Front Brake Pad rubbing?

Hi all,

The other day I got on my bike and when I went to use the front brake, I noticed a difference with the stiffness of the brake lever. It felt like there was much less 'play' in the lever before it stiffened up & started braking. Brakes were working seemingly fine though so I put it down to the temperature outside as it was quite early morning.

On again in the afternoon and I noticed it again. Once I got home and was wheeling the bike around, I noticed a rubbing noise coming from the front wheel, which I don't think was there before. One of those things though where I'm not sure if I noticed it because I was expecting something wrong, or if there was a genuine change.

A few searches on this forum yield several different results. I've found some threads that say a slight rubbing noise is normal, and others that say strip the brakes down / take it to a garage.

Basically I don't know whether it's normal or not, but I can say I noticed a difference the other day when I got on the bike. Not sure what could have changed, perhaps gunk on the brakes making them sticky??

Really new to biking, done zero bike maintainence in the past, so don't fancy starting with something so critical as the brakes. Is there a quick way I can tell if they're okay, or is it best just to take it to a pro?

All help appreciated!

Cheers,
redders.

[Dave20046]

Is it possible for you to jack the front of the bike up and see if the wheel spins freely?
The pads should make contact with the disc but it should still spin freely (with a slight pad-on disc whirring sound).
If that seems okay and the brakes appear to work (i.e slow and stop the bike properly)...is it possible the change was in your head?(not to be rude, just sometimes I could have sworn things feel different from the last time I rode it ,and usually, it either feels okay the next time I get back on it ....or I've broke it)

[TamSV]

A bit of noise is not unusual but it does sound like you've noticed a reasonable change.

Can you get the front wheel off the ground and give it a spin? You'll quickly know if it's dragging.

EDIT : beaten to it

[Biker Biggles]

Probably worth a basic clean and brake grease of the pistons anyway.And the sliding caliper bit whatever that is correctly called.Preventive maintenance like that means you wont need to take the things apart.

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

Probably worth a basic clean and brake grease of the pistons anyway.And the sliding caliper bit whatever that is correctly called.Preventive maintenance like that means you wont need to take the things apart.

I would start with that unless something becomes apartant during the clean up.

Done mine today and it aint pretty after 6 months of muck build-up.

Originally Posted by redders

Really new to biking, done zero bike maintainence in the past, so don't fancy starting with something so critical as the brakes. Is there a quick way I can tell if they're okay, or is it best just to take it to a pro?

2 critical points there

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

Probably worth a basic clean and brake grease of the pistons anyway.And the sliding caliper bit whatever that is correctly called.Preventive maintenance like that means you wont need to take the things apart.

apart from taking it off the disc to get at the things then of course the pads ??????????
then grease it up mmmmmm where ??? sliding caliper bit ????

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

I would start with that unless something becomes apartant during the clean up.

would you now mmmmmmmmm also what would be aparent to you if youve never seen the inside of a brake

personally i wouldnt touch a god dam bolt or liquid (especially to the thing that stops your high speed highly vunerable vehicle from crashing into everything) until i had someone i know and trust who is competant to work on bikes with me to guide me through what needs to be done. this stops people from killing theirselves by putting things back together wrong

with someone there you will learn how to do it for yourself at a later date but have the knowledge its done right at the time

what dave numbers said stands true, an easy and SAFE check without you messing about with things you dont know about yet,


thankfully you seem to have the knowledge to understand the critical nature of the part your dealing with ,so havent jumped in ham fisted

ignore the above posts they obviously didnt FTFQ

as said get a trusted mate to look it over or if youve no compitant biker mates DO take it to a garage for a look , because most (read decent ones) wont charge you for looking, most wont mind if you ask to watch and learn if they do need too while they fix it, and you know your bike will stop when asked


come on lads read the fecking op before giving advice
i do dispair sometimes

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by redders

Really new to biking, done zero bike maintainence in the past, so don't fancy starting with something so critical as the brakes. Is there a quick way I can tell if they're okay, or is it best just to take it to a pro?

All help appreciated!

Cheers,
redders.

Originally Posted by TamSV

A bit of noise is not unusual but it does sound like you've noticed a reasonable change.

Can you get the front wheel off the ground and give it a spin? You'll quickly know if it's dragging.

EDIT : beaten to it

really? noise normal you say, I'd suggest you get yours looked at, nothing should drag, scrape or rub with your brakes when wheeling it about if anything does they need attention.

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

Probably worth a basic clean and brake grease of the pistons anyway.And the sliding caliper bit whatever that is correctly called.Preventive maintenance like that means you wont need to take the things apart.

I guess you didn't read as far as the end of the first post "done zero bike maintainence in the past", brakes are not for learning on, and to suggest someone of this ability does it is frankly irresponsible, fortunately the OP seem to understand the importants of them and will hopefully seek informed advice.

redders, stick you location in your signiture and perhaps one of the more knowledgeable member could have a look for you, but if in any doubt, get it to a bike shop or someone you trust, don't start playing with it and expect to ride the bike again without it being checked out, of course it's your neck, but as you seem to be aware of your own current limitations, please don't be convinced to start playing with such a vital component .

Cheers Mark.

to be fair my brakes have a verryy slight rubbing noise when im wheeling the bike somewhere, moreso in the wet. However the brakes are always cleaned and copper greased say every 1000-2000 miles.

But yes I also advise you dont start learning on the brakes, theres quite a few things you could do wrong there that will be hard to fix....

[TamSV]

Originally Posted by rictus01

really? noise normal you say, I'd suggest you get yours looked at, nothing should drag, scrape or rub with your brakes when wheeling it about if anything does they need attention.

I assumed the noise the OP mentions is barely perceptible as he says it's possible that it existed before. I didn't say that though, so point taken.

Hi guys thanks for all the tips, I'll catch up with this later during my lunch break!