Front Brake - First Lever Pull feels soft

47381 Views 87 Replies 22 Participants Last post by Forewarned, 1 mo ago

Ike

Discussion Starter · May 4, 2017 (Edited)

Hi All,

While I'm riding my bike and hit the front brakes, it seems like the first pull of the front brake lever feels softer than if I immediately let go (wait 1 second) and squeeze again. After I'm back to not using the brakes this proccess will repeat on the next first grab of the lever

So to sum up: the first pull of the brake lever travels slightly farther than the second pull which feels like its truly braking 'hard'.

It's very slight but I have noticed my stopping power is much better on that second lever pull. Which is starting to make me worried actually. (in case i had to emergency stop, that first pull is going to not be 100%)

I am going to take the bike in to the shop and have them check it out but i wanted to check first to see if anyone had this issue before? I thought i remember reading a while ago someone saying that you just had to bleed the front brake lever, but I wasn't sure if that seems like a symptom of it.

Any else experienced this? Is it just a case of needing to be bled?

Thanks,

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Pard

· #81 · Mar 25, 2018

My problem was finally eliminated by replacing the front master cylinder.

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BLoOdRiCuTeD

· #82 · May 11, 2018

BLoOdRiCuTeD said:
OK, so basically 2 months in and the lever feel has been flawless. Got onto my bike this morning an the issue has returned:crying:. Bled the master to see if any air was trapped, there was none. So this seems to be caliper related . . . I'll tear the calipers off over the weekend and see whats what. Maybe they just need a good rebuilding.

I've been off the air here for some time now. Life happened . . . Right so back to this issue. I've rebuilt the calipers and rebled the entire system, worked beautifully for about a month and the issue returned. I've given up. I'm taking my bike in for the desmo service in a couple of weeks and having them replace the master cylinder as all roads seem to lead to the master cylinder.

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Pard

· #83 · Jun 5, 2019

Resurrecting this thread.

FWIW I have the same exact issue on my 2019 Hypermotard. Same master and I believe same ABS unit.

ABS delete seems to be the only solution if you can't get used to that initial soft pull.

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WWiinngg

· #84 · Jun 5, 2019

I recently picked up a brand new 959 and it has the same issue, and more recently took it in for the first 1000km service; the dealer (I guess) bled it and it's nicer now, but still slightlt softer/longer on the first pull than the second.

Reading through it seems like a there's no real solution?

ABS delete is too extreme.

On a slight tangent... the clutch wasn't disengaging normal by the 1000km mark and the dealer ended up replacing the slave. All is good over on the left... just the right side/front brake now...

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JoboyJo

· #85 · 8 mo ago

2nd resurrection, @Pard, after master replaced you thought it was fixed, did it return? Any final thoughts or just a bad system? I have same issues, mc bleed does nothing.

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jjguthrie1

· #86 · 1 mo ago

@Pard I'm also wondering if it ever came back after replacing the master! Same issue on 899 now, mixed track and street use so don't really want to delete ABS of replacing master does the trick. Thanks!

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Pard

· #87 · 1 mo ago

JoboyJo said:
2nd resurrection, @Pard, after master replaced you thought it was fixed, did it return? Any final thoughts or just a bad system? I have same issues, mc bleed does nothing.

jjguthrie1 said:
@Pard I'm also wondering if it ever came back after replacing the master! Same issue on 899 now, mixed track and street use so don't really want to delete ABS of replacing master does the trick. Thanks!

Year ago now. Bike long since out of my fleet, but to the best of my recollection, the fix was NOT permanent. I just got used to it.

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Reactions: 1

Forewarned

· #88 · 1 mo ago

I've eliminated the ABS and run the lines straight from the master to the calipers, I no longer have the issue. So it's definitely not a issue of a failing part in the brake system, but more of an effect of having ABS. I'm afraid you're not going to get rid of the soft lever without bypassing the ABS.

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