Blade brakes

[mhibbins]

I've had my blade for 10k miles now since april last year and the edge is going off the brakes. The power is still there but the initial bite has gone. The pads are fairly well worn but still good.

It feel sort of like the fluid has gone off a bit and allowing me to compress it before it works. As the fluid is only a year old this seems unlikely but I will change it.

Is it likely that my brake lines will starting to be tired and expand under pressure after this short time and would I benefit from fitting braided hoses?

Thanks,

Mark

[mel]

Blade brakes in general feel a bit ropey.

However in the first instance I would go for a straight forward bleed, do it at all the unions and not just at the caliper (like suggested in the manual) as it's not unusual to find air pockets get caught at either the reservoir or lever unions. Then as you say go for a fluid change, then braided lines as the rubber may be bulging.

I assume the lines are standard rubber and the previous owner hadn't fixed trick racing kevlar lines ??? If they did change them straight away as they only have a one season life before they start to break down from UV light.

[mhibbins]

I've had it from new. I haven't noticed a slow decline in brake performance but just a loss of initial bite more recently. I'll give the brakes a bleed tomorrow and go from there.

Thanks for your advice.

Regards,

Mark

[mhibbins]

Only got around to bleeding the brakes today... completely sorted now

Ta,

Mark

[cazzo]

It's always a good idea to take the pads off every now and then and "rough-em up" with some emery cloth or something just to remove the glaze that forms in time.

I changed the pads on my 916 to "HH" pads as the brakes seemed to lack bite - spot on now though.

BTW If you've not got braided lines - get-em they are worth the expense