If its anything like my rear brake its a joke at the best of times.

Front should be good though.

If the lever is hard and there is no braking force I'd side with Andy and change the pads (after youve cleaned the disks). I'd be chaning them anything if there has been oil kicking around anyway.

The other thing, and it sounds stupid but it has been done. Are the pads in the right away around? They don't tend to work so well backwards.
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If I have to take the carbs off once more...