These crappy Kwaker brakes

Whenever I've owned a Kawasaki I've always had issues with bleeding the brakes and this one is no exception. I still got air stuck somewhere in the front system. No nice big bubbles just tiny ones and lots of froth/foam. I fucking hate Kawasaki brakes, especially the six pot Tokiko jobbies. Anyway I'll persevere, I'll get there in the end :blink:

The 6-pots are a pain to bleed no matter what bike they came on ie ZX7 or Busa or Gsxr. Have you tried reverse bleeding them? I've also found that bleeding the system at the banjo bolt on the M/C helps and that's the highest point in the system.

Later, Doug

Sometimes it can take a few days to get that rock hard lever feel, opening the MC top and allowing little bubbles to float up to the top. I whack the calipers and lines with a rubber mallet plus bounce on the forks and lean the bike side to siide -anything to allow the bubbles to rise.

You have braided steel lines I take it?

Tyrell Corp wrote: Sometimes it can take a few days to get that rock hard lever feel, opening the MC top and allowing little bubbles to float up to the top. I whack the calipers and lines with a rubber mallet plus bounce on the forks and lean the bike side to siide -anything to allow the bubbles to rise.

You have braided steel lines I take it?

OK. A while ago someone mentioned squeezing the brake lever very hard and holding it squeezed with some plastic wire ties.
I scoffed at that.
I eventually gave it a try and much to my surprise, after setting this up and getting busy with other projects over a couple days, (forgetting about it and leaving it clamped like this for two nights)....the little bubbles must have worked their way out because my brake lever was so much stiffer and the fronts brakes really did work better.

Honestly guys I've been bleeding cycle brakes for thirty years. Problem is the manufactures try and design a system for the optimum feel and stopping power. After years of wear and tear they always deteriorate and we always replace the old rubber hoses with steel ones. The problem I have is I should've serviced the MC and installed new pads before I did anything. One thing I've noticed with particularly Kwaker brakes is once the pads go past their service level the lever always feels slightly spongy as if there's air in the system. What seems to happen is the 5/8" MC can't cope with the extra fluid needed to push the pistons that wee bit further so the lever travels too far.

The solution is to service the MC and install new pads or install a bigger MC. I wonder how much pushing power the original MC has lost in 35 years?

JoHNY wrote: ......................
The solution is to service the MC and install new pads or install a bigger MC. I wonder how much pushing power the original MC has lost in 35 years?

The answer is easy. If the brakes have been serviced on a regular basis the MC will have lost none of its pushing power. If they have been neglected and the brake fluid allowed to turn to a mucky paste that may have deteriorated the bore, cup, and.or piston the MC may have lost much of its pushing power. Here's a pic of me pulling the brake lever of my 1977 KZ650-C1 about as hard as possible. Notice there is a LOT of travel left even though the pads are clamped extremely tight on the rotors. I have owned the bike since it was new and I change the brake fluid every 2 years. The brakes work as well today as they did when the bike was new. The bike has right around 60,000 miles on it. Ed

Indeed Ed, that's how they should be and TBH I doubt very much this bike has been looked after especially the brakes. I picked it up smashed and a non runner. I felt sorry for the old girl and decided to bring her back to her former glory. I will have to dismantle the brakes again and do the MC. Although I might buy a 7/8" MC if I can pick up a good condition one. However it seems only Harleys or Radials have the bigger bore and I should imagine a front outlet old style bigger MC is hard to find.

Sometimes, to bleed the front easier, I pull the bike up next to a table, slightly lower than the master, then remove the calipers, with lines still connected, and bleed the brakes while they are on the table. That way the air moves sideways instead of trying to fight gravity. You have to find a wood block to stop the pistons from popping out, of course.

If you have dual front disk KZ brakes the 5/8" bore MC works best. Here's a pic of the bottom of mine. Ed

Long time ago a guy told me when the KZ pads reach the end (worn half way through you could either shim what's left or buy new pads. My Triumphs pads will wear down to metal with still good lever feel and stopping power. These old style floating calipers give up half way through the pads life. Guess that's one of the reasons some manufacturers only use em on the back these days

JoHNY wrote: .................These old style floating calipers give up half way through the pads life. .............

That hasn't been my experience on my KZ650-C1. The stock pads have a red line inscribed in them that indicates when the pads should be changed. I neglected to check the wear on my rear pads for quite a while and wore all the way through the red line. The pads were still working fine, but they had precious little meat left on them when I checked them and changed them. Fortunately, I never got down to metal against metal, so no harm was done. Ed

Years ago I ran mine until it was metal to metal. Got some new pads and ran it for years. I wouldn't recommend this but it worked. Back then the bike was newer and parts were very expensive. Much later I got a wrecked bike and switched parts. At that time there wasn't a AZ or other other local parts stores out here.
I bought two Pontiacs for $100 not running. One was a Le Mans, the other was a Tempest. I scavenged the parts off one and drove the other. Then you had to make do with what you had. :dry:
Steve