Parking Brake Lever

Until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't been on my Swing for over three years, due to life threatening, horrific injuries, sustained in an unrelated accident.

When I bought the Silverwing the Parking Brake Lever didn't hold in the On position.

It didn't bother me because I'd had many bikes and no parking brakes.

Now I would like to fix it, and I have searched the forum, with no success or mention of the lever itself.

I believe the problem is probably a broken spring in the ratchet/pawl, that should catch, and hold the lever position, when you pull it.

Before I begin to remove the pull lever I'd love to hear from anyone who has tackled the problem.

What's going on?  Pull handle it just releases itself.  Do you hear it clicking when pulled ?  

Pull the right cubby-pocket  parking brake is visible from there.   I'm not sure of exact issue but here's a photo from the top of brake.

It might be so far out of adjustment or pads are worn out or caliper is stuck?

It pulls ok but there are no clicks.

The light goes on, and the caliper works, but it won't stay pulled.

As I said earlier, I suspect that the ratchet or pawl mechanism in the pull lever is the culprit.

They do stick so spray with wd40 it will probably free off

I sprayed the lever mechanism (blindly with a straw on the spray nozzle) very liberally with WD40 and pulled the lever incessantly, letting it spring back off, hoping that the chattering would free up the ratchet...………

……………..and surprise surprise...…..it worked.

Ronnie, thanks for the input, it spared me taking the whole lever unit of a not-so-easy location,

another K.I.S.S. solution.

Siataukreg beat me to it. Same thing was happening with my brake lever. Lubed it up and it worked fine. Be well.

I have had my scooter since new in 2012. I VERY seldom use the parking brake, guess I figure it is overkill except in rare instances. Weird thing is last year the dealer was installing tires for me and checked the brakes. They said the brakes were fine except for the parking brake which had some wear on it...not enough to fix but still, the one I don't use is worn?

GHM-PM wrote:

I have had my scooter since new in 2012. I VERY seldom use the parking brake, guess I figure it is overkill except in rare instances. Weird thing is last year the dealer was installing tires for me and checked the brakes. They said the brakes were fine except for the parking brake which had some wear on it...not enough to fix but still, the one I don't use is worn?

When I ordered new pads for mine I was surprise how thin the parking brake was, but then again it's for parking

Just like us old people if you don't use it you loose it.

oldwingguy wrote:

GHM-PM wrote:

I have had my scooter since new in 2012. I VERY seldom use the parking brake, guess I figure it is overkill except in rare instances. Weird thing is last year the dealer was installing tires for me and checked the brakes. They said the brakes were fine except for the parking brake which had some wear on it...not enough to fix but still, the one I don't use is worn?

When I ordered new pads for mine I was surprise how thin the parking brake was, but then again it's for parking

That may be the key, perhaps the tech didn't realize how thin the pads were supposed to be.

I guess the reason that the new pads are so thin is because, as often mentioned here on the forum, many people don't use the parking brake. The pads last for ages. Honda foresaw this human trait and so saved money and resources in production. They then invested heavily in WD-40......didn't they?

Loosemarbles wrote:

I guess the reason that the new pads are so thin is because, as often mentioned here on the forum, many people don't use the parking brake. The pads last for ages. Honda foresaw this human trait and so saved money and resources in production. They then invested heavily in WD-40......didn't they?

The purpose of the parking brake is to stop the bike from rolling and not to slow movement. It should not wear for the life of your Swing, unless you have a habit of driving with the brake on.

IF you drive off with the parking brake applied you don't rack up miles on the odometer

Wouldn't the red light be visible, so you shouldn't get very far without noticing that...……….long before you notice that the odometer isn't registering any miles.