Treachery
Moderator
I thought about some alternate titles, along the lines of "now I can stop" or "can you stop this?", but decided to play it straight. Well, except for a semi-funny OG story:
BMW introduced the first motorcycle with anti-lock brakes (ABS) in 1988. Long time BMW owners opined that "shoot, BMWs have had anti-lock brakes forever. Meaning-you couldn't lock BMW brakes up if you tried...
Anyway, before I bought the RC, I had read the complaints of some of the reviewers that the KTM brakes were less than stellar. Then early owners reported much the same. So, hoping to improve things from the get-go, I had my dealer get the wave rotor, and I ordered the first pair of Galfer pads (AFAIK) for the RC in the country. Those parts were installed before purchase. I also beta-ordered SpeedBleeders, so that I could address that possibility as soon as possible.
When I got the bike, the brakes were...fair. Got the Speedbleeders and bled them out, using better DOT4 fluid, and they were better. Oddly enough, they required a second bleed pretty quickly. Then they were decent. Not impressive, but decent. The bike didn't get ridden for part of the fall. When I went out for a ride in October, I suddenly channelled early BMW no-lock brakes: I got to the highway near where we live and was happy to get stopped! The brakes would "pump up," but had completely inadequate stopping power. So, now I was on a mission.
Reluctantly, I decided that I was going to bypass the ABS. I've had a number of bikes with ABS, and while I've never needed it, I've been glad it was there. OTOH, I've had sportbikes, and never missed those not having ABS. So, I ordered up a set of the Spiegler bypass lines from KTM Performance. At the same time, I determined that I was going to go all-in for good brakes, and based on my reading here and elsewhere, I ordered up the Brembo RCS-15 radial master cylinder, from Hard Racing. I'll talk about the lines in another thread.
HardRacing sells the RCS-15 as a kit. In addition to the master cylinder with folding lever, they will provide a brake light switch, and the reservoir kit (with hose, fasteners, and bracket), as well as a new banjo bolt of the proper size and sealing washers. IMO, you're probably better off getting the kit and saving yourself some steps. If you do the lines, the Speigler banjo bolts that are supplied are of the proper size. I didn't know that when I ordered, but the Brembo bolt is a nicer piece (although invisible when installed) than the KTM bolt.
As an aside, big ups to these two companies for supporting the forum and our bikes. They were creative enough to jump in and support a brand new bike, and I appreciated their help in this project.
So, I got the bits back in the late fall, and had to wait until I got a spring day to have the garage open to work. When I finally did...
Removing the stock MC isn't tough. Apologies that I didn't take pictures of this part of the process. Remove the right side bar-end weight. There are two screws that hold the clamshell around the throttle cable attachment. Remove those, and open the housing. There's just one cable; rotate the grip forward, and it'll come right out. Inside the lower half of the housing is a spacer with a pin that locates the housing on the bar. It will fall out, just don't lose it. You'll need to disconnect the brake light switch wires from the switch. On mine, I couldn't tell the polarity, because the wires are shrink-wrapped at the terminal. I don't know if it matters, but it's easy to tell. (PM me if you need help on that). You need to drain the reservoir, and (If you're doing the lines), get as much fluid as you can out of the line so it can't back up and get on your paint. If not, undo the banjo bolt and pull the hose as far vertical as you can; you can wrap it with a paper towel and rubber band it to avoid spillage. Now, IIRC there's either one or two clamping bolts. You don't need to remove them, just loosen them and slide the lever-MC assembly off. Seal the outlet off and put it aside.
The brake light switch snaps to the bottom of the RCS housing. As far as I can tell, it won't come back off... Attach that, and loosely slide the RCS onto the bar. The leads from the switch are longer than you need. IIRC, the terminals on the bike side are female flat spade lugs. But, they're a good bit narrower than standard 20GA (red insulator) terminals. I ground and thinned them down with a Dremel tool and grinding wheel. If you can find the proper size, good on ya. I eyeballed how much extra wire I wanted to leave, cut the leads to length and attached the terminals. I did not connect them at this point.
It was about this time that I discovered a problem: No matter how I angled the lever, I had contact with the windscreen before full left lock.
As it turns out, when the right lever is aligned with the clutch lever at the original angle, the point of contact is directly into the notch inboard of the upper mounting screw. More on that later. Understand: This is not a defect. The RCS-15 is not a model-specific part. As such, it's not unusual to have to "adjust" a few things to fit. Now: I have the KTM "race bubble" screen. But looking at the dimensions of the OE screen at the point of contact, you're going to have the same issue. I don't know about the Cup screen. The Puig screen is narrower, as are some others, and you probably won't have to modify anything with those. YMMV.
