450 exc brakes suck!!

[limp1969]

I have a 05 my buddy a 04 and the brakes are crappy feeling. I rebuilt the master and cleaned the caliper took forever to get it to pump back up. Still felt crappy. Rebuilt a crf450 frt master and still it feels like crap. No leaks either. replaced pads too still the brake is just ok. Nothing like my mx bikes.

Anyone else have the same problem. At this point brembos sucks or the euros have no idea how to calculate caliper piston area and master bore size. They must love shitty brakes cause the brakes on both our bikes suck pretty bad. KTM Get with it!! It should be a 1 finger front brake but my 79 rm125 has a better front brake. I have so much time in this now Im ready to sell and get a big dumb xr650.

Edited November 15, 2011 by limp1969

[CanTurn]

I have a 400 exc...What I found was some pretty heavy corrosion on the pins and cavity that the metal ends of the pads (front) slide into...Cleaned it up with mr. wirebrush and finegritted the keeper pins, put just a super light coat of disk brake lube on those areas and some on the pins and viola...Will put me over the bars now...I use 2 fingers btw with hardly any effort...One on the clutch though...

[gravelfreak]

Change your brake disk and come back. You can't make the brakes good no matter what you do if the disk is worn.

[jar944]

you likely still have air in the line.

[L. Euler]

The front brakes on my 450 XCW went mushy on me after sitting for three weeks with the handlebars to the right. Air migrated into the line some how. Bled the line with nearly a full reservoir of fluid and they came back rock hard. Now I keep the bars turned left (brake handle is the high point) and have not had any further issues.

[CHILLY]

The front brakes on my 450 XCW went mushy on me after sitting for three weeks with the handlebars to the right. Air migrated into the line some how. Bled the line with nearly a full reservoir of fluid and they came back rock hard. Now I keep the bars turned left (brake handle is the high point) and have not had any further issues.

That situation is pretty common. Typically you can just push the piston back into the brake caliper and that action will force fluid backwards and remove any air that has migrated in. I just hold the wheel in the 9 and 3 o'clock position and push against the caliper with my knee. That does the trick and only takes a couple of seconds.

Actually it is a good practice to do every once in a while whether you notice a problem or not.

[Burnrider]

The front brakes on my 450 XCW went mushy on me after sitting for three weeks with the handlebars to the right. Air migrated into the line some how. Bled the line with nearly a full reservoir of fluid and they came back rock hard. Now I keep the bars turned left (brake handle is the high point) and have not had any further issues.

Proven cure for bikes that sit a while. EBC discs wear and grooved worse than Braking discs. Use of simple green for disc cleaning is more effective than canned brake cleaners or laquer thinner. I'm guessing you have it bled properly and the pins are clean with lube to allow equal caliper pressure.

[limp1969]

The front brakes on my 450 XCW went mushy on me after sitting for three weeks with the handlebars to the right. Air migrated into the line some how. Bled the line with nearly a full reservoir of fluid and they came back rock hard. Now I keep the bars turned left (brake handle is the high point) and have not had any further issues.

Is this a joke or what. I mean come on the engineers at KTM turn their bars to the left when parked. This makes me laugh and think JUNK!

I will clean the disk with simple green (disk seems to be in good shape bike has 3k miles on it) clean pins and rebleed then leave the bike turned left with the brake lever zip tied to the bar. LOL what a joke of a brake system.

[Burnrider]

Is this a joke or what. I mean come on the engineers at KTM turn their bars to the left when parked. This makes me laugh and think JUNK!

I will clean the disk with simple green (disk seems to be in good shape bike has 3k miles on it) clean pins and rebleed then leave the bike turned left with the brake lever zip tied to the bar. LOL what a joke of a brake system.

Agreed Limp, Never had it happen to my bike, I guess it doesn't sit that long.

Best bleeding technique I found has been to compress the lever twice, hold it down on the 3rd compress and open/shut the bleeder quickly.

Front brake and clutch hydro system- gets rock hard in 6-8 repetitions

Rear brake foot lever- 10-12 repetitions.

Brembos aren't as good as the Nissan brake systems, but work well enough to do stoppies if maintained with decent pads and discs.

Braking sensitivity goes up a lot by removing reservoir brake fluid and running 2 refills for a system flush. Doesn't make sense - just does.

Last note- Clean and lube 'pins' means the slide pins under corrugated rubber boots used to align the pads and provide equal pressure to both sides of the disc.

[gravelfreak]

I've found that putting some stress on the brakes makes them perform much better. Repeated hard brakings to the edge of boiling usually restore solid feel.

[MrBlahh]

I much prefer brembo's over nissan setups, I thought everyone did

[Burnrider]

One other tip on the '05 I forgot after owning it this long- Redrilling the banjo bolt.

- Mark your front brake banjo bolt at 12:00. (felt pen or center punch)

- Remove the bolt and check the actual position of the bleed hole.

- If it is at 10:00 or 2:00 to the mark, it's fine

- If it is below or after that, ie. 9:00 or 3:00 position, use a drill as close to the stock hole as possible and drill a 2nd hole at you're marked 12:00 position.

More efficient for removing air bubbles. A smaller SAE sized drill works well w/o hurting the bolt.

[Wild Alaskan]

I cant get the front brake on my 05 exc to have any feel Ive bled it forward, backwards, both ways, with the piston clamped, and unclamped and still can get any feel out of it. if I pull it really hard it will nearly touch the bar. I guess Ill try drilling out the banjo bolts and report back.

[Burnrider]

I cant get the front brake on my 05 exc to have any feel Ive bled it forward, backwards, both ways, with the piston clamped, and unclamped and still can get any feel out of it. if I pull it really hard it will nearly touch the bar. I guess Ill try drilling out the banjo bolts and report back.

Drilling the Banjo helps bleed them. Clamping the piston assists in bleeding too. After you drill the banjo, use this drill to bleed the brakes:

Compress the lever twice, hold it down on the 3rd compress and open/shut the bleeder quickly. Repeat this 6-8 times

Front brake and clutch hydro system- gets rock hard in 6-8 repetitions

Rear brake foot lever- 10-12 repetitions.

[crazy_dave]

Try syringe bleeding from the bottom up.

[Wild Alaskan]

Try syringe bleeding from the bottom up.

thats what Ive been doing for the most part

[crazy_dave]

I just got an 03 450EXC and the brakes suck on that as well. I thought it was the PO doing and not the bike. But it Looks like it’s a common problem. let the fun begin.

[limp1969]

Try syringe bleeding from the bottom up.

I have tried this

[limp1969]

3 things I hate about the ktm crappy brakes, clutch noise and squak and hydro clutch feel sucks compared to cable

[Burnrider]

Limp- did you get the brake up to speed using the lever or rear pedal only? I change out fluid a couple times of year. No back bleeding needed.

Clutch squawk - it does suck. I use 2cool in my oil. I would recommend the use of 5-40 Rotella full synthetic T-6 oil. Real economical. You can find it at O'reilley's or Wally's china world. Better shifting into neutral for sure.