From: Roy Armstrong
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 09:11:42 +1000
The disk brake on my Triumph tends to stick on at the moment:
I have recently replaced the seals in the master cylinder. The lever
action seems fine but the brake dosn't release. The pads get hotter, the
disk gets hotter, everything expands and the wheel stops turning.
Will worn pads cause this?
Safe riding Roy.
From: Mike Lake
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 11:52 EST
>The disk brake on my Triumph tends to stick on at the moment...
Roy,
For one reason or another, your system is not allowing fluid to bleed
back from the caliper into the master cylinder after a brake application.
Usually, this is caused by the master cylinder piston not returning far
enough to open the small return port into the reservoir. If your system
has an adjustment for "free pedal" (lever in this case), you should check
it to be sure the piston is allowed to fully return.
Worn pads shouldn't cause it unless they are *REALLY* whipped and are cam-locking or turning sideways. Not likely.
Good luck,
Mike Lake
Portland, OR
From: Laurence T. Reiter
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 13:43:35 -0500
Hi, I had the same problem on my '79 Bonneville about three weeks ago. Do you still have the rubber brake lines that came with the bike? If you do than that may be your problem. Take the hose off and try to blow air through each end. When I did this one end was clogged shut. This can happen when the rubber in the hose swells. The best thing to do is have a good steel braded tephlon hose made for your bike.
There's a place in Indiana called Earl's Supply that did it for me for about $25 including fittings. I highly reccomend it!
LTR
'79 Bonne Special (Ruby)
From: Nancy J Caputo
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 23:13:41 -0700 (PDT)
While the Inter Odyssey rambles on through Brit-Iron, I have begun general repairs so I can use the bike again for some shorter trips. Coming up in the chronicle is my complaint about front end braking problems. Today I removed the front wheel to check for trueness. The rotor is warped. Worse, there's a fracture line. Not to worry though, I can get a new one. I started calling around:
Raber's $195.14 or $42-$45 used, surfaced with exchange assuming no fractures
British Marketing $158.65
Fair Spares USA $175, used one probably available, unsurfaced $45
Marshall's all out. WOULD have sold me one at $123 but doesn't know cost of latest shipment from England. Fears the worst and wonders if something is amiss at Norton spares as they haven't sent much lately. No used rotors.
Kosman $275 (But I bet it'll be real pretty.) Uh-huh. No blanks, one month wait minimum.
OUCH!
BUT! I may have a line on a used one at a bargain basement price. Fingers crossed. A spare rotor might be a worthwhile addition to your spares stock.
Lou TM LUIGI
From: Ralph Merwin
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 8:00:43 PDT
Nancy J Caputo writes:
>While the Inter Odyssey rambles on through Brit-Iron, I have begun
general repairs so I can use the
>bike again for some shorter trips. Coming up in the chronicle is my
complaint about front end braking
>problems. Today I removed the front wheel to sheck for trueness. The
rotor iswarped. Worse, there's
>a fracture line. Not to worry though, I can get a new one. I started
calling around:
My old catalog from Clubman's (203-256-1224) lists:
Front Disc - iron replacement of good quality - $69
Ralph
From: Nancy J Caputo
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 08:56:41 -0700 (PDT)
On Thu, 14 Jul 1994, Ralph Merwin wrote:
>Lou Caputo writes:
>>While the Inter Odyssey rambles on through Brit-Iron, I have begun....
>>My old catalog from Clubman's (203-256-1224) lists:
>>Front Disc - iron replacement of good quality - $69
>Ralph
Sounded promising. Phoned and none in stock. Hasn't had a new one in
years (nobody breaks or wears out rotors), and none currently ordered.
Suggested a swap meet. 12" RGM one is $229 but requires new caliper, add
$160. Helpful guy.
Thanks. The search continues.
Lou TM LUIGI
From: Ralph Merwin
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 10:50:47 PDT
Nancy J Caputo writes:
>Sounded promising. Phoned and none in stock. Hasn't had a new one
in years (nobody breaks or
>wears out rotors), and none currently ordered. Suggested a swap meet.
12" RGM one is $229 but
>requires new caliper, add $160. Helpful guy.
Drag! I was thinking of getting one myself as my disc may be warped. Try calling DJ's Cycle Shoppe (503-235-9373). He may have a used one laying around or at least a good lead on a new one.
Then there's Cascade Classic Motorcycles - 503-638-3834.
If all else fails, Cycle Hub (aka the Sandy Bandit) will likely have one, at a 'bend over' price. 503-232-9253
Ralph
From: Tony Sumner
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 94 09:30:49 BST
The was some discussion as to availability/price of Commando front discs a while back. The latest UK Fair Spares catalogue has this entry
Disc - standard type, use 06-1885 order number 06-6595 price 52.60
From: John Pinkham
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 94 16:17:03 EDT
Putting on RGM's full floater over the weekend. Not so straightforward. Had to swap the left slider for the right. Remount the front tire. Now to get a stainless braided teflon hose made up. Also put new seals in the forks and cleaned out the smegma. Also need to loctite the hub lockring or it may unscrew itself at speed. Went with Progressive fork springs. We'll see if they're up to the new brakes "screeching performance"
Of course the Boyer packed up too.
