Looking for some advice on my rear brake issue. The rear brake seems to of gone rock hard over this winter. I can stomp down really hard on the leaver and it only seems to just be working but when I tested it with the rear wheel up off of the ground it works fine. Disc seems fine and the pads aren't even half way worn yet. I've tried bleeding the system endlessly but the problem still seems to be there. Ive seen various seal kits available for the master cylinder and was wondering if this is a good idea or should I just junk the old one for a new one? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Once you've bled the air out of the system and removed any softness due to the air bubbles compressing, further bleeding will have no effect. These bikes are notorious for having ineffective rear brakes. You could try more aggressive pads, such as EBC HH sintered, or I believe, more powerful master cylinders are available. Maybe Steve knows where from.
When I took mine for its MOT i was convinced it would fail on the inefficiency of the rear brake, its always felt a bit wooden even with new pads and having been bled with fresh fluid ..compared with the razor sharpness of the front stoppers ,but it passed no problem ,the tester said that most rear disc braked bikes were the same and that its stopping power is deceptive, interestingly he said that the most powerful rear brake he had ever tested was an old drum modelled 'comical' hub BSA!!...
@Old rider. You mention more powerful master cylinders. Would you have a link to any as I'm struggling to find any available. I seem to remember having a similar problem with my old rsv Millie years ago and had it changed under warranty at the time and it made a big difference. I've also heard that the rear brake on these bikes ain't quite up to the job and that many riders don't use them as the torque of the engine is enough to slow you down but I have always been a rider that uses the brakes in a 70/30 fashion. I'm assuming both 999 and 749 use the same master cylinder set up ? Maybe I should dangle my leg out as an air brake in a Rossi style when approaching a roundabout ?
The guy who mentioned it to me used to run Peak Performance in Exeter. He used to do a lot of track preparation for Ducatis and had done some work for the previous owner of my bike. He has now packed that in and gone to work for the HEL brake lines people. I'm sure he could be contacted there...
Can you confirm yours is different than normal by testing another one....they definitely don't have much feel as standard....
All my buds ride jap bikes so the comparison to these bikes is unfair I think although I'm more than willing to travel to your neck of the woods to try your one out. I bet you have some lovely smooth roads down there and not like our one here which are covered in potholes ! What's the weather like there at the moment ? Do I need any thermals ?
Ha, your welcome but we are suffering a big freeze at the moment. Gale force winds and torrential rain! Which is a pain cause i want to test ride my replaced coil to make sure it fixed my issue. Re the rear brake, wooden is how I would describe it
Mine is standard. The guy offered to supply a more powerful one but I never did take him up on the offer. It wasn't very much money though from what I remember. 40 quid or so?
Some interesting comments there @Chris. Lots of comments leading towards a heat issue which makes perfect sense to me as when I've bled my in the past it works fine for a short time then reverts back to a 'wooden' feel. I'm beginning to think this is just another of those 'Ducati things' which we all get use to in time. Mine will lock the back wheel when traveling in traffic at walking pace but anything faster and it's just useless.
Not sure I understand that because a brake in need of bleeding, I would expect to feel spongy and soft, not wooden. Wooden implies that extra pressure on the lever is not translated into or felt as extra power from the brake.
Although the bleeding of my rear brake had only little effect on the performance of it I think that it may have been possible due to the location of it close to the exhaust heat to create some air bubbles in the system which I needed to remove. Although the I had no spongyness feel to it the first thing I decided to do was to change the coffee coloured fluid to fresh fluid and hope this made a improvement. Sometimes theses things comes down to a process of elimination.
To make the brakes less wooden, I would suggest a change of pads to something more aggressive, such as EBC HH sintered pads. These produce less brake dust than most as well I used these on my SS and they made a real difference.
Rear pad change seems the next best thing to do I suppose @Oldrider. I've been reading up tonight on the ebc hh sintered pads as you recommended. They seem to be the best replacement for the OE ones. Also I'm considering any one of these three but what ive read tonight I favour the ebc ones. Just wonder if any other owners have had any other experience on any of these?
