Rear brake

[Barrel]

Thanks for suggestion. I am hoping it will get better as the rear pads and disc continue to wear in. If not I will start with a change of pads first.

[kman0066]

My thoughts on the read brake so far. I started off and immediately thought, wow, these brakes aren't as great as everyone is saying they are. But after a few miles they are bedding in and feeling much better. I think I'll still want some more aggressive pads and some better feeling levers, but otherwise they seem like they'll do the job. As for the rear brake, it feels like it's got a super-stiff return spring on it. I haven't looked too closely, but I wonder if a lighter return spring would be sufficient and would help with pedal feel for me. The power is there for it, it's just hard to judge the engagement.

[mortbike]

Are alternative stronger rear. Brake pads available?
Thanks
Mort

[57x]

Frankly, i think it is the pads. I'm going to put on some Vesrah or Carbon Lorraine while i have the wheels off installing new tires.

One thing I noticed is the ABS pump is above the radiator. It helps the front brakes but that is a long way to push to the front of the bike all the way to the back.

[mortbike]

I would love to put Vesrah street HH pads on front and rear (though stock fronts are very good!) as I
have experienced great improvements with them on several other bikes. My Vesrah dealer could not find a listing for the H2SX and is curt doing some research to try and find a part number. According to my Kawasaki dealer, the SX OEM part numbers for the rear pads are different than the regular H2 or H2R. I have had some sport bikes come from the factory with GG rated rear pads and an upgrade to HH solved the problem.
Mort

[stk0308]

It could be the pad materials in the back. I feel the lever has a bit of a long travel before it begins to engage too. I should probably adjust it up a bit to see, but I'm rarely using the rear for heavy braking. More for finishing a stop, and hill holding. Any trail braking I do is though the front, as I got used to front trail braking to get a sharper turn-in from my previous Sprint ST. I have found to need that a bit less with the H2 SX.

[Barrel]

It could be the pad materials in the back. I feel the lever has a bit of a long travel before it begins to engage too. I should probably adjust it up a bit to see, but I'm rarely using the rear for heavy braking. More for finishing a stop, and hill holding. Any trail braking I do is though the front, as I got used to front trail braking to get a sharper turn-in from my previous Sprint ST. I have found to need that a bit less with the H2 SX.

Adjusting the rear brake pedal was one of the first changes I did. Raising it (around 6mm at end) allows more leverage onto cylinder as it is then a lot closer to a 90 degree 'push' into brake cylinder when applied. Also allows reduced travel and gives much better leverage from the foot/ankle too. When new I found the rear brake useless now with this change and rear fully bedded in, I find it sufficient for most duties.

[57x]

This makes it easy. Our rear caliper is a Ninja 300 front caliper. The front caliper is 08+ CBR1000RR front calipers. I will have new Carbon Lorraine pads on it front and back tomorrow.

[Rickifumi]

On motorcycles with slipper clutches like this one, is using the rear brake activating the slipper function? If so, by subtracting some engine braking it is reducing the total deceleration available. That might explain why the rear brake feels flat in its response and power.

[57x]

On motorcycles with slipper clutches like this one, is using the rear brake activating the slipper function? If so, by subtracting some engine braking it is reducing the total deceleration available. That might explain why the rear brake feels flat in its response and power.

I have the same slipper clutch on the Ninja 1000 with an Ivan's tune. The two together make almost no engine braking. The rear brake is fine on the Ninja 1000.