seattlesucks

Any problems or issues caused by it?

lazn

www.shotimes.com/SHO3brakefluid.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_fluid

Don't.

DOT 2 is essentially castor oil; DOT 3, DOT 4, and DOT 5.1 are composed of various mineral oils, glycol esters and ethers; some are synthetic oil based, and DOT 5 is silicone-based.

seattlesucks

Wait... I may be confused. Which is the one recommended for superhawks? One number lower than that...

superbling

It's on the brake reservoir cap.

seattlesucks

yeah... I don't have a superhawk anymore. The reason I ask, I was using a different brake fluid than the suggested, and I crashed while braking hard. I was wondering if it was possible that the fluid boiled and locked my brakes... was prolly just my fault though.

lazn

You can usually use higher number fluid instead of the lower number, but want to avoid reversing that. I think it calls for DOT4 so you might have had DOT 3 in there, slightly lower boiling point, but bad brake fluid with water in it is more likely to cause problems than the 45 degree difference when both are over 400 F boiling point.

Hawkrider

Boiling will cause the lever to get soft/move to the grip. That's what you call brake fade. Hate to say it but it was probably you. Maybe tires or something on the road though, too.

SuperLoud

One possibility

I've heard that if you brake hard on a superhawk and you weigh over 150 lbs the front forks can bottom out and cause you to lose control.

can anyone else confirm this?

dantropolis

I believe 3 and 4 are compatible, some bottles are even labeled DOT 3, 4. Do not mix 5 with anything else. I've been told that switching to 5 requires that you fully drain and flush the entire system.
I'm betting you had 3 in there instead of 4, in my experience it's pretty tough to find 2.
And it's gravity and momentum that caused your crash.

Mick-e

Yes braking hard can bottom out the forks transferring more energy to the front tire, and thereby losing traction. How much you weigh does effect that, but there is not defined number.
DOT2?
Where on earth would you even find that? I don't even know where to buy DOT3. I use DOT4 on all my street bikes, and DOT5.1 on my race bike.

seattlesucks

I can confirm it. That's exactly what happened. The forks bottomed out, and next thing I knew there was no more bike. ground sky ground sky ground sky ground sky ground sky groud sky sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide..... repeat....