Interested to hear other’s experiences on the V4 brakes. Most reviews waxed lyrical and I was expecting much.. mine are pretty average tbh. Starting with the front, no real bite, the lever with engine off needs a pump. I can pull it right back to the throttle. Pump it once or twice and it firms up. 30 secs later needs a pump again. Sure sign of air in there I think. Weirdly this isn’t the case while riding. That is no need to pump but average bite none the less considering the Brembo hardware in play, actual retardation obviously works as I’m here typing this and not doing it via an Ouija board. Is this and ABS/active cruise artefact The rear. You would hope it was able to trigger abs with a good stamp but no, mildly spongy at best.
No idea. Bought used at 2k miles. Bedding in wouldn’t account for this I don’t think dealer will bleed them through next week. See what that does.
I had EBC HH pads on a previous bike (748) and those were either on or off, there was no real inbetween, it took me by surprise when I first went out after fitting them. I would describe the feel of the pads on my V4S as progressive (they too are HH sintered but by Brembo), which I actually prefer. As far as stopping power goes I have no issues in doing an emergency stop with just 1 finger. I agree the rear felt a bit mehhh but it appeared, to me, there was just too much downward movement before it began to have an affect. I adjusted some of the free play out (but not so much it might seize), which gave some improvement but the biggest improvement was to fit a brake extender from Ducabike. I can’t find a photo right now but will. It raises the height of the pedal by about 10mm and now I find it’s in a much better position for my foot and I can now exert enough pressure to trigger the rear ABS. Having said that, truth be known I only use the rear brake if going slowly down a steep hill with a loose road surface, 99% of the time I just use the front and let the bike’s technology work it’s magic in applying the rear brake as it sees fit - they’re linked but not in the traditional sense.
Just to complete this. Took it to my dealer today who bled the system, got a couple of air bubbles out and it’s much improved. Just shows you even with relatively low miles and new ness air gets in there.
Took a friends Moto Guzzi V100 out for a ride the other week, the difference in brakes between it and my V4S are night and day. The Guzzi's brakes are very good.
