Gsx750f Front Brakes Excessive Travel?!

I have a GSX-750F (S reg). When I bought it one of the front calipers wasn't working. I've stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the caliper and now it works. The problem I have now is that I've not been able to reduce the travel on the lever. It scraped through it's MOT in Feb after failing one on having no excess travel on the lever. It comes right back to the handlebar and still isn't applied fully at that point. I put braided hoses on the other week to eliminate the hose expansion and although it has helped a *little bit* it hasn't done the job.
The discs are worn and the pads are old, but that shouldn't have any bearing on the lever travel.
Any ideas? Maybe get a master cylinder repair kit?
Thanks!

 

its possibly still got air in it, this is one of the biggest problems. does it have a bleed nipple on the handlebar too or is it too old for that?. if it does that needs to be blead too.theres a very good video on youtube with regards to bleeding the brakes, i unfortunately from here cant link you to it but i make sure i watch it before i do the bleeding just to get the rythm right. its open the nipple. fully engage the brake. close the nipple. release the brake. repeat until it becomes firm. it may take a while and you may need someone to help with the pulling in of the brake lever. try this before getting any other stuff. if you can have the bike upright this greatly helps as iit keeps the brake fluid level constant. it only needs a smidgen of air to go in to require a rebleed.

 

If after operating the brake a few times the travel becomes less then it is air.
Pull back the lever as far as you can and cable tie it to the handlebar, leave overnight an old trick(called gravity), but worth a try.

 

Interestingly, I've just noticed that with full pressure applied on the front brake lever, the right caliper still has slight movement if you wobble it with your hand. A tiny bubble of air tends to come out every time you bleed it (done it three times today) whereas the left caliper doesn't have any air in the fluid at all. The lever only gets harder a minuscule amount when you pump it rapidly, hardly noticeable. The level doesn't rise with the reservoir cap off when the brake lever is applied. I always have the bike on its centre stand when I bleed the brakes.

 

Have a look around the offending calliper and check to see it the seals are dry and are sitting comfortably in place, it only takes a small bit of muck or damage to let air in. I wish you luck with that one, my old katana did the same thing and it was a bugger to sort out .

 

If it is air that is tricky to remove then google "reverse bleeding" and get yourself a big syringe. Has worked for me.

 

I tried reverse bleeding when I fitted the braided hoses.. not for me haha I'm not convinced it's air that I'm having trouble bleeding out, I think it's more likely that air is getting in.

 

I don't know how many calipers you have done before....?
You say "I've stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the caliper and now it works."
Do you know why it wasn't working?
Did you replace all the seals? Is/are/were the piston/s clean? Any sign of scoring on the piston(s) or the caliber bore(s)
Has any fluid leaked out from the caliper?

 

Ive done one caliper lol but my mechanically competent uncle assisted with the rebuild. it looked fine, no scoring or other damage. there is no fluid leaking from the seals. no i dont know why it wasnt working, i think we decided that the seals were installed incorrectly. it did leak fluid before we rebuilt it. i think we used new seals, i cant be 100% sure though because i have a terrible memory.