Front Brakes

The front brake system of the bike was not bad at all. It was full of old, nasty fluid, but no leakage and the pads had some life left. However, the rubber seals are nearly 30 years old, so for the sake of safety I wanted to replace them. The rubber hoses were cracked, and since the bike is fitted with shorter bars, were too long as well.

The master cylinder had a little grime inside, but no pitting. I bought a genuine Suzuki kit for it, and the quality and completeness of the parts was not lacking. A bit of scotchbrite and everything was as good as new. The master cylinder paint is suffering a bit, but not enough to warrant repainting. Possibly later...

The calipers were in good condition too. The pistons were a little tough to remove, but I did the channelock trick again (shhhhh!) and they came out with only a little drama. Each caliper took about 15 minutes to rebuild with all new seals and some new EBC brake pads. They're a nice, lightweight design for a '70s bike. Worlds better than the junk calipers found on some Hondas from the period.

Like with the rear brakes, I went to Earl's for new braided hoses. The stock system has three lines - the first one runs from the master cylinder to a tee on the lower triple clamp. Two more lines run from the tee down to the calipers on each side of the front fork. For simplicity's sake, I replaced them with two lines directly from the master cylinder to each caliper. The smaller braided lines fit easily within the stock hose brackets and work well. The little rubber boot doesn't fit over the long banjo bolt at the master, but it's not a necessary part anyway.

I installed the master cylinder and hoses, but not the calipers since the forks are not ready. I finally found some nice fork tubes on ebay - when they get here I can rebuild the forks and install the calipers and wheel.
In the meantime I'll keep working on the fuel system, cosmetics and a few other parts

Rear Brakes

The rear brake system was completely rotted out on the bike when I got it - the master cylinder had leaked out all of the brake fluid, the caliper was seized and the pads were worn almost to the backing plate. in addition, the rear brake line was suspect simply because of its age. (The shop manual recommends replacement every 2 years!)

I removed the entire system and stripped it down for a rebuild. The master cylinder looked OK, there was some tiny pitting on the inside of the bore, but a little scotchbrite cleaned it right up. The piston and seals would be replaced with a rebuild kit, so it didn't matter what condition they were in.

One side of the rear caliper came apart easily, but the other piston was stuck in its bore. Normally I would use compressed air to blow it out of the caliper body, but since I don't have a compressor at home I used a pair of Channelocks. it's a brute-force way to do it, and can cause damage to the piston if you're not careful so I don't normally recommend it.

Both pistons had very minor pitting - not enough to reject them. With new seals this caliper should work nicely, with no leaks or sticking problems.

I ordered the parts to rebuild the system from Motostiles in Lawndale. They were very helpful, but I later learned that OEM parts from a mail-order Suzuki dealer would have been cheaper.

The rear brake hose is a $35 part from Suzuki, so i brought the original down to Earl's in Lawndale, near where I work, and had them make up a replacement in stainless braided teflon hose. I've gone this route on most projects I've done, and I'm always happy with the results. At $36, it was no more expensive than the overpriced original, and should last much longer.


I assembled the brake system onto the bike and did a little cleaning in preparation for installing the new rear tire and wheel.