I noticed while putting my bike away for the winter that the front wheel was real tough to spin when it was up on the jack. I left it to deal with until now.

I am thinking that either one of the calipers has ceased to operate properly, the brakes need to be bled or while the.dealer put on my new fender last season they over tightned the axle nut.

Anyone have any ideas on what else could cause this or where i should start? Also if the calipers just need cleaning can i use some brake cleaner near rubber parts? If its a hung up pin, is there anything i can lubricate the pin with?

Thanks
Tony

 

Nobody

 

i finished my winter teardown and buildup last night. what you can do in order to find out if it is the brakes or the tire is to unbolt the front calipers and spin the tire. if the tire is easy to spin then it is the brakes and i would take the bike to the dealer to have fixed. i had to take the front tire in for new bearings because both bearings were bad. i had 18000 miles on the bike. to unbolt the front brakes is easy, just remove the two bolts that hold the caliper on. if the front tire does not spin easy then take the bike in for because you may have bad front wheel bearings. make sure you do not squeeze the front brake lever.
have a great day
bryan

 

Get the front wheel up in the air, spin it & listen for any noise like a dragging brake pad. Loosen the caliper mounting bolts to free up the caliper & see if it spins freely. If so, then remove the brake pads, grease the pad alignment pins and reassemble together. Sometimes the pads will get cocked in there & drag real bad.

If its not the brake pads, loosen the axel & retorque everything to specifications.

Also, check your brake rotors to see if one is loose.

One of these three things should fix it.

Be sure to torque everything to specifications

 

define tough to spin. there will always be some drag.

 

When i say hard to spin i mean you actualy have to put some muscle into it. What is a good product to use for greasing the pins? Also-what type of bolt holds the calipers on? Anyone know the axle nut size?

Fyi-no popping (bad bearings) when spinning the wheel.

 

The absolute 1st thing you need to do is get a service manual.

Don't know how much things have changed but the caliper bolts on my 01 EGC are 12 pt. 10 mm(crazy huh metric). The axle nut is 3/4". No grease on my pins (12 pt. 1/4").

Everything everyone mentioned is something to check. If you have to muscle fark it something is askew. You will always have slight drag, it's the nature of the brakes.

 

Got a manual & a parts manual.....lists the front axle nut as 5/8-18x9/16-15/16.....is the socket size 15/16?

 

I would pull the wheel. Look at the brake pads and see if they are straight. Signs of the pads wearing uneven or to one side, are signs of a dragging piston(s). If this condition is found, piston(s) should be removed and cleaned. Another condition could be the pads don't move freely when in position. Depending on the wear of the pads, replacement might be in order. Leaving too much drag from this condition, will eventually warp your rotor(s). How many miles are on the bike?

Does the brake lever feel firm when pulled or soft? Bleed brakes if found to be too soft.

If the brakes look good the wheel bearings might be suspect. Some people are experiencing bearing failures due to the manufacturing process of cast mag wheels. Sand from the casting process was not cleaned out of the wheel properly before installing the bearings. This is causing premature bearing failure for some.

 

My front wheel drags big time, the dealer said it was normal and it will get loose with time.

My previous RK Custom had the same issue, but it went away when I upgraded to floating rotors and intalled new pads.

Also check the fluid level in the mater cylinder to make sure it's not overfilled. If it is remove some and push your pads back some, close the reservoir and apply the brakes to see if its better. Good luck.