I rebuilt the front brakes on my '81 FXEF and it takes a firm grip to get it slowed down. i don't know how it felt before because i bought the bike in need of repairs. brakes don't drag and they release fine, it just seems that it shouldn't be so hard to pull in.

 

did you change the brake pads??? Are they glazed or maybe oil soaked???

 

My FXE with aftermarket pads and rotor wont lock up even under kung foo grip. You running a single rotor? Might just be normal.

 

new pads, everything is dry, dot 5 fluid. maybe it is what it is. i changed out the old pads which were in bad shape with fork oil contamination and it made maybe a little difference but not enough to make me wonder if there is still something wrong. still have to pull hard.

 

caliper free to move side to side allowing equal amount of pressure on each pad.


pads contact rotor surface completely or are ther groves in the rotor that pads need to ware into.

is your piston maxed out and unable to close pads any tighter

dose caliper have more than one piston if so do they work together or not

 

everything works, rotors are smooth, single piston calipers, they both grip and release fine. other bikes i have ridden you can use 2 fingers, mine you have to grab a handful every time.

 

irondog,
You say the handle is hard to pull.
I just want to make sure I understand.
The lever is hard to pull?
Or do you mean you have to pull hard on the lever to get the brakes to work?
If the lever is hard to pull, you must have something binding somewhere.
If the lever has to be pulled on hard to get the brakes to work then some of the responses you have received cover possible problems.
If there is no problem with the caliper pistons being at the end of their travel and the pads are making full contact, then look into a softer pad material.
I like the Lyndall Z-Plus pads. I imagine they make a set for your calipers. I don't know what type pads you have so if what you are using is already something similar to the ones I mentioned, I can't think of what else to try.
From what I read you are running dual discs. I much prefer the larger single disc brake. From my experience, they stop better than the smaller dual disc setups.
Hope ya get it worked out. I like having a good front brake.

 

There are different kinds of pads to fit the same caliper like organic usually a tan color softer material verse metallic mostly grey metal color harder material designed to work on different rotor's . Older stock rotors like the organic pads best while most new rotors are stainless steel which needs the harder pads . With all new parts it's going to take while for everything to find it's happy place and work correctly . I went to fancy polished rotors with dual custom calipers and it took about 50 miles before they worked like brakes should .

 

I have an '82 FXE with dual calipers and it takes a strong grip to stop the bike.

You can use kevlar pads and get some improvement in braking.

Switch to a 5/8" master cylinder and it will take less effort at the lever to get more pressure at the calipers. The travel at the lever will increase.

Modify your present master cylinder by pressing in a reducing bushing to make it 5/8" bore, drill the feed hole and the return hole through the bushing and use a 5/8" rebuild kit that has a similar shaped piston. This worked for me on an '80 FL with a GMA caliper.