Bit of excitement on the way to work.

[VladTepes]

Hmm, I thought, brakes seem to be dragging as I started down a hill. I'll pull over and check. 
I pulled the brake lever and it went straight to the grip. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. Zip.
I felt sure I was headed for a  or 

I jumped on the rear brake and kept it just short of lock up, coming to a stop just one inch or so from the bumper of the little car in front of me.  1 inch PAST the start of the bumper that is.

Fortunately the deformable plastic bumper meant there was no damage. I don't think the driver even noticed.  Lucky.

So I pulled over in a safe place and checked, pumped the lever, nothing, waited a while - pressure builds up.  Hmm, so seems to lose pressure when hot, no leaks (no fluid on calipers or lines) - I think I can see where this is going.

So knowing I'd need bits, and not wanting to shell out the $ (and more importantly time, as I was on the way to work) I rode it mostly just with rear brake back to a stealer.  They confirmed.. master cylinder. Needs a seals kit through it etc.  Don't have much option though really. 

Lucky they had one in stock and it will be sorted by tomorrow morning.
But that does mean for both time and $ reasons I'll miss out on my clay target shooting tomorrow. :(

Still, coulda been a LOT worse I suppose.

[KiwiCol]

That's 'orrible.  Can do without those things.  As ya say, could of been a lot worse - then you'd be being told again to get rid of the bike.

[Sweaty]

Yep, could of ended badly. Glad you pulled up & are ok Mike.

[Tony Nitrous]

Glad your OK, it could have been a LOT worse Mate!

I have a bike I haven't used for a while. Went to give it a spin recently, front brake didn't feel quite right, after a couple of go's... nothing! Lever now go's straight back to the bars with no pressure. I'm guessing mine is lack of use. I'll check my master cylinder first. 

[Del]

ooooft squeaky bum time there fella - at least you know what the issue is

[Hooli]

First time I've heard of a master cylinder failing on these, could have been nasty that.

[froudy]

Not a nice experience at all

[seth]

I've had a clutch master cylinder seal go on an older bike not a gsx1400 that was scary enough but brakes that's a whole new level of scary .

[Hooli]

I've had it on a car, which was interesting as I was braking as late as possible from 80mph plus into a 30mph bend between stone walls. I never knew I could swedish flick a big merc till that day....

Nearest I had on a bike was when some idiot on the old org sold me race pads while pretending they were standard road ones. Lever on the bar for 100yards with no braking & then both ends locked as they warmed up. That was entertaining* not sure how I kept that on the road either.

[ARH]

Scarey stuff.... makes me wonder... is there a defined service schedule for seals in the master cylinders?   Mine are probably still the originals and when I read about cases like this I wonder about being proactive and servicing the master cylinders (brake and clutch) before I get into arse quivering mode!

[Hooli]

TBH if you replace the fluid on time & clean any dirt out of the bottom of the reservoir they shouldn't really fail.

[ARH]

@Hooli ... that was my understanding as well, brake and clutch fluid gets changed every 2 years as per schedule.... but thinking about it I can imagine rubber seals hardening over time, losing their flexibility and then failing.  That's the bit I want to avoid.... aaaah bugger it...think I'll change them anyway just to be on the safe side!

[VladTepes]

It is a K7 so I'd not have expected this to happen (this early) BUT there can be failures of any component at any time for all sorts of obscure reasons. Might have been a manufacturing fault in a batch of seals, could be anything really. Just one of those things   

[Latty66]

This was over 20years ago now but i was once drivinig a 15ton ford cargo down the a39 from minehead to barnstable the devon/somerset boys will know this rd and right at the top fo lynton bank where the road turns onto the cliff the brake peddle went completey to the floor so deadman brake was pulled on and again nothing i managed to rev the engine high enough to get it into 3rd gear and used that as an engine brake free wheeling then clutch up to slow till it was nearly expolding the engine then clutch in again all the way down there was 3 of us in the cab and we tore through lynton up the other side till it slowed rolled backwards into the town came to a stop rolling the wheels against the kerbs and all got out i sat on the side of the rd smoking and shaking like a leaf for about an hour no one spoke .i.ll never forget looking off that cliff into the sea ever

[VladTepes]

Jesus. Frightening eh.