So, now I needed to make my "adjustments:"
Line the brake lever up with the clutch lever. This isn't critical; you just want to ID the point(s) of potential contact that you're going to need to relieve. Mark those areas with a Sharpie:
Then, mask off the area around your markings with painter's tape:
I relieved, or recontoured the screen with a Dremel tool, using a sanding drum at relatively low speed. The coarseness of the drum probably isn’t important. The screen is pretty soft, and progress was pretty fast. Here's my initial progress:
At this point, it was looking pretty good. I then hand-sanded the edge with progressively finer sandpaper (200, 320, 400, 800, 1200, 1500 grit), then an even finer grit emery paper. Finally, I used a buffing/polishing cylinder with white polishing compound on the Dremel tool to get a smooth, polished edge:
Installed, this is what I believed my final clearance looked like:
Well, No…
At this point, I attached the brake line, bled the brake, and adjusted the lever to my desired reach. BE SURE to bleed the master cylinder itself. There's a bleed fitting on the top for that. I started bleeding the line, got that part way done, then did the master cylinder, then finished the caliper. Next, I plugged the brake light switch into the bike's wiring, tested for operation, wrapped up the connections and zip tied the wires out of the way. Then I discovered that once the system is functional, the lever is farther out, which meant that I again had contact. (Insert foul language here). So, I eyeballed the contact, got the sanding drum out, and gradually re-contoured the edge to get the clearance that I actually needed. I’d done it once by now, so it was just a matter of repeating the steps to get to the final version:
It's almost invisible from the saddle. From the front, if you’re real observant and look real close, you’ll see the modification. I'm out of pics in this thread. PM me if you want any of the others.
Mostly, now it clears the windscreen and looks tidy.
And the reservoir:
So, there ya go. None of the installation is difficult. You just have to have a Dremel tool, some sandpaper, polish and patience.
Again thanks to HardRacing and KTM Performance for the sweet parts and their support during the project. Please feel free to ask if I can help you with the project.
OH- Do they work? Oh, yeah. Baby got some serious stoppers now...uh HUH!
BMW introduced the first motorcycle with anti-lock brakes (ABS) in 1988. Long time BMW owners opined that "shoot, BMWs have had anti-lock brakes forever. Meaning-you couldn't lock BMW brakes up if you tried...
Anyway, before I bought the RC, I had read the complaints of some of the reviewers that the KTM brakes were less than stellar. Then early owners reported much the same. So, hoping to improve things from the get-go, I had my dealer get the wave rotor, and I ordered the first pair of Galfer pads (AFAIK) for the RC in the country. Those parts were installed before purchase. I also beta-ordered SpeedBleeders, so that I could address that possibility as soon as possible.
When I got the bike, the brakes were...fair. Got the Speedbleeders and bled them out, using better DOT4 fluid, and they were better. Oddly enough, they required a second bleed pretty quickly. Then they were decent. Not impressive, but decent. The bike didn't get ridden for part of the fall. When I went out for a ride in October, I suddenly channelled early BMW no-lock brakes: I got to the highway near where we live and was happy to get stopped! The brakes would "pump up," but had completely inadequate stopping power. So, now I was on a mission.
Reluctantly, I decided that I was going to bypass the ABS. I've had a number of bikes with ABS, and while I've never needed it, I've been glad it was there. OTOH, I've had sportbikes, and never missed those not having ABS. So, I ordered up a set of the Spiegler bypass lines from KTM Performance. At the same time, I determined that I was going to go all-in for good brakes, and based on my reading here and elsewhere, I ordered up the Brembo RCS-15 radial master cylinder, from Hard Racing. I'll talk about the lines in another thread.
HardRacing sells the RCS-15 as a kit. In addition to the master cylinder with folding lever, they will provide a brake light switch, and the reservoir kit (with hose, fasteners, and bracket), as well as a new banjo bolt of the proper size and sealing washers. IMO, you're probably better off getting the kit and saving yourself some steps. If you do the lines, the Speigler banjo bolts that are supplied are of the proper size. I didn't know that when I ordered, but the Brembo bolt is a nicer piece (although invisible when installed) than the KTM bolt.
