Front Brake issue
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 7:12 am
Was riding this weekend, there was a light snow on the ground. One of our riders on a motorcycle slid out and laid the bike down. He was getting it out of the ditch and so I tooled down the road a bit and started to do a brodie checking the road for just how slick it was. I turned left into the start of the slide and foolishly didnt check behind me. My friend on a foreman thought I was takin off and when I turned left he ran into me hitting my front left tire with his front right.
It was a soft hit, just a few mph, it didnt even turn my bars in my hand.
He said 'sorry,' I said 'myfault and no harm done anyway' and we continued riding.
Well about 5 minutes later I went to brake and was able to pull the lever to the handle bar. The front right slowly locked up (this was in snow with very little traction, these front brakes will easily lock up on dry cement if youre not careful) and the front left did not lock at all.
I dismounted, checked for leaks, found none, resevoir was still full and no brake fluid around the wheel. When depressing the lever the lever felt very soft and traveled to the bar, the left brake pad did not move.
Rode about another 40 minutes then loaded em up and went home.
Did not get a chance to drop the wheel and tear into the brake as it was Christmas eve. The next day after the obligatory running around I went to the garage and pulled the bike out to check the brake system out.
Could find no pinch in the line, no leak or anything even remotely remarkable. Resevoir still full, checked the brake lever pull and it felt like it was back to normal and the brake pad on the left was moving. Brakes appear to be working ok.
So what happened? Did the jolt knock an air bubble loose? That with time worked its way up to the resevoir purging the line?
I intend to bleed the front brakes this weekend and do a full inspection, just thought it strange that it fixed itself without my intervention.
Anyone have similar issues with the front brake system?
It was a soft hit, just a few mph, it didnt even turn my bars in my hand.
He said 'sorry,' I said 'myfault and no harm done anyway' and we continued riding.
Well about 5 minutes later I went to brake and was able to pull the lever to the handle bar. The front right slowly locked up (this was in snow with very little traction, these front brakes will easily lock up on dry cement if youre not careful) and the front left did not lock at all.
I dismounted, checked for leaks, found none, resevoir was still full and no brake fluid around the wheel. When depressing the lever the lever felt very soft and traveled to the bar, the left brake pad did not move.
Rode about another 40 minutes then loaded em up and went home.
Did not get a chance to drop the wheel and tear into the brake as it was Christmas eve. The next day after the obligatory running around I went to the garage and pulled the bike out to check the brake system out.
Could find no pinch in the line, no leak or anything even remotely remarkable. Resevoir still full, checked the brake lever pull and it felt like it was back to normal and the brake pad on the left was moving. Brakes appear to be working ok.
So what happened? Did the jolt knock an air bubble loose? That with time worked its way up to the resevoir purging the line?
I intend to bleed the front brakes this weekend and do a full inspection, just thought it strange that it fixed itself without my intervention.
Anyone have similar issues with the front brake system?