Rear Pedal to the floor

[IpswichST]

I went to my bike today (its at my sister-in-law's garage), put the battery in, started it up and let it warm up. I put my helmet on and backed it out of her small garage. I put my foot on the rear brake pedal and it went to the floor... what a bummer. This bike it brand new to me so I am not 100% up to speed yet..... I have not really tinkered.

So... where should I start? Fill the rear resevoir and bleed the brakes?

Thanks

[sennister]

I went to my bike today (its at my sister-in-law's garage), put the battery in, started it up and let it warm up. I put my helmet on and backed it out of her small garage. I put my foot on the rear brake pedal and it went to the floor... what a bummer. This bike it brand new to me so I am not 100% up to speed yet..... I have not really tinkered.

So... where should I start? Fill the rear resevoir and bleed the brakes?

Thanks

Is it an ABS?

If not it is super easy. No linked brakes. You have a brake reservoir, the brake master cylinder and a line to the caliper. Get some fluid and bleed it out. My 1993 is super easy to do because it is a non ABS. I haven't worked on an 1100 ABS but they have linked brakes so there are more lines going around the bike. The 1300 ABS and non ABS have linked brakes so they are all equally complex have bleed points all over the bike that have to be done in a certain order. The 1100 non-abs will just have the bleed points at the calipers.

Keep in mind that brake fluid will strip paint so take care to protect any paint but you will have to pull the side panel to do the work so it shouldn't be an issue. More a thing to keep in mind when doing the front brake and clutch.

Since it is new to you it wouldn't hurt to do the front brakes and clutch as well so you know where you are at. Just pick up a bigger bottle of fluid.

[STranger]

Bummer that's where I'd start. The master is just above the pedal behind the panel....caliper easy to see. I would check the windows on the clutch and front brake reservoir and do them too while your at it

[IpswichST]

Bike has ABS and TCS. I have the manual and will start by looking at the rear reservoir behind the panel. I have a speed bleeder so I will fill up the reservoir and suck it out bleeding the system.

I had the bike sitting on thick plastic that I pulled up around it to deter mice from climbing in over the winter. When I backed the bike away there wasnt any brake fluid on the plastic at all. I will read the ABS bleeding procedure and study up. Of course... any tips are welcomed!!!

[sennister]

Bike has ABS and TCS. I have the manual and will start by looking at the rear reservoir behind the panel. I have a speed bleeder so I will fill up the reservoir and suck it out bleeding the system.

I had the bike sitting on thick plastic that I pulled up around it to deter mice from climbing in over the winter. When I backed the bike away there wasnt any brake fluid on the plastic at all. I will read the ABS bleeding procedure and study up. Of course... any tips are welcomed!!!

Like I said I haven't done an ABS version but I can't imagine it is too bad.

Here is some reading for you..

http://home.insightbb.com/~mmartin36/Bleed.htm

Sounds like they didn't add linked brakes until 1996 so it may be as easy to do as my 1993 standard.

[IpswichST]

Looks like I am lucky in that my bike is a 1994... a few years before the "Linked" braking system. Ill pull that right side panel and check out the reservoir. Im wondering though... are my front and rear systems linked in some small way? What Ive seen is that I should start in the front and work my way back.

Thanks for the link to Mr. Martin's write-up. I have seen his pages... I should bookmark a shortcut to them for future use.

[STranger]

Well one thing that is sure........you got the FASTEST COLOR.

[sennister]

Looks like I am lucky in that my bike is a 1994... a few years before the "Linked" braking system. Ill pull that right side panel and check out the reservoir. Im wondering though... are my front and rear systems linked in some small way? What Ive seen is that I should start in the front and work my way back.

Thanks for the link to Mr. Martin's write-up. I have seen his pages... I should bookmark a shortcut to them for future use.

According to Martin's page, the older 1100s were not linked. You are right that if you have linked brakes you need to do them in a certain order. It is easy to tell when you look at the caliper. How many brake lines and bleed points does it have. If there are linked brakes just trace the lines. Might be easier to see in looking at the front brakes than the rear. On my 93 there is one break line from the master cylinder to the front fender where it has a T so it splits the pressure to route it to the two calipers. With ABS you are going to have more plumbing but you may or may not have any more bleed points. The 1300 for instance has the same bleed points ABS or not.

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[Ian Robinson]

Just done my st1100 ABS,TCS,DBS no real rpoblem using bikes own master cylinders. Not sure about using suction with all those valves. ian

[IpswichST]

Here's an update... I popped open the rear reservoir and and it had fluid. I expected to see a less than full reservoir but it was full. So I bled the rear brake caliper and I got a rear brake pedal back. BUT... My ABS light. Didn't go out as a went for a ride. It blinked the whole time. Ill pull codes tomorrow.

ALSO... There was a green wire not connected next to the ABS unit... Has it been disconnected?