As an aside, big ups to these two companies for supporting the forum and our bikes. They were creative enough to jump in and support a brand new bike, and I appreciated their help in this project.
So, I got the bits back in the late fall, and had to wait until I got a spring day to have the garage open to work. When I finally did...
Removing the stock MC isn't tough. Apologies that I didn't take pictures of this part of the process. Remove the right side bar-end weight. There are two screws that hold the clamshell around the throttle cable attachment. Remove those, and open the housing. There's just one cable; rotate the grip forward, and it'll come right out. Inside the lower half of the housing is a spacer with a pin that locates the housing on the bar. It will fall out, just don't lose it. You'll need to disconnect the brake light switch wires from the switch. On mine, I couldn't tell the polarity, because the wires are shrink-wrapped at the terminal. I don't know if it matters, but it's easy to tell. (PM me if you need help on that). You need to drain the reservoir, and (If you're doing the lines), get as much fluid as you can out of the line so it can't back up and get on your paint. If not, undo the banjo bolt and pull the hose as far vertical as you can; you can wrap it with a paper towel and rubber band it to avoid spillage. Now, IIRC there's either one or two clamping bolts. You don't need to remove them, just loosen them and slide the lever-MC assembly off. Seal the outlet off and put it aside.
The brake light switch snaps to the bottom of the RCS housing. As far as I can tell, it won't come back off... Attach that, and loosely slide the RCS onto the bar. The leads from the switch are longer than you need. IIRC, the terminals on the bike side are female flat spade lugs. But, they're a good bit narrower than standard 20GA (red insulator) terminals. I ground and thinned them down with a Dremel tool and grinding wheel. If you can find the proper size, good on ya. I eyeballed how much extra wire I wanted to leave, cut the leads to length and attached the terminals. I did not connect them at this point.
It was about this time that I discovered a problem: No matter how I angled the lever, I had contact with the windscreen before full left lock.
As it turns out, when the right lever is aligned with the clutch lever at the original angle, the point of contact is directly into the notch inboard of the upper mounting screw. More on that later. Understand: This is not a defect. The RCS-15 is not a model-specific part. As such, it's not unusual to have to "adjust" a few things to fit. Now: I have the KTM "race bubble" screen. But looking at the dimensions of the OE screen at the point of contact, you're going to have the same issue. I don't know about the Cup screen. The Puig screen is narrower, as are some others, and you probably won't have to modify anything with those. YMMV.
So, now I needed to make my "adjustments:"
Line the brake lever up with the clutch lever. This isn't critical; you just want to ID the point(s) of potential contact that you're going to need to relieve. Mark those areas with a Sharpie:
Then, mask off the area around your markings with painter's tape:
I relieved, or recontoured the screen with a Dremel tool, using a sanding drum at relatively low speed. The coarseness of the drum probably isn’t important. The screen is pretty soft, and progress was pretty fast. Here's my initial progress:
At this point, it was looking pretty good. I then hand-sanded the edge with progressively finer sandpaper (200, 320, 400, 800, 1200, 1500 grit), then an even finer grit emery paper. Finally, I used a buffing/polishing cylinder with white polishing compound on the Dremel tool to get a smooth, polished edge:
Installed, this is what I believed my final clearance looked like:
Well, No…
At this point, I attached the brake line, bled the brake, and adjusted the lever to my desired reach. BE SURE to bleed the master cylinder itself. There's a bleed fitting on the top for that. I started bleeding the line, got that part way done, then did the master cylinder, then finished the caliper. Next, I plugged the brake light switch into the bike's wiring, tested for operation, wrapped up the connections and zip tied the wires out of the way. Then I discovered that once the system is functional, the lever is farther out, which meant that I again had contact. (Insert foul language here). So, I eyeballed the contact, got the sanding drum out, and gradually re-contoured the edge to get the clearance that I actually needed. I’d done it once by now, so it was just a matter of repeating the steps to get to the final version:
It's almost invisible from the saddle. From the front, if you’re real observant and look real close, you’ll see the modification. I'm out of pics in this thread. PM me if you want any of the others.
Mostly, now it clears the windscreen and looks tidy.
And the reservoir:
So, there ya go. None of the installation is difficult. You just have to have a Dremel tool, some sandpaper, polish and patience.
Again thanks to HardRacing and KTM Performance for the sweet parts and their support during the project. Please feel free to ask if I can help you with the project.
OH- Do they work? Oh, yeah. Baby got some serious stoppers now...uh HUH!
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