's about. Like I said, no apparent fluid leaks anywhere (except - possibly - in between the outer and inner hoses).

If there's no leaks, and the fluid's new and bled, how can the brakes go away?

[cj_wai]

Exactly! I'm buggered if I know what that's about. Like I said, no apparent fluid leaks anywhere (except - possibly - in between the outer and inner hoses).

If there's no leaks, and the fluid's new and bled, how can the brakes go away?

air n the lines will cause brake fade.your problem is improperly bled brakes.clamp em down like i said and you will fix your problem:banana:?

[zig06]

What brake fluid are you using?

[DRZ4000grinner]

cj, i did as you suggest, and levers at both ends got much less travel and firmer feel. tryout not for a week or so, but am hoping this does the job of getting me reliable back brakes again (and for less than a braided line).