Hello, ancient fzr problem here again…
The front brakes are giving me grief. It feels like the little plungers in the calipers are letting fluid and pressure bypass equalling not strong braking pressure. Can’t find any leaks so it’s internal. I already replaced the lever/ resovoir assembly thing and it didn’t fix the problem. I took it to a couple of guys in Banchiao for bleeding, adjustment or to see if there was something I missed but they have come to the same conclusion as I.
They also say that new fzr calipers will cost me an arm and a leg, that is, if they are possible to even buy. Now, I don’t put much stock in the woeful shaking of local mechanics heads, as a lot of them couldn’t be trusted to do much more than the most basic maintenance, but I remember other remedies for bad brakes.
I remember an old honda I had back in Canada with this problem. I took it to my friend’s brake shop, we took the brakes out, took them apart, honed the shiny hydralic surfaces so they were really clean and new looking, replaced the seals with nice pliable rubber, put the whole thing back together and back on the car, and it worked very well.
Is it not possible to get a brake service like this in Taiwan? I really don’t want to special order super expensive parts from Japan or wherever just for this. It’s an old bike, and even though I have taken very good care of it and it runs like a top and looks good, it’s just not worth spending 10 grand or more on it right now. I was thinking of selling it, actually, but can’t in good conscience sell a machine that is unsafe or not as good as I would hope to buy. Call it automotive karma or something like that.
Part of the problem is that I have an old scooter that I drive a lot for convenience sake and I only really use the fzr sporadically. it ends up being parked too much and that is one of the worst things you can do for a bike or any vehicle. Things get rusty and dry out.
Other alternatives:
Is it possible to maybe outfit another manufacturers braking system (rotors, calipers, etc) in place of the original? Would a single disk system work? NRS’s have single disks. I’ve seen some with Brembo or other “name brands”. Would this be prohibitively expensive as well? I really have no idea.
Would it be ok if i tied a large rock to a rope and tied the rope to the frame or something and just dropped it when I wanted to stop?
Should I hire an entourage of off duty police officers to flank me when I want to go anywhere so I just never have to stop?
Goodnight