SuzukiSavage.com - Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?

911radioman Ex Member	Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck? Reply #15 - 05/24/06 at 16:22:16 I don't know, but mine is a 2002 and it brakes fine. Yeah, its old braking technology, but I've just gotten used to it and I see no problem with the Savage braking system. It's not like you're stopping a Sherman tank, as its a very lightweight bike.
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Savage_Rob

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #16 - 05/25/06 at 06:50:21

I know I put it into another post somewhere else, but just to follow up from my posts above...

The Mity-Vac works VERY well for draining old fluid. In fact, it almost works too well for this application. It pulls fluid through so easily you can drain your MC really fast. Also, the pull can cause you to get small bubbles in the drain tubing from its connection to the bleed nipple. At first I though I still had some air in the brake line and kept adding more while pulling it through. In short, I ran a lot more fluid through the brake line than I needed to before I realized where the air came from. For larger jobs, the Mity-Vac is nice. For the Savage/S40, I'd stick with $2 kit from Harbor Freight and pump it through the old-fashioned way.

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Digger

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #17 - 01/02/07 at 20:18:13

Savage_Rob wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:05:

Also, the pull can cause you to get small bubbles in the drain tubing from its connection to the bleed nipple. At first I though I still had some air in the brake line and kept adding more while pulling it through. In short, I ran a lot more fluid through the brake line than I needed to before I realized where the air came from.

For the record, the Mityvac works better if you first take out the bleed nipple and wrap the threads with a bit of teflon tape. This will stop air from seeping in from around the threads.

Learned this one the hard way!

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georgekathe

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #18 - 01/02/07 at 21:09:36

i put new fluid in mine (did not know how long it had been changed) but yours is much newer than mine with less miles so can't see that making a difference.

replaced line @ same time as fluid (also likely to be old on mine) with steel line & ebc pads & shoes front & rear (though ones I took off were oem but looked in good condition).

there is a part on tech section on changing lines - though you won't have too old fluid in yours when you replace line (if you go that route) you'll have to replace fluid. I did not use a fancy thing to suck fluid out - just buddy working the cable with me sitting on ground, holding jam jar with fluid in it, hose from nipple dipped below surface.

can't really quantify which mod made the (most) difference but think they all contributed.

I'm happy with my braking now.

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geo

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #19 - 01/02/07 at 22:08:25

I don't have to use brakes that agressively with this bike under normal use. The reason being the tremendous compression breaking I get with this engine. You could probably survive OK with only the rear brake if there were no 4-wheelers out there.

Beware of the 4-wheeled sheet metal covered things out there.

Be especially aware of the sport utility tanks (SUT). They care about nothing, and will gladly bury your ass into the pavement while they are talking on their cell phones.

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Black 2002 Savage with SuperTrapp 13 discs, Dynajet Kit-DJ144, K&N drop-in, NGK-Iridium, Windscreen, Amsoil 10w-40, Metzeler ME880's

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barb36jack31

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #20 - 01/03/07 at 14:27:36

I agree with GEO - I don't have to jump on the brakes all that often. Coming up on a curve? Tap her down a cog or two and you have all the deceleration you need. Nail the throttle coming out of the turn and the feel and sound are good for the soul. Of course all this is while riding the two-laners in rural Maine. Not much traffic! (Also the SuperTrapp helps with the sound part!)

Jack H.

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05 S40 , air needle adjustment, white spacer, 152.5 main jet, K&N filter, SuperTrapp muffler, Progressive shocks , sissy bar off

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 29042 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck? Reply #21 - 01/30/07 at 21:58:39 I just seen these on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=017&sspagename=ST... anybody try them?
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justin_o_guy

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #22 - 01/31/07 at 01:50:45

As the clock approaches 14,000 I am seeing the front brake get better. EBC's went on the stock rotor at 5,000 miles. Not ceramics, so they are what? Organic? Owell,, either my arm is getting stronger or what? I decided I was tired of the brake being lousy & I started really working it hard. I was squeezing so hard I was afraid something would pop,, It got to where it would slide the tire just before I came to a stop. Now I can grab & haul down on it & make it chirp at 25 or 30. I doNOT want it any better than that. Well, it would be okay if it did it with less effort.

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Savage_Rob

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #23 - 01/31/07 at 05:32:30

When I last changed my front pads, I put on sintered metal pads. They seem to be working pretty well. I have front and back sets of ceramics on a shelf for the next change. By then I may decide to put on a new rotor as I've heard the sintered pads can wear the rotor faster. However, I'm not seeing anything that looks abnormal wear to me yet and it's been somewhere between 18 and 24 months since I put the sintered pads on.

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EntropyofMe

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Re: Why do the brakes on my 2005 S40 suck?
Reply #24 - 01/31/07 at 08:31:13

911radioman wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:05:

I don't know, but mine is a 2002 and it brakes fine. Yeah, its old braking technology, but I've just gotten used to it and I see no problem with the Savage braking system. It's not like you're stopping a Sherman tank, as its a very lightweight bike.

ditto. i've got a completely stock 2006 and i can definitely lock up the brakes with ease. i'm also with the school of thought that maybe some more compression braking could be used instead. i definitely do this myself, and often use just the rear brake to gently coax it to a complete stop. i've definitely had emergency situations that required max braking from both, and keeping it from locking up, and it came to a stop PDQ, kept me out of the passenger side of an SUV.

edit:
actually... maybe, as per a previous thread about improving performance, these would help:
http://www.stickergiant.com/page/sg/PROD/fundri/zbs972
Wink

or just put duct tape on it somewhere, that's a guaranteed all around performance increase.
Grin

either way, be safe and good luck.

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Black 2006 Savage40, no mods... yet.

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