Bike fell over - landed on brake lever

[sbaker3]

In the recent storms my GN250 was blown over while parked. Most of the impact was taken by the front brake lever.

I've replaced the lever and the brakes feel fine except that the now the brake engages sooner so it feels like my fingers are too short to get decent leverage.

Is it possible that air was forced into the line when it fell? Time to bleed the brakes?

cheers

[Wasp]

very possible, bleed your brakes anyway.

[DemonWolf]

Have you checked the play of the actual break lever? It maybe that you use to have more play than now... check it out.

and normally (in my experience) if there is air in the brake line.. it tends to feel sluggish.. not more responsive. though I could be wrong.

[DemonWolf]

oh.. and welcome to KB =)

[merv]

Yep if it had air in it would feel spongy. I suspect the old lever was already bent slightly closer to the handlebar and the new one is not or the new one is a mongrel part and not OEM so its a slightly different bend. However, does the GN have any sort of lever adjustment on it? Maybe its just not set right for you now.

[sbaker3]

The brake doesn't feel more spongy than it used to - it may have already been a bit spongy since I've nothing to compare to . There is definitely less travel in the lever before it grabs.

I'm actually OK with the starting position of the lever - it lines up with my top knuckles as the old one did. but there is now so little travel before grabbing that I can't get a really good grip.

[sbaker3]

Another possibility is that the fall actually knocked some bubbles out of the brake line, which is a bit tragic.