fork oil is a good place to look too, warn out fluid will cause a bounce have you ever changed it out? how many miles on the bike? rounder brings up some good spots to check as well!

I also like to do a pad break in whenever i do pads on a bike, just like in a car, 5mph fast stop, 10mph fast stop 20 mph fast stop 35 mph fast stop, and 55 mph fast stop... forget what racing buddy told me the trick but i always do it now

 

First Grendel, I appreciate your input. I tell you it feels like a rotor, my only reason for thinking it may be something else is because I had HHI check the rotor out and they say it is fine. They may not be right, and I only brought them the wheel, not the bike. If I can't locate the problem I will be riding the bike back up to them and have them recheck the rotor. From what I have been told you can't turn/grind motorcycle rotors.

Rounder: No I didn't compress the brakes to expose the pistons. I had them compressed back inside the caliper and then just soaked them with brake cleaner until clean brake fluid ran out. And no I didn't replace the pins. I checked them and did not see any wear on the pins

 

Joe, I have never changed the fork oil on the bike. It has 34,000 miles on it. I Think it was required at 30,000 but it was the height of the riding season and I thought I would wait for the cooler months to pull the fork tubes out.

And the "bounce" is not so much when I am slowing from speed it is more from about 5 mph to stop that I notice it. Braking feels smooth and no drag felt in the brake handle. Just really weird. I've ridden my brother's bike and I don't feel anything when I use his front brake.

Joe, if it was the fork oil (which I suspect really does need replacing). would the bike bounce when driving too? or would it just be more pronounced when I am braking and at such a slow speed?

 

i know shops that turn rotors bud, but if it is not true they can not do it

 

huh... only at slow speeds, would make me think of a few things. i knwo if the stearing stem nut is not torqued down right you can get that bounce as well, but you may want to check the rear brake as well, does it do it if you only apply the rear brake when slowing? only reason i ask, is alot of times things felt in the front of the bike come from the rear and vice versa

 

See if you can get your hands on a dial indicator and check the runout of the rotor. You'll figure out how. A little bit of a PITA, but I've got an idea how to do it if you get one. I also don't see how HHI could check the runout if the rotor wasn't mounted. Maybe they put it in an arbor? Nah.

It doesn't take a lot of runout for you to feel it. If you've got 2 - 4 thousandths TIR, you should be fine. Anything over that and you might want to get a little suspicious.

I'm also wondering if a rotor-fastener-bolt (or two) might not be torqued quite right. I know, on some of the older Cadillacs (POS's anyway) that you could easily over-torque the lug nuts and warp a rotor.

Eliminate the rotor as a problem first. That's my inclination. Then, if you're absolutely, 100% satisfied it's not the rotor then move on to something else.

It's the slow speed only, rhythmic thing that's got me. Not getting feedback through the brake lever doesn't necessarily tell me much.

 

ya the rythem would mean rotation

 

I had a problem like this on a ducati I own.

Right after I changed the pads, everything was great. A few days later I began to feel a rapid shuddering at the lever.

This only seemed to happen after breaking moderately to hard and then easing my grip as I got near to stopping (5 or so mph) and then trailing the brakes before coming to a stop (like before a stop light or when slowing or stopping before making a left turn).

I bled the brakes, checked run out on the wheel and the rotors, checked the torque on all the caliper bolts, checked the lines, the pins, etc, etc. I was going crazy over it.

A friend suggested I re-bed the brakes. So, I went through the process...

Accelerate to 60mph.
Brake hard and steady until 5-10mph.
DO NOT come to a complete stop as this can transfer material onto the hot rotor from the pads.
Repeat the process 3-5 times.
Stop (without using the new pads) and let the rotors cool.
Check the rotors for some color change (might blue a little, that's good).
Check for dust, etc (that is good too).
Repeat until satisfied or until the brakes work as you'd like.

The other thing to do is pull the pads and hit them with some sand paper. Also, bevel the leading edge of the pads as well.

 

add fork oil one shot glass in each side..no more than two in each...

 

+1 on using a dial indicator. I would have an independent expert check it, rather than the manufacturer. Sounds like a bad rotor, but a wheel with excessive runout to the rotor mounting could do it, too.