Brake Problem

Since the weather has turned colder i have become more and more unimpressed with the front brakes on my K5. At speed they seem ok but pulling up to traffic lights, etc. there seems to be no power or feel and when stopping there is a juddering noise. Don't think its a warped disc as i can't feel any pulsing at the lever and it only happens in the last metre before stopping. Plenty of pad left on both sides of the disc and the bikes only done 8000 miles. Maybe time to strip and clean the calipers but i dont have a torque wrench, how important is it to torque up the caliper bolts correctly?

You have to ask about getting the brakes torqued up correct...

[TSM]

I thought that if your brake disks are very cold then the braking power is less.

Personally I would liked them torqued correctly for piece of mind but a biking friend of mine just tightens his up tight. (nothing to my knowledge has fallen of his bike yet)

(except him when a car took him out on a roundabout )

(its ok to take the p*ss, he got a big insurance payout)

notic my bike does that aswell??


anyone any idea what it is feals like the head lose or sumin anyone got any idea what need to be don??

and mine only done 5000miles and 3months old in all weather

Originally Posted by andyaikido

Personally I would liked them torqued correctly for piece of mind but a biking friend of mine just tightens his up tight. (nothing to my knowledge has fallen of his bike yet)

(except him when a car took him out on a roundabout )

(its ok to take the p*ss, he got a big insurance payout)

The rating for the front caliper bolts is 27NM, if I remember correctly. It's important for two reasons. It has to be tight enough, otherwise stuff could fall off. It's easy to get it tight enough without a torque wrench. The problem comes when you tighen it too much and damage either the mounts on the forks or more likely, the bolts.

Sounds very dodgey. I would be interested in what the clever boy and girls post up.

I have had one weird thing happen with my front brakes in the cold. Bike was sitting out all day, and it was below zero. Bike started, and I let it run for a couple of minutes and pulled away. I rolled down the road, and pulled on the brakes and nothing. At all. Felt like there was no disk. So, I took another grab, and nothing until I was all the way at the end of the braking range, and then the front wheel locked. I kicked the bike up and the front wheel came back back to me. Then the brakes were completely normal, not deep, not spongey. Odd. From now on I am going to pump them until I feel them engage the disk before I drive now...

Originally Posted by andyaikido

Since the weather has turned colder i have become more and more unimpressed with the front brakes on my K5. At speed they seem ok but pulling up to traffic lights, etc. there seems to be no power or feel and when stopping there is a juddering noise. Don't think its a warped disc as i can't feel any pulsing at the lever and it only happens in the last metre before stopping.

I would suggest cleaning the calipers and the pads. This time of year plays havoc with them. Get the pads out of the calipers and give the calipers a good cleaning. Clean the non friction side of the pads and get all the crap off. Goes without saying that you do NOT use any oily stuff on the pads! Clean all of the crud out of the groove on the pad with a screw driver. Rub the friction side of the pad on a bit of wet n dry to remove any glaze. Put a bit of copper slip on the back of the pad and on the etaining pin and reassemble. Make sure the disc are clean and free of grease and grime while the calipers are off.

[Sid Squid]

Juddering can be caused by a number of things, but at this time of year the first thing I'd do is clean the discs and pads.