is this normal?
07-14-2013, 07:24 PM
#1
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Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
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is this normal?
i was cleaning my chain the other day and while the bike was on my stand, and i was rotating the rear wheel, it felt and sounded like the disc brake was being rubbed while i rotated the tire. im not sure if the front does this as i dont have a front stand to lift it up, but there is deffinatley friction when i spin the rear wheel, not a whole lot but enough to notice. and i can also hear what sounds like the disk rubbing the pads. is this normal? or is my rear brake not functioning properly?
as always thanks in advance guys. id be **** outta luck without you
as always thanks in advance guys. id be **** outta luck without you
07-14-2013, 07:29 PM
#2
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Hard to say how much sound you heard. In a perfect world with perfect clean brakes, the bores of the caliper would be clean and smooth. This would allow the pads to retract a tiny bit and not drag.
Alot of the resistance can also be caused by the drag of the chain & front sprocket. You should remove the rear caliper and clean the pistons with a toothbrush and simple green, then water, then brake cleaner.
This should help them move more smoothly & not drag as much.
Alot of the resistance can also be caused by the drag of the chain & front sprocket. You should remove the rear caliper and clean the pistons with a toothbrush and simple green, then water, then brake cleaner.
This should help them move more smoothly & not drag as much.
07-14-2013, 07:56 PM
#3
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Like Joe said, in a perfect world you wouldn't hear it, but I've found that I hear my brakes on multiple vehicles every once in awhile. On the rear bike, you can test to see how much of a problem it is: Ride it for a little while without using the rear brake (easy-peasy). Then carefully touch the rear rotor. If it's warm or hot, you have excess friction and should look further into the problem.
Either way it's probably a good idea to clean it up once in awhile like Mr. Joe said, but if it a light scraping I wouldn't let it get to you.
Either way it's probably a good idea to clean it up once in awhile like Mr. Joe said, but if it a light scraping I wouldn't let it get to you.
07-14-2013, 08:16 PM
#4
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thanks smokinjoe73. ill do all that tomorow, being it my day off. also on the subject of brakes, how do i know when they need to be replaced. ive only had the bike for say 3 months so i dont know what was changed and when before i owned it. but coming from a bike with only a single disc in the front i figured id get a much harder bite out of dual discs, but i seem to be getting less stopping power. i have to really grab a handfull of lever (slowly and controlled) to come to a stop which i always do in combination with the rear brake. just seems like im not getting good stopping power up front considering dual discs. i dont want this to bite me in the rear in an emergency situation.
07-14-2013, 09:02 PM
#5
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There is a lot to say about brakes. You should get familiar with them since you need them to save you pretty often.
On the racetrack I do an insane amount of full power braking, and every so often I get glazed pads from over heating/ incomplete bed-in combo. Can happen on the street too. You can examine your pads for wear, and look for a shiny sheen to them which is glazing.
This can be gently sanded off to regain a lot of bite on braking. You can also sand the rotors gently to remove the pad material buildup. 3m sells disc brake reconditioning sanding discs that are like scotchbrite to clean them then sanpaper to hone them. (I use this stuff) but I also take the discs down to bare metal, then use an actual ball hone to hone to a like new swirled scuff.
Be sure to put anti-sieze on all the bolts (you will see why when you try to remove them) and some brake grease on the pins.
You should hack the web for good brake pad prices. I thing motorcycle superstore is usually really good on price. It should be obvious if you need pads as they have a groove in them to show wear depth. (or put a pic on here for opinions)
Not sure if that covers everything but you should u tube the topic as there should be a ton of vids to show you how.
On the racetrack I do an insane amount of full power braking, and every so often I get glazed pads from over heating/ incomplete bed-in combo. Can happen on the street too. You can examine your pads for wear, and look for a shiny sheen to them which is glazing.
This can be gently sanded off to regain a lot of bite on braking. You can also sand the rotors gently to remove the pad material buildup. 3m sells disc brake reconditioning sanding discs that are like scotchbrite to clean them then sanpaper to hone them. (I use this stuff) but I also take the discs down to bare metal, then use an actual ball hone to hone to a like new swirled scuff.
Be sure to put anti-sieze on all the bolts (you will see why when you try to remove them) and some brake grease on the pins.
You should hack the web for good brake pad prices. I thing motorcycle superstore is usually really good on price. It should be obvious if you need pads as they have a groove in them to show wear depth. (or put a pic on here for opinions)
Not sure if that covers everything but you should u tube the topic as there should be a ton of vids to show you how.
07-14-2013, 09:12 PM
#6
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It think it's normal. The brakes pads are always in contact with the rotors (front or rear) even if the calipers are not actuated and also on my biker I can hear them rubbing slightly.
