Front brake light illuminates too late

[2WCaptain]

Hi guys, new to this forum although I've already found plenty of great information and troubleshooting on here! Thanks for that

 

Now to my recently discovered issue on my '19 GT... when I apply the front brake, the brakes are clearly applied before the tail light illuminates. I can easily hear the two clicks on the brake switch, first one being the cruise control disengaging and second one being the tail light. However that second click seems to happen quite a bit too late therefore I'm braking with no brake light until I apply more pressure on the lever.

 

Wondering if I'm the only one around here with this issue? Went to the dealer and estimated the front brake light switch has a "normal" behaviour. To me this doesn't sound normal and quite dangerous when feathering the front brake in traffic. They said they can't do anything about it.Any feedback from you guys is appreciated before I dive in and open this switch for some fine tuning surgery 🤣

 

[PhotoAl]

There is a recall in Canada and I think in Europe for the front brake switch.  I'm expecting a recall for the brake switch.  Here is the thread:  

 

Checked my switch, without turning the bike on, and best I can tell the switch clicks just as the brakes are right at the point of engagement or barely applied.  Going for a ride later today and will check more carefully.  When riding I seldom just barely apply the front brake. When I want to just to turn the brake lights on I use the rear brake, like coasting up to a stop.

 

EDIT:  Just noticed you are in France so maybe a recall underway - someone thought it was imminent in the Netherlands.

Edited December 10, 2020 by PhotoAl

[2WCaptain]

I heard of the upcoming recall through that thread but I believe it only deals with a cruise control related issue.

 

From what I could tell the other brand new Tracers on the showroom floor had the same brake switch "sequence" and delay between the 2 clicks. However the pressure on the levers did came later than on my bike so it seemed like it matched the click better. 

I've started to use the rear brake as well for that same purpose but to me that's not a definitive fix. Interested to hear more experiences from other GT riders on the front brake switch.

[PhotoAl]

I checked mine after riding it today.  Brake light comes on just as brakes start to engage - IMO perfectly matched.  The brake light switch is actuated after the cruse control switch.  Cruse control comes off very nicely but I treat it as flashing the brake lights when I take it off cruse control using the brake switch.  If I don't want the brake lights flashing when I drop it off cruise control I turn it off using a different method.  I've turned it off by rolling the throttle closed as well.

 

I really like cruise control and have used it extensively on long rides.  Although Ive found I'm not as good at keeping a steady speed with it off as I was on previous bikes.  Keeps me out of trouble, more than once I have my ZX6R 636 creep up towards 100 on the interstate!  I'm not talking about a zip up there but just rolling along on a long ride on the interstate and a moment of inattention to speed and oops I'm there.  On that bike 100 mph didn't feel different than 70 mph - it was actually smoother.

[2WCaptain]

Thanks for your answer PhotoAl. Then I guess my dealer has its own definition of "normal" functioning. I will open the switch and see if I can spot something unusual inside there.

[skipperT]

Are your levers stock?

front brake switches aren’t adjustable, rears can be tweaked to come on a bit sooner or later as the rider wishes. I set them to illuminate the lamp just as the lever is pushed downward. I don’t care if the brake pads are actually engaging anything at that point - it’s the pedal travel/light functioning that’s important - as well as a clean release (no sticking on). 

-Skip

[daboo]

You'll think I'm crazy, but that's okay.  My BMW F800GT is that way...and that's the way I like it.

I want my brake light to come on if I'm braking hard, but if I'm not braking hard...I'd rather the person behind me not have that extra bit of warning.  It sounds kind of counter-intuitive...but read on.

I started riding again in 2006 after a long break and I tried to be very conscientious the first year.  Even if I was only using engine compression to brake, I tried to warn the driver behind me by lightly applying my brakes.  

I got a lot of people tail-gating me.  They were counting on me to warn them that I was slowing down.

After @15K and a set of brake pads, I quit doing that.  I simply watched to see if the driver behind me noticed.  Whoa!  What a difference.  After the first or second time of slowing down, they backed off.  Way back.  Like 4-8 seconds back.  No way did they want their eyes to be glued to my brake light...especially in the morning.

It's like the reaction you make when you realize the car in front of you doesn't have working brake lights.  What do you do?  You back way off.  It gives you more reaction time to realize that the car ahead of you is slowing down.  And hopefully...someone else will slide into that open space...and now they have to deal with it.

When I gave the driver behind me that warning that I was slowing down...they took advantage of it...and tail-gated me.  When I took away that advantage...they backed off...and I was actually safer.

Chris

[mellow]

That's an odd scenario... I'd prefer them to come on as soon as I hit either brake.  Especially since, being on a motorcycle, you can brake at shorter distances.  If someone was tailgating me I think I'd use the throttle to get further ahead of them or show down enough that they didn't want to use me as a rabbit anymore and pass me.

I haven't found any noticeable lag between when I press on the foot brake and I see my brake like go on.

[2WCaptain]

7 hours ago, skipperT said:

Are your levers stock?

front brake switches aren’t adjustable, rears can be tweaked to come on a bit sooner or later as the rider wishes. I set them to illuminate the lamp just as the lever is pushed downward. I don’t care if the brake pads are actually engaging anything at that point - it’s the pedal travel/light functioning that’s important - as well as a clean release (no sticking on). 

-Skip

I had evotech levers installed but put back the stock brake lever to make sure that wasn't the culprit.

I've set the rear brake switch exactly as you did. I wish that the front brake switch was adjustable as well.

[PhotoAl]

Looked at my switch again and the way it is mounted it is possible that loosening the mounting bolt you might be able to slightly reposition the switch so that the switch is actuated slightly sooner.  Not sure how tight the mounting tolerances are.

[2WCaptain]

So I ended up opening the switch and did the exact same procedure described by Nick from Stoltec for the MT10 radial master cylinder kit install (see the final part of the video below). Note that I used a shim of my own that I had in stock.

This allowed me to adjust the timing of the two switches - cruise control and brake light - as I want them to be. Not a difficult task but I almost lost those damn springs inside at least 3 times when they flew off across the garage 😂

Very happy with the result now as the brake light illuminates a hair after the cruise control disengages, which is right at the moment the front brakes are applied.

If any of you have the same issue, I suggest you first go to the dealer and check if your front brake switch is faulty or was assembled incorrectly. If the switch itself is OK then if you're a bit OCD like me you can dive in this little procedure above.

 

[NYTracer]

Today I had the switch changed out by the dealer, they actually sent the tech up an hour from their shop to do it in my garage.  I just purchased the bike last month and only rode from the dealer to my house so I haven’t had a chance to play with it due to our crappy weather, but after he left I was looking at the bike wondering where I would install a set of DRL’s I’m planning on and noticed this brake light issue when I checked to see if they were working properly.  This is a concern for me as well as I would rather have the brake light illuminate as soon as I put pressure on the brake.

On my previous bike, a Yamaha as well, the light came on with the slightest touch of the brake lever, granted it did not have cruise control, but it worries me enough to do the steps in the video to fix it.

Thanks for finding a fix!👍