The isolastics will have to wait til winter time.
Thinking about some new paint. Have the white, royal blue and red scheme now.
Considering "british racing green" which supposedly is a non-description, with some gold striping. Haven't seen too many commandos in green. Any ideas of an aesthetic nature?
John
From: Dan Milhone
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 10:43:29 +0800
In re to:
>They quoted $49 for an extra-long front brake hose for Commando with
stainless fittings.
When ordering a steel braided cable, attention should be paid to ordering the exact required length. I had one on my Commando, using stock handlebars. Switched to "Euro-bars", and there is now an unsightly loop in the hose, in the headlamp area. Since it's a fairly stiff material, you get stuck with few options for stashing extra hose.
Dan Milhone
'74 Commando Roadster
From: John Pinkham
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 94 13:14:02 EDT
Might add the following to the suppliers list:
Stainless Steel Braided Teflon Hoses
Oil Coolers
Goodridge USA
20309 Gramercy
Torrance, California
90501
(310) 533-1924
FAX (310) 618-0909
They quoted $49 for an extra-long front brake hose for Commando with stainless fittings. Same day fabrication. Credit cards accepted. UPS or FEDEX. Brenglish spoken. Same hose seems to cost about 25 UKP in England,
John Pinkham
From: John Kula
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 94 15:49:15 PDT
To: BRIT-IRO--INTERNET brit-iron@indiana.
Standard hydraulic hoses are rubber. When you squeeze the lever to
actuate the brakes, a lot of the applied energy goes into making the hoses
expand. Thus, they feel "mushy". Stainless steel hoses don't expand to
the same degree, so most of the energy goes into making the brake pads
contact the rotor, and the brakes appear to be more effective. The extra
efficiency is worth the effort of getting a tight interface where the new
SS item meets the stock Commando.
People have been quoting all kinds of prices for Mikuni carbs. But _which models_ are y'all talking about? Mikuni makes countless models, most of which can be found in a suitable size for Commandos. Prices are pointless unless you quote models as well.
John Kula jakula@bcsc02.gov.bc.ca Commando 930 (MacBeth)
From: Dan.Milhone
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 1994 13:41:09 +0800
Peter Aslan writes:
>The problem is where the hose fixes to the caliper. This is achieved
with a thredded bolt section which
>screws right down onto the caliper, the seal is made between the both
where the thred ends and the
>outer caliper face, not at all like the little pipe arrangement. The
problem is, the caliper was never
>meant to seal like this, the outer surface is not flat. I never managed
to get it to seal completely, ....
The guy at the local shop suggested that I only run the steel-braided hose from the front master cyl. to the short break pipe. ie only replace the rubber hose section. I did, and it seems to be OK. Although not as neat as a one-piece deal, there are no leakage issues.(yet)
Dan Milhone
'74 Commando Roadster
7.3 Rear Drum to Disk Conversion
From: Pete Serrino
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 1994 10:04:52 -0500 (EST)
Dan writes:
>The conversion from rear drum brake to disc is cool, but would require
a fair amount of fabrication to
>convert it to left side mounting. This assumes that the bike would
retain the right hand shift, instead of
>the MKIII cross-shaft adaptation. Trade-offs either way.
I adapted a MKIII rear disk to my '71 Norton and retained left side braking. Basically I threw away the master cylinder (which was pitted anyway) and mounted a Brembo master cylinder under the seat. I employed the drum brake cable to actuate the master cylinder and SS brake lines to complete the crossover. I had to fabricate a mounting plate which mounts behind the gusset which the rectifier is normaly mounted to. The plate also serves as a rear fender mount. The Brembo master cylinder is a bell crank/remote resevoir model which (I found out later) is used on early eighties BMW twins (rear).
The cable does introduce some sponginess but it is still light years ahead of the drum brake setup. I had to machine my original swingarm to accept the larger axle. The way to go would be to replace everything from the engine mounts back.
Pete
From: D.Williams
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 09:51:13 -0500 (CDT)
Are there any issues with replacing DOT4 brake fluid with silicone based
DOT5?
It would seem that the DOT5 benefits (long lasting, non-absorbing,
won't eat paint) would be a real plus.
Dale
From: Ralph Merwin
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 94 9:01:18 PDT
D.Williams writes:
>Are there any issues with replacing DOT4 brake fluid with silicone
based DOT5?
I put DOT5 in my 850 Commando when I rebuilt it last year, thinking it'd be better for these reasons. Seems to work OK. Expensive stuff though!
I checked into replacing it with DOT4 and found out that I would have to completely clean the DOT5 out - can't just flush the old DOT5 out with new DOT4 fluid.
Ralph
From: Mike Taglieri
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 03:00:32 -0400
Lockheed does not recommend putting DOT5 into their brake systems (found on Nortons), and neither does Brembo, because DOT5 attacks natural rubber. In fact, every authority I've EVER seen has suggested that DOT5 can destroy brake systems of the vintage we have on our bikes. There may be some way to make this stuff work, but I can't see how the risk could possibly be worth it.
Mike Taglieri
Raul -- '72 Commando Interstate (who happily slurps Mobil 1, but will never taste DOT5 if I have any say in it.)