Front Brake / Brake Light

HuntWhenever

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Just curious if anyone has ever had an issue with too much brake lever pull before the brake lights came on? I noticed this a few months ago and have been investigating a little since.

I first noticed it when setting in traffic coming home from working late. I noticed the license plate of the car behind me didn't look like it was reflecting a lot of my brake light, and I pulled the front brake lever in further. When I pulled the lever in further, the brake lights came on. I found this quite disturbing, and wondered how often I have been setting at a red light with not brake lights on. I am not too worried about brake annunciation while under way because I always use my front and rear brake, and the rear brake pedal actuates the brake light just fine.

So looking at the front brake lever switch, I can hear it actuating two contacts throughout its range of motion...the second "click" is the brake lights, and I confirmed the first "click" disengages the cruise control (and possibly some of the linked brake logic). I was coming home late tonight again, and had the highway to myself. I could see my brake lights clearly in the mirrors (probably due to my Skene P3 tail lights), and I got a feel for how much front lever I had to pull to get the brake lights to come on. I was under quite a bit of deceleration before the lights came on. This would be really bad for someone who used the linked brakes exclusively and did not use their rear brake pedal.

I'm not sure what corrective action to take at this point. My original thought was to modify the switch or the brake lever contact point to make the switch come on sooner in the stroke, but that idea is out now that I know it's a two-stage switch. My cruise control would be getting "bumped" off every time I hit an expansion joint on the interstate, leading to a discomforting throttle chop.

Has anyone else noticed this? If this amount of brake lever stoke is common, then I can just keep a death-grip on the front brake lever while stopped at stop lights (or keep one foot on the brake pedal). But if others don't have this issue, then it may just be inconsistency in front brake switch's contact tolerance. A new switch could fix that (statistically). I would have to do some measurements on lever pull if someone wants them to compare, but sufficient to say the amount of force to keep the lever at the switch point is pretty stout...like maybe 40% of total brake force.
 

Nikolajsen

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No, on my S10 it actually is vice versa.
The front lever activates the brakelight, before the rear brake pedel does.
 

Juan

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Remove the heel protector to reveal the switch. The switch should be adjustable.
 

gv550

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I went to the garage to check my bike. With my front brake lever set to 90 mm of stroke before it touches the grip, the brake light comes on within 10 mm of movement. With my lever held where it just activates the brake light I can still move the bike around, so my light is on before actual braking occurs.
 

treybrad

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PF TX
I've always thought mine took a little too much pull to activate the light, but it sounds like yours is quite a bit worse. My pads are definitely touching the rotors before the light is activated -- gentle braking such as in a residential neighborhood sometimes isn't enough to trigger it.

Keep us updated if you find an easy solution. I've poked around on mine as well and couldn't come up with a good way to modify or move the switch that would help.

trey
 

HuntWhenever

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Just curious if someone could check something on their motorcycle for me...

Could someone verify that the first contact in their front brake switch disables the cruise control, and the second contact actuates the brake light? I just want to make sure my switch harness isn't wired incorrectly.

Thanks in advance.
 

Jeff Milleman

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There's only an adjustment for the rear BK LT SW and trying mine the front BKS start to engage before the light comes on even after trying to adjust the lever pull. I'll ck the 2018 at the dealer to see how that it works . !! I don't think enough people figured this out or they would have a T,S,B for a new switch , I need to CK mine riding around tomorrow , It may be fine breaking on the road??
 

Cycledude

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Rib lake wi
Sounds like a serious issue, checked the one on my 13 without any cruise control and the brake light comes on way before the brakes start engaging and I’m pretty sure that’s the way yours is supposed to work. But thanks for telling us about the possible issue.
 

TooTall

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I feel like I have the same issue with mine (2018 model). I was lecturing my wife about the need to always squeeze the brake lever a little when slowing down using engine braking to warn traffic behind, when she remarked I never did that myself. I paid attention on the next ride, and over our intercom she told me they never seemed to come on (even when I felt the front dip). Only when squeezing quite hard (say when you're coming to a full stop) the rear brakelight would be activated by pulling the lever.
 
