The Place

Hello,

Does anyone know if it is possible to adjust the brake bias on a windle chassis? I have only driven this outfit at the festival, plus it was wet, but it is unstable on braking, snakes a lot, I felt I couldn't go hard on the brakes.

I am thinking there is too much braking occouring on the front wheel.

ive got bias on mine had to adjust it when i got it as the rear was locking up and stopping the engine going into a corner wasnt a good look

Dave, post a couple of pics of your brake arrangement and we'll show you what's what or Brian will

Terry started putting a brake bias on his F2s around 95/96. If its later than that you can adjust things David.

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not sure when it was made, I believe the outfit used to belong to Matthew Sayle.

I will get some pictures next time I go to the garage.

what exactly was it doing? was the front locking or were you getting a headshake? (the bike, not yours )

It wasn't locking the front. It was shaking. I had to brake earlier and not as hard.

This could all be due to my inexperience and the wet track, plus the fact this was the first time I was on this outfit, I know for sure the other outfit (Derbyshire) didn't shake like this though.

Ideally I would like to test it in the dry somewhere, pre-season testing gonna be the best bet for this I guess.

I will take the fuel tank off (got a mahoosive TT tank fitted, covers the master cylinder's) and take a look at the brake lever, hopefully it has adjustment, if not we will have to manufacture something up.

If it wasn't locking but was still shaking it's head, it might be worth checking other stuff, any loose head bearings, that kind of thing. That would normally show when you first get on the brakes gently, before you really put pressure on and would build up into a shake that would stop you feeling confident in really hitting the brakes hard.
I'm a passenger but that's how it was on my road bikes, maybe others here can pitch in with ideas.

As Steve said check head bearings also discs for warpage,tyres(abnormal wear),bump/rebound on shockers,wheel bearings and pads more than2/3 worn.......what braking arrangement have you at front?
could be weight/passenger in wrong place.
I sometimes get shake if nick has his weight somewhere else keeping something down going hard into a corner.but not snaking
in the pic closest the camera is my bias adjustment, turning this bar in or out moves the pivot between the master cylinders to allow more or less pressure from your foot pedal to the relevant callipers
the vertical pin adjusts pedal play for your comfort
DO NOT adjust the bias unless you have exhausted all avenues as it doesn't sound like this is your problem

sorry about pic still stripping ,not got there yet

Hi
on my Baker i put the break 7 half turns backwards at rain.
Bye eckart

The braking at the front is 2x floating discs (not sure on the exact size of them, will find out) and obviously a caliper on each. I know we couldn't get the green pads this size, for some reason. Thats about as much as I know.

You will probably have 2x 12" discs.if so there probably sponson engineering ones if so there the best, £700.00 a pair new to order if you can wait 5 weeks so keep em

So what spec pads are you running as these discs (if you have them)are quite sensitive for the right pad.

powerhouse wrote:You will probably have 2x 12" discs.if so there probably sponson engineering ones if so there the best, £700.00 a pair new to order if you can wait 5 weeks so keep em

Blimey Brian . . Sorry can’t agree, Spondon discs are ok but they are Stainless Steel, which doesn’t perform as well as Iron. Also if it’s a Windle, they will be either 280 or 320mm, Off the shelf from me at £420 a pair.

But I agree with others, initially it doesn’t sound like a disc problem.

I still haven't been to look at the outfit yet, I am going down on Wednesday so will take a picture of the brake lever and master cylinder, and front disc's. Is there any easy to tell if the disc's are warped?

Although there are lots of ‘proper’ ways to check discs, a quick visual check can be made by spinning the front wheel and noting the gap each side of the disc to the caliper. Disc movement will also become obvious this way.
Another ‘quick check’ is to place some kind of marker just touching the disc, which may reveal an inconsistency when the wheel is turned.
Failing that. . . take it off and do it properly on a surface plate.

Warped discs would normally produce a pumping sensation through the brake pedal rather than the “shaking” you describe.

As stated in earlier posts, it does sound more like something is loose, worn or out of line.