Brake issues

daffyduck1962

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Why is there a lot of travel on the rear brake pedal before the pads engage, similar issue with the front brake lever. Once engaged, brakes work fine. About 2 inches of travel on rear pedal and about 1 inch on front.
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Why is there a lot of travel on the rear brake pedal before the pads engage, similar issue with the front brake lever. Once engaged, brakes work fine. About 2 inches of travel on rear pedal and about 1 inch on front.
ef1bfac3b1f275802c212ef66122cf6a.jpg


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Not an uncommon problem with the rear brake travel getting longer and longer between brake bleeds - fine when first bled and then about 3k miles later its gone soft and travel increased hugely - it's happened on 3 of my 1200's - BMW know of the issue but don't have a permanent fix - just got to regularly bleed the rear brake. Lets see if my 1250 is ant better.
 
Yep, this happened to my similar GS model.
Part of the slipped through the quality finish net at BMW.
Cure as stated, is a periodic bleed, although I found hanging something heavy off the brake pedal when not in use, helped a bit.
 
Yep, this happened to my similar GS model.
Part of the slipped through the quality finish net at BMW.
Cure as stated, is a periodic bleed, although I found hanging something heavy off the brake pedal when not in use, helped a bit.

The rear pedal does initially have a bit longer travel by design since the bike is equipped with integrated brakes.
However, for some reason that I do not understand, it appears that occasional bleeding does help.

The front brake also seems to become a bit mushy after a while... My cure for the front brake, when mushy, is to use a nylon strip and strip the lever as tight as possible and leave it with pressure over night.. (And I guess the already suggested weight on the rear brake serves the same purpose for the rear brake)
 
So do you have to pressurise the system for a fluid change or it a sime open, squeeze, close method?

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So do you have to pressurise the system for a fluid change or it a sime open, squeeze, close method?

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Most of the time, when bleeding the brakes after a fluid change, there is no need for a 'Pressure over night' action.

I use vacuum bleeding for the brakes, not because I don't belive in any other method, it's just that I do have the equipment for it, and the suction method is very tidy, with no mess from brake fluid. and it is easy to perform without any assistance.

But some times, after a bleed or after a while, the brake handle becomes a bit mushy, in the sense that is is possible, with a bit of force, to squeeze the brake handle so hard that it touch the handlebar. When this is the case, I pull the brake handle as hard as I can, and the lock it with a nylon strip (or whatever you may select to keep it in a pulled in position).

The next morning, after releasing the brake handle, it now feels like it's got a firmer resistance, and it is no longer possible to press it in that much.
 
I would never use the vacuum bleeder on the BMW brakes as it can do damage to the ABS unit...$$$
As for the longer/softer feel I guess it is the nature of the beast...It does not affect the stopping distance or how the brakes work but I myself like a hard feel/short travel lever.The Brembos are known for that and the Hayes are better but pulling the levers on a few 2021 models it seems they have addressed and fixed the problem...the longer travel and soft feel seems to be gone !
 
I would never use the vacuum bleeder on the BMW brakes as it can do damage to the ABS unit...$$$
As for the longer/softer feel I guess it is the nature of the beast...It does not affect the stopping distance or how the brakes work but I myself like a hard feel/short travel lever.The Brembos are known for that and the Hayes are better but pulling the levers on a few 2021 models it seems they have addressed and fixed the problem...the longer travel and soft feel seems to be gone !

BMW use vacuum bleeders so why not?
 
The levers on my 2017 R1200GS had too much free play and I asked my dealer if we should use a vacuum bleeder ? The answer was never because of the valves in the ABS unit that go go kaput...They should know !
 
The levers on my 2017 R1200GS had too much free play and I asked my dealer if we should use a vacuum bleeder ? The answer was never because of the valves in the ABS unit that go go kaput...They should know !

It would appear that they should know, but your dealer doesn't. As ianm00 has said, BMW themselves use a vacuum bleeder when they service the bikes, I know because I accidentally left my GoPro running one time and captured it happening. All the previous bikes I've had with ABS have had vacuum bleeding at the dealerships (you could watch most of the time before Covid...) because they're significantly faster.
 
It would appear that they should know, but your dealer doesn't. As ianm00 has said, BMW themselves use a vacuum bleeder when they service the bikes, I know because I accidentally left my GoPro running one time and captured it happening. All the previous bikes I've had with ABS have had vacuum bleeding at the dealerships (you could watch most of the time before Covid...) because they're significantly faster.

Yep , asked my dealer today as my pedal is a bit low , he said using a vacuum bleeder is fine as your only doing the caliper not the whole system . You can do it the old way , pump , pressure release ..
 
Here is a quote of the last few lines from the BMW official rep-DVD:

On conclusion of the process, bleed the system manually (without vacuum extraction) until you are sure that the brake fluid expelled from the system is free of bubbles
 


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