Showing posts with label brake fluid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brake fluid. Show all posts

Monday, October 24, 2022

Replacing Brake Seals on Triumph T150V Lockheed Caliper.

She is heavy, and she ain't my brother...

Ye olde Tridents were heavy. There's no way to sugarcoat it, modern bikes are an absolute joy to move around compared to the bikes of the seventies and eighties. I really feel for the older riders having to sell their old 750's and 1000's due to weight, but completely understand why they have to do it.

But it's not just the struggle onto the centre-stand, or moving it out of the garage. You sort of rely, quite heavily (oof is that a pun?), on the brakes to haul all of that extra weight up. And a fixed, two-piston caliper, on a small solid disc, needs to be in pretty good condition to do the job. 

Well this bike is a 1974 model... and it is now 2022, and this is probably its first seal kit. It's done well! Not that it was leaking or anything. The pads weren't binding on the disc either, in fact, everything was pretty good. But the old seals were pulling the pistons back further than they ought to which, to the rider, means much more lever travel before retardation takes place.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Improving Your Motorcycle's Brakes... Cheaply.

As the lever fades...
With a few miles, or years, under its belt, most bikes start to feel a little bit lacking when it comes to the feel at the lever. And I, for one, am not keen on riding bikes where the lever almost touches the bars. Now, if money is no option, there are plenty of easy fixes:
  • New discs and pads
  • Braided brake lines
  • Rebuild the calipers with new seals, maybe pistons if damaged
  • Brembo adjustable master cylinder 
But this gets expensive, and changing parts could be masking an actual problem — something that could be easily fixed. So what if you could improve your standard brakes where things have deteriorated over time? Well read on...