Topic: Anybody know anything about 83 Goldwings? UPDATE!!

[Bailgang]

I'm trying desperately to improve the front brake performance on my 83 GL1100 Interstate and while deciding whether or not to have its existing front brake rotors resurfaced or purchase new ones, I noticed something that I hadn't payed much attention to before and that is it seems that my front rotors are mis-matched. Take a look at the pics and you should clearly see the difference between the right and left front rotors. 83 Wings have linked brakes meaning when you apply the front brake, only the left front caliper is being used. The right front caliper is linked with the rear brake so it doesn't come into play until I use the foot brake pedal. I had thought that maybe that was the reason for the different front rotors but now that I'm looking at brake options, every pic of 83 interstates I've seen have matched front rotors while mine doesn't. Is this a factory thing or has a previous owner swapped a rotor? If someone has been messing with it then what rotors should it have? I've posted this question on a GL site I visit and I've gotten no replies at all.

[newday777]

That left rotor is not original to the bike. It should have a mirror image as the right is, with the opposite radial fan center.
The picture I've attached is a right side off an 83 Naked GL1100 that uses the same as the 83 Interstate. The rotors are the same on the 82 Interstate and Naked. (Note...the Aspencade used vented rotors which are thicker and not compatible as your caliper mount is different.)
To get better front brakes change the weak rubber hoses to braided stainless steel hoses. EBC sintered pads(HH) help too.
The othe option is to delink the brakes and change the front master cylinder to a 82 master which was both front calipers on it.(again use braided stainless steel hoses for best braking)

[Bailgang]

Thanks newday. As it stands now the entire brake sys has been rebuilt including new pistons in the calipers, rebuilt M/C and although it may not look like it, it does has SS brake lines. They have a transparent but dark colored protective coating on them which may make it appear as if they were the old rubber lines in the pics. For the most part it stops fine when using both front and rear brakes. The issue I have though is that I have a poor sense of balance and I prefer to have both feet on the ground when coming to a complete stop and that means taking my foot of the brake within the last 5 or 10 feet before coming to a complete stop and the moment I do that, I immediately loose 2/3's of my braking power because of the linked brakes and am relying solely on that left front caliper for that last 5 or 10 feet and have to squeeze really hard to do it. I have to squeeze so hard that my right arm tenses up while my left arm isn't making me loose my "feel" so to speak of the handlebars. I've almost dropped the bike a number of times because of it especially when riding 2up and squeezing even harder. I don't expect front braking power of a modern sport bike and I'm really trying to avoid un-linking the brakes if I can get away with it. If I can get that left caliper to have more breaking power without having to have a death grip on the brake lever I'd be happy. Right now I'm looking at maybe trying a different front M/C but not sure which one to use and of course different brake pads.

[Kelly E]

The 90' Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans came with the same style of linked brakes. We ended up delinking the brakes and the brake performance is so much better now. We had issues with the rear brake not doing much due to the proportioning valve not working properly. Our Guzzi guy just said de-link it every time we asked him about the problem.

[Bailgang]

The 90' Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans came with the same style of linked brakes. We ended up delinking the brakes and the brake performance is so much better now. We had issues with the rear brake not doing much due to the proportioning valve not working properly. Our Guzzi guy just said de-link it every time we asked him about the problem.

Un-linking them seems to be the way I'll go as soon as I can get the correct left brake rotor. I plan on using a dbl banjo bolt off the M/C with 2 lines running to the calipers. The only issue I saw there was how to make sure the banjo fittings on each end for the right brake line would be clocked. I just got in touch with the fellow that made the Apex lines for my cb750 and he said they have swivel ends available which would solve that problem. I just have to figure out the length of line Ill need.

[scottly]

What size are the pistons in your calipers? I've seen the two piston calipers with 25mm, 27mm, 30mm, and 32mm, with 30mm being most common. The 32mm calipers were used on the V65 and are about 13% more area than the 30mm. I'm currently using a single 32mm caliper with a stock 14mm MC and a 320mm Ducati rotor on the front of my 750. For pads, EBC makes a version with HH friction ratings, which is grippier than the standard GG pad.

