Hey Bill, you've really got me worried this time .......

[Linegeist]

You want to be stunned? Wait until the rear brake siezes up while at speed. Happens more often than I care to think about.

Just as I was getting pleasantly complacent!

I've read this about 10 times now - and it sounds like one of those little "gotcha's" I'd really like to know about - preferably before it sneaks up and bites me in the butt!

At 70mph .................

As my Skorpion is now 15 years old, and I haven't yet had the time (or reason) to strip and overhaul the rear hydraulic system, any chance you could share with us what's likely to happen here?

Pretty please .....................

[Bill Jurgenson]

If you are a sunny weather rider and never hose the bike down with a highpressure thingy, probably never - probably.
It happen to me in the first weeks: no salt no high pressure but incorrectly set brake lever (factory? shop?). It happend to a friend of mine this spring on a newly built up bike (i.e. so winter salt etc yet) on the expressway, luckly not at speed but in a one lane stretch being worked on. very impractical.

You can feel the bike starting to get sluggish, slower, the pedal with decidedly less movement, then none at all.
As said, it is almost always the pump and not the caliper. The alloy used is extremely suseptible to corrosion and this furthered by the very porous. poorly finished bore of the pump. The piston does not return far enuough to open the relief hole.
The whole lever assembly of the Skorpion is so clumsy/blacksmithy that (far too) many attempt to get some precision by readjusting the plunger and in so doing get the piston too high at rest. This is not the fault of Grimeca of course, and this can happen with Brembo elements too, if the travel is set too close, something that happens too often up front, i.e. to those trying to get what they suppose to be racing feel.

[Linegeist]

Phew! Thanks Bill......... I had visions of some hidden design gremlin that'd pitch you off (or it least generate a heart-stopping fishtail) without warning with a totally locked up back wheel.

Interesting explanation though. When I rescued my Skorp' from moronsville, the clearances you describe had been 'adjusted' to give minimum 'slop' at the levers. In the case of the front brake, it wasn't recuperating at all (exactly as you describe) and the lever was back to the bar before any braking effort was felt - and was one of the reasons I got the poor old bike cheaply. I ended up grinding down the contact pad on a new lever just to give me a couple of thou' clearance at rest, and the front brake now works perfectly.

Predictable, the back brake had been wound up tight too I simply backed that off until it had some free play. Everything else seems pretty much OK.

Thanks Bill. As always, most appreciated!