Rear Brake

[grog]

I fitted HEL hose to rear brake. Have bled it 50 times, vac sucked, tapped both unions many times, undone both unions to bleed. Still cant get good pedal. Have done this before with original hose, took no time. WTF do i do next? Im thinking caliper off, get it above master cyl height is next,not sure how i can do that,  works on some cars, Subaru specially. Any other clues fellas.I know many say rear brake not necessary, rode it with bad rear, just not right for me. 

[KiwiCol]

Is it to do with the routing of the hose I wonder?  You know, how it goes down & up through that bracket on the swingarm, maybe a bubble stuck there.

Maybe raise the rear of the bike way up so the caliper is higher than the master, it may move to the caliper that way.  Raise the front up & the bubble rises to the master?

I put braided on mine & I think they went ok, was a while ago though.

[1AW022]

Try reverse bleeding
From caliper up... syringe full of brake fluid pushed thru the bleeder
Don't make a mess at the top

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Check the other nipple at the rear of the caliper. When I refurbished mine, I plumbed it all up, left the rear nipple open and pumped from the brake lever until fluid cane out. Close the rear and repeat for the front nipple.  Then bleed again as per normal.

[Andre]

Never had a problem bleeding brakes, except when the master needed a rebuild.

[Irish in Oz]

My K7 and K5 have always had crap rear brakes.

[Speedy1959]

My rear brakes are pretty good..
BUT
I ALWAYS use the rear in combo with the front, so it doesnt get seized..
A few times now various MOT testers have commented that my rear brakes are good on various bikes i have owned.

S.

[Hooli]

I've never had a problem bleeding the rear on mine either, gravity from the master is often enough with the nipples left open a bit.

Since a few years ago when I drilled a nipple out badly I take the caliper off & just watch till fluid starts to fill the hole I redrilled & helicoiled (where the nipple should be) and threadlock the cut off bolt I use instead back in.

In your place I might be tempted to put the original hose back & try it, it could be a dodgy new hose I guess.

[hard road]

as been said, reverse bleed, works every time.

[gsxbarmy]

I had this and it was a lazy piston. Removed caliper and fitted a complete new set of seals and the rear brake went from meh to much more positive. SO could be you need a new set of seals @grog

The only other thing worth trying beforehand is lifting the caliper off and after putting a thin piece of wood in-between the pistons, pump the rear brake pedal to "grab" the wood. You can then move the pistons from one side to another to clean off any crud that may have accrued and stuck like a ring at the top of the piston (where it mates with the caliper top) - even though I kept my 14 meticulously (ridiculously!) clean, I still found rings of crud building up every 2-3k miles which seemed to "slow" piston travel. Generally after cleaning, it was "up to power" again.

IMO the positioning by Suzuki of the rear caliper (being upside down) is pretty poor as its just begging to fill with crud and detrius which causes them to clog up. That aside, the actual movement of the piston in the caliper is very minimal, hence why the crud builds up as well.

[Speedy1959]

I dont suppose there is a way of mounting a caliper (from another bike model) in a "non upside down way" is there ?
My Previous CB1300 had this and the that too had a conventional swing arm!

[GSXKING]

I'm always surprised about discussing the rear brake on a GSX1400. It has always felt very wooden to me in standard trim. Braided lines made a difference. Then a petal disc improved it a little more. Sintered pads improved it a little more. So in a nutshell, I had become so used to not using the rear brake, that I don't, unless it's an emergency or a very steep descent. The front brakes are pretty decent and improved with the above measures. One of the things I enjoy is the lack of ABS and/or traction control on these now considered OLD SKOOL bikes. My BMW RT has all the bells and whistles of a modern bike and I never complain about that.
Riding the GSX is a sensory experience and there is a lot of feel required to get one humming in the mountains.  

[T250]

It amazes me the amount of bikes with under slung calipers, at least the last of the old Meridan Bonnies came out with a top mounted caliper...

I find that regular lubing of the pivot mount of the rear brake pedal makes a big difference on how the rear brake works on my 14.

[grog]

Yeah Mate, i didnt think i used rear brake until rode other day not working. Seems at slow approaches to intersections, traffic lights etc i do, kept feeling for it. About only times i missed it. Reckon ive only done a half job, will pull caliper apart, shouldve done that. Clean pistons, check seals etc.

[T250]

I use it more when Mrs T250 is on the back, trying to keep the bike more level when braking.