HuntWhenever
Motorbike Commuter
Just curious if anyone has ever had an issue with too much brake lever pull before the brake lights came on? I noticed this a few months ago and have been investigating a little since.
I first noticed it when setting in traffic coming home from working late. I noticed the license plate of the car behind me didn't look like it was reflecting a lot of my brake light, and I pulled the front brake lever in further. When I pulled the lever in further, the brake lights came on. I found this quite disturbing, and wondered how often I have been setting at a red light with not brake lights on. I am not too worried about brake annunciation while under way because I always use my front and rear brake, and the rear brake pedal actuates the brake light just fine.
So looking at the front brake lever switch, I can hear it actuating two contacts throughout its range of motion...the second "click" is the brake lights, and I confirmed the first "click" disengages the cruise control (and possibly some of the linked brake logic). I was coming home late tonight again, and had the highway to myself. I could see my brake lights clearly in the mirrors (probably due to my Skene P3 tail lights), and I got a feel for how much front lever I had to pull to get the brake lights to come on. I was under quite a bit of deceleration before the lights came on. This would be really bad for someone who used the linked brakes exclusively and did not use their rear brake pedal.
I'm not sure what corrective action to take at this point. My original thought was to modify the switch or the brake lever contact point to make the switch come on sooner in the stroke, but that idea is out now that I know it's a two-stage switch. My cruise control would be getting "bumped" off every time I hit an expansion joint on the interstate, leading to a discomforting throttle chop.
Has anyone else noticed this? If this amount of brake lever stoke is common, then I can just keep a death-grip on the front brake lever while stopped at stop lights (or keep one foot on the brake pedal). But if others don't have this issue, then it may just be inconsistency in front brake switch's contact tolerance. A new switch could fix that (statistically). I would have to do some measurements on lever pull if someone wants them to compare, but sufficient to say the amount of force to keep the lever at the switch point is pretty stout...like maybe 40% of total brake force.
I first noticed it when setting in traffic coming home from working late. I noticed the license plate of the car behind me didn't look like it was reflecting a lot of my brake light, and I pulled the front brake lever in further. When I pulled the lever in further, the brake lights came on. I found this quite disturbing, and wondered how often I have been setting at a red light with not brake lights on. I am not too worried about brake annunciation while under way because I always use my front and rear brake, and the rear brake pedal actuates the brake light just fine.
So looking at the front brake lever switch, I can hear it actuating two contacts throughout its range of motion...the second "click" is the brake lights, and I confirmed the first "click" disengages the cruise control (and possibly some of the linked brake logic). I was coming home late tonight again, and had the highway to myself. I could see my brake lights clearly in the mirrors (probably due to my Skene P3 tail lights), and I got a feel for how much front lever I had to pull to get the brake lights to come on. I was under quite a bit of deceleration before the lights came on. This would be really bad for someone who used the linked brakes exclusively and did not use their rear brake pedal.
I'm not sure what corrective action to take at this point. My original thought was to modify the switch or the brake lever contact point to make the switch come on sooner in the stroke, but that idea is out now that I know it's a two-stage switch. My cruise control would be getting "bumped" off every time I hit an expansion joint on the interstate, leading to a discomforting throttle chop.
Has anyone else noticed this? If this amount of brake lever stoke is common, then I can just keep a death-grip on the front brake lever while stopped at stop lights (or keep one foot on the brake pedal). But if others don't have this issue, then it may just be inconsistency in front brake switch's contact tolerance. A new switch could fix that (statistically). I would have to do some measurements on lever pull if someone wants them to compare, but sufficient to say the amount of force to keep the lever at the switch point is pretty stout...like maybe 40% of total brake force.