Handbrake

[DaveM59 1,605]

On a short test ride today before the MOT tomorrow I found the handbrake to be useless. I had adjusted it not long ago and it was fine afterwards so when I got home I expected to see a slipped adjustment or at worst a broken cable but no, the part of the calliper casting that braces the outer cable had sheared off so the whole cable was moving. At first I thought this was part of a separate bracket but after removal I found it to be all one piece cast alloy so can't weld it and with the MOT tomorrow I needed a quick fix so set about removing it to see what could be done as a temporary measure.

 

The pads were nearly worn out, probably the original ones so I started by trying to remove the two locating pins...no way would they budge, tried WD40, heating, cooling. So as the calliper is scrap anyway I didn't bother any further. I made a steel fork and bolted it through the remains of the casting and for the moment it works well and I can adjust the handbrake and get the function back. Now I need a new calliper. Not impressed by the amount of corrosion on brackets and castings used by Honda. Reminiscent of my old T-Max and both make the old Piaggio seem much superior in materials used.

Edited March 14, 2017 by DaveM59

[CFB 4,601]

Dave, when I had mine MOT'd in november, they didn't check the hand brake. Didn't even know it had one, so I shouldn't worry too much.

[Tonyj 6,907]

How do the pads wear out they don't move , it's just to hold the bike ? Have you adjusted to tight in the past and worn the pads out by riding about on them . This is not to challenge you but can't work out how they would wear by any significant amount . On the corrosion front , well it's in a very vulnerable place and I've took a lot more care on this one then the last nc I had . Mine was just like your photos:0) good job they didn't look at it when I sold it , but I think they expect it really. Hope you mot goes alright 

[trisaki 2,029]

Handbrake  pads don't have a lot of meat on them even when new 

[Guest Hati]

41 minutes ago, trisaki said:

Handbrake  pads don't have a lot of meat on them even when new 

 

True, but handbrakes on these bikes should only ever be applied when stationary, so there should be no wear at all. Unless the adjustment was out and the pads were slightly dragging...

[DaveM59 1,605]

There is about 1mm on each pad but as the pads are common and used on front brakes on many small bikes and scooters, they tend to have the nominal 3-4mm or so of material when new. The calliper is of the single piston sliding yoke type so if the slider pin gets stiff the fixed pad will wear down faster but mine were both similar. I only adjusted them once last year to improve the grip as it was pretty useless when I got it and they definitely weren't binding. The retaining pins are well seized and have no sign of coppaslip anywhere so my guess is they have never been looked at.

I suspect the cause was corrosion of the steel ferrule on the cable where it passes through the alloy retainer. The alloy is split to allow you to feed the inner cable through then engage the ferrule into the retainer so it has a weak spot and if the expansion forces it open it may get a stress crack, or maybe someone has been opening up the split to make it easier to fit the cable and cracked it before.

An almost new calliper is on the way from Italy now for half the price British breakers wanted for ropey corroded looking things. You can't get just the alloy casting only a full assembly for £320 new!!

[Tonyj 6,907]

Bloody hell ! That's a lot 

[Guest bonekicker]

The brake pads wear out very quickly if you forget to take it off before setting off--- I thought whats wrong with my bike it's not pulling very well--pulled over and the pads we almost on fire--- no water around so I peed on it-- awful smell them brake pads made-- not used it again since 

[trisaki 2,029]

Don't use copper grease on sliding pins use red rubber  grease copper  will make them grip too much 

[ChrisCB 6,672]

A very light coating of dedicated lithium brake grease is the only thing you should be putting near those pins, red rubber grease for rubber.

 

[horobags 905]

I dont think Ive used my handbrake yet.

[DaveM59 1,605]

I meant coppaslip on the screwed in pad retaining pin threads not the sliding pin on the calliper itself, I use rubber grease for that. I always coppaslip any mixed metal threads. It may not be strictly to the book, and definitely never use thread lock on items that require removal for servicing, only fit and forget threads you really never want to touch again and have never had any problems removing things again or had them come loose on their own either. Makes doing jobs much easier, quicker and cheaper.

