g'day boys ,im changing me brake pads and fluids, cant get dot 5  around my way anywhere, local yamaha shop keeps 5.1 for harley customers, i ask 3 times is it the same and meets the spec for h/d he said 100 %. is it cool ta replace me fluids with dot 5.1 instead of dot 5, goodonya burt

goodonya piggy ,ive got the 5.1 if someone that knows tells me its no good i roll down the hill ta see ya old mate

dont mix the two it will turn to mud  ,use dot 5 if that is the spec for your bike  belray is the good stuff , i have mixed dot 5 and 5.1 before and it turned to shit about a mth later  seals started leaking in my master.dot 5 has silcon in it higher boil temp and wont hurt paint work by memory

And we should ask, what DUMB ASS decided to call it 5.1 FFS
Dot 5 Silicon Based- Never mix.
Dot 3 4 5.1 Glycol based and can be mixed, but don't anyway !

most parts guys dont give a shit ,dont work on bike/cars just look into a computer and say that will work ,thats the same mistake i made too kiwidave

good onya boys , i asked and i asked  the bloke ,knew in me guts it were;nt right, thats why i never raced home and did it , iknew ya could not mix em ,but was worried about it making every thing leak, , goodonyas and happy new yr, burt!

Had some no clue salesperson at an auto store try to palm me a bottle of 5.1 when I wanted 5.  Lucky I knew better.  Not many places sell 5, I got mine off HDBits on ebay.

Its good having a chatt like this , now i know what to get when I do my fluid change ...thank guys !!!

                                                                                                                                                                        Timmey

This forum rocks with information. I love it. 

g'day boys, i took the 5.1 back too the bike shop ,had three blokes there all telling me thats its the same as dot 5, said i was wrong they was right ,yus was all wrong and .they sell it to harley fellas all the time, thats its a scam so that harley gets ya to them ,i said id use bellray,they kept on and on ,in the end i said get fucked and give cash back, wankers, how can silicon and glycol be the same, there is also there a big diff in the boiling piont,they sound so sure they was wright, how many blokes have they screwed with this advise. so goodonya boys,yas have saved me no end of grief, of ta liverpool ta get me some of the good shit ,burt.

How do I really know what's in my 07 Fatboy which hasn't had a brake fluid change. Will it be in the specs in the manual or the delivery printout?
This forum is a rich mine of info!

Oh yeah, and I've noticed that a lot of the black paint has corroded or lifted on both the front and rear master cylinders around the seals. They're not leaking but they must be weaping enough to affect the paint and I'll have to replace them both pretty soon. Any thoughts on that problem?

Thanks for all that info. The rear one is plastic but the both lids and the front body all have lifted paint. Too late for warranty so I guess I'll have to replace them. Should I have the system flushed and replaced with dot5 when that happens? Is it as simple as that even tho it sounds expensive?

I think this Dot 5 thread should be a sticky for all newbies and oldies, to live and learn.
I just flushed my brakes because I just bought the bike and although its only done 1200kms its 10 years old. The front brake lever when pulled comes into the grip and felt real soft so it was recommended to change out the fluid. Now I did have a new bottle of Dot 5.1 in the W/S so I started to flush with that. The old fluid looked liked mud out of a fish pond with bits floating in it as well. While doing this a bloke walks into my W/S asking for directions and said he had a HD and hoped I was using Dot 5 I asked why and he said, because it should be written on your lid. Shit he was right. After a few phone calls to try get Dot 5 and a call to HD turns out he was right. Just like this thread says. Wish I had of looked here first. I just thought that Dot 5.1 was an upgraded Dot 5, who knew it wasn't, I didn't.

Very good information .