Soft front brake
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 163
Likes: 0
From: Maryland
Soft front brake
Just got a new Super Glide-saleman told me the front brake might feel soft for awhile-it felt fine to me till i got about 500 miles on it-now seems VERY soft--will bleeding them help? or is that useless? or should i look for different pads? Thanks
Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 3
The front brake on my 2011 Super Glidewould almost hit the hand grip if I pulled it in that much. I figured there was some air in the line. The dealer wasn't concerned about it so I figured I would bring it back at the 1,000 mile service. After about 100 miles it went away and the front brake works great. It has not come back yet. Talk to your dealer but my guess is that bleeding it would fix it. Unless you have a leak.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,276
Likes: 8
From: Minneapolis Area, MN
Doesn't seem right to have spongy brakes after run in. I can understand brand new as the pads aren't worn in to the disc, but they should stiffen up. As mentioned, a good bleed can't hurt. If it doesn't help, something would seem off.
Tourer
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 302
Likes: 8
From: Huddersfield. U.K.
I remember with my fat bob that the brakes wore shockingly poor when I took delivery. If it wasn't for experiencing similarly poor braking from a new fat bob I took for a test drive (I almost drove straight into the back of a car) I would have probably took it to the dealers. I had been used to using just two fingers to stop my Honda VFR.
After about 500 miles the front brakes started working quite nicely and about 1000 miles for the rear (I dont use that much).
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 7,736
Likes: 1,524
From: Coromandel Peninsula New Zealand
This is caused by the 4-pot pistons being a tight fit in the bores and the O rings and there are two ways of fixing it (apart from wait and pray).
#1: You take the caliper off and pump the lever so the pistons come out of the bores slightly and then you work the caliper back on (it will be a bitch to do).
#2: Gaffer tape or bungee the lever right back to the bars after pumping them about 5 or 6 times. Tape it back real hard and leave overnight....2 nights is better.
This will allow the piston O rings to slide back up the piston body to the rest position and the pistons will then be where they should be.
#1: You take the caliper off and pump the lever so the pistons come out of the bores slightly and then you work the caliper back on (it will be a bitch to do).
#2: Gaffer tape or bungee the lever right back to the bars after pumping them about 5 or 6 times. Tape it back real hard and leave overnight....2 nights is better.
This will allow the piston O rings to slide back up the piston body to the rest position and the pistons will then be where they should be.
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