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Terry

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Joined
Mar 24, 2015
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Location
Houston, Texas
Ok I have owned many bikes in the last 10 or so years and bought most new or late model. This is my first 80's era bike in this century but not my first Wing, I previously owned an GL1800 navigation level bike (totally different animal). So one screaming issue I notice with these old bikes is poor braking.
The old 1100 has good pads, caliper's work, rotors ok somewhat glazed, fluid clean and bled out, and has had stainless lines installed. I may just be used to the outstanding braking of past late model bikes but I'm not really sure.

All suggestions welcome.

Next: Who is the best vendor for OEM parts like badges, valve covers, saddle bag weatherstrip or weather seal, and exhaust trim?
 
Which year 1100? '80-'81 had single piston calipers and '82-'83 had two piston calipers. My '82 brakes very well. My buddy had an '06 1800 and we both agreed that braking was the same when we swapped out bikes for the day.
 
Really....................?
Then something is amiss. It's a 1982 GL 1100 Interstate.



[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144328#p144328:3mwxeew0 said:
Terry » 42 minutes ago[/url]":3mwxeew0]
Ok I have owned many bikes in the last 10 or so years and bought most new or late model. This is my first 80's era bike in this century but not my first Wing, I previously owned an GL1800 navigation level bike (totally different animal). So one screaming issue I notice with these old bikes is poor braking.
The old 1100 has good pads, caliper's work, rotors ok somewhat glazed, fluid clean and bled out, and has had stainless lines installed. I may just be used to the outstanding braking of past late model bikes but I'm not really sure.

All suggestions welcome.

Next: Who is the best vendor for OEM parts like badges, valve covers, saddle bag weatherstrip or weather seal, and exhaust trim?
 
rotors ok somewhat glazed

Glazed rotors can easily make the brakes not work well. When you pull your front brakes, is the handle real stiff or do you feel just a little squish before it bites? I can often stop mine on front brakes alone but use both to stop evenly.

Could also be the type of brake pad you are using. Currently, I am using kevlar organic pads that are amazing!
 
Just to clarify: I just got the bike a few days ago, I haven't torn into it well yet. I haven't removed the calipers yet to check how many pistons they have. I plan to and deglaze the rotors. The lever has a lot of squish before they start to bite. I might also try the Kevlar pads, what brand are they EBC?



[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144337#p144337:1hcdtb8n said:
mcgovern61 » Today, 12:53 pm[/url]":1hcdtb8n]
rotors ok somewhat glazed

Glazed rotors can easily make the brakes not work well. When you pull your front brakes, is the handle real stiff or do you feel just a little squish before it bites? I can often stop mine on front brakes alone but use both to stop evenly.

Could also be the type of brake pad you are using. Currently, I am using kevlar organic pads that are amazing!
 
I just got the bike and haven't torn into it yet so I don't know how many.


[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144339#p144339:2bs6eog7 said:
brianinpa » 53 minutes ago[/url]":2bs6eog7]
Just want to make sure: how many pistons on your calipers?
 
Looking at the outside of the caliper, you can see either one large piston, or two smaller pistons. For example, here is the two piston '82 caliper. The pistons are under the "Honda" name:

image.php
 
Thanks for the photo. It has 2 piston calipers.




[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144352#p144352:36yo6m9s said:
mcgovern61 » 11 minutes ago[/url]":36yo6m9s]
Looking at the outside of the caliper, you can see either one large piston, or two smaller pistons. For example, here is the two piston '82 caliper. The pistons are under the "Honda" name:

image.php
 
As stated you have the best gl1100 brakes with an 82 :yes: that said its still a lot of weigh to pull up. With my Cbrs I always describe the three stages to the front brakes. 1st position normal great brakes (stronger braking than the GW) 2nd position even more braking than the 1st and the 3rd position making you worry about the traction on the front wheel and if you will end up in a nose down position doing a stoppy with the rear wheel off the ground...
I would love 2 stages of front braking on the Rats Nest unfortunately the 2 stages are brakes and no brakes :doh:
 
Good to know,
My last daily was a sportbike and I come from multiple high performance sportbikes.
You could stop in a heartbeat and brake hard with two fingers if you chose to.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144359#p144359:16nje2b4 said:
Ansimp » 34 minutes ago[/url]":16nje2b4]
As stated you have the best gl1100 brakes with an 82 :yes: that said its still a lot of weigh to pull up. With my Cbrs I always describe the three stages to the front brakes. 1st position normal great brakes (stronger braking than the GW) 2nd position even more braking than the 1st and the 3rd position making you worry about the traction on the front wheel and if you will end up in a nose down position doing a stoppy with the rear wheel off the ground...
I would love 2 stages of front braking on the Rats Nest unfortunately the 2 stages are brakes and no brakes :doh:
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144342#p144342:1agqrjtn said:
Terry » Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:01 pm[/url]":1agqrjtn]
Just to clarify: I just got the bike a few days ago, I haven't torn into it well yet. I haven't removed the calipers yet to check how many pistons they have. I plan to and deglaze the rotors. The lever has a lot of squish before they start to bite. I might also try the Kevlar pads, what brand are they EBC?

Sounds like you have air in the system... unless someone swapped out a dual piston caliper for a single piston caliper. It would be like taking a step backwards but one never knows what people do when they get two or three bikes to make one.
 
Might want to swap out the brake lines with the newer SS braided kind, I noticed an improvement over my old lines on another Honda, not sure if it was the brake lines or the old ones swelling but it made the bikes brakes feel solid, but check for air as well..these bikes are tough to bleed properly, past owner might not have done it properly.
I need to do the same on my current wing.
 
It already has S.S. braided lines. The previous owner was a motorcycle technician.
I was going to flush/bleed them although he told me it had been done recently. These
bikes should be pretty straight forward to bleed, now the GL 1800 I owned had a linked brake system that required a very specific bleed sequence. I flushed and bled them twice after some pad and caliper service and they worked great afterwards.


[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144382#p144382:2ey1nkcw said:
zman » 31 minutes ago[/url]":2ey1nkcw]
Might want to swap out the brake lines with the newer SS braided kind, I noticed an improvement over my old lines on another Honda, not sure if it was the brake lines or the old ones swelling but it made the bikes brakes feel solid, but check for air as well..these bikes are tough to bleed properly, past owner might not have done it properly.
I need to do the same on my current wing.
 
I know 80-81 bike bikes need one caliper mount bolt removed to bleed them properly. So you can get the bleeder straight up. If it isn't you can't get all the air out of the caliper.
 
For OEM parts, Western Honda in Arizona (on the Internet) has been a good source for me. They may not be the cheapest, but they seem to have as much as any other vendor, ship quickly, and don't charge sales tax on out-of-state sales.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144434#p144434:3ipaz958 said:
slabghost » Fri Mar 27, 2015 6:20 am[/url]":3ipaz958]
I know 80-81 bike bikes need one caliper mount bolt removed to bleed them properly. So you can get the bleeder straight up. If it isn't you can't get all the air out of the caliper.
That applies to the '82 calipers also! There are some very neat tricks here for how to get air out of the system.
 
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