Front Brake Pressure
 

I'm having a problem with my front brakes. I recently replaced the brake fluid with new and bled the system numerous times. I've searched and read the threads for bleeding and feel fairly confident that the bleeding was effective. However, The brake pumps up nicely, but after an hour or so in my heated garage, the brakes are locked on the rotors. It seems like there is expanding pressure as the bike sits. After bleeding I can roll the bike around and even ride a short stint, but when I leave it sit in the garage, the brakes will lock. I'm really not very experienced with an issue like this, and I've searched for answers here without finding any threads that discuss it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
As background, the VTR is a 2003 model completely stock with 5000 miles. I picked it up a few weeks back for a nice deal. I was very impressed with how clean it was.

Did you just change your pads,front and rear.if so,have you worn the pads in properly.
If not new pads,after bleeding,did you attempt to set them in.
It's possible by not setting in the pads properly,they will stick to rotors as they cool.

No new pads. I actually pulled the calipers from the rotors and placed a thin piece of wood between the pads to see if one side or the other was the culprit. It doesn't seem to be the pads or a rotor issue.

let me know how that turns out.i would imagine if the preasure is tight,than there might still be air in the system.
i treat the front brakes on a bike just like i would with a car.start with the caliper farthest from the mc,it would be the left caliper if you are sitting on the bike.
make sure you bleed it until a smooth constant stream of fluid is coming out.than do the next one until that one has the same result.
but do not let the mc get empty at all or you will have to start all over again.

I would start by checking all threads on all bleed bolts and such... It sounds like you have a leak somewhere...

Rebuild kit for the master cylinder. I chased this problem with my GSXR clutch and that's what it took to fix it.

hi, i've also experienced a similar problem on my 98, although with mine it seems to just happen randomly, on one occasion the brakes started to lock up on the highway forcing me to pull off the road, rotors were glowing due to the heat. ive also tried bleeding the brakes, but mine seem to start locking after i've been using the brakes, not while sitting. any suggestions would be great, this has me rather stumped, ive never had a problem like this on any other bike..

Locking brakes like that means the calipers are sticking, dissasemble and clean them... And by clean, I mean to the point you'd be comfortable putting them on the same plate as your dinner...

I wonder if, in the master cylinder, the bleed hole isn't blocked. I watched a friend spend many hours on the brakes of a Z-1 until he disassemble the master cylinder and poked the debris out of the bleed hole. The symptom of dragging pads went away.

check your lever

What you have is a master cylinder problem.
Check that the little bleed hole in the bottom is not blocked. Check that the brake lever is fully released, sometimes aftermarket ones do not fully release. Check that you put the rubber diaphram on correctly and lastly make sure that the reservoir is not over filled with fluid.
If all these things check out ok then you will need a rebuild kit.

hey, thanks for the advise, I realized that the pads where pretty worn and the previous owner over filled the brake reservoir, fixed that. lever seems to release all the way, but gets tighter as time goes on, once i get some more time I'll check what you guys mentioned about the bleed hole and rubber diaphram.

Thanks again..

My Hawk has two lines from the master cylinder.

Now it sounds like you still have a bit of air in the system.

See this is what I really don't understand about you.
You list all the experience that you have and how fast you are, then you turn around and ask a very newbie question.

So at this point I'm not sure if you are really looking for an answer or just trolling for an argument.