GL1000s have terrific brakes...for a '70s vintage bike. Compared to modern sportbikes, they are not so impressive.
The problem with the GL1000 front brakes is that the stopping power is excellent, but the lever effort is high and "feel" is quite poor. In fact, GL1000 front brakes are often called "wooden" by riders not familiar with these beasts. Since I've spent so much time on GL1000 saddles over the years I've adapted to all this. I have normal hand strength, but since the GL1000 lever effort required is so high, I have used all 4 fingers for braking. On modern bikes I ride, I tend to use only 2 fingers for braking. In the past year, I've considered and implemented many brake improvements on RC-003. After adding stainless steel brake lines, heat treated stainless caliper pistons, better rotors and stickier pads, I began to notice the severe limitations of the stock master cylinder. The main problem with the OEM GL1000 front master is that the relative size of the master cylinder piston to the caliper pistons is wrong. The master cylinder piston is too large and hence under-leveraged. The 11/16" GL1000 master cylinder piston operates 2-38mm single caliper pistons. Comparing the area of the master piston (239.50 mm2) to the total area of the 2 caliper pistons (2268.24 mm2) yields a master cylinder/caliper piston ratio of 9.47. This is far from ideal!