I'm tired of my crappy FJR brakes. Will Galfer lines help?

Put speed bleeders on too. They make the job so much easier.

Geezer, they do make a quite a bit of difference. But ... what a pain in the ass to install. ABS has 3 times as many brake lines as a regular system. I installed them on my '06'. Took forever to get everything installed and routed correctly and then I could not get them bled. Had to take the bike to a dealer to bleed the lines with their fancy setup.

So when I bought the '10', I moved all of the farkles except those pain in the ass brake lines.

Just a thought but do you have your brake lever adjusted too close to the handlebar? Is you lever coming up against your bar or your knuckles if you are using two fingers? If so, adjust it so you have to reach a little further to grab them. I think the brakes are great on this bike!

Niehart said:

Geezer, they do make a quite a bit of difference. But ... what a pain in the ass to install. ABS has 3 times as many brake lines as a regular system. I installed them on my '06'. Took forever to get everything installed and routed correctly and then I could not get them bled. Had to take the bike to a dealer to bleed the lines with their fancy setup.
So when I bought the '10', I moved all of the farkles except those pain in the ass brake lines.

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OK, I do not have ABS or linked brakes, so I defer to your experience. I do have stainless lines on my non-ABS '05 and they give better feedback, which I like because they help me react to a lockup situation, but that shouldn't happen with ABS.

Took me awhile but I think this is the link for testing the ABS pump that was referred to earlier https://www.fjrforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=136000

Instead of new aftermarket lines - how about better brake pads? Are any available?

Cheers

fjrmoho said:

Not for a lack of trying. I've had a handful of brake on that bike many times and I've never felt the ABS. Well, I guess I'll be troubleshooting that this weekend.

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Something's gotta be wrong here. My FJR has the most stupendous brakes of any of the 11 motorcycles I've owned over the past 50+ years. These are "two finger" brakes almost all of the time.

Dan

Late to the pile-on here, but I can stop my FJR in a phenomenally short distance -- and have yet to lock up either wheel.

Makes me glad I have my real teeth -- otherwise I'd be looking down the road for my dentures.

And I didn't actually read all of these posts, but has someone already suggested that the OP's caliper pistons may be crusted with road splooge? If the pistons ain't pistoning, you'll have shitty/dangerous braking performance.

The brakes and ABS on the late model FJRs is stupendous. Just a few days after taking ownership of my '14 I was placed in a situation to test them to their full capability by an idiotic woman driver who thought it would be a great idea to pull into my lane (from the oncoming lane) to attempt a 3 point turn to get away from being stuck in the traffic behind a school bus. I'm sure that she did not see me

When she pulled out across my entire lane I had two options, brake hard, or go off road around her (at ~ 50 mph).

(Well, technically, I could have just "laid her down" but I like to think that I am smarter than that. )

I opted for option 1, and I want to tell you that, with good dry road surface traction, and fully (progressively) applying the front and rear brakes, I was able to haul that 600 lb beast down far faster than I thought physically possible. The tires were actually audibly howling, right at the edge of breaking loose, but the ABS was smoothly and proficiently doing its intended job. If it had not I would have been just another statistic and you would not have to read my tripe.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the stock FJR brakes. If they are able to reach and exceed the traction available with the tires and conditions, that's all you can expect. Sure, you can get pads with more grab at less lever/pedal effort. But what's the point of that when the tires' traction are the ultimate limiting factor of braking?

You got a weak grip? Get one of these:

my feej brakes give me eyeball cleavage...

I guess I'll start checking everything over again. But I've pretty much been through it all already. All except the ABS pump. I did not know there was a way to activate it without riding it. I'll have to read that post. Thanks for finding that Dennis. Here's a few answers for those of you asking questions:

1. I'm the original owner. I bought it new is 2010. It sat on a dealership show room for over a year. It's stored in my heated garage all winter.

2. Last winter I had two fork seal leaks develop (I think I might try not installing the damn mid bushing next time - pain in the ass to remove, but that's a whole other conversation). Both brakes were soaked with fluid. So I tore both sides down and did a thorough cleaning as well as replaced the stock pads with EBC HH. I also checked the pistons for movement and buildup. All pistons were good front and back. But braking was no better or worse then stock pads.

3. I have one of those air brake bleeders and I purge the system every spring. I use motul dot 4. I'm very careful to do a more traditional bleed at the end to ensure no air bubbles. I have never exercised the ABS pump though when I bleed. If that is part of a bleed, then I'll make sure I always do it. I want to get those brake bleeder ends, but geez that's expensive when you have ABS.

4. I use the rear brake more on the FJR then any other bike I've ever owned. And I can clearly tell how much extra braking I get when I use it. So I'm definitely utilizing the linked brakes.

