Rear break question

[lgalang]

Hi guys! The rear breaks of my 800 SS is close to non-existent. My front breaks are feather touch and very responsive. I press real hard on my rear break and I could not get it to lock. Hold on before anyone makes any comment...I know locking the rear tire is dangerous and dumb but it’s at low speed for testing. Other bikes I’ve ridden have stronger rear breaks and locks very easily (15-20mph).

The bike only has 2800 miles and there’s no noise during breaking that indicates pad wear. Is this normal for Ducati - some sort of safety feature that it will only break to its biting power and wont go further if there’s a possibly of locking it? Thanks in advance for your input.

-Lex

[CaliDuc]

In general the rear brakes are useless on the SS. Try bleeding the line a couple of times and see if it gets any better. I NEVER use my rear brake. (Only sitting at a stop on incline/decline) Maybe you can use the driveway and see if it keeps the bike from moving. That will at least tell you if it is working at all. I locked my rear one time in a situation where I wasn't paying attention on an unfamiliar road, going too fast to find out the turn coming up was waaaay sharper than I thought. I think grabbing a handful of front brake helped bring the back up enough to lock it in that situation.

[lgalang]

Originally Posted by CaliDuc

In general the rear brakes are useless on the SS. Try bleeding the line a couple of times and see if it gets any better. I NEVER use my rear brake. (Only sitting at a stop on incline/decline) Maybe you can use the driveway and see if it keeps the bike from moving. That will at least tell you if it is working at all. I locked my rear one time in a situation where I wasn't paying attention on an unfamiliar road, going too fast to find out the turn coming up was waaaay sharper than I thought. I think grabbing a handful of front brake helped bring the back up enough to lock it in that situation.

Thanks for the input CaliDuc. The only time it seems to work is during incline/decline while stopped to keep it from moving. At a very low speed (15) it slows down the bike. Slow is the word, and not stop.
Btw, i'm uploading my gps pics from my camera soon.

[CaliDuc]

Originally Posted by lgalang

The only time it seems to work is during incline/decline while stopped to keep it from moving. At a very low speed (15) it slows down the bike. Slow is the word, and not stop.
Btw, i'm uploading my gps pics from my camera soon.

Sounds like a normal sucky SS rear brake to me. It wouldn't hurt to bleed it just in case. I think they put the rear brakes on these bikes just for looks.
You really don't even need them on there. Front braking is where the stopping power is.

Look forward to the GPS pics and review.

[quickdraw]

mine is the same. i can only get it to lock up while standing on it. that's a good thing, if you ask me.

[blueSS]

I think we've all had this problem. I tried scotchbrite pads on the disk and pads, no improvement, and finally went with a suggestion and changed to some SBS pads. This actually gave decent performance for about $25, but I never use the rear really anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter all that much. Just thought I'd chime in...

[bobducati]

I've always likened rear brakes on Ducati's as dragging a wood stick on the ground.....they're about that effective. And I suspect it's by design. Why waste panic brainbytes modulating two brakes when you can devote them all to the one that does the work.

[lgalang]

Originally Posted by bobducati

I've always likened rear brakes on Ducati's as dragging a wood stick on the ground.....they're about that effective. And I suspect it's by design. Why waste panic brainbytes modulating two brakes when you can devote them all to the one that does the work.

Well said! I guess it’s by design then, knowing now how may owners have the same experience. When you lock your front tire the natural instinct is to release it, which is the correct thing to do. For the untrained rider (experienced rider as well if he panic and forgets) the natural instinct for many is to release a rear lock – which is really bad! I guess we can close this thread since we have a satisfactory response.

[900too]

When bleeding the rear brake, the bleed valve must be at the highest point. On the 900ssie, this necessitated unbolting the caliper from the carrier and putting the caliper on top of the disc so the bleed valve was at its highest point and the pads could still squeeze against the disc. That's the factory manual method anyway and appears to get all the air out when I do it that way.

I believe the 1000 DS's have carriers that now place the brake caliper on top of the disc rather than below like on the 900SSie's? Can't recall what position they placed it for the SS800.

You should be able to lock the rear brake easily on them at 20-30mph.

Rear brakes are good for dabbing just before using the fronts (reduces gyro effect of rear wheel so front doesn't dive as much), on downhill bends under power (to be able to crack the throttle and get weight off front tire), holding the rear down over off-camber rises (again the gyro effect) to name a few instances.....

[lgalang]

I recently bled/replace clutch and break fluids and replaced my rear pads with Double-H series brake pad. The seem to work better now. HH or organic pads are softer and offer an increase of initial bite on the rotors. However they wear faster but are easier on the break rotors because they do not contain particles of metal. Thanks to LT's guide!