Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Front Brake Handle - Long Squeeze Now Needed

While moving my '07 America I got clumsy and the bike dropped down on it's right side - fortunately on the grass.

Everything is fine, nothing bent or broken, except that the front brake now takes a much longer squeeze of the handle before engaging the brake - way more than half the full travel. The brakes do work fine, but it's a long squeeze before engaging.

I figure that the brake handle must have been extremely compressed when the bike dropped. But my question is as to what has happened and how can it be fixed?

Thanks!

Martin

maybe bleed the brakes, may have gotten air in the line

There is a bit of air in the brake reservoir which could enter the brake circuit if the bike was on it's side. Like roadworthy stated, bleed the brakes.

If it seems to get tighter after a few quick pumps , you have air in the line . Bleed it . Too easy .

Been looking through the archives and can't find a set of complete set of instructions for bleeding the brakes on the Bonneville.

Is there somewhere I can find them?

It SHOULD be relatively straight-forward as it's the same system as a car. Crack the bleed nipple on the caliper open, squeeze the brake lever in a smooth action all the way down, close the nipple and then release the lever. Repeat while watching the flow of fluid from the nipple till you don't see any more bubbles, and ensure the reservoir doesn't empty during the process. Tidy people put a clear tube on the nipple with the end in the jar to collect the old fluid for disposal, untidy ones let it squirt where it will (including on your paint work where it'll remove the paint REALLY quickly).

Note that at the beginning I said it SHOULD be simple, however it's often not, for two reasons. Firstly, unlike a car's brakes the outlet (the nipple) is almost directly below the source (the reservoir), so you're trying to force air bubbles to travel downwards through a liquid medium and the air keeps wanting to rise. Secondly the brake line goes through several sharp angles (we like to call them banjo connectors) and the bubbles tend to get trapped on these corners. You can get suction devices that attach to the nipple and suck the fluid through faster than the master cylinder can pump it, but it's a lot cheaper just to unbolt the caliper from the forks and hold it as level as possible with the reservoir (or even above it). This can be a little awkward if you have a speedmaster with twin calipers, but can still be done. (With the dual brakes, the nipple's on the right hand caliper, with the left hand caliper allowing the fluid to pass through it.)

for a quick fix tie a bungie (not a budgie, the feathers get everywhere) around the lever overnight to help it firm up.

Sandmann and all who have responded - thanks! Bled the brakes without any difficulty at all and no budgies where hurt in the process.

The brakes are now better than when the bike was delivered from the dealer and after the 600 mile service.