Fat Bob owners do me a favor and tell me if this is normal... I have a 2010 recently purchased with less than 500 miles - last weekend I wanted to get comfortable with the bike so in a school parking lot was practicing emergency stops to get a feel for the brakes... Noticed that every few stops brakes would chatter just a little versus come to a smooth stop - and even just rolling back and forth in garage when I apply front brake the pad slaps or "clunk" as it come to an abrupt stop.

Can someone tell me if their front brakes do same and if I should take to get check at dealer - or am I worrying about nothing???

 

take it to HD and have them adjust the fall away etc on the front neck-document every time you take it in save all your receipts. That problem is supposedly fixed on the new models, but I started taking in mine at 4000 miles until 46000 when they finally gave up and said it needed a front end rebuild-they wanted 400 to fix an item I had been bringing them for 2+ yrs. I spent $24 on neck bearings and it fixed it.
You probly just need to get it adjusted but don't let any of them tell you 'oh they all do that' cause they don't and shouldn't.

 

Mine doesn't make any noise like you described...

 

Mine doesn't make a clunk, but I do get a bit of a "chatter" at lower speeds and mild braking.

Is this the same issue?

 

could just be the floating discs they make some noise when breaking hard, id recommend putting the screaming eagle fork oil in to stop the front end diving so much

 

Mine will make that kind of sound if I'm too heavy on the front brake,by that I mean I grab the front unassisted from the back brakes. Otherwise it won't make that chattering sound. If I use both brakes it's nice and smooth and strong.

 

I have even fewer miles on my Fat Bob than you do, but I haven't experienced what you describe.

 

brake discs are semi floating, I would think that when they heat up, the metal expands tightening the tolerances and it goes away? could just be the tolerance built into the disc. Of course could be front end clunk too. Also if the chatter happens now and again, your brakes could be less than worn in with so few miles.

 

Thanks All:

Seems like it is worth having them check (fall away) when I take it in for my 500 miles service. Just seems strange... yes, it is with heavy front braking but just seems wrong... Thanks again will update results from dealer later on this post.

 

Yeah a loose front fork can easily be mistaken for pad noise. If I recall several months ago someone here was reporting a similar problem when coming to a stop and a fork adjustment fixed it. There was also reports of clatter but it turned out the motor mounts were not aligned properly and the engine was moving so far forward it was taking up all the sway space... .