Front brake strangeness...

[mattmcuomo@yahoo.com]

I don't know how to explain this. I commute for 45 miles or so, lately 40 degrees in the morning. I park it for the day and get on to ride home and the front brake feels strange, kind of tighter than it should. Once I pull it in and let go it goes back to normal. Has anyone else experienced anything like that?

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[Guth_imp]

Not exactly, but I'd keep an eye on that.

Your situation sounds different than the one I encountered. Years back when I found a used Hawk GT that I wanted to buy, a buddy with a pickup hauled me all the way up to Seattle to retrieve the bike. When we got home I went to unload my prized possession. Imagine my embarrassment when the bike wouldn't budge. The front wheel was totally locked up. (Of course our next door neighbors were outside at the time.) After dinking around for a bit the bike was finally able to roll freely once again. I spent a good bit of time trying to deduce what was causing the problem. I finally figured out that the previous owner had allowed the brake fluid to become gunked up which pretty much clogged up the extremely small return orifice that provides passage for the fluid back into reservoir. Whenever the brakes would heat up, the brake fluid would expand and instead of flowing back into the reservoir it would instead press against the pistons in the calipers. (Or when heated up by the sun while being hauled home in the back of a pickup truck in the summertime as it turned out.)


In my case there wasn't an immediate "return to normal". That wouldn't happen until later when the bike managed to cool down. If you begin to notice that the "return to normal" sensation begins to take longer and longer and that your brake lever travel has decreased noticeably before the brakes are fully engaged then you might want to check the on the condition of your brake fluid/master cylinder/reservoir.

[Toddman_imp]

MMC, If you've put aftermarket levers on, sometimes they fit a little tight and have to be ground. If you still have the stock levers, maybe the master cylinder isn't returning like it should. Do you garage your bike at night or does it sit outside?

[mattmcuomo@yahoo.com]

Stock levers, bike is garaged at night but parked outside while at work.

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