Hi guys new to the forum so go easy. Its probably been covered but I cant find anything. The rear brake is shocking on my aprilia rsv 2002. It worked fine when I bought it. Iv bled the whole system and it works better but it is still shocking like it wouldnt stop you if you needed it.
I had the misfortune of owning an Aprilia - a Falco which didn't suffer from your problem but had a lot of others of its own. I was a member of Club Aprilia where the issue of poor back brakes for RSVs was discussed in the forums. They are notorious for being ineffective and difficult to bleed properly, mainly due to the positioning of calipers and bleed nipples.
As well as conventional brake bleeding, you could try a Mityvac (probably spelt wrong) or reverse bleeding where you use a syringe and length of tube to force brake fluid in through the caliper's bleed nipple. Alternatively you could look through Club Aprilia's web site www.clubaprilia.net and see what they have to say on the subject. You could even join and then ask the question. But be warned, they suffer from Emperor's new clothes syndrome where Aprilias can do no wrong and it's probably your fault.
If it's the same as the Brembo job fitted to Ducatis, on some of them there needs to be a clearance between the cam (actuator) and the piston. This allows fluid to return to the piston, otherwise it will get progressively worse until it won't work at all. From what I remember it's 40 thou or 1mm, try adjusting the screw and locknut on the linkage, the problem often occurs when you've repositioned the foot levers.
Hi Arran I had RSV R with same prob.... Fully service calliper, clean ensure pistons free....... Bleed calliper off bike mounts other way up, putting spacer between pads so it will go back on disc when done..... They are bastard to bleed, tried reverse bleeding etc but turning it other way up to bleed sorted it instantly :))
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