John Leah
Registered user
Hi,
I have a 2002 1150GS ABS with 19,000 miles on it. The PO rarely used it hence the low mileage but, in the less than two years that I've had it I've put on about 6,000 miles including a 2,000+ mile tour of Scotland this summer. I do occasionally ride in rain but use other bikes when the roads have been salted.
It's been reliable but recently the front brake started binding and soon became hard to turn by hand. So, this afternoon I removed the callipers (one at a time) to clean them and found all pads worn nearly to the metal (oops!). I pumped out each piston in turn (but not so far as to remove them) and using plenty of brake cleaner and an old toothbrush got them all shiny like new. I cleaned the old pads (new ones on order) and refitted them with Copaslip on the pins but, alas, they still bind.
It's getting dark now and, as I work outside, have had to stop for the day but I'm not sure what to do next. I should have checked each side in turn but didn’t – besides, isolating the problem to a side still wouldn’t have helped me cure it.
Were it one of my other bikes I'd have no hesitation in stripping the callipers, replace the seals (and maybe pistons) and change the brake fluid. But, it has ABS which is scaring me off as all of my manuals seem really, REALLY keen that I take it to my local dealer. So keen, in fact, that they don't even tell me how to.
So, what could be causing my brakes to bind? If it’s something simple like seals it would pain me to have to take it to my nearest dealer (70 mile round-trip) just because I couldn’t change the fluid.
Even if I can resolve the binding brakes without disturbing the fluid it does still need changing so is this something I can do myself? Maybe with a vacuum brake bleeder?
Cheers,
John
In sunny Devon
I have a 2002 1150GS ABS with 19,000 miles on it. The PO rarely used it hence the low mileage but, in the less than two years that I've had it I've put on about 6,000 miles including a 2,000+ mile tour of Scotland this summer. I do occasionally ride in rain but use other bikes when the roads have been salted.
It's been reliable but recently the front brake started binding and soon became hard to turn by hand. So, this afternoon I removed the callipers (one at a time) to clean them and found all pads worn nearly to the metal (oops!). I pumped out each piston in turn (but not so far as to remove them) and using plenty of brake cleaner and an old toothbrush got them all shiny like new. I cleaned the old pads (new ones on order) and refitted them with Copaslip on the pins but, alas, they still bind.
It's getting dark now and, as I work outside, have had to stop for the day but I'm not sure what to do next. I should have checked each side in turn but didn’t – besides, isolating the problem to a side still wouldn’t have helped me cure it.
Were it one of my other bikes I'd have no hesitation in stripping the callipers, replace the seals (and maybe pistons) and change the brake fluid. But, it has ABS which is scaring me off as all of my manuals seem really, REALLY keen that I take it to my local dealer. So keen, in fact, that they don't even tell me how to.
So, what could be causing my brakes to bind? If it’s something simple like seals it would pain me to have to take it to my nearest dealer (70 mile round-trip) just because I couldn’t change the fluid.
Even if I can resolve the binding brakes without disturbing the fluid it does still need changing so is this something I can do myself? Maybe with a vacuum brake bleeder?
Cheers,
John
In sunny Devon
