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[Richard230]

Here is some more advice about brakes. I know that most people that visit the Electric Motorcycle Forum are more interested in making their bikes go than stop. But once you get them going, stopping is a good idea, especially in today's traffic environment. I am also aware that most people purchase an older model IC motorcycle to covert to electric.

The problem with older motorcycles is that their brake systems were never that powerful compared with more modern brakes. While you can't do much about the design of the brakes, you certainly can improve their feel and performance.

Almost all Japanese motorcycles have used rubber hoses since they started installing hydraulic brakes on their bikes. However, these hoses were not all that great to begin with and over the years they deteriorate and become soft and will expand when placed under pressure - such as happens when you are braking. This makes the brakes feel mushy, even when they are properly bled of air.

The best thing you can do for an older braking system is to replace the rubber brake lines with steel braided lines. I have used these after-market brake lines on most of my motorcycles and they have dramatically improved the feel of the brakes - especially the front brakes. My Yamaha FZ1 was noted for having powerful brakes, but when I replaced its brake lines with a set of Galfer steel wrapped brake lines I noticed a big improvement in feel and apparent power. And that was on a new motorcycle. The improvement will be much more noticeable when performing this modification on an older bike that has been in service for a number of years.

There are a number of brake line manufacturers that sell these lines. In many cases they have them already made for popular models, or you can order custom-made steel braided lines from them by providing the length of the stock lines. The cost for a set of lines for a dual disc bike should be somewhere around $100. Less if you only have a single disc brake. New brake lines can usually be installed in about an hour by just about anyone handy with a wrench. Just be careful when torquing the hydraulic fitting. They don't like to be over tightened. And be sure to keep the brake fluid off of your paint or plastic parts. It will damage the finish.

[bentoronto]

Good post. But not a system where you'd want to compromise safety in your skills are lacking.

Bleeding brakes takes some skill too, not that it takes more than one try to learn about wrenches, (avoid excessive force in tightening), bottles, bleed hoses, etc. Often a second bleeding, after some bubbles move up the lines overnight is needed.

Some kinds of pad grab better than others.

In my brief trial run, I found braking to be a quite new experience. Unless you have regenerative braking, you'll need to start with extra force due to the absence of IC engine braking. But then, final braking forces are less because the bike weighs less. So a different kind of lever modulation needed, starting harder but ending softer.