What Bing and Wolfhound said is correct. The hand brake operates both front and rear and the pedal is an emergency rear brake. I don't know if newer ones are the same, but older ones operated on the engine side of the transmission. That means they had no effect if the tranny wasn't in gear. On the 2-strokes, which don't return to idle as quickly, using the foot brake would slow the motor down to ease shifting from forward to reverse without grinding the tranny.

 

The lever is basically there to add weight. These brakes are the definiton of the word problematic. They will work occasionally, sometimes never. I wouldnt call it an emergency brake...When in an emergency would any of you even think fo relying on that? Personally I'd either try a stunning manuever or ditch because the foot lever isnt stopping anything. If u maintain that brake after every ride you should have no problems but other wise make sure the hand brake works well. Very Well.

 

Like scramblered6910 said i would not rely on that rear brake in an emergency. Mine doesnt work that well and scramblered6910's doesnt work at all. They should but for some reason they suck on both of our machines.

 

Yeh, my rear brake hasn't worked in about 41/2 years. It's a 98 so do the math. It worked for a very short time, the little master cylinder housing beside the lever cracked, so it quit working. Oh well, costs too much to fix and it wasn't worth it to me to start with so....

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Ya its probably the rear brake, it works good for locking up the rear tires and sliding out the backend on loose dirt or ice.

 

I had a scam 400, and never had a problem with the foot brake. As a matter of fact the foot brake work Great! If i was doing 30-40 mph The thing would stop me in well under 900 feet. And if i threw er in reverse at the same time i'll bet i could cut i down to around 700. Whats the problem??
Now take it eazzy guys, member whut yur teecher tolde U, "The only stupid question is the one that never got asked"

 

most of the time,,,,,the seal between the two cylinders,,,,(located in the same housing) (caliper) leak between themselves. Soooo,,,,you may eventually need to use both (the foot brake and hand brake) (for maximum stopping power) as you feel the problem arise (if the handle rebounds when you press the foot lever)

 

basicly it will eventually be two cylinders pushing one brake (if the seal goes),,,,,,you will know this by feeling the displacement between them in your hand and foot

 

that makes sense. Not if u really need that emergency stop on the dime power keep a titanium rod with u and jam it between the back wheel and the floor board...this will not work if u have mud flaps on. But it should stop the machine on the spot and launch u.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]