You need to take your calipers off and clean the salt out of them and re grease the pins fairly freqently this weather. I do mine every two to three weeks. Does sound like sticking pistons.
GS Brake cleaning tips
- Thread starter Mzokk
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Seizing Brakes...Prevention and cures
No matter what type of bike you ride the brakes are likely to seize in winter riding. It only takes 10mins to clean them and make sure the pistons are free IF YOU DO IT ON A REGULAR BASIS. Otherwise you may encounter seized bits if you follow this process. I started doing this with all my bikes since having to have a pad retaining pin drilled out of a calliper on a Honda superdream in order to replace the brake pads. 24!! Years ago when I was a student. Your helpful service person will never clean your callipers as part of a service….and possibly not even when replacing pads.
For my NON ABS BM 2002 with evo callipers. I undo the two front mudguard stays and undo (but don’t remove the brake pad pins on both front callipers (Torx key).
I then remove the Calliper bolts (torx bit) remove the calliper and ease the brake hose to the calliper past the mudguard stay. Remove the pad pin, anti squeal shim and pads. If you haven't done this before just remove one calliper at a time then if your wondering which way the anti squeal shim goes you can have a look. Its pretty straightforward mind. DO NOT TWIST OR KINK THE BRAKE HOSE!!
Give the inside of the calliper a squirt of brake cleaner (most are carbon tetrachloride so try not to breath to much in!!) and wipe clean with a clean cloth. Pump out the pistons a little by operating the brake (BE CAREFUL YOU DO NOT POP A PISTON OUT WHEN YOU DO THIS!!) stick a block of wood or similar between the pistons if your worried you may overdo it.. This exposes a ridge of brake dust and crud on the un-swept edge of the piston. Give the pistons a squirt of cleaner (or some use new brake fluid….just don’t get it on the paintwork) and clean the ridges of crud off all four pistons with a soft toothbrush.
After cleaning carefully work the pistons in and out a few times to make sure they are operating freely. If you do this relatively often you may find it is possible to rotate each piston with your fingers to ensure they are properly clean all round.
Push clean pistons back into the calliper.
Clean the brake pad pin. If it has a bit of mild corrosion on it remove it with fine wet and dry. If it is grooved replace it.
Clean the anti-squeal shim. (this serves no useful purpose but looks nice and shiny when you look down at your calliper)
Apply a thin smear of copper grease to the pad pin and the thread that screws into the calliper body.
Install pads pad pin and anti-squeal shim back into the calliper. (MAKE SURE THE PAD MATERIAL IS POINTING AT THE DISK!!)
Ease the calliper hose back past the mudguard stay and remount the calliper. I usually put a dab of blue loctite or similar on the calliper bolts and torque them up to 40NM.
Re- attach the mudguard stay (bit of blue loctite on the screws does no harm). Repeat for the other side
AFTER DOING THE OTHER SIDE APPLY THE BRAKE SEVERAL TIMES TO PUMP THE PISTONS BACK OUT… THUS ENSURING PADS ARE IN CONTACT WITH THE DISK. YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY BRAKES THE FIRST TIME YOU USE THEM IF YOU FORGET TO DO THIS!! I will leave it to your imagination whether I’ve forgotten this in the past!!
I’d say the rear calliper needs more cleaning and maintenance than the fronts due to the fact that it collects a lot more crud. The procedure for the rear calliper is much the same. With the following differences:-
Remove the calliper hose-retaining loop on the paralever as this will give you more latitude to move the calliper for cleaning purposes.
The pad retaining pin is not screwed in but is held with a little bent edge e-clip. Obtain a couple of spares of these before you start. It can be removed easily with a pair of long nosed pliers but this type of clip is notorious for pinging off into the distance on removal or installation. If its been looked at recently the pin should pull out with a pair of long nosed pliers if not it can be persuaded with a fine punch.
The calliper is a two piston sliding calliper design. So only two pistons to clean. But check the boots on the sliding portion of the calliper……and that it slides. If these boots are damaged or the sliding part…… doesn’t then your in dismantling territory rather than cleaning.
FINALLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED AND TORQUED THE MOUNTING BOLTS TO 40NM AND REMOUNTED THE CALLIPER HOSE RETAINING LOOP WITH A 10MM SPANNER. PUMP THE REAR BRAKE UNTIL YOU HAVE NORMAL RESISTANCE. YOU WILL NOT HAVE REAR BRAKES THE FIRST TIME YOU USE THEM IF YOU FORGET TO DO THIS!!
DISCLAIMER……..I’m not sure what the effect is of pushing piston back against abs systems and servo’s but you could still effect a good clean with a soft toothbrush without displacing the pistons and make sure the pins are not seized. Don’t piss about with your brakes if your not confident about what you’re doing. This is only a description of how I avoid brake grief in the winter.
Brakes do feel nice mind if kept clean and its very easy to change pads if nothing is seized!!
No matter what type of bike you ride the brakes are likely to seize in winter riding. It only takes 10mins to clean them and make sure the pistons are free IF YOU DO IT ON A REGULAR BASIS. Otherwise you may encounter seized bits if you follow this process. I started doing this with all my bikes since having to have a pad retaining pin drilled out of a calliper on a Honda superdream in order to replace the brake pads. 24!! Years ago when I was a student. Your helpful service person will never clean your callipers as part of a service….and possibly not even when replacing pads.
For my NON ABS BM 2002 with evo callipers. I undo the two front mudguard stays and undo (but don’t remove the brake pad pins on both front callipers (Torx key).
I then remove the Calliper bolts (torx bit) remove the calliper and ease the brake hose to the calliper past the mudguard stay. Remove the pad pin, anti squeal shim and pads. If you haven't done this before just remove one calliper at a time then if your wondering which way the anti squeal shim goes you can have a look. Its pretty straightforward mind. DO NOT TWIST OR KINK THE BRAKE HOSE!!
Give the inside of the calliper a squirt of brake cleaner (most are carbon tetrachloride so try not to breath to much in!!) and wipe clean with a clean cloth. Pump out the pistons a little by operating the brake (BE CAREFUL YOU DO NOT POP A PISTON OUT WHEN YOU DO THIS!!) stick a block of wood or similar between the pistons if your worried you may overdo it.. This exposes a ridge of brake dust and crud on the un-swept edge of the piston. Give the pistons a squirt of cleaner (or some use new brake fluid….just don’t get it on the paintwork) and clean the ridges of crud off all four pistons with a soft toothbrush.
After cleaning carefully work the pistons in and out a few times to make sure they are operating freely. If you do this relatively often you may find it is possible to rotate each piston with your fingers to ensure they are properly clean all round.
Push clean pistons back into the calliper.
Clean the brake pad pin. If it has a bit of mild corrosion on it remove it with fine wet and dry. If it is grooved replace it.
Clean the anti-squeal shim. (this serves no useful purpose but looks nice and shiny when you look down at your calliper)
Apply a thin smear of copper grease to the pad pin and the thread that screws into the calliper body.
Install pads pad pin and anti-squeal shim back into the calliper. (MAKE SURE THE PAD MATERIAL IS POINTING AT THE DISK!!)
Ease the calliper hose back past the mudguard stay and remount the calliper. I usually put a dab of blue loctite or similar on the calliper bolts and torque them up to 40NM.
Re- attach the mudguard stay (bit of blue loctite on the screws does no harm). Repeat for the other side
AFTER DOING THE OTHER SIDE APPLY THE BRAKE SEVERAL TIMES TO PUMP THE PISTONS BACK OUT… THUS ENSURING PADS ARE IN CONTACT WITH THE DISK. YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY BRAKES THE FIRST TIME YOU USE THEM IF YOU FORGET TO DO THIS!! I will leave it to your imagination whether I’ve forgotten this in the past!!
I’d say the rear calliper needs more cleaning and maintenance than the fronts due to the fact that it collects a lot more crud. The procedure for the rear calliper is much the same. With the following differences:-
Remove the calliper hose-retaining loop on the paralever as this will give you more latitude to move the calliper for cleaning purposes.
