KLR 250 Project: The Brakes from Hell

Ever since I started riding my lil'KLR, I've been longing for more braking power. Several Internet searches revealed that I was not alone, as the KLR 250 does not have the best front brakes available. Nevertheless, since I was not about to spend hundreds of dollars on a more powerful setup, I continued riding the bike the way it was and being cautious when it came to braking.

It wasn't until I spent 4 straight days on my BMW and then gone back to the KLR, that I began to suspect that something was not right. I mean, the brakes were weak from the start, but they seemed weaker than they should have been.

When I first got the bike back together, I changed the brake fluid and bled all air out of the system. This however, did not improve the brakes (or, rather, the lack of braking power). So, two weeks ago I started messing with it again.

First, I bled the system again, and found no air in the line. Then, I tried changing the pads, thinking that those could cause the issue. Still, there was no improvement. Next i swapped the brake line for a spare one I keep in the garage, but even this did not make any difference. Suspecting a bad master cylinder, I was about to order a rebuild kit, but then I tried crimping the brake line to see if the master cylinder leaked. It did not. Once the line was crimped (with a pair of pliers), the lever was rock-hard and did not go down regardless of the pressure I applied to it. This ruled out the master cylinder as being the culprit.

So, a good master cylinder, new line, new pads, and fresh fluid, and still no improvement. I bled the line again, and again, so many times that I went through 2 cans of brake fluid. I tried bleeding it at the banjo bolts, I tried lifting the caliper above the reservoir, I tried forcing brake fluid through the bleeder and pushing it back to the master cylinder...still, no matter what I did, it did not make any difference.

Finally, I decided to replace all  the crush washers at the banjo bolts. I took the line apart again, and went to my local dealership to get some new washers. Well, they did not have any. Off to the car parts store, where I acquired 4 new copper washers of the right ID (inside diameter). Unfortunately, the OD (outside diameter) was wrong as the car washers were slightly larger.
Not willing to wait for my dealer to obtain the correct washers, I decided to modify the car washers to suit my purpose.

At first, I was going to file the extra material away in a vise, but then I discovered that the ID was the same as the OD of a 1/4" socket. Since I don't own a lathe, I slid the washers onto the socket spaced on both sides with the old, properly sized washers for reference, and then I chucked the whole set up in my drill press. Holding a file against the spinning washers, I was able to change the OD on all four washers at once and still maintain their circular shape.

  After I got the washers to be the right size, I took them off and wet-sanded all contact surfaces with a 600 and 1000 grit sandpaper on glass surface. Here are the four new washers next to the old washer:

Then it was time to put it all back together, using the proper torque values specified by the manufacturer (18ft/lbs at the banjo bolts, and 18 ft/lbs for caliper to fork connection). Here is the master cylinder banjo bolt with the new washers:

Before changing the brake fluid (my third can), I wrapped the threads on the bleeder in teflon tape to ensure an air-tight seal.

Note that I cut the tape at the end of the threads, so it wouldn't seal the bleeding holes.

After going through four reservoirs full of brake fluid, I was sure that there was no air left in the system. Then it was time to test the brakes. I'm happy to say that while the brakes are nowhere near as good as those on my BMW, the braking power has improved significantly.
It seems( with this KLR) that it is always some small, often overlooked thing, that makes the biggest difference.