Front brakes rubbing noise when not riding

Hello everybody.
Please give me suggestion what to do and tell me if I have to be worried at all.
When pushing my bike around (garage, driveway) I start noticing, that front brakes make some rubbing, almost grinding noise.
I placed the motorcycle on the stand and tried to spin the front wheel and it does not really spins freely. looks like the brake pads are in contact with rotors.
Is that normal?
Can I adjust it myself?
Or just leave it the way it is and stop worrying about.
Thanks in advance!

 

It is normal to have the pad in contact with the disk, your rotor might be warp. Check for flatness by using an indicator.

 

Hello and welcome to the MadHouse:welcome:

It would help us to give relevant input - if you tell us what year/model VFR we are talking about. It might be best if you can update your profile (the "My Profile" link at the very top of this page) to include the specs for your bike and an approximate location - state/city would be fine. That way you may find people nearby may be willing to swing by and help in exchange for some beer tokens.

As for the pads dragging on the disk - I guess that there is normal and abnormal. Inherently after application the pads will only back away from the disk once fluid pressure stops and that normally does take the rotor to do a couple of rotations. Obviously if the brakes won't free off at all and remain pretty much jammed on then you have a problem. The most likely solution would be to remove the relevant wheel(s) and then clean and copper ease lubricate just the right bits of the calliper to ensure the pads can move/slide easily into engagement and then back off. If its an old bike, especially one which has seen little use, you may need to spend a fair bit of time cleaning things. Just make sure when reassembling that you don't get copper-ease or any lubricant onto the braking surfaces of the pads or the rotor. If it helps refer to the "specifications" sub-forum to see if there is a workshop manual for your bike.

Hope that helps

PS People on here really like to see evidence that you own a VFR :vtr2at least one picture of your bike) and before too long people will be ragging on you :kaboom: if you don't post up some pictures very soon.

Take care





SkiMad

 

Skimad is always on top of all the question :thumbsup:
BTW to the OP, :welcome: to the madness from sun shine state :wave:

 

Wellcome Mrachni,
I seem to have the same problem even when riding. It's not permanent but comes & goes. I also have a slight pulsing feeling at the begining when I apply the lever & sometimes at the end of the braking action. A mechanic after riding the bike told me that there are deep grooves on the disc (I have EBC XC contour rotors & new pads) prevent the pads from "mating" properly with the rotor causing the symptoms. The grooves were probably caused by the worn out pads.

 

Its normal for the pads to touch the rotors. You want as little space as possible. A bigger gap means more time pulling on the lever. Same goes about vehicles. You'd you rather have 1/4" play till you feel the brakes working or 1" play?

 

thank you EVERYBODY!

 

Our single-action calipers slide left and right on pins that must be grit-free and properly greased. Stiff sliding will cause excessive drag, time for maintenance.

 

Looks like the pads are worn out, if so the piston is extended way out and exposed and possibly oxidized to where it doesn't want to retract when letting off the lever. BTW, the normal gap is never ever close to 1/4", it is on the order of 0.005"...

 

Its called an example.