07-14-2013, 09:53 PM
#7
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seems like uneeded friction/wear and tear, which is no bueno for a few reasons. a car stopped quickly in front of me the other day and i had to swerve out of the way in order to avoid an accident because my brakes. i feel like even if the hawks brakes arnt top of the line brembo's, they should provide enough stopping power that you can slow down quckly to not rear end someone who stops suddenly. thats where i guess ill need to take a closer look at them and really get into them to find out if anything needs replacing. i mostly wanted to know if this was a common problem with the hawk (being it a relativley new bike to me) or its just normal wear and tear which is remmedied with a little maintaince and replacement when needed. thanks for all the input guys. im such of fan of this site. you guys really saves my *** in lots of situations
07-17-2013, 07:35 AM
#8
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I personally found the front stock brakes on the SH horrible and the first components I upgraded on the bike. Over time I implemented the following mods:
1) Stock brakes (OEM calipers are Nissin, not Brembo) with HH pads/Galfer lines -> Barely any improvement in stopping power.
2) CBR929 MC + GSXR Tokiko 6 pistons calipers (Nissin calipers have 4 pistons)-> Significant improvement, 2 fingers braking.
3) All above + Galfer wave rotors--> Another huuuge improvement on braking power, 1 finger stopping.
After mod 3) the front fork would almost bottom out when breaking very hard entering a turn. A few close calls suggested me to upgrade the forks. JD mod solved the problem. Now I can use the additional braking power with confidence.
1) Stock brakes (OEM calipers are Nissin, not Brembo) with HH pads/Galfer lines -> Barely any improvement in stopping power.
2) CBR929 MC + GSXR Tokiko 6 pistons calipers (Nissin calipers have 4 pistons)-> Significant improvement, 2 fingers braking.
3) All above + Galfer wave rotors--> Another huuuge improvement on braking power, 1 finger stopping.
After mod 3) the front fork would almost bottom out when breaking very hard entering a turn. A few close calls suggested me to upgrade the forks. JD mod solved the problem. Now I can use the additional braking power with confidence.
07-17-2013, 07:44 AM
#9
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seems like uneeded friction/wear and tear, which is no bueno for a few reasons. a car stopped quickly in front of me the other day and i had to swerve out of the way in order to avoid an accident because my brakes. i feel like even if the hawks brakes arnt top of the line brembo's, they should provide enough stopping power that you can slow down quckly to not rear end someone who stops suddenly. thats where i guess ill need to take a closer look at them and really get into them to find out if anything needs replacing. i mostly wanted to know if this was a common problem with the hawk (being it a relativley new bike to me) or its just normal wear and tear which is remmedied with a little maintaince and replacement when needed. thanks for all the input guys. im such of fan of this site. you guys really saves my *** in lots of situations
But in the end, the stock front brakes on the hawk is pretty sub standard IMHO... Along with the fork springs... Rear is powerful enough, once you get a clean disc and calipers in there with a nice new set of pads...
07-17-2013, 07:50 AM
#10
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Unfortunately, I cannot contribute to this thread all too much. Not too familiar with streetbikes being this is my first one.
That being said, I have a stupid question for you knowledgable guys... When I hit the brake coming to a stop, especially with the clutch in, I can actually hear the brakes working... Now they aren't grinding. The pads look fine to me and the bike stops just fine. The best way to explain it is if you were to let your car sit for a week or 2 then drive it and hit the brakes and all that surface rust burns off, it sounds kind of like that but all the time. Again, stupid question. But I'm wondering if I need to think about replacing the pads or rotors. Thanks.
That being said, I have a stupid question for you knowledgable guys... When I hit the brake coming to a stop, especially with the clutch in, I can actually hear the brakes working... Now they aren't grinding. The pads look fine to me and the bike stops just fine. The best way to explain it is if you were to let your car sit for a week or 2 then drive it and hit the brakes and all that surface rust burns off, it sounds kind of like that but all the time. Again, stupid question. But I'm wondering if I need to think about replacing the pads or rotors. Thanks.
07-17-2013, 08:21 AM
#11
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Location: Orlando, FL
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It is/ isnt a stupid question, if you have never heard the sound before it will worry you, but it is a normal opperating noise, when you're in a car the sound of the brakes isn't heard because you're in an enclosed cabbin, when on a bike, your head is not far from the front rotors, so you can hear them grabbing the rotors and hear the pads passing over the drilled holes in the rotors. So this is a normal sound and you shouldnt worry about it, when the noise starts to go a way then you may have glazed bads. the hard spots in the pads (glazing) will acctually put less friction to the rotor and cause the noise to go away but the brakes will not work as well.
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