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Techno Brake Pedal Slop / Upgrade


ben888
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The rear brake pedal of my '97 Techno has a fair bit of slop on its bush. The bush is also worn but the biggest problem seems to be the pedal 'twists' when you push it down, before it rotates on the bush.

This seems to be caused by wear on the face of the pedal where it contacts the frame inner face. The pedal wear can be seen on the picture here (kind of 10 O'clock from bush hole)

40f178ee644c1338d03f977a12e93a9e.jpg

All this adds up to my pedal travel being excessively long, and adding to the techno rear brake problems!

My questions are...

Has anyone else experienced this, and found a cure.

Is a pedal still available?

Could a rev3 pedal be made or modified to fit, as it has a more substantial bush with roller bearing to prevent twist / slop

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Dang, no love from the board! You seem pretty knowledgable so this probably won't help, but on my '97 I found that you can clean up the bushing that inserts into the inside of the frame. Once I cleaned all of that up I could really crank down the bolt that holds the break pedal on and that took out a lot of the slop, whereas before if it was tight it would bind. For what it's worth my Techno brake works great!

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I've machined the pedal so that the side nearest the frame is flat, and made a nylon spacer to go between the pedal and frame. No slop now!

It locks the back wheel now, still a bit spongy and long travel, I'll have to go for a back brake bleed!! :0

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bled the brake, then a couple days later I notice brake fluid, slightly damp around one of the pistons. Cleaned it off, but it came back a day later!

So... New seals purchased. Stripped down the caliper, carefully cleaned the pistons with an old tooth brush and brake fluid. Removed the old seals and cleaned the groove in the same way. Brake fluid makes an excellent cleaning product for brake parts.

All put back together, leaving out the ball bearing under the bleed nipple. Used a medical syringe to back bleed the system, with the pistons fully home and positioning the caliper in my hand to encourage the upward movement of bubbles.

Once full, I removed the nipple, replaced the ball bearing, and lightly fitted the nipple. Keeping the reservoir full, I let gravity do it's thing, forward bleeding the system, while again, moving the caliper to encourage the air out.

When satisfied that the air was out, I tightened the nipple, cleaned off all external brake fluid from the caliper and refitted, still with the old contaminated pads at this time.

I rode around for 30 mins, then left for a couple of days to ensure no further leaks. I then changed the pads for new, cleaned the disc with alcohol, scuffed lightly with emery paper and put back together.

A little riding to bed it in, and now, with this combined with the pedal bushing, I have an excellent Beta Techno rear brake, that locks easily.

Having done this, I don't believe the techno suffers from an inherently bad back brake. It's just a combination of old age components that need refreshing. After all, Dougie Lampkin won the world title with the Beta Techno...!

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I got rid of my 1999 Techno last year because the back brake would pack in at some point during virtually every one of the 20 or so trials that I entered.

I rebuilt the complete braking system, changing everything for new, apart from the disc. It would still pack in during every trial, leaving me with no back brake and stopping me from finishing. This was my only complaint with the Techno. This was/is a known problem with the Techno. Got fed up with it and bought an Evo. No more brake issues.

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I've heard of lots of cases of dodgy rear brakes on the techno, shame as it's a great bike, even if it is getting old now. A classic one day maybe...??

Stpauls, sorry to hear you had so much trouble. Everything brand new and still it failed every trial.. What was it that was causing the failures? Mine is ok at present, and long may it continue but, any info on you can give me that I can use to help prevent my own failures would be appreciated. ;)

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Re: Techno rear brake packing in.

I would get the rear brake working - it would lock the back wheel if I wanted it to. It would be ok when I practiced. But, at virtually every trial meeting it would begin to fade at some point, then become ineffective, leaving me with no rear brake and so often retiring early. I never solved the problem, so I sold it - for that reason only.

Techno 250 V Evo 250 ?

Evo has a good rear brake.

Evo is lighter, but there is not a lot in it in my opinion.

The Evo's suspension is better, despite the Techno's suspension being rebuilt - the rear shock professionally. This gives you more grip, especially when riding across uneven slopes

The Evo's stickers fall off.

The Evo is happier making tighter turns than the Techno.

Newer engine and drivetrain means the Evo is quieter and smoother.

The Techno's riding position was better (for me) than the Evo's

Virtually the same engine, but the Evo's is smoother, tighter (less miles) and has a power switch for snappier power at higher revs.

The Evo is a better bike - much more reliable, but the performance difference (apart from the brakes) is not "night and day" IMHO

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It's interesting about the weight not being that bigger deal. The only trial bike I've ridden is my techno, and to be honest, my first impressions were "I expected a trial bike to be lighter". Now that I'm used to riding it, it does feel lighter, but I expected the newer bikes, being 10kg or more lighter, to be noticeably easier to hop and handle generally.

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