Front brakes lock up on commute home?

So here is my sad story...

I'm leaving work Monday, merge onto the freeway, split lanes for maybe 2 exits, and then, bike starts slowing down for no reason. I thought maybe I shifted wrong or something so I try shifting again, finally realize that the front brake is locked up so I pull over from the fast lane onto the center divider shoulder and that's it! Can't even move the bike anymore. Front brakes is totally locked up! Was riding for like 5 mins, not braking hard or anything. What the heck am I supposed to do now. Everyone from work is gone, oh yeah, I have AAA. A quick phone call and I should be on my way to the local stealership for service right? WRONG!!! Friggin AAA only covers what I am driving, could be a friends car, a car rental, whatever... BUT NOT MOTORCYCLES!!!! Oh that's an extra package for motorcycles and RV's. BASTAGES!!! AAA member for over a decade, never used it, and the one friggin time I need it, oh guess what, not covered F*&% you AAA. Anyway, tow truck shows up, 25 mins later, bend me over to F&^% me up the arse! $75 to hook up and $7 a mile for the tow. Oh and by the way, when we went to move the bike onto the tow truck, the brakes freed up!! $138 later, I finally get the bike to the local dealership just before they close. And let me tell you, these guys were great! they call me the next day and can't seem to find anything wrong and ask me again what happened. They said initially that they could not reproduce the problem and everything seemed fine, but that they would look further into it. Finally at the end of the day yesterday, they call me again and say that the bike is ready. They removed the front wheel, took apart all the brake stuff, bled the system, put all back together and still couldn't find the problem. They obviously put alot of time and effort into trying to find the problem, even called Honda to see if there were any known issues. Nothing. So they told me everything is good, working normally and there would be no charge. Finally some good news. Ayway, going to pick her up after work today and ride her home... Oh and call AAA and cancel my 10+ year membership! :lol: Thanks for listening to my latest adventure, I will be riding her home slowly tonight, just to make sure.

 

My front brakes locked up on me a couple of weeks ago. Took it to a friends dealership and found out that the new levers I just put on was not letting the front brake plunger release. Felt pretty stupid. They filed down the handle to give it the correct clearance and all is fine.

 

Chuck there is a small passage in the master cylinder that allows the pressure to release once you let go of the lever.
If this gets plugged, mine has a few times, guess that is why honda says you should change the fliud once a year, the brakes will not release.
what I do 2 times a season is to suck out all the fluid in my master cylinder w/ a shop vac add fluid and bleed the brakes.
It might seem stupid but if this happens again while you ride remove the cover and pump the lever a few times should clear it out in a jam and get you back on the road. Untill you can clean it out correctly.
2 nd person I hear found out the hard way on AAA and the RV package for towing a bike. Nice of them to tell you when you got it huh.

 

Last year I had a similar problem with my rear brake that turned out to be a proportional valbe located near the battery. Sympoms were that the brakes were free while the bike was cold but drive it down the road and pressure would build until the rear wheel would lock up and not release until hours later.

 

I think there was a Honda recall for some of the 6th Gens that dealt specifically with the proportioning valve, although I don't know the years affected or the symptoms addressed. Just an FYI.

 

Thanks everbody for the input, the dealership said everything is fine and it's safe to ride. I will still be taking it easy on my ride home tonight, just in case. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Scared the CRAP out of me when it happened! My bike is an 05 with not even 16K on it. Shouldn't be having these problems so early.

 

most likely something got in that small passage and was cleared out when the bled it.
ck the manual details on the master and you will see what Im talking about.
also there is an article on it some where, I'll find it and post.