ALT-1 How to Repair Motorcycle Brakes

From 3arf

Brakes are the only thing there is that slows down your motorcycle, so it’s important to know how to repair your brakes. First you need to identify the problem, and repair them immediately to make sure you and others are safe.The difficulty of doing your own brakes can be moderately challenging, but if you have any experience, doing them your self can save you some money. Minor problems are hard for a lot of motorcyclists as they are not familiar with the brakes.As mentioned before first identifying the problem is where to start. Take the bike for a ride and feel for the abnormal brakes. Are they soft or do they vibrate a lot when trying to stop? This will help you to figure out what needs to be done.Then you need to look for signs of damage brake master cylinder, fittings, hoses and calipers. Pin holes or tears in the hose’s lining are where you will find the fluid leaks. Inspect the rotors. Make sure they have no warping, damage and surface scarring. Inspect the brake pads and the calipers and check for wear on the pads and damage to the internal piston.Next, you need to bleed the brake circuit to restore the soft brake back to working condition. Find the brake master cylinder's fluid reservoir and after locating it, take off the cap and top it off. Then put a clear plastic hose over the bleed valve on the brake caliper. Put the other end of the hose into a container or jar. Open the valve and pull the brake lever to start a siphon and then close it and release the lever. Repeat this until the brake fluid is clear in the hose. Make sure it is free of debris too. The reservoir should be kept full at all times.Now you can replace the hoses that are leaking. You will need to drain the brake circuit’s fluid through the valve from the caliper’s bleed. Now you need to remove the bolts. Next pull the hose away. Install your new hose and put a new washer on both ends of the hose before putting it back on. Tighten the bolts back up and then bleed the brake again.The brake rotor will need to be replaced if the bike is experiencing vibrations when trying to brake. Take the wheel off the bike. Using an allen key, remove the brake rotor. Put the new rotor on and apply thread locking adhesive to each rotor bolt. Put your wheel back on and replace the caliper’s brake pads if they need replacing.Always replace a leaking master cylinder. For that mater always replace a leaking caliper too. Then bleed the brake again.Taking care of your motorcycle's brakes is a good thing to do for safety. Knowing how to repair you motorcycle brakes if something goes wrong will be cheaper than going to a shop to have them fixed. However, if you do not know what you are doing, by all means take your bike to a shop for the repairs on your brakes.

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