improve your brakes in seconds and for free

[Austin]

yep, super little mod I worked out all by myself.

I haven't ridden the Vara much through the winter - keeping it for "best" and let the TA take the salty hit. However when I got it out this past weekend and went up to the lakes apart from just feeling different and really really powerful after the TA most noticeable was how the crap the brakes were. Bearing in mind the TA's brakes aren't exactly that wonderful. The brakes themselves worked fine but needed a real fistful. After a couple of goes and focusing on how different the feel was compared to the TA I decided it was that the lever was in a different place and I wasn't able to get hold of the brake lever effectively - my grip point was too near the cylinder and the lever was too high.

Undo the 2 clamp bolts, slide the clamp towards the bend on the bars as far as I could and rotate down a degree or 5, bolt it back up and wow - brakes to make your eyeballs pop out. A little of fine tuning and the lever falls exactly to hand - 2 finger braking is now a reality with my fingers slightly in from the bobble at the end. Excellent, and the view of the mirror seems to be barely affected too. Try it and feel the benefit

[jasonbc]

yep, super little mod I worked out all by myself.

I haven't ridden the Vara much through the winter - keeping it for "best" and let the TA take the salty hit. However when I got it out this past weekend and went up to the lakes apart from just feeling different and really really powerful after the TA most noticeable was how the crap the brakes were. Bearing in mind the TA's brakes aren't exactly that wonderful. The brakes themselves worked fine but needed a real fistful. After a couple of goes and focusing on how different the feel was compared to the TA I decided it was that the lever was in a different place and I wasn't able to get hold of the brake lever effectively - my grip point was too near the cylinder and the lever was too high.

Undo the 2 clamp bolts, slide the clamp towards the bend on the bars as far as I could and rotate down a degree or 5, bolt it back up and wow - brakes to make your eyeballs pop out. A little of fine tuning and the lever falls exactly to hand - 2 finger braking is now a reality with my fingers slightly in from the bobble at the end. Excellent, and the view of the mirror seems to be barely affected too. Try it and feel the benefit

Couldn't you just adjust the span adjustment for the grip distance

[Zenarchy]

This is encouraging to read. I've just moved my brake lever in like that while fitting heated grips to make a bit more room to stop the grip fouling the bar end (grip was a bit too long) but I haven't had a chance to ride the bike since then to try it out. Will be interesting to see if it has a positive effect.

[Austin]

Couldn't you just adjust the span adjustment for the grip distance

no, tried that. It wasn't the distance from the grip it was the lack of leverage -basically pulling the lever too near the pivot point meant I could only get a decent pressure with a real handful.

[jimmysimpson1]

I tend not to have this problem cos my hands are like shovels but moving the lever up the bar is a good idea cos when you dump the bike you won't BRAKE the lever ? sorry, it's just me.