here's the story, basically my brakes felt fine until one day i forgot to take off my front disc lock and rode off about 2 feet and the front locked up and i dropped the bike on the left side. so i go to pick it up and the bike was fine except for the brake lever now felt way more softer then before. i tried bleeding the brakes out at the caliper, and that didn't help much. any other suggestions?

i checked the rotors and took off the caliper to check out the brake pads and they looked fine as well. this sucks because i really miss the touchy feeling my brakes used to have

 

Did you get brake fluid on the pads? Are the rotors still straight?

 

i don't think so, but i don't see how dropping the bike would make brake fluid come out like that. at first i thought maybe when the disc lock came around and banged up against the side of the caliper that maybe it knocked one of the pads out of place, but they seemed to be in check.

the front rotors are pretty straight from eye balling it. stuck it on a stand and turned the wheel. also doesn't pulsate or vibrate when i get on the brakes hard so i ruled that possibility out.

 

did you adjust the brake lever? (the little circular disc) maybe its closer than you had it previously?

 

^ that would be my guess but I figured you already checked that(?). Your brake lock...when it turned (until you fell over), what did it hit? Did it actually lock up against the caliper?

 

bleed it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snowman95 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did you adjust the brake lever? (the little circular disc) maybe its closer than you had it previously?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep. after i dropped it that was the very first thing i checked. since bleeding the brakes and checking the pads it has led me to believe that since part of the rotor is warped now, the pistons in the caliper need to be pressed in further to make contact with the rotor which makes the most sense.

 

Sounds like a bent rotor.

 

there are 4 places to bleed the brakes i think...2 at the lever/master cylindar and one on each caliper.. bleed them all, make sure teh rotors arent bent too

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .Ash &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like a bent rotor. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I concur, probably bent the part where the lock was physically attached to the rotor. Now everytime the rotor makes a revolution, it pushes the pads and pistons out a little bit. Basically what happened to my Aprilia.

 

rotor is definitely bent . just checked it the other night. i'll have to get it fixed.

 

Did your break lever feel squishy when riding ?
And touchy when stopped?