[Bailgang]

What size are the pistons in your calipers?

I couldn't tell you right off hand but I do know the right caliper has slightly smaller pistons than the left one does.

[newday777]

It sounds like it is your techniques and habits of low speed handling and braking you need to work on rather than the brakes..... Slow down sooner if you are going to put your feet down for balance and practice your balance techniques using the rear brake only. Using the front brake only and squeezing hard at the end is bad especially if you turn the bars at the end, as that will throw the bikes balance off and down you'll go. Take a rider safety course to build your low speed techniques. Build your skills. If you have a physical bodily balance problem then you need to get a trike(you didn't go into detail of your balance problem)
Changing the master cylinder can get you more problems than you have now. There are specific formulas for master bore size to caliper capacity. Honda designed it properly for the weight of the bike. You said you've got stainless lines which is good as you get the most power out of the system.

The issue I have though is that I have a poor sense of balance and I prefer to have both feet on the ground when coming to a complete stop and that means taking my foot of the brake within the last 5 or 10 feet before coming to a complete stop and the moment I do that, I immediately loose 2/3's of my braking power because of the linked brakes and am relying solely on that left front caliper for that last 5 or 10 feet and have to squeeze really hard to do it. I have to squeeze so hard that my right arm tenses up while my left arm isn't making me loose my "feel" so to speak of the handlebars. I've almost dropped the bike a number of times because of it especially when riding 2up and squeezing even harder. I don't expect front braking power of a modern sport bike and I'm really trying to avoid un-linking the brakes if I can get away with it. If I can get that left caliper to have more breaking power without having to have a death grip on the brake lever I'd be happy. Right now I'm looking at maybe trying a different front M/C but not sure which one to use and of course different brake pads.

[Bailgang]

It sounds like it is your techniques and habits of low speed handling and braking you need to work on rather than the brakes.....

My low speed riding skills definitely could use improving but it still shouldn't take that much effort to bring the bike to a stop. Un-linking the brakes is common with 83 goldwings, some do it to improve front brake performane, some do it because parts are NLA. There is a rudimentary proportion valve/splitter that links the right front caliper with the rear and if it starts leaking you're screwed because there is no rebuild kit for it nor are new ones available so owners have to choose to risk trying a used one or completely redoing the brake system with different rear M/C and so on. The splitter on mine is fine so for now I'm going to try installing the correct rotor with good pads and see if I can get it to work like it should without modifying anything.

[Kelly E]

I only weigh 130lbs and I ride my 700lb 94' Concours 1000 on long rides. You have to be able to do everything on the big bike. I would de-link it because the technique for slow parking lot riding is dragging the rear brake. The Moto Guzzi is way better at slow parking lot riding now. Take a class, you will be surprised at how slow you can go and you will get to where you can do a full lock u-turn in complete control. Then you will be one with the bike.

[scottly]

 Honda designed it properly for the weight of the bike.

You mean Honda got it right on the SOHC bikes???
Scott, find out what size caliper you have now, as well as the MC.

[Bailgang]

I ordered a set of EBC double H pads as Scottly suggested, those came in yesterday and I ordered the correct rotor off ebay and it arrived today. The plan for now is to keep the brakes linked as they are and see how it responds to the rotor and new pads first before deciding to unlink them or not. I'll be gone all weekend so I wont be able to get to it till next week but I'll update on how it works out.

[Bailgang]

Scott, find out what size caliper you have now, as well as the MC.

The left caliper has 32mm pistons and the right caliper has 25.4mm and I think the MC is a 14mm

[scottly]

Verify the MC size; if it's stock I'll bet you a beer it's larger than 14mm. Are you doing the HH pads  only on the left side, at least for now?

[Bailgang]

Verify the MC size; if it's stock I'll bet you a beer it's larger than 14mm. Are you doing the HH pads  only on the left side, at least for now?

