Bullet Brake, or: Your motorcycle brake can do more

Testing the smart banjo bolt from Bullet Brake – it solves a problem well known by drivers of electric motorcycles. Installation on the Zero SR/F and some experiences in the Alps.

Before you read, please note: this post was translated with the help of Deepl.
If you find any errors – please have fun first and then give me a hint.

Here I am, with my beautiful Zero SR/F. I’ve reached my photo spot on the mountain, parked under a huge panorama, wanting to start taking pictures of the baby-blue colored bike.

The picture request requires parking close to the abyss, the photo spot is slightly sloping. No problem, put in first gear… oh. There it is again, the weak point of the electric motorcycles from Energica and Zero: they roll away on sloped terrain, because there is no gear. A bad feeling of disturbance when your own motorcycle can plunge into the depths at any time.

It goes downhill –
 how to park?

I could put a stone under a wheel, or tie a cable tie around the brake lever. Often I put a glove over the throttle and brake lever to secure the bike. But if photos of the right side of the bike are to be taken, a condom-like glove put over the throttle handle disturbs the picture. And since I have been riding handlebar-end mirrors on my Zero, the glove solution is no solution anymore.

From the USA comes a more elegant solution than gloves or rubber wristbands, and it is called “Bullet Brake”: a cleverly designed banjo bolt for the brake pump with an integrated and externally operated piston.

It has a noble touch, is finely anodized and very light. My guess is very close: aluminum. I’d like to have a well-dimensioned and sturdily constructed brake system on my motorcycle – but I’ll make an exception for the Bullet Brake. And: the colorful retrofit hollow screws from the other accessorie stores are also much lighter than the original ones.

I can’t read the detailed assembly instructions, which are printed in a rather small font, due to the fact that presbyopia is developing very well. Instead, there are several videos on the manufacturer’s website that explain assembly and use in a short and painless manner.

Disassembly of the original banjo bolt directly on the motorcycle works as shown in the video. The original sealing rings go into the trash, new rings, matched to the Bullet Brake hollow bolt and even with a small rubber seal are included. After a few moments the Bullet Brake is mounted, but there is no indication of the necessary tightening torque. No problem if you have appropriate experience and feeling.

The brake system wants to be bled after this action. However, it doesn’t work as easy as shown in the video – simply pressing the Bullet Brake button several times and watching the air bubbles rise into the reservoir. So I choose the proven way via the bleeder screw and afterwards I am happy about a harder pressure point than before.

Now with parking brake –
 thanks to Bullet Brake

That’s all there is to it. The button on the Bullet Brake is extended and the brake does just what it did before. The highlight is the parking function: when the brake lever is pulled, it can be locked by pressing the Bullet Brake button. After a few tries I find out how much pressure the lever needs to hold the bike securely when the Bullet Brake is activated.

Releasing the parking brake is even easier: a pull on the brake lever, slightly stronger than when locking, pushes the piston out of the banjo bolt with a click and releases the brake. A practical gadget, not only for photo-shooting on the mountain – but be careful: it is NOT an immobilizer or safety device! If funny contemporaries get the idea to play with the brake levers of steeply parked motorcycles, the way into the abyss is free again.

Where to buy?

The Bullet Brake comes for almost every motorcycle – provided with a hydraulic brake system *g* – from Bullet Brake (USA). You’ll find a database with the different motorcycle models – making sure that the threads of the brake pump and the Bullet Brake still fit together even after the purchase. Currently, you can choose between two colors – silver and black – and the price is an imho ambitious $119.95.

As an Italian, I can’t answer whether the Bullet Brake has to go the way of the critical TÜV view or has to be entered in the vehicle documents. Anyway – on my Zero SR/F the thing remains mounted as an “original part”.

IMPORTANT: If you don’t know anything about your brake system, contact a specialist for installation!

Please note:
the Bullet Brake was sent to me for free at my request, so this post is [… Sponsored Content …].

• Bullet Brake – The Original Motorcycle Parking Brake
• Bullet Brake @ Facebook
• NYA Parts (Online Shop)

Perfectly matching