Front brakes are sticky | GTAMotorcycle.com

Front brakes are sticky

Baggsy

Baggsy

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The front brakes on the Tiger seem sticky. Tyre doesn't rotate much when spun and I can hear a noise when I move the bike at full lock.
They spin, just not for very long. Bike is a 2022, so I hope I haven't warped a rotor this quick.
The tyres were just replaced, so I don't know if it was already there or is something new after the replacement of tyres.
The rear might also be a little sticky, but because the chain is on, it's harder to tell.
I'm thinking of flipping the calipers off of the rotors and see if I can push the pads out a little and clean everything off, is there a better way or more to do?
 
Baggsy said:
The front brakes on the Tiger seem sticky. Tyre doesn't rotate much when spun and I can hear a noise when I move the bike at full lock.
They spin, just not for very long. Bike is a 2022, so I hope I haven't warped a rotor this quick.
The tyres were just replaced, so I don't know if it was already there or is something new after the replacement of tyres.
The rear might also be a little sticky, but because the chain is on, it's harder to tell.
I'm thinking of flipping the calipers off of the rotors and see if I can push the pads out a little and clean everything off, is there a better way or more to do?
Click to expand...
Yeah i'd take calipers off and loosen the axle screws then re-install.
 
Bike is a '22, so 2 full seasons on the road.

If you have not already done this I'd be pulling the wheels and doing a PM on the brake calipers. Pull the pads off, clean them, the pistons, the caliper and pad pins if applicable. Lube what needs to be lubed and reassemble. I do so this at lease once per season, Fluid change every second season. Check wheel and head bearings as well. That noise at full lock might be a concern.

Aside from above, many bikes require axle to be "seated" after front wheel is removed. Assemble, then pump forks a few times to seat axle, then final torque. Your shop manual would outline the need and the process.
 
Scotchbrite pad and brake clean on the rotors and pads.
 
Pay particular attention to the caliper pistons. Dirt accumulation can cause them to fail to retract properly, and in the long term, it will bugger up the seals. Easiest to clean them with the brake pads removed, then go after them with brake cleaner and an old toothbrush.

Misalignment between the caliper and the rotor will cause drag, too. To pin this down, get the front of the bike up in the air (on a steering-stem front stand) and loosen the caliper bolts a turn or two so that the calipers can wiggle into alignment. If the front wheel spins easily with these bolts loosened but starts dragging when tightened, this is the issue. If the front axle was tightened with the forks slightly out of kilter, that can cause this. Try loosening the axle a couple turns, then tighten the caliper bolts and see if the wheel spins easily in that condition, then tighten the axle.

If the forks were removed from the bike at some point (e.g. to do suspension work, fork seal, fork oil, etc), having the height of the forks slightly off left-to-right, or having fork braces (if so equipped) a little out of alignment, can lead to the calipers becoming misaligned. Most of these alignment issues can be resolved by loosening the bolts of the relevant parts, letting everything find their "happy place", then re-tightening in a sequence that preserves this alignment.
 
Probably not applicable to this situation but here's another thing to keep in mind. I traced front-wheel drag to new wheel bearings that weren't quite properly seated, once upon a time. The wheel would spin freely if the axle was just gently snugged but not if it was properly torqued. The tipoff was that it also did this with the brake caliper bolts loosened. Once identified, the solution involved taking the front wheel off, then finding a proper big socket that aligned with the outer race of the bearing and giving it a good whack with a hammer to seat the outer bearing race, both sides of the wheel.
 
If what Dave says is true, then shouldn't he be aligning the forks before aligning the calipers?

More details in this video for complete suspension alignment with a slight variation for axle alignment, which makes sense to me:

 
O.k. so I watched the videos. I then lifted the bike's front and rotated the wheel, like he did in the videos. My front tire appears to spin much better than his did after his fix. The noise at full lock doesn't appear with the weight off of the front tire. I don't think there's much good in taking everything apart at this point. For now I've cleaned the rotors with brake cleaner which removed a lot of dust. Next I'll try putting weight on the bike and walking it at full lock and see if the noise returns.
 
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