Rear Brake Pedal Maintenance

[Joe Hummer]

Hi...My name is Joe...and I am guilty of neglecting my phat girl...

It had never crossed my mind to check the rear brake pedal movement.  When I stepped on the pedal...the bike slowed down...so I didn't think I had a problem. 

Yesterday while reading a post about rear pads wearing out quickly, Gryphon Rider posted to check the rear brake pedal.  On the ride home, I paid closer attention to how much force was required when using the rear brake.  It sure seemed excessive so when I got home, I pulled it apart.  Sure enough...the bolt was very hard to turn in the pedal...it had rust and crud in it.  YUCK!!!  So I cleaned everything up real well, applied a dose of grease, and put it back together. 

I am happy to report that this maintenance item was SUCCESSFUL!!  The bike has REALLY good rear brakes now.  Easy brake pressure causes the bike to want to stop. 

I am just posting this as a reminder to check your rear brake pedal...you just might be amazed at the results. 

Joe

[WintrSol]

Great! One more thing to check on my 'new' baby!

Honestly, thanks for bringing this up - I hadn't thought of that, yet.

[Gryphon Rider]

Yeah, when I did it a year or two ago, I was surprised how much it freed up.

[garyheskett All 49 x 3 st.louis]

Did I read this right----YOU USED GREASE------.  just kidding, you know I love to use that stuff!!

[F6Viking]

While on the subject of rear brakes, and not trying to hijack the thread, I just wanted to add to something to look for on the rear brake.

Besides excessive wear, and brake pedal movement, would be piston movement in the calliper.

A couple of years ago I noticed a huge reduction in slowing/stopping when getting on the rear brake.
What I found was that the pistons had basically seized and would barely move, if at all. It took quite a bit of work to get the pistons pulled out without damaging the calliper itself. The piston cups were too rough on the edge of the lips to take a chance reusing them by the time they came out. A lot of Kroil and a little heat really helped.

I ordered the o-ring/gasket sets and the pistons then proceeded to clean up the calliper. I had to use a small wire wheel on a Dremel to get all the oxidation from around the calliper openings and the outside gasket groove. I was really fortunate that I caught it when I did and was able to successfully get it cleaned and operational again without damaging or having to scrap the whole calliper.

Needless to say, this is now an item that I thoroughly clean, not just wipe the brake dust off of, while it is loose when I have the rear wheel off doing the spline service.