5. When I replaced the pads last year I checked the rotors for glazing. I don't think it was bad. Buts its hard to tell. I read somewhere that autobody solvents for removing wax, polish, tar, and other contaminants from paint is a good way to clean rotors so I scrubbed them down pretty good last spring. It didn't seem much different. The thickness of the rotors was above 4 mm.

6. I have felt the rotors after aggressive riding and both sides were consistently hot.

7. I have aftermarket levers. I believe they are Pazzo's. I have them set to about half travel and the lever does not come close to bottoming out on the handle bar. I'm a stocky guy so strength is not an issue, however I did get the 2 finger Pazzo for the brake side. I like to brake hard coming into corners so I like half my fingers on the brakes and half on the handle bar. The sides of my front tires don't really appreciate that though. I get cupping pretty bad on the sides of the front tire.

All this time I just thought the FJR brakes were not great brakes so I've never thought about troubleshooting them. But clearly NOBODY agrees with that. So I'll make a bigger effort this spring to figure out what's up. I definitely have never locked up the rear on gravel so I'll look at the pump first and see what happens when I put that switch on.

I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

fjrmoho said:

7. I have aftermarket levers. I believe they are Pazzo's. I have them set to about half travel and the lever does not come close to bottoming out on the handle bar. I'm a stocky guy so strength is not an issue, however I did get the 2 finger Pazzo for the brake side. I like to brake hard coming into corners so I like half my fingers on the brakes and half on the handle bar. The sides of my front tires don't really appreciate that though. I get cupping pretty bad on the sides of the front tire.

Click to expand...

Alright. I read all of your post and really hesitated in responding as I am no expert rider, but #7 bothered me. Maybe riding technique may need to be modified.(See why I was hesitant in responding?) I just thought of so many ways you could not need as much brake and still ride very aggressive. You mentioned earlier that you drag the back brake. Look up trail braking. Get off the throttle sooner when approaching or entering a turn. It is much better to have your speed appropriate for a turn before you enter it. You find you can be faster riding that way too. hard braking makes the bike want to stand up and that is not a good thing in a turn.

I have never activate the ABS pump manually I just go find a gravel road and activate the front a few times then the rear a few times. I then do a flush and go find that road again. Some folks never activate the pump and all the old fluid just sits there and gets older.

There are a bunch of guys here that are fast and never use the brakes and dam hard to keep up with, smooth is fast.

Hijack split and put into it's own thread here.

My apologies.

So I've read this thread with some interest.

Given the seriousness of potential brake issues, on this occasion I am going to recommend you get the bike to a dealership for a full brake inspection.

What am I missing here? If the ABS motor doesn't work, you won't get anti-lock protection, but you should still be able to lock the wheels up, right? If he's unable to lock up the wheels under hard braking, how is it a malfunction of the ABS motor?

It's not Phil. Something else is wrong. It sounds like he's done the right stuff though, so I don't get it.

To the OP, do you still have your OEM brake lever? Can you put that back on and see if they work correctly? I have full length Pazzos, and I can activate the ABS on a dry paved surface.

Were your brakes like this before you changed to the EBC pads?

Intech said:

fjrmoho said:

7. I have aftermarket levers. I believe they are Pazzo's. I have them set to about half travel and the lever does not come close to bottoming out on the handle bar. I'm a stocky guy so strength is not an issue, however I did get the 2 finger Pazzo for the brake side. I like to brake hard coming into corners so I like half my fingers on the brakes and half on the handle bar. The sides of my front tires don't really appreciate that though. I get cupping pretty bad on the sides of the front tire.

Click to expand...

Alright. I read all of your post and really hesitated in responding as I am no expert rider, but #7 bothered me. Maybe riding technique may need to be modified.(See why I was hesitant in responding?) I just thought of so many ways you could not need as much brake and still ride very aggressive. You mentioned earlier that you drag the back brake. Look up trail braking. Get off the throttle sooner when approaching or entering a turn. It is much better to have your speed appropriate for a turn before you enter it. You find you can be faster riding that way too. hard braking makes the bike want to stand up and that is not a good thing in a turn.

Click to expand...

When did I say I drag the back brake?

I just want to be clear here. I said I think my brakes are crappy. But the bike is not dangerous to drive and it doesn't need dealership attention. They just don't perform like I'd expect from a Yamaha bike. I just want them to be better. Now that I know that I should be able to engage ABS on hard braking, I'll use that as my benchmark now on getting these brakes working better. And HotRodZilla, I did try putting the stock lever back on last year. It didn't make a difference. In fact, I didn't think they did as good a job as the Pazzos. I have to admit, riding that 990 adventurer had me jealous of its brembos. Its a 550 pound bike, but it had every bit as much braking as an R1 I had a few years ago.

Which is still not the same as a 680+ lb bike.