Rear Brake Fade Question

victorbrca

victorbrca

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I was practising slow turns this weekend while trail braking with the rear brake, and after doing it for a while I noticed that my rear brake stopped working completely. I lost all pressure from the pedal and the piston did not seem to move when I pressed it. After having the bike parked for a few minutes everything was back to normal.

So I carefully continued with my practice... but after doing it for a few more minutes it happened again.

I'm guessing that it was really a fluid fade and not a friction fade as I had no pressure on the pedal... but I'm surprised that it was working fine after. Shouldn't a fluid fade result in air in the brake lines and a potential loss of pressure? Anything I can do to prevent this?

The bike is a small ninja 250 '10 with stock brakes.

Thanks.
 
You are boiling the brake fluid over heating it, and pedal drops. Time for a brake fluid change.
 
But will a fluid change stop it from happening again?
 
victorbrca said:
But will a fluid change stop it from happening again?
Click to expand...

A better racing oriented fluid with a higher boiling point will

When we stunt we get our rotors glowing red hot, so we need the best fluid possible. In 10 years the best I have found is Castrol SRF....2nd place would be Motul RBF600 or 660

It is literally impossible to over heat the SRF

Also keep in mind once a fluid has boiled once, its boiling point lowers. So after that first time it will over heat at a lower temp from then on and be worse and worse
 
Thanks guys. I will try changing to one of the fluids that JohnnyP636 mentioned and see how that goes.
 
JohnnyP636 said:
A better racing oriented fluid with a higher boiling point will

When we stunt we get our rotors glowing red hot, so we need the best fluid possible. In 10 years the best I have found is Castrol SRF....2nd place would be Motul RBF600 or 660

It is literally impossible to over heat the SRF

Also keep in mind once a fluid has boiled once, its boiling point lowers. So after that first time it will over heat at a lower temp from then on and be worse and worse
Click to expand...

Glowing rotors? That would make for some cool photographs, especially in low lighting conditions.
 
Maxima also makes a racing brake fluid that's pretty easy on the wallet and works quite well. You might as well bleed both front and back when you open the bottle too.
 
I ended up getting a bottle of RBF660 from a shop close to work. If I have time I'll do the rear this weekend, and the front after as it will be my first time doing it.
 
Did the rear change and so far so good. It's pretty straight forward. Doing the front next weekend.

Tang for all the tips.
 
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