As Clive said he didn't even look at the handbrake, in fact the whole test took 5 minutes. Lights, horn, forks, brakes, tyres, general once over...done, print the ticket.

I'll leave the current calliper alone until either it breaks again or the pads wear totally then change it for the 'new' one as it's only a 10 minute job.

X9 MOT next in two weeks so that needs a fettling now...

[Guest sykospain]

My old General de Gaulle Citroën 5-speed manual DS 23 Pallas, known here as 'el tiburón', or in France as 'la Déesse' - the Shark or the Goddess - was finished in "beige-tholonet" and was simply the very   b e s t   car I have ever owned.

Today's 250 thousand pounds Rolls-Royces use the same Citroën-made suspension spheres for their unmatched floating ride.

 

The DS also had a separate handbrake caliper like the NC-DCT bikes have.  It used bog-standard little brake pads as supplied for off-road bikes of that era and they lasted more than a decade, simply because all the parking brake had to do was grip the massive inboard discs when the car was stationary.

The main footbrake calipers & pads of course were the business in comparison, as they had to stop a ¾-tonne monster.

¿ You wouldn't drive a car away with the handbrake applied, would you - so why do that on a DCT bike ?

Adjusting the parking brake on the bike is simplicity itself, but must be checked regularly if you ride the bike in the wet and / or cold, neither of which I do.

 

[DaveM59 1,605]

'New' calliper from Italy arrived today and compared to my original it doesn't look like it's been used. The pad backplates are still silver and stamped Nissin and there isn't a mark on it, the bolts are shiny and the pad retaining pins came undone with a crack. Everything now greased and coppaslipped as appropriate ready for fitting. I was going to wait until my heath robinson repair failed again but I think I'll just fit it and be done.

[Guest Mac750]

On 15/03/2017 at 14:19, sykospain said:

My old General de Gaulle Citroën 5-speed manual DS 23 Pallas, known here as 'el tiburón', or in France as 'la Déesse' - the Shark or the Goddess - was finished in "beige-tholonet" and was simply the very   b e s t   car I have ever owned.

Today's 250 thousand pounds Rolls-Royces use the same Citroën-made suspension spheres for their unmatched floating ride.

 

The DS also had a separate handbrake caliper like the NC-DCT bikes have.  It used bog-standard little brake pads as supplied for off-road bikes of that era and they lasted more than a decade, simply because all the parking brake had to do was grip the massive inboard discs when the car was stationary.

The main footbrake calipers & pads of course were the business in comparison, as they had to stop a ¾-tonne monster.

¿ You wouldn't drive a car away with the handbrake applied, would you - so why do that on a DCT bike ?

Adjusting the parking brake on the bike is simplicity itself, but must be checked regularly if you ride the bike in the wet and / or cold, neither of which I do.

 

Those Citroen's made me car sick every time I went out in it as a lad . My dad got so fed up with having to stop whilst I was ill at the side of the road that he took it back to the car lot and brought home a Rover P4 110 instead . That had the old fashioned rear axel and cart springs with shock absorbers  I was okay in that.

I still get sweaty thinking about that DS. 😰

Edited March 22, 2017 by Mac750
Added info.

[gonzo 2,211]

My honda dealer told me they re grease axle pins and caliper pins on  PDI because honda put on very little, and if customers don't look after their bikes there workshop have trouble getting the pins out on service intervals, Guess what ill be doing when i get my bike next week,   !!

[DaveM59 1,605]

It looked to me as if every thread on the 'new' part had thread lock applied and no grease whatsoever and the calliper slider pins were dry as a board. As the part was also from a 2012 bike it just shows that the Italian climate must be much less toxic to parts than the UK one is.

One of the first things I did when I got the Integra was remove every bolt one by one and apply a smear of coppaslip or whatever grease was appropriate and ever since maintenance has been a doddle. I failed to do the parking brake pad retainer pins though as I didn't spot them lurking on the inside and now even an impact driver with hex adapter wont shift them.