Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi Guys,

I spoke to you all about the 04 gixer MC on my 2005 crim. the other day I fitted a new lever and I had release the nipple to fit it as the piston was hard.........well today I went for a ride and after a couple of sets of lights, I take off and feel the front end pulling down when braking hard.......

Low and behold, my front brakes seized with the pads fully gripping the rotors. Any thoughts why this would have happened? I did notice the brake fluid went from full to low along the trip until I had that sphincter tightening moment.

Are they chassos (Chinese pazzo ripoffs)? They are renowned for doing this. In any case why it happened is probably because your new lever is not allowing the master cylinder piston to completely release the entire length of the stroke when you let go of the brakes. Brake pressure is building up and whammo, brakes lock on. Happened to me also, and there's stories of guys binning their bikes because of it on the net. To fix it you possibly need to drill out whatever the master cylinder piston pushes into, be it an insert or the level itself. When I went to drill out the insert the retaining circlip broke so it went in the too hard basket and the stocker went back on.

HTH

myzx10r wrote: the other day I fitted a new lever and I had release the nipple to fit it as the piston was hard.........

That should have been your first sign that something was wrong.

Releasing nipples and hard pistons sound like my favourite maintenance programme.

tim wrote:Are they chassos (Chinese pazzo ripoffs)? They are renowned for doing this. In any case why it happened is probably because your new lever is not allowing the master cylinder piston to completely release the entire length of the stroke when you let go of the brakes. Brake pressure is building up and whammo, brakes lock on. Happened to me also, and there's stories of guys binning their bikes because of it on the net. To fix it you possibly need to drill out whatever the master cylinder piston pushes into, be it an insert or the level itself. When I went to drill out the insert the retaining circlip broke so it went in the too hard basket and the stocker went back on.

HTH

I think Tim is rite on the money as I just had the same issue with my 05. As the previous owner lowsided her and bent the lever. Even though I straightened the lever I was getting the same issue. I pinched a lever off my 98 zx6r and matched them one on top of the other. I noticed the slightest bend ( maybe only 2mm ) where the lever contacts the piston. swapped the levers and now shes fine. Good way to tell is to remove one of the calipers and pull the brake pads out, then pump the brakes a couple of times then try to push the pistons back in if they are rock hard and won't let the fluid back into the resi then I would say that is the issue...a lot of after market levers are shite and can cause this prob