Zongshen Sierra 200/Chinabike Front Brake Caliper Inspection

[SpudRider]

The Zongshen Sierra 200 uses the same front brake caliper as the Hyosung GF125 motorcycle. I believe that several other Chinabikes might also use this same front brake caliper. Searching the internet I discovered the Hyosung GF125 Service Manual.

http://www.chinariders.net/transfer/...NUAL-GF125.pdf

Complete instructions for inspecting, maintaining and repairing the front brake caliper follow page 6-22 of this service manual. Inspecting the front brake caliper on my Sierra 200, I discovered several things. First, I will relate the good news.

My brake caliper uses Vesrah SD-312 brake pads. After 8,500 miles the semi-metallic pads on my motorcycle showed very little wear (less than 0.5 mm). These brake pads grip very well, and they have not damaged my brake rotor. This front brake caliper is very robust; it is also simple to inspect and maintain.

Now, I must relate the bad news. Unlike the Vesrah pads, my OEM pads do not have a wear groove that indicates when the pads need to be replaced. Therefore, I needed to remove the pads from the caliper to determine how much they had worn. Removing the brake caliper from the front fork of my motorcycle was very troublesome. The original bolts holding the caliper in place were very small, and they employed a 5.0 mm Allen head. I found it impossible to loosen the bolts, even with an impact driver. To successfully remove the bolts I needed to drive the heads counterclockwise with a hammer and chisel.



Since the bolt heads were so small, I needed to hammer away quite a bit before I could get a good purchase on them with my Vise-Grips. Even then, I needed to use a lot of effort as I slowly loosened the bolts in the confined space between the fork and the brake caliper. Upon removal I discovered that the bolts were not stripped, and they did not show any signs of rust.

After I finally got the caliper removed, the rest of the inspection was very easy. I loosened the bolt and removed the Brake Pad Housing Cover, located at the right side of the brake caliper in the photograph below. After the Housing Cover is off, the brake pads easily come right out.



The disassembled brake pads, housing cover, original bolt and replacement bolt are shown below.



The rotor sides of the brake pads, displaying little wear, are shown below.



After reassembling the brake caliper, I remounted the unit using hardened, hex head bolts to replace the originals. The new bolts went in smoothly; the caliper is now firmly reattached.



Since my brake pads have worn so little, I expect that most Sierra 200 owners can ride many miles before they need to remove the front brake caliper. However, be forewarned before you decide to tackle this project.

Perhaps the original bolts bent a little under the force of braking. If they can easily remove the original bolts, owners of new Sierra 200 motorcycles might want to replace the stock bolts with hardened, hex head bolts before the original bolts bend.

I intend to check my new bolts on a regular basis, and replace them if they begin to get too tight.

Spud