Okay guys i'm trying to figure these brakes out...If i ride spiritley than i get pretty serious fade...i have plenty of life on the pads and just bled with motul rbf600...is this just an inherent problem of the brakes not able to handle the weight and speed or is there something else i can do?
Brake fade is due to your fluid overheating. Dirty or contaminated fluid is usually the cause. The easiest thing to try is simply to change out your brake fluid and make sure you bleed it completely through the lines. That SHOULD fix your problems.
Well, maybe it's not fade you're experiencing. Fade is when you suddenly have no brake pressure. The lever you are pushing/pulling on will suddenly be at the limit of it's travel and your brakes wont have any effect. If you mean that the brakes don't feel like they have enough grip to stop the bike quickly, you either have air in the lines or your brake pads and rotors probably have some oily contamination on them.
At the start of my ride they felt great...just as they should. As the ride wore on (especially through some fast twisties) where i was hard on the brakes and gas the lever got mushy and hasnt returned to how it felt initially.
The brake pads and / or rotors overheating can also cause brake fade. You imply that brake fluid boiling is the only cause. That is incorrect. There are several other possible causes for brake fade. .
Sounds like you need to do a proper bleeding of your brakes and also install some new high performance brake pads. If you are unsure of how to do the work properly, it is well worth the cost to pay an expert to do the work. .
i can do the work fine...i think i'm having issues with the pads at this point just because i flushed and bled the brake system yesterday with fresh motul rbf600 fluid. anyone have recomendations for brake pads?
Here is something to try. Sometimes after hard braking, pads get a harder where they are creating the most heat, and need to be burnished( removal of hard spots) when riding at higher speeds lightly touch the brake for a second or 2, do it a few times. The key is to not overheat the pads, just clean them up. Some pads hard spot easier than others. Used to race snowmobiles cross country and do some testing for Hayes brakes. After hard spotting the pads, a few brake taps on a straightaway any they were back to full strength next corner. It might do the trick.
I'm trying some Galfer green pads. Seem to work well, some say they may have a shorter life span than stock. Never been in love with the brakes on my 950.
I also prefer the organic pads. They don't last as long, but I prefer the feel. EBC's are cheap enough to put on more often, and feel better then the stock KTM pads, IMO
Try going up a dot from the RBF600. Dot 5 fluid has a higher boiling point. Always helped on my track bikes. That and decent sintered pads. Also worth checking you're not glazing the pads first time out. Cheers, Michael
