Anyone try aftermarket brake master?

[81GS850]

Really? Perhaps you'd like to have been in the two cars I was in where they did just that. In spite of both cars having dual-circuit m/c braking it wasn't worth a damn. Luckily, one failure happened on the backroads, but the other one was slowing down for a ped crossing, and since I couldn't stop, I had to indulge in an impromptu game of reverse skittles to not flatten the peds. Not fun, I can assure you.

Were these new chinese m/c? If they were, once you replaced them and them only did it fix the problem?

[81GS850]

I try to avoid the cheap stuff also. There is a lot of stuff coming out of China that is messed up like some swing arm extension that are breaking from using a cheaper grade of billet aluminum.
Grimeca makes high quality brake parts that what I use when I go after market other wise I just rebuild the factory stuff.

I was going to rebuild mine till the cost to rebuild exceeded the cost of a new and better designed mc.

[Guest]

A master cylinder is a casting with a hole in it, into which they stick a plunger. Pretty basic stuff. I wouldn't be worried about running a Chinese one. Masters aren't the type of things that fail catastrophically anyway.

+1 to that, says it all

The cheap one I bought works great but I did replace the two cover screws with stainless steel screws because they started to rust. Would not use the model I bought on a dual disk but it's more than adequate on a single disk kz400 and should work fine on the OP's 450

[Guest]

Also if it "failed casastrophically" then you would just use your back brakes and downshift.

If you were in the middle of a hard stop when the M/C failed there is no way you would have time to realize what happened and stop with the rear brake before you hit whatever caused the hard stop in the first place.


Mark

[81GS850]

If you were in the middle of a hard stop when the M/C failed there is no way you would have time to realize what happened and stop with the rear brake before you hit whatever caused the hard stop in the first place.


Mark

So are you replacing the rear master at the same time? Because that could fail in a hard stop as well. Do you have 30+ year old calipers that have never been rebuilt? Do you have rubber brake lines still? Point is, a new chinese master cylinder is no more likely to fail than the 30+ year old brake components still on the bike.

[Jcgonzal]

Not really one for a ****ing match, but I thought I'd add my $0.02. Got a cheap master off eBay, combined it with upgraded calipers and rotors, and have been very pleased with the outcome. Two finger braking, had an emergency stop the other day when a side-by-side decided it wanted to pull out in front of me while I was going 60; brakes grabbed with authority. I even still have old rubber lines, looking forward to seeing how they do with braided!

[Grimly]

Well, it's your neck. You do what you like.
Personally, even though I am world-renowned as being a tight-fisted skinflint, I don't skimp on brakes.
I've seen too much ordinary crap from China fail, to trust my health and well-being on some piece of anonymous garbage from Shengzhen backstreets.
As for the assertion that 30-year-old parts are just as likely to fail - utter rubbish. Anyone with any sense has overhauled the calipers, new lines and carefully inspected the parts for cracks and normal wear and tear. Fatigue may have a part to play, admittedly, but the chances of a well-designed and well-made OEM part failing are very low, compared to the utter crapshoot that is dodgy ebay braking bits.
Your neck, your life, please yourself.
I know what I'm sticking with - OEM, and rebuilt with proper bits.

[Guest]

So are you replacing the rear master at the same time? Because that could fail in a hard stop as well. Do you have 30+ year old calipers that have never been rebuilt? Do you have rubber brake lines still? Point is, a new chinese master cylinder is no more likely to fail than the 30+ year old brake components still on the bike.

I wasn't commenting on the Chinese M/C at all, one way or the other. I was just pointing out that the front M/C failing during a hard stop would mean a crash because there wouldn't be time to do anything else before you hit whatever caused the hard stop. Personally, I would probably use the Chinese parts after a careful inspection and some gentle test riding.


Mark

[rudeman]

Please, everyone, take a deep breath and relax. Agree to disagree.

[81GS850]

Well, it's your neck. You do what you like.
Personally, even though I am world-renowned as being a tight-fisted skinflint, I don't skimp on brakes.
I've seen too much ordinary crap from China fail, to trust my health and well-being on some piece of anonymous garbage from Shengzhen backstreets.
As for the assertion that 30-year-old parts are just as likely to fail - utter rubbish. Anyone with any sense has overhauled the calipers, new lines and carefully inspected the parts for cracks and normal wear and tear. Fatigue may have a part to play, admittedly, but the chances of a well-designed and well-made OEM part failing are very low, compared to the utter crapshoot that is dodgy ebay braking bits.
Your neck, your life, please yourself.
I know what I'm sticking with - OEM, and rebuilt with proper bits.

Ok agree to disagree. Maybe if it didn't cost me 1/4 of what the bikes worth to put an OE cylinder on I would do it. But to say that a brand new chinese part has more of a chance to fail catastrophically than a 30 year old OE part is BS.

Well designed OE? HA. I guess you haven't messed with the electrical system on one of these bad boys? OE does do things better overall. But that doesn't mean that aftermarket can't do it just as good OR better sometimes.

[JEEPRUSTY]

This reminds me that my front brakes are stiff. What causes stiffness?
Is it the Chinese brake fluid I used?

[Grimly]

This reminds me that my front brakes are stiff. What causes stiffness?
Is it the Chinese brake fluid I used?

Stiffness at the front is usually caused by small blue pills, at your age.

[Grimly]

Well designed OE? HA. I guess you haven't messed with the electrical system on one of these bad boys?

I know them well enough to have a fairly low professional opinion of their electrics.

OE does do things better overall. But that doesn't mean that aftermarket can't do it just as good OR better sometimes.

Not denying that - not everything OEM is great, and some parts are fit for the junk bin - like the pre-80 calipers. I wouldn't fit them to my neighbour's dog.

[dorkburger]

For what its worth.......I changed my original brake fluid in the rarely used rear brake, and the pedal began hanging up. I opened up the M/C and found a slight, minor bit of corrosion causing the piston to bind. A quick clean up of the bore and minor scuffing of the steel piston with a scotchbrite pad restored its proper function...The seals were still good. Not bad for a 29 year old part.....

[81GS850]

Mines still using everything that came on the bike originally except for a chinese master cylinder and it's got 60k on the bike. I'll be replacing the rubber brake lines when I get everything else sorted out on it. I just flushed the system with new fluid and it works just fine.