Brake dragging

[mlivkovich]

Old pads are in calipers. I will leave it as it is and ride it for a couple of days and hope it will solve the problem. Maybe the reason is that I did not put back every pad where it was...

Thank you all for advices!

[lloydjames]

You'll will always have tighter spots on brake disks, that's why they now have floating rotors. It allows for engineering tolerances. It entirely depends on how much resistance you experience at the tight spot. As long as you can spin it out of the tight spot by hand without putting effort in I wouldn't worry about it.

Best test to do would stick it in neutral and push it. If you feel active resistance at a set point on the wheel rotation that causes the bike to feel like it's braking, you have an issue. Otherwise, happy riding.

Are you sure you haven't just talked yourself into thinking there's a problem where one doesn't exist?   

[seth]

Old pads are in calipers. I will leave it as it is and ride it for a couple of days and hope it will solve the problem. Maybe the reason is that I did not put back every pad where it was...

Thank you all for advices!

If you mixed up the old pads when refitting them that will be a big part of the problem until they re-wear in .
Hopefully all settles down very quickly.

[Mick_J]

Take it out for a decent spin and try to use the brake sparingly, after a while stop and feel how hot the disk is (be careful with this).  If it's "ahhhh" bloody hot you have a problem but if it's just warm it's okay and I would leave it alone.  As gsxbarmy said there will always be some drag on the disk as the pads never fully clear the disk.

[lloydjames]

Take it out for a decent spin and try to use the brake sparingly, after a while stop and feel how hot the disk is (be careful with this).  If it's "ahhhh" bloody hot you have a problem but if it's just warm it's okay and I would leave it alone.  As gsxbarmy said there will always be some drag on the disk as the pads never fully clear the disk.

If they're too hot, a quick spray with WD40 will cool them enough to touch  ...........  Seriously though, please don't do that   

[Andre]

This is baffling. There will always been some drag from the brake pads when you spin the wheel as they never completely lift off the disk when the bike is at a standstill, so its never going to spin 2-3 revolutions. Whilst 3/4 of a turn isn't bad (at least it shows the pads are not solid on), maybe it should do a little more.

If everything is working properly, and given you have 3/4 turn, it may be time just to leave it for a while and see if it improves.

I wonder if someone else could check how many revolutions their front wheel turns, as that would give some indication as to whether we have no problem / slight problem or major problem. As I don't have a 14 any longer that's a bit difficult for me.

Are there any members who can do this as a check please?

Last time I checked it was over 1 1/2 turns. Used a piece of masking tape to keep the guessing to a minimum. If you get more or less depends also on the amount of force you use when spinning 

Take it out for a decent spin and try to use the brake sparingly, after a while stop and feel how hot the disk is (be careful with this).  If it's "ahhhh" bloody hot you have a problem but if it's just warm it's okay and I would leave it alone.  As gsxbarmy said there will always be some drag on the disk as the pads never fully clear the disk.

Also compare the 2 disks. All you need is go for a slow spin and only use the rear brake (unless you need the stopping power of the fronts).

Here is a good video on how to reinstall front wheel/brakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYHV78tWs1c Good instructions here. The bike has radial calipers but it is still applicable for ours. At the end he shows an important part often overlooked! The "free leg" mentioned there is the opposite on the 14.

[mlivkovich]

Thank you all for advices and replies! Gsx is my 4th motorcycle in last 20 years and I did a lot of brake cleaning,  changing fluid, bleeding and refitting and I exactly know how much brakes drag on all of my motorcycles and my friend's motorcycles I often serviced.  I am pretty sure that every time I put pads back in I put them in diferent position (never payed atention of that) but this is the first time I can not spin the front wheel (wich was free to spin) after cleaning, putting new fuid and bleeding brakes. Done this at least 30 times on diferent bikes....

Will give it a ride and hope pads will re-wear.

[grog]

read this today, got me thinking. last year i refitted front wheel, no work done to brakes but one was dragging. measured temp with laser and one much hotter. i had no idea why or what to do. i just kept riding and all came good. mystery to me. now both the same temperature.

[mlivkovich]

Today I rode it for about 100km and it seems that brake pads adapted to the brake discs. Front wheel is spinning freely again and I am happy now

Thanx for help

[Kiwifruit]

Thats the trouble with bikes......you cannot turn the radio up so the problem goes away.
Pleased you are happy now and can get on and enjoy riding. Good on you for checking everything out....probably twice 

[ARH]

Good to hear you are sorted 

@ Andre.... that's a great find with the vid!  Things there I had not thought about!

[Andre]

@ARH

One (should) never stops learning something new.

The guy in the video, Dave Moss, has been setting up 3k bikes every year for many years. I am sure even he is still learning. Worth a search on YT

[lloydjames]

Good to hear it's sorted 

[mlivkovich]

Thats the trouble with bikes......you cannot turn the radio up so the problem goes away.
Pleased you are happy now and can get on and enjoy riding. Good on you for checking everything out....probably twice 

Twice?
At least five times! brake discs got hot just from spinning by hand    and trying to figure out what is going on.

[Andre]

 

Glad you got it sorted, disks and head cooled off by taking a ride in your beautiful country