Linked brakes?

[ThunderGuts]

Morning all,

Are the brakes on our bikes (in my case a 2019) supposed to be linked/combined? I ask because when the bike was on the centre stand the other day, I squeezed the front brake and the rear wheel still rotated freely? I tried with the engine running and it made no difference. I'd always assumed linked brakes shared the load front/back irrespective of which actual brake lever/pedal is being used (part of the Euro4 changes I thought?). It's not an issue day-to-day but I always thought the linked brakes would apply some effort to the rear from the front levers, which would be helpful if doing an awkward hill start, e.g. when you're unable to put the left foot down so are relying on the front brake to keep still (and I can think of several places where on one of my previous bikes without linked brakes that the front tyre wouldn't grip enough by itself, the camber meant a left foot down wasn't easy and resulting in an alarming sliding back!).

Cheers

Rob

[Scimitar]

As far as I am aware the linked brakes operate via the rear brake pedal only. Whenever you use the rear brake, there is also a (reduced) pressure applied to the front brake at the same time.
If you apply the front brake lever only, then only the front brake is applied, the rear is left running free.

[ThunderGuts]

Thanks - that'd explain it then!

[Skids]

If yours is a 2019 model then it doesn't have linked brakes. They were dropped when the new VFR800F came out in 2014 and that carried across to the 2015 VFR800F.

On the Mk1 Crossie, and the pre-2014 800F (Vtec) model, the bike had to be moving forwards when the front brake was applied in order for the single rear piston of the linked brakes to be applied, likewise for the rear brake pedal to apply the single piston of the front brake.

The giveaway was this contraption that the front left caliper was attached to, plus the extra set of brake lines running into the front left and rear calipers. You'll notice they are not present on the 15+ X.



Someone with a lot more technical knowledge than me is going to come along and tell me I'm talking bollaeux. 

[voodoo]

No linked brakes on the >'15 crossies.

[ianrd]

Skids is correct no more linked brakes some of the chinese bikes have them linked

[ThunderGuts]

Cheers everyone.

[Newsted]

On my 2012 model the clmbined ABS is different to that of the older Vfr800 VTEC model it seems. My front left caliper is a standard caliper, my front right caliper has the linked setup but it's different to the caliper pictured above. Also my rear caliper has two normal size pistons and not three pistons. Found these pics on my phone from last brake job. Three piston one is front right, two is rear. There is a separate bleed nipple for the smaller middle piston which is bled via the rear brake peddle.

http://imgur.com/a/MXZVcN2

[Ais4Andy]

Not everyone is a fan of linked brakes but personally I miss them from my old '03 VFR800. I feel that the Crossrunner would benefit greatly from Linked brakes as to me, the rear brake is a weak point. Just my opinion.

[Skids]

Originally Posted by Ais4Andy

Not everyone is a fan of linked brakes but personally I miss them from my old '03 VFR800. I feel that the Crossrunner would benefit greatly from Linked brakes as to me, the rear brake is a weak point. Just my opinion.

We're all entitled to them! 

I don't actually miss mine, which is strange as I was a big fan when I had my 98 and 08 VFR's. I guess one adapts. I wish the front was a little more positive though. Compared to the 1200, it's like someone's sprayed the pads with grease.

I think the rear is ok; supplements the front fine and is strong enough when slow riding to balance against the clutch.

JMO