brake fade

i put new pads on my zrx12 rear end and zx9 front pads, which are on my 76 kz. i tried them out and i could lock up the front and the back. but when i came to a stop hard i could smell burnt brakes and the rear pedal went to mush. i could feel 0 resistance on the peddle? Then as I drove home the brakes came back? By the time I got home they were at full strength again?

Sounds like you had a caliper stick on ya,Mark,and then it released.
Could have been an air bubble in there from days gone by,and by replacing the pads,you may have woke the bubble up.

I know,I just replaced my front pads before we went on our trip,and I was surprised to see air bubbles in there when I bled them.They were small,but they were there.My brakes felt soft after replacing the pads,so I figured I'd have a gander.
So I think I'll start off every season by bleeding the brakes,for peace of mind,and what the hay...keep the fluids clean at the same timeby doing a flush.

What's the fluid look like in your cyclinders,Mark? Been in there a while?
Either way,I'd be keeping an eye on that,and maybe even start sourcing out some rebuild kits for a winter project,bud.

it does sound like the piston locked up, and the pads got hot enough to boil the fluid, when that happens it gets soft and will come back when they cool down.
I would be for replacing the fluid in it once its been that hot its not going to be at its best

I put the whole rear end on the winter befor last, and put in new dot5 fluid. it was good last year.i even reblead this winter. i guess the best thing is to get a new bottle of fluid and flush and refill.

This will sound strange but if you overfill the master cylinder as the heat goes up from riding and using the brakes the fluid will expand and apply the brakes. Ive see one lock up solid and slide to a halt. We had to bleed some fluid off to get the guy going at Sturgis. This maay not be your problem but its something to check on.

mtkawboy wrote:

This will sound strange but if you overfill the master cylinder as the heat goes up from riding and using the brakes the fluid will expand and apply the brakes. Ive see one lock up solid and slide to a halt. We had to bleed some fluid off to get the guy going at Sturgis. This maay not be your problem but its something to check on.

thanks for the tip.mine is actualy a little low though.