bought a 05 RK standard last October. i mostly use the rear brake and already the front rotors feel warped. i hardly ever use the front brake. what the hell?

 

An 05, take it back, should be under the warrantee, raise some hell!!.......And use that front brake too!

 

Definitely have it looked at. (Get's up on soapbox) You really want to ensure you're using your front brake. Stops you faster, more than half of your braking power comes from the front brake. If you lock up that rear, bad things potentially can happen (Get's off soapbox).

Ride safe![sm=smiley20.gif]

Mac

 

You should get it checked out by the dealer, but keep in mind that Harley does not warranty the rotors and pads unless it is an extreme circumstance that caused them to fail or wear. I had them rust up on me 3 months after I bought it and they replaced them for me under warranty as the rotors pitted. I would start using that front brake more than you do. You need to have that as the norm and use the back brake evenly with the front. You will find that you will stop smoother and in shorter distances that you have been in the past. If you can get the opportunity, take the Rider's Edge Experienced Rider Course at your local Harley dealer and you will learn a great deal about controlling your bagger in all sorts if extreme conditions and situations and they ping on using the front brake all the time.

Good luck with your bagger.



[IMG]local://upfiles/494/2A37EB63857645B8BE658F3FA9952FC6.jpg[/IMG]

 

The front rotor warped on my RKC too. I wonder if there is a problem with the mounting bolts being torqued unevenly during assembly. Since all the Touring bikes are built on the same line (York) you'd think we'd hear of this from owners of other FLs. Maybe just Touring bikes with laced wheels?

PL

 

Here's another soap box routine, only I'm gonna be a little harsher. You ain't been riding long, have you? And some idiot told you that you might lock your front wheel and flip over the bike. Start using the damn front brake before you kill yourself, or worse, someone else!

About 65 - 75 percent of your stopping power is in the front brake. And the control of your bike in an emergency stop is a delicate play between the front brake, rear brake, gears, and throttle. When you have to slam it to a stop and use only or mostly the rear brake, the weight is gonna transfer forward, and the rear will slide. You are then no longer in control of your bike.

Years ago I built a chopped Sporty. It had a girder front end and I didn't want to mess up the lines with a front brake. That was a pretty common thing back then. Well, it finally reared up and bit me. I had to attempt a hard stop and manuver to avoid a bike that suddenly slowed. He didn't have a brake light so I was caught off guard. I hit the brake hard, swerved out to miss him, the rear wheel locked, and I went in a nice straight line into a ditch, up an embankment, and into a barbed wire & hog wire fence. Bent that pretty girder front end, cut my back up something fierce, and just flat out ruined a pretty nice ride. If'n I'd had a front brake I coulda shut it down easily and straightly, in complete control.

The chop had a disc front brake when I put it back together.

Take your bike to the dealer, make him fix the warped rotor. Then sign up for a rider safety course. You can't pass it if you don't learn how to use the front brake.

 

Hey, Bill.

I hate to pile on here, but I have to agree with Mac, Scott & Skip. The H-D Northwestern Operator course I took emphasized 75% of braking power comes from the front. Nastiness happens when the rear locks up. As Skip has demonstrated, all control is lost. First, get the brake replaced and use it. Second, get into a Riders Edge or MSF course ASAP. The life and ride you save may be your own.

Russ

 

And, here comes the really bad part - panic situation - you jab that rear brake with that really heavy foot - rear wheel locks up and it starts to come around - you think, ooops, too much rear brake, you let it off, makes it really bad as now the rear end swings the other way and, yup, you get thrown off. Not so bad yet because (this is the really bad part) now the bike tumbles over top of you as you're on the ground. I believe this is called a high-side (sarcasm). Ugly as crap. Use that front brake!! Wish I had ABS - that's really the only part of the Road King that's missing. The only substitute is practicing panic stops once a month or so. This is a very serious issue with motorcycles - we all gotta learn how to brake when that old lady left turns in front of us - it will happen sometime - be ready. If you'd like to read a pretty good article describing a high side and what causes it, click this link.

 

That's all good advice. Just don't jam on the front (or even the rear) in a turn. Always do your hard braking before starting into a corner. Applying the rear alone, is really only good if you need to intentionaly lay the bike down. Try the rear only in a straight line sometime. These touring bikes are so heavy, that all you'll get is a flat spot on your tire and a black stripe on the road.
By the way I've got what I thought were warped rotors on the front of my 07 SG. After a lot of research, I got quiet the education. Turns out that rotors don't warp from the heat or heat followed by the cold soak of a puddle in the road. They may return to the deformation from the stamp out process after heat or they may get bent by some brute force, but not "warped" per say. What the surging usually is, as it turns out,is something called "transfer". I can't bring up the technical jargon in this qick reply, but basically from hard brake applications to a dead stop, the softer brake pads transfer some of their material to the rotors. This starts a high spot which invites more material on subseqent braking. This material eventually hardens to a subtance called cementite. Cementite is very hard and cannot be removed by compounds, files or emory cloths. It can be machined off @ a machine shop (if they're willing), but how "true" will they be? They say hard racing pads can sometimes clean up the rotors but the costs... This build up will continue to build at an accelerating rate, eventually mimicking a warped effect.
If I didn't have after market, discontinued rotors matched to the 18" wheels, I'd just buy some new floating rotors and get it over with, which is probably what I'll end up doing anyway. I will however be checking with a local machine shop to see what they know.

 

About 80% of your stoping should be done with the front brakes. A book I read parts of often is Davis L Hough " Proficient Motorcycling".