Topic: Can somebody school me about remote master cylinders?

[JZEROE]

Hi. If there's one system I don't understand very well, it's brakes. I know that diameter is important, and bigger is not always better. I also know that remote MCs are supposedly stronger than the regular type. But I don't know why. I want to put a remote MC on one of my single-disc project bikes—not because I'm necessarily looking to put myself over the bars, but because I like the way they look. Can someone explain the differences and advantages, and what kinds of things I should be taking under consideration when looking to buy one?

Thanks,
J

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Mate, to my knowledge there's no advantage in either system, I've used both and they're great. The only PITA with a remote MC is making a bracket to position the fluid reservoir. I like Suzuki Bandit MC's, they're a brilliant design, (not remote though) and very powerful. Don't buy one of those cheap chinese knockoffs you see all over EBay though, they're rubbish. Cheers, Terry.

[Retro Rocket]

Excuse the stupid question but i read somewhere that BMW hide the master cylinder, my question is , does the remote master cylinder have to sit level or higher than the brake lever, can it be hidden behind the headlight somewhere ....

Mick

[mick7504]

Terry's right mate.
It's a convenience/application thing as to whether it has a remote or integral resevoir and makes no difference to the Master Cylinders operation.
Disc Brake systems rely on hydraulic pressure for them to operate efficiently and do not require a lot of fluid displacement.
As a guide, a smaller bore diameter will displace less fluid and the output pressure will be greater.
Mick

[mick7504]

Excuse the stupid question but i read somewhere that BMW hide the master cylinder, my question is , does the remote master cylinder have to sit level or higher than the brake lever, can it be hidden behind the headlight somewhere ....

Mick

Hey Mick
As long as the resevoir outlet is higher than the master cylinder inlet, there wouldn't be any problems.
Any air in the system has to go up to get out although the Landrover and Mini Minor engineers did put the bleeder screws on the bottom of the wheel cylinders which drove a lot of mechanics to the bottle  trying to bleed the air out of the systems.
I've been searching for an answer to this for over 30 years now and I'm still scratching my head. 
Mick

[Retro Rocket]

Excuse the stupid question but i read somewhere that BMW hide the master cylinder, my question is , does the remote master cylinder have to sit level or higher than the brake lever, can it be hidden behind the headlight somewhere ....

Mick

Hey Mick
As long as the resevoir outlet is higher than the master cylinder inlet, there wouldn't be any problems.
Any air in the system has to go up to get out although the Landrover and Mini Minor engineers did put the bleeder screws on the bottom of the wheel cylinders which drove a lot of mechanics to the bottle  trying to bleed the air out of the systems.
I've been searching for an answer to this for over 30 years now and I'm still scratching my head. 
Mick

The reason i asked was that i read somewhere that some BMW bikes have the master cylinder under the tank..{i could be wrong, someone correct me if i am}, just trying to clean up the bars a bit....

Mick

[754]

80's Beemers had remote MC (and maybe Z1R)

BMW used matching levers , the brake cable ran under the tank to the master cylinder.

 nice to have both sides of the bars looking the same, you could go to juice clutch...

[Retro Rocket]

80's Beemers had remote MC (and maybe Z1R)

BMW used matching levers , the brake cable ran under the tank to the master cylinder.

 nice to have both sides of the bars looking the same, you could go to juice clutch...

Thanks 754, i am kinda funny with making everything symmetrical. I have been talked out of the hydraulic clutch but i may be able to adapt a beemer m/c to the old girl....

Mick

[754]

If you move your coils under the carbs you can probably sneak in a CB 750 front (modded) under the tank, or a Grimeca.. if the BMW unit is pricey or hard to find.

 When the coils are under the carbs, if you use the plug in wire type and the right wires.. you can get the wires thru the holes in the cylinders, and run them up in a fan pattern to the plugs.. they look killer nice.. I used to run red Thundervolt wires on mine.

[bucky katt]

i'm running a Nissin 14mm m/c from a gsxr750 on my cb750k. it works fine, i dont see any difference from the stocker really, i put it on because it was cheap (on a wrecked bike at a dealer i worked for) when i go to dual discs i'll likely have to get a larger one. the bracket for the resevoir is just a strip of aluminum about an inch long 14" wide and twisted so that top and bottom are around 45 degrees apart.

[Terry in Australia]

Don't "remote" your MC like the (1970's) BMW's and Kawasaki Z1R's Mick, they were truly #$%*t. I had a 1979 BMW R100RS for 12 years and the first thing I did was bin the ridiculous system which employed a brake lever connected to the MC under the tank via a cable.

I used a GSXR750 MC with remote reservoir mounted inside the fairing and it looked just as neat, and worked 10 times better. Fuzzy, you won't need to change your MC again when you go twin disc, I could pull stoppies on my K1 when I ran a GSXR MC on it, with braided lines and drilled discs. I put an F2 master on it after that for a more "retro" look, and was pretty disappointed. Cheers, Terry.  

[Retro Rocket]

Thanks Terry. Thats why i love this place....someone has tried everything.....

Mick

[754]

I ran an 81 R 100RT for maybe 20,000 miles or more, had no complaints about the brakes, or the location of the parts..

 if you want to clean up the look, it is not always easy, but can certainly be worth the end result...

[754]

Just confirmed by a Z1-R owner;

 It does indeed have a cable actuated remote Master cylinder, located in the left side of the fairing..

[Terry in Australia]

I ran an 81 R 100RT for maybe 20,000 miles or more, had no complaints about the brakes, or the location of the parts..

 if you want to clean up the look, it is not always easy, but can certainly be worth the end result...

The 1981 set up would have been better than my 1979 R100RS Frank, BMW went from ATE (Volkswagen) to Brembo's in 1980, but BMW reverted to a normal MC soon after anyway, as the cable operated system was just an unnecessary complication. Cheers, Terry.