biting point on front break lever

The front break lever on my 750 Shadow ACE has a very high biting point. Is it possible to adjust this to allow more play, giving more control? At the moment I only have to squeeze it 1/2 inch to operate the brake.  

Every bike I have ever bought, has come with the brake lever positioned too far down, in front of the handgrip. This makes it harder to get enough fingers on the lever to easily control it under very light braking. I have found that loosening the brake lever clamp and rotating the master cylinder and lever until the lever is at the same height as the handgrip, greatly increases my control under light braking.

More play in the brake lever causes less control. The more your lever flops around loosly, the less useful range of motion it will have.

One of the great advantages of hydraulic brakes is that the fluid system compensates for wear. The working position of the lever doesn't change as the brake pads wear down. Consequently, there is no manual adjustment built into the system at all.

The amount of lever motion you get before the brake starts to operate, sounds about right, at 1/2 inch. The front wheel should not be locking up and starting to slide while moving at about 5 mph on good pavement, until you get the lever about halfway to being pressed against the handgrip.

When traveling at highway speeds, using the brakes strongly causes weight to shift forward, increasing front wheel traction and allowing you to squeeze the front brake lever even harder. In that situation, it's normal for the lever to travel about 3/4 of the way to being pressed against the handgrip, before the front wheel starts sliding. It's not unusual for new riders to discover that they can't even squeeze the brake hard enough to make the front wheel slide at highway speeds on good pavement.

As the brake fluid ages and accumulates contamination, the lever will move farther towards the handgrip before locking up the front wheel. When the day comes that you can squeeze it all the way to the handgrip, you'll know it is past time to replace the brake fluid. Changing the lever to bring it closer to the handgrip before the brake starts operating means you will have less braking available and will have to replace the brake fluid more frequently.

regards,
Joe
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I used to be a cynic. Now, I believe in everything. It's a lot more fun this way.