1982 GS850 front brakes

[Guest]

My mechanic just flushed front and rear brake lines, rebuilt both master cylinders and replaced front brake pads, after bike sat in my garage for past 8 years. He says front brakes are not gripping too well, and that maybe pads have to brake in by riding for a while. Rotors and calipers are OK as is, and calipers are functioning smoothly. Anybody know if front pads work fine when first installed, or do they really need a break-in period?
Thanks,
Larry

[flyingace]

I replaced the pads on my 850 last summer. I did not notice a drop in braking performance. In fact, the new shoes were an improvement.

[Rocketman]

'82 GS850L brakes

I haven't done a bike brake job in many years, but don't recall having a problem last time I did them. He did say that front fork oil leaked on the rotors when he was rebuilding the forks, and soaked the old pads, but I'm sure he cleaned the rotors more than sufficiently before installing the new pads. The guy is a competent, well known bike racer and mechanic here on Long Island, and comes highly recommended. Guess he'll figure out the problem before he calls me to go pick it up, but, for some reason I trust all you guys in the GSR Forum more than my own mechanic!

[flyingace]

Some pads may be different from others, and perhaps a short break-in is required for these. Maybe a racer is used to better brakes than our 850s

However, a motorcycle already has a braking disadvantage compared to a car, so I would emphasise the 'short' part.

[ptm]

If oil got on the pads they're toast. I'd get a new set and clean the rotors thoroughly before mounting them. I put new EBC pads on my 82 and they were great from the start. I always try to break them in a bit slowly for the first 50-100 miles, but they gripped well right away.

[Steve]

If the discs are perfectly smooth, break-in should be rather minimal. However, if there are grooves due to long, hard use, new pads are only hitting on the high spots for a while, and break-in will take considerably longer. Either way, use the brakes lightly, but often, until you get maximum braking power.


.

[bwringer]

In my experience, break-in time is minimal, and the difference in braking power is slight.

Something's wrong here, or the mechanic is just used to the brick-wall brakes on current sportybikes.

Also, 25 year old brake lines are lousy, mushy crap. With an upgrade to stainless steel brake lines, GS850 (and others...the exact same braking system was used on most other Suzuki streetbikes from 1980-83) brakes are pretty impressive. Mine need only minimal lever travel and pressure to get strong, confident braking.

They're not up to the latest 2006 Brembos, but not all that far off, either. If not in the ballpark, they're only slightly outside next to the peanut stand... (don't you just love all this scientific language?)

[Rocketman]

Thanks as always for the great advice. I left a message for the mechanic to replace the old brake lines with new stainless ones while he still has the bike in his shop. His feeling was to leave the old lines alone as they were still very flexible, showed no signs of cracks or deterioration, and were flushed out. But since new lines are pretty inexpensive, we'll see what they do. Thanks again.
Larry

[Steve]

"leave the old lines alone as they were still very flexible"

That is exactly the problem...sometimes they are TOO flexible. Pliability (the ability to bend smoothly) is not the only criteria. The old hoses will balloon under the pressure, and it does not take much of an increase in diameter over the length of the hose to really affect the braking power.


.