No Front Brakes!

[madmike2]

Brand and age of the front tire????

An aged tire will follow pavement patterns, especially if it's V-shaped like some Bridgestones and PRs tend to do at the end of their life. Heavy bike grinding the front tire on turns, etc.....

Lift front of bike (teeter on the center stand by weighting the rear or floor jack under the exhaust) and rotate the front wheel assembly. Check to see if th rim is bent, the brake rotors wobble as if they're warped, etc., etc.

THEN. if all else looks good, pull the front wheel and check the wheel bearings.

 

[DonRed7]

Not about to undermine regular brake fluid changes but within a cold system (less than 100 deg C),..Water is just as difficult to compress as dry brake fluid. And as it starts to boil the typical loss would begin as a spongy feel. The rolling 10 feet and losing lever seems more towards rotor than bearings though??

Cheers

Don B

 

[luvtoride]

Don, how about the wobbling wheel? Would a warped rotor do that? My bike exibited identical symptoms. I had bad wheel bearings.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Not about to undermine regular brake fluid changes but within a cold system (less than 100 deg C),..Water is just as difficult to compress as dry brake fluid. And as it starts to boil the typical loss would begin as a spongy feel. The rolling 10 feet and losing lever seems more towards rotor than bearings though?? Cheers

Don B

Don, how about the wobbling wheel? Would a warped rotor do that? My bike exibited identical symptoms. I had bad wheel bearings.

I agree with the above ^^^^ posters -- the wobbling wheel seems, somehow?, out-of-character for a brake (hydraulic) problem?

Anything can happen, I guess? -- but, (IME) the more common result of poor hydraulic brake system maintenance is 'too much' brakes (not 'no' brakes). Due to electrolysis corrosion in the caliper, pistons refuse to retract fully and brakes 'drag'; 'dragging' brakes create heat which warms the moisture laden brake fluid -- which expands due to heating; which applies more brakes; more heat; etc.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Mach,

Another possibility is that you did not mention what type of tires/age/mileage you have and some tires have had Ply Ruptures that have caused the same type of wobble you exhibit.

 

[machyoung]

OK, verdict appears to be in. Front axle bearings. Metal shavings and galling of axle/bearing/collar on the left side. Yikes. Ordered new parts and should have apart and back together by the weekend. This should clear-up the brake issue as well as the wheel wobble. I'll update further as able. Thanks for all of your assistance. BTW, tires are Bridgestone's w/ 2-3 thousand miles.

 

[SkooterG]

Thanks for the update. Bearings on the FJR don't go bad very often, but when they do it ain't much fun.