Front Breaks are ****!

[MoMakkawi]

After nearly colliding into another car yesterday when i went into an emergency stop after some jack!@# cut me off i now know these breaks wont cut it for me . i pulled the front break as hard as i could and its wouldnt slow down fast enough until i forcefully applied the rear which made me start fishtailing.... fortunately i was able to dodge the cars and make it home ( nearly ****ed my self) I need to make the front brakes alot better it is a 1978 gs 750 and my daily rider so my life depends on its ability to brake... Ive read SS lines could help the breaking ability and am looking into getting some, anyone know where a good place to order them are. More so what else could i do to improve braking

[7981GS]

Replacing the pads with good/modern FF or GG rated pads will help immensely.

Eric

[Dogma]

Replacing the pads with good/modern FF or GG rated pads will help immensely.

Eric

In addition to the stainless. And a rebuild. The stainless lines are less stretchy than the rubber over nylon stock lines. Probably, you can pull the lever all the way to the grip, so a lot of your braking effort is going into stretching the hose. Definitely can't do that with the stainless.

Was your '78 750 one of the single-disk models? Put on a dual disk front end (with master cylinder) and the salty_monk brake upgrade for larger diameter disks and twin-pot calipers.

[kirkn]

...and some rider improvement.

Stuff happens, I know, but it reads like you weren't fully engaged in the traffic. You didn't anticipate that the other guy was going to do that. Plus, you weren't accounting for the fact that you were on a 34-year-old bike, not a modern crotch-rocket.

And, you locked up the rear tire which not only is WAY less effective than not locking up, but, as you found out, leads to loss of directional control of the vehicle.

PRACTICE until you don't succumb to instinct and tromp that rear into a skid.

The upgrades are desirable, but IMO, there's room for driver improvement in your scenario, too.

[tkent02]

...and some rider improvement.

Stuff happens, I know, but it reads like you weren't fully engaged in the traffic. You didn't anticipate that the other guy was going to do that. Plus, you weren't accounting for the fact that you were on a 34-year-old bike, not a modern crotch-rocket.

And, you locked up the rear tire which not only is WAY less effective than not locking up, but, as you found out, leads to loss of directional control of the vehicle.

PRACTICE until you don't succumb to instinct and tromp that rear into a skid.

The upgrades are desirable, but IMO, there's room for driver improvement in your scenario, too.

This /\ , and a competent rider would find out what kind of shape his brakes are in long before he needed them.

There is really no excuse for not having good brakes, the parts you need are readily available, it's very basic maintenance.

[tatu]

Changing the front caliper/s for the later 1100 type with square brake pads utterly transforms the brakes and look almost exactly the same.
I've done this on both my 1000s's
Apart from the swelling hose issue the other problem is with the older round pads is they sit in alliuminium and so corrode, losing a lot'v of power.

[jwhelan65]

Anytime I get a an old bike the first thing I do is rebuild the entire brake system. Start by rebuilding the master cylinders with new kits, pull out the caliper pistons, replace the seals, re-grease the pins, remove and flush the bleeder valves, install new braided lines and fresh fluid. Properly bleed them and your brakes should stop better than they did when they were new. I don't even attempt to ride until this is done.

[salty_monk]

I'm not that far from you if you want to see a set of Twinpots installed on a 78 GS1000. I have some bracket kits left.

I have a set of twin brake GS1000 fork legs going spare as well if that helps you out.

You will never get anything approaching a modern setup using stock parts but the 83 1100/750 brakes are the best of the stock ones if the look is important to you.

Dan