Thruxton Thruxton 900 Brake's.

EBC HH

 

Are the braidings hidden for that retro look?

 

HI tappers.
I've just bought a 2013 bonneville se. Exactly the same issue with underwhelming brakes. Not sure about your Thruxton but the bonny has a tiny front brake fluid reservoir. I don't think it's big enough to apply enough hydraulic force to the pads.
Anyhoo, would you please post up how you get on with EBC sintered pads. I had them on my last bike a 1050 tiger and they were excellent. I hope they are capable of improving the twins brakes.

Cheers JJ

 

I fitted EBC HH to my 2012 Bonnie about 3k miles ago.
No problems, but I am not a constantly hard braker, They certainly do the job if you need them though.
Some forum members have reported that they can wear out the discs, maybe if you are using them hard all the time ?
If that is how I rode I would probably stick with organic pads and change them more frequently rather than changing the discs at > £100 a go.
I prefer to use engine braking, which the Bonnie is brilliant at.

 

Slightly bemused by some of the comments. The hoses ARE braided and the size of the reservoir has NO bearing on brake performance. That is a function of the master to slave cylinder ratio.
The brakes are quite adequate but do benefit from a little love to work at their best. Much depends on expectations and experience and after a sports bike with twin discs it may seem a bit limp but the chassis, tyres and fork dive are themselves limiting factors. I don't find any substantial mis-match.
If your brakes are spongey you have elastic air in the system. If they lack bite you may well have glazed discs and pads. Using sintered pads (small metal particles bonded into the friction material) you get more friction but slightly faster disc wear.....pretty negligible. Personally I favour organics for feel but they require 10-15% more lever pressure to achieve the same effect.
What to do? Get some brake cleaner (or nick SWMBO's nail varnish remover) some fine wet & dry sandpaper, kitchen roll and copper grease. Remove the pads and give them a light sand. Remove dust with acetone/brake cleaner. Set aside to dry. Polish up the locating pins with paper orcsteel wool. Sand both sides of the disc and clean off. Reassemble lightly greasing pins and the caliper fingers and piston where they contact the back of the pads. Now carefully bleed the brakes. This is often where the problem lies. I won't teach granny as there are plenty of vids available if you are unsure.

 

Slightly bemused by some of the comments. The hoses ARE braided and the size of the reservoir has NO bearing on brake performance. That is a function of the master to slave cylinder ratio.
The brakes are quite adequate but do benefit from a little love to work at their best. Much depends on expectations and experience and after a sports bike with twin discs it may seem a bit limp but the chassis, tyres and fork dive are themselves limiting factors. I don't find any substantial mis-match.
If your brakes are spongey you have elastic air in the system. If they lack bite you may well have glazed discs and pads. Using sintered pads (small metal particles bonded into the friction material) you get more friction but slightly faster disc wear.....pretty negligible. Personally I favour organics for feel but they require 10-15% more lever pressure to achieve the same effect.
What to do? Get some brake cleaner (or nick SWMBO's nail varnish remover) some fine wet & dry sandpaper, kitchen roll and copper grease. Remove the pads and give them a light sand. Remove dust with acetone/brake cleaner. Set aside to dry. Polish up the locating pins with paper orcsteel wool. Sand both sides of the disc and clean off. Reassemble lightly greasing pins and the caliper fingers and piston where they contact the back of the pads. Now carefully bleed the brakes. This is often where the problem lies. I won't teach granny as there are plenty of vids available if you are unsure.

 

I should add that new brake lines are possibly worthwhile after about 5 years when the originals will have de-natured somewhat and become slightly elastic.

 

Yes!

 

Just to teach Granny - a good tip with Bonneville/Thruxton brakes when bleeding is to work from the top. That is bleed at the banjo connection at the master cylinder before you bother with the actual bleed nipple. These are particularly susceptible to trapping air on this model - bleed using normal process and carefully undo the nut - you should get a good "fizzing" of bubbles around it - do this several times and you will feel the lever tighten before you even start on the nipple. (oo er missus!)
If you have drained the fluid or changed brake line then remove the nipple first and spread a thin layer of grease around the thread (avoiding the hole) to stop air leaks whilst bleeding. Finally, tie back lever to the bars and leave overnight or even better for 24 hours to get rid of microscopic bubbles in the system.

 

Thanks for chipping in! I endorse all you say. For bikes I have a large syringe begged from my local vet with clear tubing and work the other way to push air from South to North. Either way, greasing nipples is an essential precursor etc.,

For cars it allows one man bleeding and prevents air getting in from below

 

Thanks one and all for the sound advice. Not sure about tappers but just wanted to say I haven't got a spongy lever at all. It's really firm. The front brake just feels wooden and ineffective. Will definitely have a go at de-glazing the pads before I try the ebc's. Thanks again for the " How to ", very useful.

BTW, tappers, sorry mate no thread hijack intended.

JJ

 

That's good to hear tappers. My pads aren't glazed so EBC it is. Think I will do the back at the same time.
Thanks for posting your findings.

JJ

 

I changed front and rear at the same time, 3k ago, no issues at all and brake marvellously.