Brake that bike: or Break that bike!

That may be an unusual heading, but here’s the scenario: I am not worried if the bike doesn’t start and run. That, I can live through, fix, and carry on.

However, if I am on the road, and the bike won’t stop or slow down as expected using the brakes: NOW I am concerned. And possibly in real trouble. As a ‘canyon-burner’: I love diving into and through, getting the G’s in the corners, using everything the bike has to offer: and the starting criteria in the ride is making very sure the brakes are in top-notch condition.

Goldwings have gone through many changes in the braking systems: from the single-piston calipers on the GL1000 and early GL1100’s to the double-piston ’82 GL1100 to the balanced (fore-and-aft) linked 1983 GL1100 system, and on up through the triple piston GL1800, to the ABS system optional on the GL1800, to the standardized ABS system on the 2018 and later models.

Knowing how they operate on each of those models, and getting the best out of them is something you should be familiar with and pay close attention to. Your pads, your disks, and your fluids: are all key factors.

This may sound like a very basic thing, something that everyone does: but believe me, I have seen many bikes that should not have been on the road.

(Extreme Example: I bought a GL1800 in North Carolina, drove it 5 miles to the nearest parking lot, and spent a good deal of time getting the pads out of the rear caliper, as they were frozen in. I worked on them while my buddy went to buy some ‘Blaster’ to get them off. When I did manage to get them out, the metal backing-plate on the outside pad could have been used as a wood chisel. There was no brake fibre on it at all, and the metal was worn into a sharpened chisel. The fellow has said it ‘probably’ could use new pads on the rear. No kidding. Deadly. “Wall-of-Shame’ material.)

Because some of the mechanisms, calipers, disks, and master cylinders are no longer available at Honda, and you may have to buy used parts somewhere, there’s a long discussion on ‘Buying Used Brake Parts” in here.

This is a topic under discussion in this section of our blog-site. I hope you find it of value. There’s no comments section for this as it is a header-post. Go to the other sub-blog on brakes to comment.

Ride safely.