Birel Brake System

[Graham Odell]

hi,
I hope someone can give me some advice on the Birel brake system...
Its on an R32 racing Rotax MAX.

I have the older black calipers, not the newer blue one.
I'm having problem with the pins sticking and/or seizing causing a lot of pains with the brake... the pads wear very quickly because of it as they are not sitting straight or not returning.

I have to strip the brake between each day out, and even still for some reason last weekend I noticed one of the longer pins in the caliper had totally seized in the morning, I had to use a hammer to tap it out, it was stuck pretty bad and the brake pad on this side was worn considerably after 3, 8-9 minutes practice runs before I noticed the problem.

This is the first brake system I've had that needed so much maintenance, is this normal or should I be doing something differently?
How long (on average) should brake pads last? The don't seem to wear quickly if I have the brake just cleaned but if anything sticks during a heat, I need a new set of pads soon after.

Any ideas guys? I hope someone might have seen this kind of thing before and can advice me...

Thanks!!!

[Garry Lobaugh]

This is an urgent situation. Give me more details of the chassis model. The R32 will have letters after it on the bearing hanger upright that has your serial number and the model number.

I'd take the complete system off the kart.. master, lines and caliper. Then run over to your dealer who sold the kart and then call me straight away. We'll try to get to the bottom of this issue immediately.

In terms of brake pad life. Every driver is different. There is no general rule. I do know that the front running guys pay close attention to the pads. They rotate them between race events to create more even wear. They also sand them to knock the glaze off the pads.

Please start with your dealer or call me direct. Have the brake system near by to discuss.

[Graham Odell]

It is a bit of an awkward situation, I'm actually racing in Europe, not the US. My local dealer has looked at the system shortly after I got the kart and showed me how the little bits and pieces were quite "dirty" looking, he cleaned them all up and put in new springs, etc... We also decided to install a light spring along the long pin going horizontally, through both pads... this has helped enourmously because it keeps the pads "straight" rather than angled inwards at the front.

This keeps it all aligned fine as long as everything is fine and free, it just takes constant dismantling and maintenance to ensure nothing is hindering its performance.

The chassis was bought 2nd hand and is an older model it seems looking at the NEW birel chassis on the grid, on the bearing carrier is written R32 Z 051435. Its still very competitive though.

[Garry Lobaugh]

Your request must still go through the dealer. He should ask the factory about the problem. It is possible that the Birel SpA factory has a fix for this situation. In the US any such brake issues were handled by MRP directly with their dealers and to my knowledge we have all systems working here. This is the only advice I can offer. I will forward your comment for further review, but the responsibility in this issue lies with the dealer to make contact with his importer who should know of any troubles like this. There is a solution, but not one that will come from America. Thanks for your response. This settles my mind at ease. Garry

[Graham Odell]

Thanks,
We've sorted the problem more or less. Runs fine now as long is it is cleaned thoroughly if it goes near dust or dirt like in the rain or anything like that... that dirt seems to build up.

Cheers!

[Garry Lobaugh]

Thank your for your positive response.