The pad retaining pin is not screwed in but is held with a little bent edge e-clip. Obtain a couple of spares of these before you start. It can be removed easily with a pair of long nosed pliers but this type of clip is notorious for pinging off into the distance on removal or installation. If its been looked at recently the pin should pull out with a pair of long nosed pliers if not it can be persuaded with a fine punch.
The calliper is a two piston sliding calliper design. So only two pistons to clean. But check the boots on the sliding portion of the calliper……and that it slides. If these boots are damaged or the sliding part…… doesn’t then your in dismantling territory rather than cleaning.
FINALLY AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED AND TORQUED THE MOUNTING BOLTS TO 40NM AND REMOUNTED THE CALLIPER HOSE RETAINING LOOP WITH A 10MM SPANNER. PUMP THE REAR BRAKE UNTIL YOU HAVE NORMAL RESISTANCE. YOU WILL NOT HAVE REAR BRAKES THE FIRST TIME YOU USE THEM IF YOU FORGET TO DO THIS!!
DISCLAIMER……..I’m not sure what the effect is of pushing piston back against abs systems and servo’s but you could still effect a good clean with a soft toothbrush without displacing the pistons and make sure the pins are not seized. Don’t piss about with your brakes if your not confident about what you’re doing. This is only a description of how I avoid brake grief in the winter.
Brakes do feel nice mind if kept clean and its very easy to change pads if nothing is seized!!
Deleted account W
Guest
Mzokk, thanks for that 
As an easier option, perhaps just playing a hose pipe over the calipers at frequent intervals in the winter.
Doesn't really do the job especially if you cant dry them. In addition your running the risk of the water film between the disk and the pads welding the pads to the disk if the bike stands for a few days (now that they are all made from sintered metal rather than asbestos). As I said if you do it regularly it takes no time.....actually longer to explain than to do.
I find that removing the front wheel and bolting the calipers back in place gives stability when rubbing them clean. Saves putting excess strain on the brake lines aswell.
It's amazing how much sh1t gets stuck in there after an off road jaunt.
It's amazing how much sh1t gets stuck in there after an off road jaunt.
Before I bought the GS I had & still have a Honda CB1 400, and did 12,000 miles in the last year. Hosed the brakes down and that was it. Never had problems with brakes seizing, although I frequently read about it.
Maybe bikes are more prone to it in NI cos the roads are gritted from November to March!! I'm no longer sure whether some makes of bike are more prone to it than others as I do the preventitive maintenance thing. Calliper and piston design is a lot better than it used to be. My really old single and twin cam 750 & 900 Hondas of 20 years ago had chrome plated mild steel pistons!! They did attempt to make them more durable by adding rubber gaskets that fitted to the calliper and piston over the fluid seal (Like a car) but these invariably failed if you used the bike in the winter and were a right bugger to replace.
Mouse
Registered user
Just a note about ABS systems.
It's ok to push the pistons back into the caliper on an ABS equipped bike, but do it SLOWLY, and one piston at a time. That's the advice I was given by my dealer and I have serviced the brakes on my 1200 without problems.
It's ok to push the pistons back into the caliper on an ABS equipped bike, but do it SLOWLY, and one piston at a time. That's the advice I was given by my dealer and I have serviced the brakes on my 1200 without problems.
Madmountainman
Registered user
And don't forget to smear your pistons with a coating of red rubber grease. I clean my pistons twice a year, do high mileage and have no problems other than the retaining pin on the rear caliper requiring a clean and grease.
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Modern motorcycle brakes should not sieze if the service schedule has been adhered to and the bike is kept reasonably clean.
It should not be necessary to dismantle the calipers outside the normal service schedule in order to maintain the safety of the braking system. If this was the case the owners manual would have to clearly state this.
It should not be necessary to dismantle the calipers outside the normal service schedule in order to maintain the safety of the braking system. If this was the case the owners manual would have to clearly state this.
Engineer said:
some brakes don't read the manual
pragmatix
Guest
Steptoe said:some brakes don't read the manual
Make that most brakes dont read the manual, especially if they are japanese
Pete A
If anyone has any more info or tips on this subject, please PM Me and I'll open the thread for additions.
Nice one Mzokk....good post
Bill
Nice one Mzokk....good post
Bill
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