Pulsing brakes TL1000S

TwistedKestrel

TwistedKestrel

King of GTAM
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New to me but old to world 1997 TL1000S. AFAIK, before this year it hadn't seen the road in over a decade, but it seemed like it was serviced to go back on the road just before it was parked. Has had a bunch of cleanup work done to it by someone who I'm gonna assume knows more about brakes than me, if not bikes entirely. This includes substantially cleaning up the calipers (I *think* they got new seals? Pistons are squeaky clean and the pad pins were easily removable with fingers)

Front brakes pulse quite badly at low speed. I at least know that warped rotors are the lupus of brakes and it's never warped rotors. Rotors look original but worn a bit, thickness is about halfway through the service limit, buttons are all free and not seized. Calipers have a fresh looking set of organic EBC pads installed. Wheel bearing seems good, brakes drag a bit more than I'd like but maybe the pads never even got broken in - the brakes drag unevenly around the circumference of the wheel. Lever is not causing the drag, no difference with lever removed. Pads might be dragging less now than when I first checked them, took it for a short ride today and checked rotor temperature a few times along the way. Zero burned fingers, they were noticeably warm at the start and then when I parked it at the end they were cooler.

So - pad deposit on rotors? If so what do I do about it? Hoping Brian chimes in with an easy solution that makes me feel dumb

When I mentioned buying this bike a while ago, a few demanded a photo tax so here you go.

gtamtls.jpg
 
R/R front wheel (Dave Moss method)

Dave Moss method, with front wheel removal.
1: loosen & remove axle nut
2: loosen all 4 pinch bolts
3: undo & remove brake calipers, remove axle & wheel.

Installation
4: insert wheel & axle
5: hand tighten bike left (right side when looking from front) pinch bolts enough to stop axle turning while torquing axle nut on opposite side. Torque axle
6: Loosen left pinch bolts. (right side when looking from front)
7: Fit calipers, finger tight.
8: Spin wheel activate brake to align pads & calliper, repeat, then hold brake on. A zip tie or velcro strap is handy for this.
9: Torque Calipers - then release brake.
10: Spin wheel to test.
11: Tighten pinch bolts on captive leg-bike right. (left side when looking from front)
12: lower bike to ground- no brake, push up & down on forks to centre axle.
13: tighten pinch bolts left fork. (right side when looking from front)
14: bike up on stand & test wheel spin, job done.

Video for reference:
 
Can give it a shot, but don't think it's a misalignment issue. I noticed yesterday that I can see a weird wear pattern with my eyeballs on one of the rotors, will see if it photographs well
 
Scotch brite pads.

There's a good video from Zach and Ari on revzilla.

Put it on a front stand and spin it to see if there is any noticeable deflection in the rotors.


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matt365 said:
Scotch brite pads.

There's a good video from Zach and Ari on revzilla.

Put it on a front stand and spin it to see if there is any noticeable deflection in the rotors.


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Click to expand...

You’re likely correct and it’s pad deposits. I had the same thing on my new to me but 10 year old bike. But I had some stuck buttons too.

It took more than just a spin with a scotch brite pad for mine to clean up. A more aggressive approach with a pad on a die grinder cleared it up eventually.

Super cool bike by the way
 
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Soooooo scouring the rotors kinda had an effect? But the process made me realize that they actually have these strange slight irregular ridges on them, and after a test ride on the "cleaned" rotors it is pretty obvious where there are contact problems. There are clues that it's been down on its right side at some point in its life, and I wonder if somebody just ground down some mild rotor damage, or at least attempted to.

IDK... I feel like an amateur machinist and/or somebody with heavier duty tools could still save them, but I'm leaning more towards replacing them now
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Soooooo scouring the rotors kinda had an effect? But the process made me realize that they actually have these strange slight irregular ridges on them, and after a test ride on the "cleaned" rotors it is pretty obvious where there are contact problems. There are clues that it's been down on its right side at some point in its life, and I wonder if somebody just ground down some mild rotor damage, or at least attempted to.

IDK... I feel like an amateur machinist and/or somebody with heavier duty tools could still save them, but I'm leaning more towards replacing them now
Click to expand...
Take them off and lay them on a flat plate. If they aren't right then replace them. EBC makes relatively inexpensive replacements.
 
I had an issue with my brakes once. I took my bike to a local Toronto shop and the mechanic charged me monies and didn't solve the issue.

My dad recommended I take the bike to a car mechanic he knows (mechanic also builds drag racing bikes). The mechanic whipped out a flat edge, put it on my rotor and within 10 seconds diagnosed my issue and said "warped rotor" and didn't charge me a dime. I changed the rotor and lived happily ever after.
 
TK4 said:
Take them off and lay them on a flat plate. If they aren't right then replace them. EBC makes relatively inexpensive replacements.
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as an amateur machinist maybe you have a slab of granite surface plate, failing that a sheet of glass is generally pretty flat and a reasonable substitute.
 
After plugging money into a terrifying looking Italian website and being unsure if I would get anything at all, my full set of Brembo rotors (Oro) & pads just showed up. Just about half the cost of OEM replacements (though I think the Suzuki rotors looked cooler)
 
TwistedKestrel said:
After plugging money into a terrifying looking Italian website and being unsure if I would get anything at all, my full set of Brembo rotors (Oro) & pads just showed up. Just about half the cost of OEM replacements (though I think the Suzuki rotors looked cooler)
Click to expand...

Lemme guess: CarpiMoto? If so, they're excellent. Had issues with payment with my CC not liking their system, and they were helpful. I'm very happy with the Serie Oro discs on my track bike, too. And similarly, the OEM discs were double the price *and* heavier.
 
Actually not CarpiMoto - their system didn't like any of my CCs and I was not super excited about setting up a wire transfer. It was "Genial Motor" instead who I think turned out to be even cheaper than CarpiMoto (not that it would have been a deciding factor). They shipped FedEx International Economy and brokerage fee was only $10 (plus taxes of course). FedEx guy seemed a little shellshocked from asking people to cough up tax though lol
 
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