Lost my brakes in the rain

[Crankthat]

[OldVet66]

Very interesting. It's got to be an age and experience thing, not a subject for argument. All brakes at that time would fade when wet. The disk brakes were better than the drum and shoe brakes but everyone knew to apply partial brakes and hold them to dry them out periodically in the rain back in the day. It was second nature, so some people might not even remember they do it if they are good drivers. The comparison between then and now is night and day. The old GS brakes with stainless steel brake lines and a proper rebuilt are not bad but they will still fade when wet and have to be dried out periodically in the rain or you could be headed for trouble. Drivers who grew up with modern brakes wouldn't know this and could easily get a shocking wake up call. I still do this even in my RX8 that has excellent brakes. Old habits die hard.

[themess]

http://books.google.ie/books?id=f7DYvphaRhwC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=motorcycle+brake+performance+in+the+wet&source=bl&ots=Ewk4Qx4fe4&sig=hlGV1Uq7FlqURfVX5dUI8KD0Gjw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0GWcU_SsEcSR7Aa7pYCQCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=motorcycle%20brake%20performance%20in%20the%20wet&f=false

If my motorcycle took as far to stop as this article reports, I would also complain loudly. But I've never needed anything like those wet stopping distances. Perhaps some UK specific regulation required motorcycle manufacturers to use different brake pads than Suzuki shipped to North America.

The longest stopping vehicle I ever had was a bicycle using caliper brakes, on chrome plated steel rims. Even that didn't take as much distance in the wet to stop as the study showed for motorcycles.. .

[tkent02]

I didn't read the article, five times as long? Obviously that's not true. That's like riding on snow or ice, but it's the tire's lack of traction limiting, not the brakes. Never had a problem getting much more braking than the tires could handle in rain, the tires would slip and skid if you over did it on the brakes but the brakes themselves always worked fine.

Where do these people dig up this junk? And who in their right mind would believe it?

[bccap]

Neither of my bikes are from the 70's. The front brakes on my 83 work just fine in all conditions. The rear sucks but it has thirty year old pads in it. The 88 has better brakes and the rear will lock up. I live in a rain forest region so they have spent some time in the rain......

[tkent02]

It rains in Vancouver?

[bccap]

It used to but then we took away the Freedom of Weather. A lot of plants have been complaining......

[earlfor]

My best guess is the brakes failed because they had leaked fluid, which had been absorbed into the pads, and that combined with water from the rain and pressure from applying the brakes, created a friction free barrier between the pad and disk. Find and fix the leak and replace the pads and things should be fine. I have ridden all my GS's in heavy rain for extended time and once for nearly 100 miles through a hurricane with 60+mph horizontal rain and flooded roads and the brakes still worked.

[Flyboy]

Of course they work, wet or dry, anyone who knows how to ride, knows that.
As Tom said, you will lock up a tire long before you loose brakes.
Suzuki made cr@p brakes, phaaaaaa, never heard such drivel in all my life.

You think it only rains in Ireland?
Most of us survived, it wasn't any big deal.

Yeah, now I am wondering just what exactly that cold, wet stuff is that comes out of our clouds, got me worried now.

[earlfor]

Of course they work, wet or dry, anyone who knows how to ride, knows that.
As Tom said, you will lock up a tire long before you loose brakes.
Suzuki made cr@p brakes, phaaaaaa, never heard such drivel in all my life.


Yeah, now I am wondering just what exactly that cold, wet stuff is that comes out of our clouds, got me worried now.

The problem likely is that Brit cars leak oil all over everything and when it rains, the roads turn into a grease pit.

[tkent02]

Even so, that would effect the tires more than the brakes.

It's just pure BS, like we all said.

[Dj66]

You people are amazing! Almost like climate change deniers. Even when presented with documentation you just cant admit that your wonderful old Suzuki's ever had any weak points. Have you heard about the rose colored glasses phenomenon? Yes, i am sure that contaminated pads were a factor in the OP'S situation and hell yes he should go thru those brakes,but if they were so"adequate" to begin with then why all the fuss about modifying them (twinpot upgrade)? Don't worry, it wasn't just Suzuki, I remember riding my fathers early Goldwing and even that was sketchy when wet! Maybe you are all such excellent omnipotent riders that you didn't notice,but the rest of us unwashed sure did!

[tkent02]

You people are amazing! Almost like climate change deniers. Even when presented with documentation you just cant admit that your wonderful old Suzuki's ever had any weak points.

No one ever said they weren't weak, no one said they are adequate with todays' tire technology. They are not. I always install better brakes when I get an early GS, have been doing so for decades.

But they were not death traps, they didn't take five times as long to stop in wet as in dry, they didn't have any of these problems this guy is crying about. Squeeze the lever, soon enough you start slowing down, wet or dry not really any difference except the tire's traction isn't very good on wet pavement. They don't grab, they don't lock, they just worked. If anyone's brakes are doing any of these things, they should be fixed immediately, that is not normal.

That documentation was a bunch of BS, it simply isn't true.
I don't know who wrote it or why, but it just isn't right.

[Rob S.]

Maybe you are all such excellent omnipotent riders that you didn't notice,but the rest of us unwashed sure did!

Hey! I took a bath last night! Every Saturday night come hell or high water, I take a bath and brush my teeth, even if I don't need it.

[tkent02]

I even sent an hour googling it. Couldn't find any reference to GS brakes sucking in rain. Found one article about the disc brakes on the GT 550, which took a little while to come on, but it went on to say that's just how disc brakes on all bikes were, before the mid 70s.

Disc brakes on cars were the same way at first.