Linked Brakes?

[Ken Parker]

I am a new Goldwing owner and I think I saw somewhere on this site a statement that the brakes are linked. Is that correct?

[MJSantos]

In 1983 Honda started linking the brakes and I believe all models from this date are the same setup. How it works is the rear master cylinder feeds a proportioning valve that has two outputs. One feeds the rear wheel cylinder and the other feeds the one of the fronts. On an 83 it's the front right. What they did was use two differnet diameter pistons (cylinder configurations) in the front.

[Bouvier1]

Your foot brake operates the rear and front left brake and the hand lever operates the front right. Don't rely on just the foot brake as it operates on a % basis and not enough power is put to brakes to stop you at speed (unlike cars), you are fine on slow riding but remember it will not react as strongly and therefore you will need a little bit more distance for braking.

[salyzyn]

Your foot brake operates the rear and front left brake and the hand lever operates the front right. Don't rely on just the foot brake as it operates on a % basis and not enough power is put to brakes to stop you at speed (unlike cars), you are fine on slow riding but remember it will not react as strongly and therefore you will need a little bit more distance for braking.

At least on the 1500 and 1800 (I know zilch about earlier) BOTH Front and back are on a % basis; the front right and also operates 1/3 of the rear. On your GL1800A, there may be something wrong with your brakes; either front or back stop me on a dime on my (non ABS) GL1800. I agree, more apparent force is needed on the rear, but hardly ineffective.

There is a long road from the early Linked Braking systems to the latest incarnations.

GL1800:

Each caliper 2 front and one back, contain three separate caliper piston circuits, two each joined by a hydraulic link.

Front master cylinder lever operates one left front caliper piston and two right front caliper pistons. The force induced on the left front caliper operates a 'secondary' master cylinder that then operates the anti-dive valve to lock the fork and two rear caliper pistons via a proportional control valve.

Rear master cylinder pedal operates one other rear caliper piston, and through a delay valve operates two other left front caliper pistons and one other right front caliper pistons. In addition it operates the anti dive valve via a bypass circuit in the 'secondary' master cylinder which in-turn operates the same two rear caliper pistons above via the proportional control valve. The bypass on the 'secondary' master cylinder is effectively the reservoir source in a traditional master cylinder.

A real PITA to bleed and the net result is the left front caliper pads wear out the fastest.

Wait, there is more, just watch what happens to the system complexity when two paired-isolated circuit brake modulators are added-in to deal with ABS!

[rfoley]

I have a 86 SEi what that means is the foot is link with the rear and the left front.Ur hand brake is just the right front brake that is the reason u have 2 rotors on the front wheel.