Thought I'd make the most of the weather today & go for a ride to the coast. Went from Maidstone, through Tenterden to Rye. Absolutely loving the Blade apart from the brakes. It's a 2009 RA9 (C-ABS). Overtook a Skoda Octavia VRS(?) then breaking hard down from about 100 into a tigh bend. The problem was that although the initial bite (about 1-2 seconds) was good the brakes seemed to fade really quickly. Still had good feel at the lever but hardy any braking force. After the initial shock I made it round the bend but was totally unnerving! I tried this a few more times, braking hard from speed & it happened every time. Fluids and pads are all fine & ABS light didn't come on. Surely this can't be normal??? A few hours later tonight I was riding to work in central London through traffic & the ABS light started flashing! Stopped the bike, turned it off then back on again. Ride it a further mile & the ABS light stayed off... Any one else experienced this before? What to do next?
Could be time for one of them expensive ABS services I've heard about dude... That year is prone for hit and miss ABS systems !
Thanks for the reply. It's coming up to 16K service but had the ABS bleed service at 12k less than a year ago.
Haha that's funny..........'That year' is prone to hit and miss you really mean every c-abs blade from 2009 onwards is hit and miss!!!
I take it that you are not still on your original brake pads, if so change them. I do find the Honda versions do lose a bite and get hot very quickly after hard braking like you say, that is why I use SBS sintered pads now.
I've had no probs with the braking on my 11abs but I once braked hard coming off a bypass & my abs light went on. I turned ignition off for couple a mins & it reset itself, not done it since but it was obv related to the hard brake. Seems some have probs n some don't!
Just been to Honda Maidstone & they have emailed their tech bloke at Honda. Hopefully will hear something soon.
My 2009 ABS Blade has done this a few times. It is very hit and miss and it can go months between "incidents". I will be booking mine in for an ABS bleed in the next couple of weeks. But if you've already had that done and the feel at the lever was fine, then I would say definitely look at your pads. Good luck! Let us know how you get on with the dealer....
Thanks for the reply. Not sure about Honda Maidstone. They take forever to get back to me, if at all. Blokes in the workshop seem helpful though. Any recommendations for a good garage in Kent?
If your lever is fine and the problem occurred after heavy use, may just be brake fade, if the pads are low this doesn't help. Before you go expensive nuclear option, change the pads and clean the discs.......... Is the fade still repeatable, and what depth is left on them? Good luck Mike.
Thanks Mike, I repeated the situation a few more times on the way home on purpose. They pads have about 2-3mm of material left.
Try again with cold pads, 2mm is starting to be low, but still 'in spec' I think. ...... I have never had an ABS Blade so many people here are far more qualified than me to comment on the ABS issue; But from your description I feel it's not the first solution I would be thinking of. Obviously the flashing ABS light is a concerning issue but I believe this can flash for a number of reasons. But the short period of time between the two incidents suggest a link of some sort. Keep us informed how you get on. Mike.
it's happened to me a few times including on track. Only happened on hard acceleration then instantly on the brakes. Massive pressure on the lever but hardly any braking power. Touch wood it hasn't happened for a couple of years but I have a few mods to the 09 ABS and bled many times
Been through this issue many times, there are many reasons why the ABS light flashes. As a a guide if it was my bike I would do a full clean up of the calipers and at 2 mm replace the pads. Make sure everything on the calipers are clean, the pistons, the guides, pins etc etc Get yourself a piston removal tool so you can spin the piston to clean all the crud off 360 degrees, gently pump out the pistons a few mm until you have clean shiny piston surface, and coat with a light smear all around with red rubber grease and push back in. Make sure the caliper body edges where they meet the pad backplate sides are clean and free of built up hard crud, if there is hard crud, gently file it away. Don't coat the new pad backplates with tons of copper ease or similar it just attracts crud and dirt like nothing else. Make sure the disc bobbins are free and not welded tight with crud build up, if so clean them and free them up, this is the biggest cause of disc warpage. (Is warpage a real word?), the process has been covered here before on the forum. If all else fails, do what most of us have done in this situation, bin the fecker and buy a non ABS, simple solution to a shite problem.
On pads the consensus on here is either OEM or SBS , I switched to SBS and found then the equal of OEM at a much cheaper cost. The real issue is that is you ride a Blade through all weathers Tokico calipers are shite and just need monthly maintenance to keep on top of them during winter months. I cleaned the pistons every month from Dec to this month and did the same with the bobbins.
