Rear brake lever too low?

[lfoggy]

One if the first things I noticed when riding the S1000RR was that the rear brake lever was set quite low. The play in the lever was also significant and it needed a few cm of movement before the brake came on. The result was that I had to really flex my foot downward to use the rear brake. There are two things you can do. Firstly the play in the lever can be reduced by lengthening the connecting rod between lever and cylinder. This just requires you to undo the locknut, screw out the extension, and do up the lock nut again. This still leaves the lever rather low and unfortunately the standard lever is not adjustable. This can be improved by building up the lever surface with a piece of metal. The attached picture is explanatory. I removed the lever, filed off the serrations leaving a flat surface, drilled and tapped a few M4 holes then fitted a suitable bit of aluminium held on with recessed cap head screws. All this can be done with hand files and a drilling machine. The rear brake is much more user friendly now. Hope this helps others who have found the rear brake uncomfortable to use.
P.S. while I had the rear brake lever off I took the opportunity to clean up the casting marks and give it a polish....

[phil954]

Originally Posted by lfoggy

One if the first things I noticed when riding the S1000RR was that the rear brake lever was set quite low. The play in the lever was also significant and it needed a few cm of movement before the brake came on. The result was that I had to really flex my foot downward to use the rear brake. There are two things you can do. Firstly the play in the lever can be reduced by lengthening the connecting rod between lever and cylinder. This just requires you to undo the locknut, screw out the extension, and do up the lock nut again. This still leaves the lever rather low and unfortunately the standard lever is not adjustable. This can be improved by building up the lever surface with a piece of metal. The attached picture is explanatory. I removed the lever, filed off the serrations leaving a flat surface, drilled and tapped a few M4 holes then fitted a suitable bit of aluminium held on with recessed cap head screws. All this can be done with hand files and a drilling machine. The rear brake is much more user friendly now. Hope this helps others who have found the rear brake uncomfortable to use.
P.S. while I had the rear brake lever off I took the opportunity to clean up the casting marks and give it a polish....

Thanks for that info, that job was on my 'To Do' list. Good Looking mod btw

Phil

[torquerat]

How tall is the block you added? Looks good I think I might do the same but add the groves so it will be less slipery

[bananaman]

Originally Posted by lfoggy

One if the first things I noticed when riding the S1000RR was that the rear brake lever was set quite low. The play in the lever was also significant and it needed a few cm of movement before the brake came on. The result was that I had to really flex my foot downward to use the rear brake. There are two things you can do. Firstly the play in the lever can be reduced by lengthening the connecting rod between lever and cylinder. This just requires you to undo the locknut, screw out the extension, and do up the lock nut again. This still leaves the lever rather low and unfortunately the standard lever is not adjustable. This can be improved by building up the lever surface with a piece of metal. The attached picture is explanatory. I removed the lever, filed off the serrations leaving a flat surface, drilled and tapped a few M4 holes then fitted a suitable bit of aluminium held on with recessed cap head screws. All this can be done with hand files and a drilling machine. The rear brake is much more user friendly now. Hope this helps others who have found the rear brake uncomfortable to use.
P.S. while I had the rear brake lever off I took the opportunity to clean up the casting marks and give it a polish....

Nice job !!

[Schoolbusbob]

Looks great. I thought of the same thing but went into a different direction. I took very thick rubber tubing (hose) cut it and sliped it over the pedal. I angled one side so to allow for the downard support and flushed out the other end with the end of the stock penal. Being its rubber its non slip. Now I need to ry it out.BobL.

[Glenn P]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. All the other ergonomics are good but with a boot on its real hard to use the rear brake. The dealer told me to buy the $700 rear sets to get the adjustment I want but I'm glad to see a few less expensive alternatives (metal and rubber blocks) and I can spend the money on performance items.
One other complaint is the switchgear (ie. turn signals, horn, etc.), short throws make you have to look down at the instrument cluster to see if there on. With a glove on, not sure if you hit the switch or not. Surprised because BMW is so good with their car switchgear (the best).

[Triple Threat]

I have the same issue, was considering filing away the metal bar where the lever meets the frame since it has built up material there (it's extra metal along the top of the brake lever bar).

Michael

[lfoggy]

Originally Posted by torquerat

How tall is the block you added? Looks good I think I might do the same but add the groves so it will be less slipery

The block is 12mm high, mainly because that was the size of the bit of aluminium I had in my scrap box. Seems about right for me.

[firemedic001918]

Think I'm going to have my father make something similar to this that has something for grip on the top of it. I picked my bike up yesterday and had a couple of close calls where I'd go to tap the rear brake to set my corner speed and the pedal wasn't there. Definitely a mod that needs to be done. Surprised nobody has come up with an aftermarket accessory for this issue since it seems to be pretty widespread.

Shane

[Stockholm]

Why do you guys use the rear breake?

I thought Nicky Hayden and the guys in MotoGP, AMA, etc where the only ones having any use of the rear break.