Brakes !!!!!

Well....... brakes were the thing last week....... well lack of brakes anyway!

The front brake had been sticking on..... which of course is not a good thing!. The ScootRS/ Nissin set up was rand new, but had been sat in teh garage for 18 months...... to cut a long week short, I'd tried all sorts, bled, re-bled, stripped teh caliper, all to no avail.


I really needed to get it fixed as it was preventing progress and stressing me out. Trouble was it was Oulton Park........... do I miss Outon to try and fix the brake? Well no.... what I decided to do was get the van from work and take the scooter up to Oulton...... may as well work on it there as at home!?

So Staurday morning came and there I was trundling up to Oulton with the scooter in the back. Jason Frost was taking me a spare caliper to try, and obviously theres a paddock full of brake experts so i felt confident we could get the damn thing sorted.


Plan A - remove the caliper and replace with Jasons spare..... rebleed and see what happens............ guess what ........... no difference!

hhhhhhmmmmmmmm so, a new plan is needed, and up pops young PJ McLaverty.... a brake guru........ after initially much scratching of heads, we decided it simply had to be the master cylinder. So we stripped out the pin and checked the seals, they looked ok - new obviously - so we rebuilt it to what happens...... no change!

The lever just didn't feel right, and then PJ had a light bulb moment - it had to be the seals..... there are two of them, one was working, one wasn't! That just had to be the answer. It was logical to what was happening...... the brake stuck on and then gradully released as the fluid crept back around the seal that was faulty........... had to be the answer!

So back in the van and off to watch the racing............ wow............. just how bloody good was that! Awesome racing all through the field!

Steve Conneely volunteered a loan master cylinder - he uses Gilera Runner ones witha simple modification to allow use on the Lambretta headset. Simply find myself another one to give Steve one back and we'll be sorted!

So, a couple of days later - Gilera cylinder is fitted, brake is bled! PERFECT BRAKES!

So now is time to add the rear set brake and I have a full compliment!

Not too sure I'm going to keep the rear set brake though as I'd also made up a heel operated brake setup..... but was a little unhappy withthe amount of flex, so will probably work on a version 2 in time for Anglesey.

So............................ all ready now for paint!