Developed a strange front brake issue. First pull break lever goes almost to the grip before they bite, then on second and every other pull full brake within 1/2 inch of travel. Ride 200 yards and it's back to almost the grip again. Not mushy. Indi shop replaced master cylinder - no change. Pressure bled brakes, no change. WTF. ABS
Ultra. Any ideas?

 

It sounds like you have a leak somewhere or air still in the lines. and every time you "pump" the lever you're building pressure. I don't know anything about ABS on these bikes though. It doesn't sound safe and I wouldn't ride it until you get it figured out.

 

Something is pushing the pads/pistons away from the rotors. The first pump gets the pads back to the rotor and then subsequent pumps don't require as much brake lever travel. Could be warped rotors, could be variations in thickness of the rotors, or anything restricting the free movement of the pads/pistons.

Jack up the bike, spin the wheel and observe the brake pads. See if you can identify anything abnormal causing the pads to retract. Check the wheel for any lateral movement as that can cause the issue you're describing. If you have a set of calipers or micrometer, measure the thickness of the rotors at various locations, and check for runout with a dial indicator (or even a fixed pointer and feeler gauge if you don't have access to a dial indicator).

 

This happened concurrent with a tire change. That give any insight?

 

I had this happen on my old bike.i took the pads out pumped the lever a lil then just pushed the pistons back enough to get the pads in place.was good to go.

 

When they took the tire off to make the change they bent the brake rotor slightly. As the wheel turns it spreads the pads apart and that is what requires the long pull on first activation. Same thing with traveling down the road. I can almost guarantee that if you check the run-out on your rotors, one of them will be out of true by a nice little margin.

 

Agree totally with rotor runout,

 

If the rotor was warped would the brakes "pulsate" like in te car? Doesn't do that. Also, this happened one day to the next...not over time.

 

Are all of the axle spacers installed?

 

Same thing just happened to me. I had a new tire mounted and the A-hole bent my rotor and it cost me 350 dollars for new rotors and pads. I had the same exact problem with my brakes.