No Brakes when very cold

[race24x]

Has anyone else experienced a lack of brakes on a very cold day when you first start off? On mine no matter how hard I squeeze it wont stop I have to warm up the rotor to get any brakes at all. Once I am riding no problems it is only when I first get on sled in the morning when it is below 0

 

[DMCTurbo]

Yes I have noticed this a couple times. I just drag the brake a few seconds to get some heat in it then its all good. I'm thinking there likely is a frost layer on the rotor which is causing it to slip until heated up.

 

[race24x]

I just have never seen this before. That makes sense but even wet riding it stops. Only when it is super cold. scared me the first time.

 

[Turboflash]

Moisture in brake fluid? Any chance that's causing pistons to stick on cold mornings? Owner's manual recommends changing brake fluid every 1,000 miles.

 

[hellflyer]

Yes I have noticed this a couple times. I just drag the brake a few seconds to get some heat in it then its all good. I'm thinking there likely is a frost layer on the rotor which is causing it to slip until heated up.

I agree! Morning frost is what I thought when I noticed it

 

[race24x]

I can try that I have to change the rotor out anyway. The rotor looks like crap. The coating is coming off

 

[Motorhead]

I have not had that problem race24x, but if you do change out your brake fluid, when filling with new, You may want to use the bottom up method, by filling up your system through the bottom bleeder screw with a brake bleeder or just a cheap oil skirt can worked fine for me. I think it cost me $11 for the skirt can at a local auto parts store.
As many on here have stated, just use that method and let it set once full while tapping the oil system lightly. Add cap, bleed it once or twice and refill the reservoir to full level and brake lever will be just as light to the touch as before.
Some have reported that by just filling the reservoir to fill causes lots of trapped air problems, and thus the brake lever will have too much travel in it.

 

[race24x]

Thank you Motorhead. I havent had much trouble after I warm the brakes up, but I will be replacing the rotor so that will help me. The brakes feel good once they are working just the first squeeze or two on super cold days. Like I said the first time it scared the crap out of me.

 

[Motorhead]

Yes I can imagine that would cause a slight panic and putting your feet down to stop would do nothing at all.
Ha Ha, have seen some novices do that when they panic!!

 

[budman 1000]

Has anyone else experienced a lack of brakes on a very cold day when you first start off? On mine no matter how hard I squeeze it wont stop I have to warm up the rotor to get any brakes at all. Once I am riding no problems it is only when I first get on sled in the morning when it is below 0

I have experienced similar on cold mornings, but mine acts like there’s a lack of oil in system, first brake lever squeeze lever goes to bars, next squeeze lever goes about 3/4 of normal travel, and third squeeze back to normal. This only happens on very cold mornings on my sled! Now I always check my brakes before moving the for time of a ride.

 

[race24x]

I just kept pumping the brakes they were hard and eventually stopped me but the pucker factor was about a 5 I wasnt going real fast yet