| Author | Message | ||
     Firebolteric_ma |
i have been ridding the crap out of my bike lately and just started to feel a "pulse" in the front brake when i was almost home yesterday. looked at the rotor when i got home and it shows little burn marks on the rotor in a pulsing fashion around the entire rotor. i'm sure this is not normal. right? has anyone else had this happen? i looked in the kv but couldn't find what i wanted to know. warped rotor maybe? change my pads to better ones? original pads still look good. i'm at work now but can post a picture when i get home if needed. any thoughts on this?  | ||
| Dmextreme |
Same here Firebolt. I laid my bike down in November. I have a shake/wobble at 100 plus. The rim has some rash on the outer lip. Now I noticed my rotor has burn marks and at slow speeds I can hear it. So I am wondering if I should just replace my rim and rotor? I only notice at high speeds I have this shake. anything from 50-90 there is no shake or wobble. Nice and easy goes. I am confused. Jerry // Iowa (Message edited by dmextreme on April 18, 2006) | ||
| Olinxb12r |
You may need to tighten the head bolt on the front end. Check that before you go spend any money on new rotors and wheels! It is in the manual. | ||
| Pcmodeler |
Mine started doing the same thing shortly after I had it taken in for service to have the fork seal replaced. Seems like every time I take it to the dealer, something happens shortly after. | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
I HAVE NO WOBBLE AT SPEEDS.(I THINK..WILL CHECK TODAY) JUST WHEN APPLYING BRAKE PRESSURE I CAN FEEL IT. ESPECIALLY WHEN GOING SLOW. NO CRASHES OR DROPS. DOES THE ROTOR WARP WHEN USED HARD? HAD A CLOSE CALL W/ A CAGER CUTTING ME OFF THE OTHER DAY AND GRABBED A HAND FULL OF BRAKE.( I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE BLOW THE STOP SIGN AND FLIP "YOU" THE BIRD).  aaarrrggghhh...damn "caps" again (Message edited by firebolteric_ma on April 18, 2006) | ||
| M1combat |
The burn marks are pretty normal with the stock pads. The wobble "probably" isn't the wheel or brake system. It's probably the steering head torque as was mentioned. The brakes will generate a "buzz" sound at low speeds with light lever pressure. That's normal. That said... Rotors can warp... | ||
| Alanshouse |
Rotors can warp when heated up. This is likely if you are on your brakes hard a lot. For instance in city, or on the auto bahn. This is one reason why you might have to get the rotors on your auto "turned." | ||
| Lpowel02 |
I had a similar issue a few months ago - pulsing, not the low-speed buzz. I checked the steering head torque and that certainly helped, but in the end I had to replace the rotor to make it go away completely. Checking the steering head torque is a simple process, so that's definitely worth eliminating as a cause before buying new stuff | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
do the brakes "pulse" when the rotor is warped? i feel it at the brake lever, and when slowing down can feel the pulse/drag. i will also check the stearing head and torque to the correct setting when i get home. i just got back from lunch and took the bike down the highway. it was a little "wobbly" which i never noticed before. i brought bike up to 85mph. it is also windy here right now. but it was feeling different. looks like i'm playing mechanic when i get home and see whats up. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Another thing to check. Clean the bolts and springs that the attach the rotor to the wheel. Use some brake cleaner in a spray can and clean them real good, spray in around the bolt and spring. When you are done make sure that the rotor can move freely by pressing towards the rim at the mount points. These can get dirty and start to stick and will also produce a slight pulsation. If nothing here helps, then it is probably warped. | ||
| Skully |
Eric, The stock brake pads leave the little deposits that you see on the rotors. I had this problem too. Al Lighton at American Sport Bike (one of our sponsors) suggested that I try the Lyndall Gold Pads. They cleaned the little spots off and the rotors and when they were gone, so were the pulses. Keith | ||
| U4euh |
I agree with Skully. @ 19,000something miles, my stock pads finally crapped out on me and started to leave the tale tale signs of deposits, along with the pulse in the front end under normal braking conditions. If I were in need of a really quick stop, it wouldn't show up until almost to a complete stop. I changed pads before going to this years March Badness, by the time 250-275 miles had been put on the new pads, the rotor is shiny like new and the pulsing is all gone. | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
EVERYONE...THANK YOU for the advice.  when i get home i will check into the head bolt and torque it to spec's. i am also going to call Al Lighton at American Sport Bike and order the Lyndall Gold Pads. as Skully mentioned my rotor has small deposites on the surface (between the slots) which seems to me to be causing the "pulse" i have been feeling. hopefully this will fix my problem. i don't recall seeing those deposites on the bike rotor before, but then again i was not looking for them either. | ||
| Spuds |
just wanted to add my experiences here... my front brake (on my '03 xb9r) was pulsing too..after about 7000 miles of, shall we say, "average use". You could feel it during all braking, and at low speeds it was almost "grabby". Dealership measured the amount of "run" (correct term?) in the front rotor, and it was within spec. The steering head bearing was also tightened up, but they said that it was pretty darn close to proper torque settings. Now, maybe it was solved just by virtue of the disassembly/reassembly process (ie, maybe they cleaned the bolts and springs...), but with a brand new rotor on there now, the front brake is as smooth as silk!!! hope this helps.... Rod (Message edited by spuds on May 29, 2006) | ||
| Heyfred |
Had 7,300 miles on my 04 XB12R and front brake was pulsing. Switched to the Lyndall Gold Carbon/Kelvar pads and pulsing went away. Bike stops fast and smooth. Keith | ||
| Blake |
What Keith said! The stock pads can sometimes deposit a film onto the disk that results in the pulsing. Solution has been to clean the disk (abrasively with scotch bright or emory paper) or install new/different pads. | ||
| Bkocher |
I have this same issue with my front brake, it feels wierd, after a super aggressive ride *showing my buddies what my buell was made of* my front brakes got worse the harder I rode, now they appear to have some burn marks around the front rotor... I have good pads, but my rotor makes some pulsing when I use the front breaks, the faster I go the worse it gets. cleaning the rotor did help, but I want to pull the front wheel and scotchbright it... Do I have to remove the front brake caliper to remove the front wheel, I've never done it? and I want to check the torque on the head bolt, anyone know what the torque spec is? thanks! |