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EricV

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@TooTall and HuntWhenever - Please specify what year your bikes are. Anyone else posting, do the same. This may help identify if this is a specific year or range that potentially has this issue, or if it's just unique to a few bikes. My '12 required very little lever pull to activate the brake lights. My '15 requires very little pull and no actual braking to cause the brake light to come on. Same as others, first switch to disengage the CC, second switch to activate the brake light.

I wonder aloud if the switch protruding pin is damaged or shorter than normal? Anyone with this issue swapped levers?
 

TooTall

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@EricV good idea on the model year thingie, I added my info. It's an 2018.

Here's a picture of the switch, is this the pin that you are talking about? If I pull the lever all the way this one comes out and the lights come on. Then I took a screwdriver and gently pushed this pin back in, that made the light go out.

That would mean that this pin would need to be shorter for the lights to come on earlier, no?

 

EricV

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Yes, that's the pin. No, it needs to be longer so you hit it earlier. My '12 had a rounded end on that pin. The '15 has a rounded end also, and is in contact with the flat part of the lever you show, even when not depressed at all.

In my opinion, your switch pin is damaged and shorter than it should be. Now I'm not sure what's up with your issues.
 
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TooTall

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Hm.

In my picture (with the red circle above) that is how my lever is when I'm braking. So when i brake, the lever pivots on a pin, and the opposite side comes away from the bike. That allows the pin to come out of the bike to a point where it is far enough out top trigger the light.

So when the pin is longer, it will stay depressed longer, it will take longer for the signal to trigger.

When the pin is shorter, it will come away from the bike quicker, and the signal will be triggered earlier.

I just put a felt sticky pad (2mm thick) on the end of the lever so it is between the pin and the lever. I have to squeeze even further to allow the light to come on.

Strange...
 

EricV

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Hm.

In my picture (with the red circle above) that is how my lever is when I'm braking. So when i brake, the lever pivots on a pin, and the opposite side comes away from the bike. That allows the pin to come out of the bike to a point where it is far enough out top trigger the light.

So when the pin is longer, it will stay depressed longer, it will take longer for the signal to trigger.

When the pin is shorter, it will come away from the bike quicker, and the signal will be triggered earlier.

I just put a felt sticky pad (2mm thick) on the end of the lever so it is between the pin and the lever. I have to squeeze even further to allow the light to come on.

Strange...
Strange indeed. I did not move the lever, only looked at it when static. You are correct, the pin comes out to actuate the switches, not as I had suggested, being pressed in.

Which makes your problem even stranger. If your pin is being depressed farther than normal, then shortening the pin may help, but I'd not go there until I understood what was going on better. Have you sprayed some contact cleaner into the pin area? Or perhaps WD40.
 

TooTall

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You had me thinking I had some special one-off Tenere with a completely reversed lever operation there :p

Contact cleaner is the next step. I'll report back when I've had time to play around with it.

It also sucks that the weather is quite bad at the moment here, taking the bike out for a ride to check is not really an option. And you can try to simulate pulling the lever a little bit to flash the cars behind you while sitting in the garage, but that won't give you the same sensation (eg. you won't notice the bike 'diving' when you have to pull too hard).
 

Don in Lodi

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Switch needs some cleaning. That pin should follow the lever just about as far as the lever goes. That air gap your picture shows should not be so large. Did you say you could pull that pin free of the switch? I don't think that should happen either. How close to the grip is your lever getting? You may just have far to little adjustment in place. You should be able to have your fingers under the lever with the brakes fully applied.
 

raynchk

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I was having a problem with CC light flashing and not activating on my 2016. At times brake light was staying on all the time. Dealer replaced switch and so far no problems. I think there's a problem with front brake switch. Yamaha knows about it and should do a recall, IMO.
 
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