I'm assuming the MC is stock because I used a rebuild kit for an 83 and I'll be using the HH pads on the left side only for now. I don't think the rotor being the incorrect rotor for an 83 is the issue because I have seen at least 1 pic of an 83 that had a matched set of those rotors but I'm replacing it so it is a matched pair. A casual observer would probably never notice the difference but I do and that eats me up if you know what I mean. The real issue I think is sloppiness on my part as is in being sloppy when I bled the brakes and allowed my pads to get saturated with brake fluid, the TRAC anti dive unit on the forks were leaking fork oil which got on the pads and to top it off I was using cheap pads. The leaking TRAC unit had been repaired with new seals and the pads thoroughly cleaned but the end result is a rotor that is now heavily glazed and the pads simply can't develop enough friction to grab. The moment the bike comes to a complete stop I can hear that left brake grunting as if the caliper is squeezing as hard as it can but the friction isn't there for the pads to grab. I don't expect that left caliper to have enough braking power on its own to flip me over the bars, I just want it to be able to come to a complete stop in that last 5 or 10 feet without having a death grip on the brake lever to do it.

[RAFster122s]

Scotchbright pad and acetone or brake cleaner. Scotchlock rotary pad if you have one will make quick work of the glazed rotor. Pull itfor both sides of course. If you have your leaks takencare of, then time to change out the contaminated pads. If padsate glazedbut not brake fluid contaminated, then coarse sand paper. Can deglaze them.

[Bailgang]

I deglazed the correct left rotor and right rotor with a red scothbright wheel on my cordless drill, wiped everything clean with brake cleaner, put everything back together making sure my hands were clean so I wouldn't contaminate the pads with greasy finger prints and took it for a spin. Oh yeah, it stopped better from the get go and I hadn't even bedded them in yet. Once I got them bedded in it went from oh yeah to double OH HELL YEAH. Simply saying the front braking has improved is an understatement. That left caliper went from simply slowing the bike down to now where I can safely bring the bike to a stop without having to use the linked rear/front brakes at all if I wanted to. What a difference. With that said I'm not going to un-link the brakes as I had previously planned and instead leave it as it is. Thanks Scottly for the tip on the EBC dbl H pads.

[MauiK3]

Don’t try any stoppies!,

[Bailgang]

Don’t try any stoppies!,

As much as the front fork were compressing when bedding the brakes, I almost thought it was going to.

[newday777]

Don’t try any stoppies!,

As much as the front fork were compressing when bedding the brakes, I almost thought it was going to.

Stay away from painted markings on the pavement when grabbing a handful like that. I had a wakeup on my 83 in SoCal 11 years ago. Thankfully it didn't go down..... It will skid the front wheel if not careful.....
Glad you got it working as it should. I use the HH pads on my wings too. They will eat the rotors a bit faster but a huge difference in stopping.

[RAFster122s]

TruDisk can true up the rotor and cross drill if they aren't already for reasonable price. Highly recommend after the HH pads have chewed on a set. As long as they aren't below spec he will work his magic.

[MauiK3]

TruDisk is top notch. They did my K3 discs

[Bailgang]

The front brake was grabbing really good yesterday but that was mainly due to the bedding procedure getting that left front brake nice and hot, so much so it got my brake fluid too hot and faded on me on my last 50mph to 5mph heavy braking. The bedding procedure I used was 30 to 5 mph light braking for about 10 times, then 40 to 5 mph moderate braking 5 times then 50 to 5 mph heavy braking 5 times. The people living off the road I did it on were looking at me strange wondering why I was taking off then almost stopping over and over. I know asking what you're brake bedding procedure is may be like asking "what oil should I use?" but if any of you do it differently, feel free to fill me in. In the meantime I took it out this afternoon to run some errands in town to see how the brakes felt today and I love it, it didn't grab as much as it did yesterday when they were nice and hot but it was still a huge improvement compared to what it was before and I'm easily able to bring it to a complete stop safely in fact I have to be aware of how much I'm squeezing now to because it may stop sooner than expected, it's just a matter of me getting used to it again. Now that I have that left front brake issue sorted out, it's the linked right front/rear that seems lame now in comparison to how well the left front brake is working so I guess I'll be putting HH pads on the rest of the calipers in the near future.