I have a 2009 XB12SS. I am in the process of replacing my tires. I have the rear wheel done. Now I've moved on to the front. My front brake is an 8 piston brake. Its rather long. The service manual says to remove the front axle and lift the rim and disk off the brake calipers and then rotate the right fork slider tube to clear the calipers from the inside of the perimeter disk. They show a 6 piston caliper brake in the manual picture. I taped the side of the brake caliper that faces the rim to protect my translucent blue finish. The brake caliper fork mount gets in the way when trying to lift the rim off the caliper. I tried removing the caliper, but its size and shape prevents me from removing it from the inside of the disk. I'm trying to keep from damaging the beautiful finish on my front rim. I could figure this out but probably damage the nice finish on my front rim in the process. Does anyone know the trick to removing the front wheel from this model Buell?
To remove the caliper you will need to take the lever assembly off to get some slack in the brake line. After you unbolt the caliper, rotate the rim and caliper counter clockwise simultaneously.
Thanks for the advice. I looked at the bike and that should work. Although I don't have much slack in the brake line up by the handle bar, but apparently it should be enough. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks again!
Because of my cycle jack and having to strap my XB12SS to the jack to keep it from tipping over, I am unable to turn the front wheel to the side as shown in the video. So I used Terrys1980 idea, but didn't have enough slack in the brake line and wound up removing the whole front brake system from the bike, which wasn't that difficult. The hardest part was getting to a hose clamp for the brake line behind the flyscreen aluminum shell. I had to remove the flyscreen, and the horn to get to the clamp mounting bolt. The hose clamp bolt had a nylon locking nut that held the clamp in place on the backside of the shell. The hard part is getting to that nut. I have the wheel removed and the tire changed. Now I have to reassemble everything and that nut will be a real treat to put back in place on the backside of the shell. I imagine a few choice words will be used putting that section back together. Thanks for the ideas, it really helped me out!!