Hey guys, just noticed a little problem today. Got my new RC51 master cylinder and bled the brakes last week. I'm bringing the bike back out from the winter and turned the key to on without starting the bike and pulled the brake lever but the brake light did not illuminate. Tried swapping the brake switch connectors but no dice, any ideas? Are the RC51 master cylinders supposed to be plug and play with our bikes?

 

The brake cylinder and it's operation has nothing to do with the light really... One can work fine with the other failing...

The M/C is certainly switchable, and as plug and play as it get's, although swapping it but not the calipers is not a very good upgrade as it has the potential to flip you end over forward, as you are reducing lever travel, and feel with the wimpy stock calipers... (caliper and M/C is supposed to be reasonably in balance with each other)

If the brakes works as they should, it's just the switch acting up, swapping the pins makes no difference as it's just a closing switch... It's however identical on the VTR and RC, so just move your old, working one over from the other M/C...

 

check light operation with your rear brake,could be a bad bulb.

 

Rear brake switch never worked since i've had the bike, also have 6 pots up front so got that covered. Thanks for the info i'll swap the switch and hope that fixes it

 

Well, swapped the switch with the old one and still no dice. The tail light comes on when i turn the key but the brake lights don't come on with the break. Is it possible the third filament burned out on both bulbs??

 

why i mentioned use of rear brake.
time for a new bulb.

 

Get yourself a multimeter, so you can check stuff like this... Then you can just measure the switch, and/or the output to the bulb... It's a lot easier than you think...