1300 fork and brake mod

[dna9656]

I'm diving in to the 1300 forks and R1 brake mod. I have the forks and ordered the calipers today. I will research the over haul kit for the calipers and forks. I see here on the forum OEM is the way to go with the fork seals. It's a back burner project; I'll overhaul the forks (one way or another) and install the progressive springs. When all is complete I will take a weekend (with new (sealed) fork bearings in hand and install the fork. I will take lots of pics in case some one decides to dive in.

From what I have read here I won't need the anti dive units with the progressive springs....still I wonder if they can used or the hyd. ones from the 1200. Well I will check fitment first and then wonder if they will operate.

Edited March 26, 2015 by dna9656

[Brenner]

The antidives will fit and bolt up either electric or hydraulic as I have upgraded 85 to 1300 forks in the same fashion but with the progressive springs your front forks will not compress as stock ones do. This is why many knowledgeable individuals will tell you on this forum once you have progressive you will not need the antidives or need to run air in the front forks. I had one individual tell me the antidives will not bolt up or interchange but in my application it fit with no concerns found. My brakes feel great with the R1 gold dots and my suspension is nice and high as I like it. I have had people tell me to remove my hydraulic antidives or upgrade to the electric, or to block off entirely but I have chosen to run the originals in place. You might find others will recommend speed bleeders while you are upgrading and some find them easier to use but if you know how to correctly bleed the brake system they are not needed. Also now might be the time to decide if you want to delink the brake system as it was recommended as an option when I inquired on my brake upgrade. Currently I am still running the linked system and have yet to decide if I will delink or not. A lot of options, I look forward to reading you future posts of you upgrades.

[dna9656]

The antidives will fit and bolt up either electric or hydraulic as I have upgraded 85 to 1300 forks in the same fashion but with the progressive springs your front forks will not compress as stock ones do. This is why many knowledgeable individuals will tell you on this forum once you have progressive you will not need the antidives or need to run air in the front forks. I had one individual tell me the antidives will not bolt up or interchange but in my application it fit with no concerns found. My brakes feel great with the R1 gold dots and my suspension is nice and high as I like it. I have had people tell me to remove my hydraulic antidives or upgrade to the electric, or to block off entirely but I have chosen to run the originals in place. You might find others will recommend speed bleeders while you are upgrading and some find them easier to use but if you know how to correctly bleed the brake system they are not needed. Also now might be the time to decide if you want to delink the brake system as it was recommended as an option when I inquired on my brake upgrade. Currently I am still running the linked system and have yet to decide if I will delink or not. A lot of options, I look forward to reading you future posts of you upgrades.

 

What is the advantage(s) of using speed bleeders? When I TRIED to bleed my brakes I used a brake bleeding (for want of a better term) hand vacuum pump to draw the air down the lines to the bleeder. I thought it worked pretty well in the front but the back inboard caliper cup doesn't move, I can tell by the rust on the inboard of the rotor. I believe the manual says bleed them more or less like regular brakes on the older cars (pre anti-lock); well I did that for days, tied the lever and pedal in the on position and left for days hoping the air would travel to the top, I still got air....

[Brenner]

What is the advantage(s) of using speed bleeders? When I TRIED to bleed my brakes I used a brake bleeding (for want of a better term) hand vacuum pump to draw the air down the lines to the bleeder. I thought it worked pretty well in the front but the back inboard caliper cup doesn't move, I can tell by the rust on the inboard of the rotor. I believe the manual says bleed them more or less like regular brakes on the older cars (pre anti-lock); well I did that for days, tied the lever and pedal in the on position and left for days hoping the air would travel to the top, I still got air....

 

 

If the rear caliper has a seized cup in my opinion you will never get it to bleed correctly. Noting that you rotor is rusted on the inside shows it has been a problem for some time. If it were me I would repair or replace the caliper then attempt to bleed again. Those cups need to move to provide proper braking and not just applying pressure to one side of a rotor. The advantage of speed bleeders is that they have a check valve in them so when you bleed the system they will close on brake release to draw fluid through the system and open on brake application to push out the air to make bleeding easier but in my opinion if you have prior experience they are not needed. With you mentioning using a vacuum pump it shows me you have a good idea of how to bleed. Again free up the rear caliper then rebleed and you should build proper pressure and remove the air from the system. I have seen this problem on other vehicles besides bikes. Keep us posted.

[dna9656]

If the rear caliper has a seized cup in my opinion you will never get it to bleed correctly. Noting that you rotor is rusted on the inside shows it has been a problem for some time. If it were me I would repair or replace the caliper then attempt to bleed again. Those cups need to move to provide proper braking and not just applying pressure to one side of a rotor. The advantage of speed bleeders is that they have a check valve in them so when you bleed the system they will close on brake release to draw fluid through the system and open on brake application to push out the air to make bleeding easier but in my opinion if you have prior experience they are not needed. With you mentioning using a vacuum pump it shows me you have a good idea of how to bleed. Again free up the rear caliper then rebleed and you should build proper pressure and remove the air from the system. I have seen this problem on other vehicles besides bikes. Keep us posted.

 

When I used my vacuum pump on the front brakes you could see the air bubbles traveling through the clear hose, it never stopped,that told me there was a leak, most likely at the clear hose to the bleeder connection, so I gravity bled the brakes as mentioned before and applied vacuum applied the brakes to the travel limit of the lever (or pedal) and tightened the bleeder. Best I could do.

 

On speedy bleeders, the manual tells us to use the hose from the bleeder into a container of clean brake fluid. After the initial bleed the hose will fill with brake fluid and there should not be any air in the hose so should the brake system have draw FROM outside through the bleeder the only thing that will be drawn into the system is CLEAN brake fluid thus negating the need for the speedy bleeders. I get how the speedy bleeder speed things up; they eliminate the need for the hose in the clean brake fluid....nice... but not NECESSARY.

 

I over hauled the calipers last year before I rode the bike. The calipers were full of goo....I cleaned the calipers and cups with alcohol and brake fluid followed up with a light polishing with quad 0 steel wool. With compressed air I blew out all passages in the calipers. Everything was beautiful in it's own way ()!!! I have never been satisfied with the brake performance of this bike. I installed new pads (cheaper ones I admit) I wonder if the caliper is mis-aligned... I have the 85 parts bike that has a rear brake bracket on it and the caliper. I think I will swap out the bracket and see how the rear brake performs, if it still does not work right I will overhaul the caliper on the 85 and install it on the 83.5 and see what happens.

[rcbailey56]

One more thing you might look for is a stopped up brake line. I had one and it about ran me nuts trying to bleed the linked back and front left lines.

 

I like to use a big syringe to pull fluid through the lines. I saw a nice tip on some trade school's web site where they put a little grease around the end of the tubing where it connected to the bleeder port, just to eliminate any air getting in.

 

Now, if only I could find a better spot to mount the fluid reservoir.