Poor braking on '99 Aspencade

[zeoran]

I know I've brought this up before but this is something I just can't get comfortable with.
The brakes on my '99 Aspy are just not what I feel they should be. I have to put the pedal all the way down just to get any stopping power at all and it's nowhere near good. I know wings are heavy bikes and I'm a heavy rider too, but my 2002 ST1100 had great stopping power and it had the same brake setup as my wing and was almost as heavy. I've replaced the front brake line with braided steel and that did help with that one. I'm going to replace the front-left brake line with a braided soon. I've bled the brakes more often than I can count, I've replaced the rear pads just a couple of weeks ago. I've done the trick where I bungee the pedal down overnight and that also helped a little. Am i just expecting too much from the 99 Wing's braking system? Is it going to come down to needing to get new calipers? I've been using Dot 5.1 fluid in all my bleeds. (not the wrong kind) I've also been using nothing but OEM Honda pads. (based on recommendations from this site)

It's really disconcerting to me every time I ride that I have no real emergency stopping power. Is it possible to get proper braking power on this bike or am I just going to have to get used to not having emergency stopping power?

God bless,

~Mark

[blupupher]

Without riding your bike, no way to know if there is an issue or if it is just "how it is".

I felt I had better braking on my VT1100 Shadow with a single disk front and drum rear, but the GL1500 is almost 300 lbs more.
I do feel the braking on mine is sufficient though.

[WingAdmin]

It sounds like you've done everything I would recommend - braided steel brake lines, fresh fluid, air bleeding, tying down brake levers overnight.

I can easily lock up both my front and rear wheel at speed using my brakes, so the brakes are definitely strong enough for the bike.

The only other things left are rebuilding the master cylinders and calipers. Calipers in particular have seals that wear out over time due to heat and contamination. If the seal grips the piston and doesn't slide, it can cause the piston to retract too far - meaning you have too much brake travel to engage it. I had this problem with my 1500 on the right front caliper until I rebuilt it.

I have rebuilt the front master cylinder and all three calipers on my bike. My rear is probably due, and I have a rebuild kit waiting to be installed, but I've been putting it off simply because it's such a nightmare to get to the rear master cylinder.

[zeoran]

It sounds like you've done everything I would recommend - braided steel brake lines, fresh fluid, air bleeding, tying down brake levers overnight.

I can easily lock up both my front and rear wheel at speed using my brakes, so the brakes are definitely strong enough for the bike.

The only other things left are rebuilding the master cylinders and calipers. Calipers in particular have seals that wear out over time due to heat and contamination. If the seal grips the piston and doesn't slide, it can cause the piston to retract too far - meaning you have too much brake travel to engage it. I had this problem with my 1500 on the right front caliper until I rebuilt it.

I have rebuilt the front master cylinder and all three calipers on my bike. My rear is probably due, and I have a rebuild kit waiting to be installed, but I've been putting it off simply because it's such a nightmare to get to the rear master cylinder.

Would you recommend rebuilding the calipers on all 3 brakes? What is the difficulty level of doing it and what parts would I need?
I JUST had the saddlebag, etc off when I replaced the pads on the rear but I'll gladly do it again to get proper stopping power. I just hope the parts aren't too expensive and it's not too time consuming or requires special tools. I don't have a proper garage or bench or anything to work with.

God bless,

~Mark

[WingAdmin]

It sounds like you've done everything I would recommend - braided steel brake lines, fresh fluid, air bleeding, tying down brake levers overnight.

I can easily lock up both my front and rear wheel at speed using my brakes, so the brakes are definitely strong enough for the bike.

The only other things left are rebuilding the master cylinders and calipers. Calipers in particular have seals that wear out over time due to heat and contamination. If the seal grips the piston and doesn't slide, it can cause the piston to retract too far - meaning you have too much brake travel to engage it. I had this problem with my 1500 on the right front caliper until I rebuilt it.

I have rebuilt the front master cylinder and all three calipers on my bike. My rear is probably due, and I have a rebuild kit waiting to be installed, but I've been putting it off simply because it's such a nightmare to get to the rear master cylinder.

Would you recommend rebuilding the calipers on all 3 brakes? What is the difficulty level of doing it and what parts would I need?
I JUST had the saddlebag, etc off when I replaced the pads on the rear but I'll gladly do it again to get proper stopping power. I just hope the parts aren't too expensive and it's not too time consuming or requires special tools. I don't have a proper garage or bench or anything to work with.

God bless,

~Mark

If they've never been done, then I can definitely recommend it! It's not too difficult to do, and the parts are inexpensive. It just takes some time and patience, to make sure everything is cleaned out properly. No special tools required. You can see the process here: How to rebuild your brake calipers