How freely should the front wheel spin when on a stand?

[Rocky_imp]

in my experience, cleaning the retaining pins will help a lot. sand paper works well.

I agree. Very often when I replace brake pads on my bikes the pins that run through the pads have hard residue caked on and need cleaning to allow the pads to run free.
If the pins have never been out in 26k I would look there first. Don't be too abusive as crap likes to stick to a rough service. Make the pins smooth and shiny/clean.