weak brakes on a fzr250

[damz]

in the middle of fixing up my fzr250 and alls going well apart from the brakes are rather naff at the moment.

when i pull the lever in i get very little response until its near the bar then it works and usually locks up the front wheel.

theres no leaks as fluid level hasnt gone down

im thinking pistons might be seized however i can only get at one of the callipers atm as the other calliper has seized bolts keeping it on until i get that sorted.

the brake pads have plenty of meat on them still. the master cylinder appears to still be working as far as i can tell.

would seized brake pistons cause this to happen?
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Current Bikes RVF400 - 94
Cars: RX7 FD, Eunos Roadster
Former Bikes: FZR 250R 89, ZX7R 98

[hmmmnz]

may be air in the lines, do you back bleed your brakes?? eg from the bottom to the top??
its by far and away the easiest way, you can buy a syringe off ebay especially for the job (or beat up a druggy in your local park and steal his ) air rises so its a good way to get all the air out.
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the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[Vincent]

[nowhere.elysium]

It can sometimes be bloody hard to tell whether there's a contaminant on the pads or not.
The best process of elimination is to bleed the brakes fully, test them on a short ride, so as to not get into any problems if they're not sorted, then to clean the discs and try some new pads.
If they're contaminated, there's nothing much that can be done about it. You may find some myths about 'boil them in water' or other such witchcraft; it doesn't work. Once they're contaminated, they're buggered.

[Noxious89123]

Are they always like this, or only after you've been riding for a bit?

When i had the pads and discs changed, the guy put one of the pads in on the skew, so it was dragging alot. Caliper got insanely hot and basically boiled the fluid in the front brakes. Lever would come back to the bar with almost nothing happening.

Went straight back and he sorted it out in less than five minutes.
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'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi