I have a 2003 anniversary edition 1200 custom sportster. Silver and black edtion. Love the bike and have taken great care of it.

July 13, 2011 on my way home from work. I was entering the on ramp to the highway. I just switched into 4th gear and traffic was backing up due to an accident. I tapped my rear brake and my rear brakes locked up and would not release. I ended up putting the bike down in grass and thanks to my very thick heavy leather coat and helmet I survived. The bike on the other hand had $4600.00 worth of damage to it.

The guy behind me in his car is also a rider and said he saw me keep tapping the rear brake lever and I had a solid brake light.

I have been riding for about almost 20 years. My frist bike was a 1982 kz440 ltd.

Any help insight comments why this happened?? I am new to the site.

I ended up with road rash on my right hand and some scraps. I was very lucky. also it felt like I played football and I was the ball.

 

I stopped using my rear brake many years ago. My opinion is that you should really stay away from your rear brake on a motorcycle. All the weight transfers to the front of the bike making the rear tire susceptible to locking up. Try to get a hold of Keith Code's book "Twist of the Wrist." I'm glad you're ok. You can always replace your bike. Ride safe.

 

Plunger got stuck and failed to release the hydraulic pressure? Or something got stuck in between there holding the rotor and pads together.

 

First thing to do in figuring out what happened is to inspect the bike. Check linkages, caliper and pads and master cylinder. One possibility is that the pad came off the backing plate and wedged itself between the caliper and the rotor.

 

yikes man.
i'd like to ask a dumb question sense i'm new to riding.
my assumption would be that if my rear locks up, i'd just come to a stop.. assuming i was going straight of course.. but not crash ?
This means you where in a turn when it happened?

 

As long as you went perfectly straight, then yes, in theory you would simply come to a stop.

But if you're not expecting it, I can imagine it throwing somebody off guard. Front tire lock up is always much worse, though.

As far as not derailing the thread though, the brake lever came back up to it's normal position, right? If so then I would imagine the linkage would have to break somewhere along the line AND something caused the brakes to become stuck. Very strange. Have you ever changed your brake fluid?

 

If you encounter this, do not let off the rear brake or you'll high side.

 

The brake light staying ON would lead me to believe that the problem is between the master cylinder and brake pedal, not with the brake cylinder or pads.

 

+1 on this, my best guess would be master cylinder not returning thus allowing the pedal to stay down and keep the brake light switch depressed. Having that witness was a real break (npi) in diagnoising this.

 

my bike did the same thing. pulled off the foot pedal for the brake and added some grease where the plastic bushing is and now it is all better.