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I can give an example where they can be damaged without a tire change: the tech takes the bike out and stands on the rear brake a few times, trying to make sure that the primary chain has no slack. That's the cheap-way method rather than Harley paying to open things up when you have major clunking at the primary. It's way cheaper than replacing the OEM compensator. Too bad for me that 'Harley Approved' process tweaked the rear rotor and I get to hear it when coming to a stop and slow speeds.
Also not seeing how it's possible to damage a rotor by using the rear brake. This makes no sense whatsoever. If you could damage the rotor by using too much brake 99% of bikes on the road would have rotor damage.
I hit a deer and my left front rotor was bent. Relax, that's not my reason for saying they bend easy... After hitting the deer there was a pulsation (Is that a word.) in the brakes. I wasn't ready to make a purchase of new rotors so I put a feeler from the front fork to the rotor to identify where the runout was the worst. I then used a cresent wrench to bend the warp out of the rotor. The rotor bent with very little pressure, and I mean very little - it was like it was made out of aluminum.
To finish the story, the fix I implemented worked pretty good for a while but soon the pulsing became worse. I went to the dealer and explained the situation. They said they would test the runout and if it was extreme they would replace the rotors under warranty. It turns out both rotors were warped beyond acceptable tolerances (The deer only hit one rotor.). The dealer (Not the "Stealer".) replaced both rotors under warranty. Impressive service!
just had my 05 roadking at the dealer for its 25k service, had to replace my rear rotor because the dealer said it was warped. It was the original rotor
My front two were replaced when i switched to 18" PM front rim...
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