How Freely should the back wheel spin when it's on the centre stand?

[Benjah]

Hi Guys

First post here for me.

I've just had new bearings put in my R1100gs final drive. When the bike is on the center stand the rear wheel is not freely spinning. Is this normal? Same goes with my front wheel.

Cheers

 

[Greg Masters]

B

Welcome to the forum.

The front wheel should spin reasonably freely. If you give it a good spin by hand (don't yank the bike off the centre-stand!!) I would expect the wheel to rotate for a complete turn or more. If it doesn't, just undo both brake calipers and pull them away from the discs. Try again - should spin very freely now.

At the rear, turning the wheel also turns the gearbox shafts and final drive etc so there is some resistance to turning, but it should be possible to turn the wheel easily with one hand.

If your bike is worse than this, check for sticking brake piston calipers and, on the rear, for the caliper not 'floating' on its mountings.

Greg

 

[niko]

is your rear wheel clear of the ground

 

[hops]

really

is your rear wheel clear of the ground

 

[niko]

1st thing to check is the obvious

 

[argee]

the answer is 7

 

[ronnie69]

put it in neutral when checking the back wheel as well

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Make sure there is no-0ne sitting on the bike and pressing the rear brake pedal.

 

[Packer]

Nothing like helpful replies and with the exception of post two they are nothing like helpful replies.

Welcome to the site, post 2, +1

 

[chad]

as per Gregs post

the rest of us are just good natured plonkers

 

[Benjah]

Thanks guys

The first answer was most helpful. The rest ... not so much

I'm installing new front discs this weekend so that will be a good time to check the brake calipers as I'll be removing them. I've got a haynes manual so hopefully that will get me though checking the brakes.

Fingers crossed.

 

[JoeC]

Another helpful comment ...
the rear wheel will never really spin freely due to the shaft drive and the oil in the drive. However, it should move freely by hand with slight resistance.

 

[Benjah]

Thanks Joe

I think the rare wheel is fine then but I can hear a slight scraping sound from the discs so I think I'll take the caliper off.

Is it fairly straight forward to do this? I know that on a push bike you can turn a screw to increase the distance from the pad to the contact area. I'm not sure how to perform the equivalent task with modern hydrolic brakes though.

Any tips?

 

[ahutcheon]

Is it fairly straight forward to do this? I know that on a push bike you can turn a screw to increase the distance from the pad to the contact area. I'm not sure how to perform the equivalent task with modern hydrolic brakes though.

You can't. Flex in the piston seals pulls the pistons back into the calipers slightly when you release the brakes, allowing the pads to clear the disks. If things are full of crud, the pistons might be sticky and the pads dragging a bit.

Where in this land of sheep and kiwi are you? I'm down Dunners way, know marginally more than nothing, and have an 1150GS if you want to compare with another example.

 

[Benjah]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a cleaning out tomorrow.

I'm based in wellington and have been ridding a gs for about 3 months now. I here the south island is the place to be for adventure riding.

 

[hops]

woah

Thanks Joe

I think the rare wheel is fine then but I can hear a slight scraping sound from the discs so I think I'll take the caliper off.

Is it fairly straight forward to do this? I know that on a push bike you can turn a screw to increase the distance from the pad to the contact area. I'm not sure how to perform the equivalent task with modern hydrolic brakes though.

Any tips?

Ben,

A slight scraping sound is not a problem, the pads will be in close proximity to the discs under normal circumstances so will rub lightly. As mentioned previously unless you have trouble turning the wheels by hand they are probably okay. Unless you know what you are doing I would reconsider attempting to strip the brakes down yourself, it's not exactly difficult but is not like a pedal cycle and it's your life on the line if you make a mistake.

 

[Benjah]

Righto..

Think I'll leave it as is then.

Cheers

 

[Benjah]

FYI

The front discs went on without any problems. The front brakes now have quite a bit more feel to them.

I picked up a great trick for restoring black plastics back to original condition if anyone is interested? It's free too..

 

[Greg Masters]

I picked up a great trick for restoring black plastics back to original condition if anyone is interested? It's free too..

Which is ......



Greg