front brake problem

[ed221]

front brakes seem to have alot of fade have to pull the brake lever all the way in to throttle grip to get the bike to slow it looks as if I have lots of pads left is thre another adjustment other then the play screw on the lever.

[Mike in Fresno]

bleed the brakes

[ULEWZ]

Air in the brake lines. Find a way to keep the brake lever fully actuated (I use a ziptie) and tap the brake line to get the air bubbles to make there way to the top. Leave the zip tie on over night and you should be good in the morning. A full on bleeding may also be necessary if this doesn't work, but it usually works for me.

[4strokeridertt]

1) check that the rotor is straight. A slight bend will push the pads into the caliper and you won't have enough lever throw to close the pads on the rotor with just one pull.

2) Bleed your brakes, fresh fluid makes a big difference.

3) Zip tye your brake handle and lean the bike over on it's left side overnight. If you fall on the right side and your bike lays there for a bit and you then squeeze the brake handle as you pick it up an air buble can get into the brake line from the master cylinder and settle at the high point in the brake line.

[cpdobbelaere]

I've got the same problem with my 06' 525 EXC. I bled my brakes last week and couldn't seem to fix the problem. Guy at the local KTM dealer told me today you can't bleed the brakes in the traditional manner of pumping the lever several times and opening the zert fitting. Told me it had to be done in the shop via a 'pressurized bleed"....sounds a little strange? I too have good life on the pads. I'm trying the tips noted above....

Thx

[4strokeridertt]

Mity vac bleed tool or a brake bleed syringe. Mity vac sucks fliud from the caliper fitting. Syringe style bleeder lets you suck out all the old fluid and squeeze in new fluid from the bottom up. It pushes the air up and out of the system.

[Yukon_Rider]

I had no end of trouble bleeding my front brake using the traditional manner so I bought a $10 veterinary syringe (50cc) from home depot. Used one of the carburetor lines as a hose and pushed in some new fluid from the bottom without draining the whole system. Worked a treat!

[cpdobbelaere]

The zip-tie and tapping of the break lines seemed to do the trick. But I picked up the syringe if the problem comes back. Thanks all for the tips. And thanks ed221 for sharing this string.

[Mike in Fresno]

yep, bleed from the bottom up. Put a pail or 5 gal bucket on the bar and let it hang there to catch the over flow. I too use a syringe, same one I use for the hyd clutch.

[4strokeridertt]

Two syringes works well. One for sucking all the old fluid out of the reservoir and one clean one for pumping new fluid in.

[ed221]

Thanks everyone for your help with the front brakes tried the zip tie route and it worked like a charm .