Rear Brake has no effect on 08 GenII

I'm far from a mechanical guy, but do prefer to change my own oil, plugs, and have even installed handlebars, exhaust, and similar over the years as a rider/owner. I haven't done much mechanically on my FJR other than plugs and oil. However, I got her out tonight and cleaned her up, checked tires, oil, battery, etc. so I can ride her for work tomorrow. When pressing my rear brake down ... there is little or no braking effect on the bike. Even if I pump it it barley makes a difference. I can essentially press the lever all the way down with hardly any braking.

She has about 16,000 miles on her.

What are the first steps or things to check? Any help is appreciated.

I have the Technical Owners User Guide to use so I can hopefully do most of what I will need.

How's the fluid look in the reservoir for the rear brake? The rear pads ok? Had the rear wheel off recently?

Flush the brake fluids, you should be flushing every year. FYI they are linked so you will need to bleed the right lower caliper.

ahchiu said:

Flush the brake fluids

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What he said. I use a mity vac thing, but the traditional method works as well. Be careful to avoid getting air in the line.

Was at a tech day and another guy had with an '08 had unresponsive rear brake. Flushed system and all good. Never determined what caused problem.

Once you check out the brakes and clean them up, new fluids, etc. you'll find the rear brake doesn't feel like it does much by itself. At least compared to 'real' linked brakes like a Honda ST or GL which put more juice to the front than the FJR does. Not that it's bad, you need to use the rear in conjunction with the fronts. That said, even though I say 'weak', once you are at speed, I have locked up the rear with a car tire and skidded it for considerable distance............. it just seems weaker at slower speeds (to me).

TheZsdad said:

How's the fluid look in the reservoir for the rear brake? The rear pads ok? Had the rear wheel off recently?

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Fluid looks fine

Pads appear to be fine

Rear wheel hasn't been off in a while

ahchiu said:

Flush the brake fluids, you should be flushing every year. FYI they are linked so you will need to bleed the right lower caliper.

Click to expand...

Never knew or realized flushing the brake fluids was an annual thing ... I do the oil and oil filter annually however. Thanks for the tip.

Great -- thanks everyone. I'll plan on flushing the fluids for the brakes in hopes that that will resolve the problem.

Does anyone have a YouTube video or similar for the this task on the FJR?

Bleed the rear brake. Bleed it thoroughly. I know of two cases where this happened and a good thorough bleeding solved the problem.

speedbleeders.com

Geezer said:

Bleed the rear brake. Bleed it thoroughly. I know of two cases where this happened and a good thorough bleeding solved the problem.

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This ^^^^ will more than likely solve the problem. Keep an eye on the rear reservoir fluid level as you're bleeding. Begin at the RF caliper and then bleed the rear.

Good luck.

--G

The rear brake on my 2012 w/4600 miles on it is almost useless too... I know i have to bleed it... I just need to get some DOT4 fluid.

I'm wondering how an almost new bike needs this, I've done nothing to introduce air into the system...nor have I done severe enough braking to boil the fluid.

Perhaps all that exhaust heat just under the rear master cylinder is a contributing factor.

bwv said:

The rear brake on my 2012 w/4600 miles on it is almost useless too... I know i have to bleed it... I just need to get some DOT4 fluid.
I'm wondering how an almost new bike needs this, I've done nothing to introduce air into the system...nor have I done severe enough braking to boil the fluid.

Click to expand...

Witnessed this same thing on a relatively new '08 a few years ago. Did a thorough bleeding of the rear brake and it was never a problem again.

--G

I was just helping my neighbor with his '03 (?) Suz Bandit 600 and while finishing up a carb synch, he casually mentioned his rear brake doesn't work (bike has sat a while). Reservoir full, fluid is not dark, but a few pumps on the pedal + turns on the bleed screw and out comes a big bubble of air as expected. We run more fluid through, top off the reservoir, and he's back in business.

Regards,

Mr. BR

There may be microscopic fauna inhabiting the glycol-based brake fluid, which, naturally, would create an accumulation of methane gas as a life byproduct over a period of time.

Several threads on this forum to help you with the procedure. Hopefully you don't have a blocked ABS block that has been a culprit on a rare occasion.

I had to do mine twice (about 6 mo. apart) to get a firm pedal. The first time I used a Mityvac. The second time I installed Speedbleeders and found those to be the nuts. Can't recommend them highly enough for making the job quick and easy.

Before you get too worried about the possibilities, try putting the bike up on the centre stand and then get someone else to spin the rear wheel while you apply the brake (or vice versa). This should give you some idea about what is actually happening.

Having said all that I still agree with everything that has been said about replacing the brake fluid and bleeding properly............

Wait, wut? Oil and oil filter annually???!?!

You only ride 3,000 miles a year??!?!?!?!

In addition to what has been said - the last time I replaced pucks I did a thorough job of cleaning calipers. Took some brake cleaner and girl friends toothbrush and made a job of it. It's a dirty fucking job but the payoff was huge. Girl friend didn't even notice.