joshinthecity

Here's the thing…
I was impressed by the brakes on my Panigale, best sport bike brakes I have ever used, but not by a big margin. Satisfied might be a better word..

well… I had my bike in to have the recalls done today and the tech bled the brakes while he was messing about with the bike and .. HOLY BALLZ.

What a difference.

Bleed your brakes.. you may be unknowingly in the same boat as me.
I've gone from satisfied to gobsmacked.

seriously…

..no.. really.

j.

Hakosuka

I bought some new racing brake pads from Brembo yesterday. I have the same problem as you. Good brakes but it seems like my Streetfighter S has more brakepower to it.

I'm gonna try it too

joshinthecity

Get back to us when you do..
If you're not completely blown away by the Monoblocs.. you've got a little air in the system.
Could be the case for lots of us.
If you feel ANY sponginess, bleed them and prepare to be impressed.

No joke, if I had spent 6k on a brake upgrade to get the result I got from bleeding, I would have been VERY happy.
And the brakes weren't bad to start with !

I just fell in love with my bike all over again.

j.

Zoenala

Thanks for the heads up...I had my first track day yesterday and although the brakes were very very good...I started to have some lever fade during the latter laps in each session.

Xbox

I was just telling a friend about my brakes.

I've literally felt my eyeballs heaving out of their sockets with one finger.

God help me the day I grab a handful in anger

Hakosuka

I never understood this. Road / racing, any bike I've ever ridden I have always brake with my full hand. I don't get it how people use the full force of the brakes using just one finger.

Xbox

Which part?

For road applications, there is ample power in your index finger, also plenty of dexterity and feel.

OK, I'm not gonna generate 100% braking force, but then how often do you need that?

duckyduc

easy fix: just tape off the other 4 fingers to the throttle

duckyduc

i agree with Xbox, it's the modulation that i need in brake, Ducati finally gets it that they best brake are not the biggest or strongest

CW AF 03

Make sure you bed the new pads properly or they will glaze. You defintely won't be happy with them if that happens...

zvez

this is odd as I noticed immediately on the pani the brakes were tons better than my streetfighter (which are superb as well)

Ryan

Does anyone else's brakes squeal or almost vibrate under hard braking like mine? Also going to try to bleed the brakes thanks for sharing

Cloner

I've roadraced for &$_#Y* years (OK....like 25, damnit) and during all that time I've never used more than two fingers to brake. I think this came about so that I could more easily blip the throttle on downshift (before the advent of slipper clutches....you remember those days, don't you?!?) without upsetting the chassis by tranmsitting that blip to the brake lever. Somewhere along the way I adapted to a single finger (probably in the mid 90s when I got my first set of Brembos), so my current technique is to lay my index finger on the lever...usually up near the pivot....and use my middle finger to brake. The index finger does nothing and the middle provides plenty of umph for brake modulation.

Before you ask....yes. I have big hands....along with a big everything else...which is why I'm not a world famous, championship winning road racer.

The brakes on the 1199 are the best streetbike brakes I've ever used, and I could argue the best brakes PERIOD. They don't have the bite of several racing setups I've used, but they modulate beautifully!

AntiHero

Yes. It's not quiet a squeal, though. More like a hum.

And yeah--I bled my brakes (and clutch) and it made a huge difference. Bled the clutch twice, actually....seemed to be a lot of air in there.

zvez

Scott, very much a newbie doing track days. On the street I always cover the brake for emergency stops.

In your opinion is it best NOT to cover your front brake on the track, ie moving the finger(s) to the lever only when readying to brake?

jyli19

you never had to blip the throttle while kicking down gears while braking? if you got an alternate technique, please do share

jarelj

Use the clutch, most professional racers don't blip the throttle on downshifts. I used to blip until I did a Pridmore school when I first started racing, and learned the "right" way, and have never blipped again on the track. Go to YouTube and search "Pridmore Downshift".

jyli19

i been trusting the slipper clutch with the 1199. But with older bikes, I have always blipped the throttle.

Are you suggesting this can be done on non-torque limiting clutch bikes as well? Or just using the clutch to modulate the back torque, wouldn't that burn out the clutch?

AntiHero

I'm going to have to do that search. If I downshift and am completely upright the slipper clutch does everything for me. But even if I'm at a 5 degree angle and not even charging aggressively the back end slides out dirt-track style. Not sure how rev matching is a bad idea, but google here I come.

AntiHero

From Jason Pridmore himself:

"Getting down to 2nd gear while heavy braking sometimes requires a blip as my RPMs are going down so fast it is needed. Listen and you will hear that."

Other than that, the technique is to 1) pull the clutch in maybe only an inch (never to the bar), 2) downshift really early--as soon as you start to decelerate; 3) release the clutch slowly. And sometimes blip if all of the above happens too fast.