Went for a ride, and the rear caliper fell off!!!

[JohnnyP636]

Normally a caliper of that style would not be removed at those two particular bolts when changing the rear wheel. You remove the axle which leaves that entire caliper attached to its bracket free to move, but you don't remove those two bolts, the axle locates and clamps the bracket in place when you re-install it.

It's unreasonable to expect any mechanic to check every single fastener on the bike if the bike is brought in for some reason unrelated to the fasteners in question.

I always remove the caliper on any bike when taking the wheel off, regardless of mounting style. After watching people struggle to align the wheel, axle, and caliper all at once. For me it just makes it easier to remove and install, and eliminates the chance of scratching the wheel hub with caliper while trying to put the wheel back on. People do things differently but its just really strange to have them both fall out suddenly like that, after having someone work in that area of the bike.

ripcurl those look like the OEM bolts so I guess your good besides those gouges in your rim

[frekeyguy]

I don't know why suzuki designed that rear caliper that way.

But I find it way easier to remove those 12mm and the 14mm self locking bolts. Takes an extra 30seconds to take it off, but saves a lot of hassel/pain in reassembly.

Locktite those bolts

[Rossi86]

Have you ever tried to put on a Suzuki rear wheel that uses that style caliper under the swing arm with the torsion bar, without removing the caliper? Its a serious pain in the *** without dropping the caliper down from the caliper bracket. I always remove those bolts and drop the caliper, slide the wheel in and then slide the caliper back up and re tighten the bolts...

On my gixxer I never take off the rear caliper to remove the rear wheel. When putting the wheel back, I stick a long piece of folded cardboard at the caliper to keep the pads apart so the rotor can go in. Once its in, I pull the cardboard out. So it's possible a mechanic with all the sophisticated bike tools might not take the caliper off either. Even if the shop screwed it up, good luck getting them to admit it.

That's why I like to do my own work on the bike, I don't have to rush to the next customer... I got time to double, tripple check everything. After the torque wrench, I take a regular ratched and socket and carefully go to hand tight if there's anymore space to tighten the bolts. Once, I had a torque wrench go off calibration and it was clicking way before the appropriate torque, so I wouldn't trust torque wrenches blindly.

[Skurj]

Don't forget the tires were mounted at the same time a safety was done.

So surely a check to be sure caliper is mounted securely would be part of the safety no? not just pads are good.

I know the op is SOL here because it happened so long ago, but if that caliper had fallen off within the certification period the shop would have some real questions to answer...

[bear22099]

I know the op is SOL here because it happened so long ago, but if that caliper had fallen off within the certification period the shop would have some real questions to answer...

No they wouldn't. The certification clearly states it met the standards on the date of inspection, and goes on to say it is not a warranty. Who is to say the owner of the bike did not remove the caliper himself an hour after the inspection?

[frekeyguy]

IMO...shop's fault or bike owners fault. Check your bolts, and loctite such bolts.

Its your life, and you are on 2 wheels. I'd advise the OP to spend 10-20mins doing a check.