sym xs 125 brake problem

[stranger12]

Hi All,

my brakes are starting to loose their edge and are weak.

my front brake almost has to pushed in all the way for it to brake . my rear one was adjusted in the first service( my bike is brand new) but in my opinion it has been over adjusted and thus slightest tap on the brake would lock it up.

I don't know how to adjust the rear but have seen a nut and bolt at the right hand side at back which i guess is related to the rear brake , correct?

in regard to front, do you think it is my pad that are gone or just need bleeding or somthing

the bike has only done 600km which i wouldn't expect the pad to be gone in such short millage

Thanks

[eastanglianbiker]

if the rear brake is cable operated it can be adjusted at the wheel where the cable passes through the brake arm the front will be disc so will need the brake pad condition checking as they could be worn out

[Guest]

Hi there limited knowledge but with a rear drum the adjust is a nut just below the drum itself next to the wheel turn it clockwise in half turn points should only need a few turns also drum brakes are pretty slow at stopping at the best of times with the front brake have you adjusted the cable might just be lots of slack if not with the milege id go back to the shop with it hope it helps you abit

[Guest]

Wow my bad the advice i gave for the drum to tighten it lol just go counter clockwise to loosen it abit if the brake is locking maybe you slamming on to tight also adjust the amount of leverage on the brake lever i have mine quiet high but some ppl prefer a little lower might help abit

[stranger12]

well in case anyone had same problem in future, the rear one is easy to adjust and is a small nut just below the exhaust.

The front is a pain and I haven't still got it to work, I checked the pad and they seem to be ok and plenty in there but the brake was really weak.

i started by bleeding the system from the nipple on the caliper and then realised all the fluid is gone so waste of my time.

i then opened the master cylinder, top it up all the way up and using the advice from hayns, i did few small brakes until i saw no more air bubble coming up in the Reservoir.

I then did the nipple again while the reservoir cap was opened. Overall the brake is ok but i cannot get it to lock up which means the pressure is not enough behind the calliper. I did a bleeding again but not much difference

The way I am doing my bleeding is by pressing the brake few times then hold it and then open the nipple and close the nipple. Once the nipple is close then I release the brake so It doesn’t suck any air in.

Do you have to put the reservoir cap back on while bleeding or ???

[Tango]

You can leave the cap off the reservoir while bleeding the brake so you can keep an eye on the level and top-up if necessary.

Although your front pads still have plenty of material left on them they may have glazed. So you can either remove them and rough the surface up with a bit of fine sand paper or replace the pads with some better make ones id they're available. personally I'd go with the second option.

Not sure that being able to lock the front wheel is a terribly good idea.......

[Susieque]

I know absolutely jack about how to fix brakes, but you said the bike is new & only done 600km???

If it were my bike I wouldn't be touching anything myself, it would be straight back to where I bought it!!!!!

[Stu]

take it back and let them check over it

[Fozzie]

Have you been riding the front brake at all?

So basically smoothly hold a little front brake on when coming to a stop frequently. If so you've glazed it and the disc will be too smooth to get any grip on the pad.

Leave the reservoir cap off and pull the lever in as far as it will go and leave it overnight with it cable tied that way. You will likely have a bit of air trapped in the system as well. I did that recently and it firmed my brake right up.

If the lever has that much travel and is spongy it sounds typical of air being trapped in there and bleeding doesnt always get it out. Try one more time, this time, pump out the piston and give it a clean and then push it back in as far as it will go in case air is trapped behind there and cant get free. Then leave the reservoir cap off and cable tie the lever back to let any air escape over night. Then come back in the morning and try again.

If it still spongy try grabbing a handful of brake down the road a good few times, sharp sudden bursts of hard braking to try and roughen up the disc. If it gets better from that then you know its the disc at that point.

Or just take it back to the shop