A couple of weeks back I got new wheel put on my 05 FLSTCI. A week later and a mile down the road my front brake gets stiff and locks up. I take it to H-D and they fix saying it was a loose breed off valve? I haven't ridin til today. Thirty feet from my drive way it lock totally. I skid ten feet and luckly keep it up. This time I call them and tell them they have to come pick it up and fix.
Any ideas what could cause the brake to lock???

 

any ideas... please help...

 

I had a front brake do that on another bike I had. It turned out that there was a crack in the front brake fluid reservior. I replaced the reservior, bled the system and was good to go.

 

BAD CALIPER............

Just guessing.....

I wouldrequest at least a 20 mile road test upon completion of the work by the tech, verify your milage when you leave it with them.

More & more I have reasons to dislike the Service Departments.

 

Locking up the front wheel is one of the few things that scares thecrap out of me.
Did it once with my first bike on some black ice and it went out from under me in under a heart beat.
Glad you kept yours up.
About all I can think of that would do it the way you described would be a bad caliper or mountings. Seriously worn pads 'could' also do it by letting rhe piston come out so far it ***** sidewise under the loading and jams up on you.

 

thanks for the help. I only have 3200 miles on the bike. Service dept did a 5 mile test run last time they "fixed it". I think I will request a whole new caliper.

 

Agreed. Tell the mechanic he has to give it a good, loooooong test ride when he is done!

 

New wheel and the brakes lock up after a long ride? Did you have the rotor replaced when the wheel went on? My first suspect would be a dragging pad that heats the caliper over time causing the fluid to expand and the pads to progressively tighten on the disc. The theory would work best if the rotor was replaced, because it would be slightly wider than the old one. Then if the pads weren't sqeezed back into the caliper, you'd get that slight rubbing.

 

No, just wheels replaced. The dealership claims that they didn't touch the brake. Don't know how they can't touch a brake when rmoving the wheel, but that is what they said.

I also called the H-D Corporate office and they called they dealership to follow up on the problem. Know if it isn't fixed this time and something bad happens there is a liability trail.

 

Maybe the disk is spaced wrong on the new wheel. Especially if it is misaligned toward the fixed pad, you would get the drag -> heating -> expansion -> lockup described earlier.