Front brake feel.

A few people have commented on my front brake lever as being squishy and has alot of travel. I bled the system a wile back and pretty sure the air is out. The braking is fine too.
Anyone else hear anything like this? Is it just the way the bikes came?

Thanks

 

Had a similar problem and I took the following approach to firming mine up.

1. change out of fluid - anything other than a very clear or champagne color is a sign of fluid that needs some help. Mine looked like CocaCola and I flushed and replaced - DOT4 is fine. This improved feel and lever by 50% (or so)

2. I switched to HH pads. I was getting a lot of brake fade at the track and the HH really woke up the front brakes and initial bite. The downside of this mod is that the HH pads like heat and moan on cold mornings (for first 2-3 miles) and particularly in the rain. They feel wooden during this moaning period. Increased feel (once warm) by another 50%.

3. my rubber lines were 17 years old (92) so I replaced them with Stainless Steel (Galfer). The rubber was beginning to dry rot and frankly I cant tell an appreciable difference with the SS lines given the above. The only reason I went SS is to avoid rubber rot again.

A trick I learned from an old sage during bleeding brakes to get a really firm handle, is (once fully bled) to pump the handle as hard as you can until it effectively locks the brakes. Zip tie the handle in this fully pumped up position and leave overnight. Leaving the handle and line under pressure will force any micro bubbles through the line to the reservoir. If you can check on it about 3 hours in and if required pump and re-zip again. You will be shocked at the handle you will have.

 

i was thinking the lines are going bad or pads worn

 

the others are correct on having lines that aren't in tip top shape. mine aren't necessarily bad but they do have some give in them. If you are really curious about there there is a simple test that you can do. take one hand and grab the rubber line coming off the master cylinder somewhere before it meets the front caliper while you squeeze the front brake lever. odds are that you will be able to feel the line expand in your hand. if so then this is probably where you are getting your squishy feeling from. no amount of bleeding or fluid changes will change this. the only thing you can do is to replace the lines. at that point you have to make the decision to go with rubber again (and they will go bad again) or braided steel lines of which you will most likely never have to replace again. braided lines are on my list of things to do, but just not at the top for the time being. they still work well enough to lock the tires up or do a stoppie without too much effort so i plan to keep using them unless it gets worse.

 

The bike has SS lines. The pads are old and getting worn, so time to replace soon.