Brakes rubbing?

[Joecycle]

A question about the front brakes....
I lifted the bike up front and back last night, spun the front wheel and the pads are slightly rubbing continuously.
Should they even be touching when the brake is not applied? Should there be any resistance?
I didn't have time to remove the calipers but from what I could tell, the pads looks to have plenty of life left on them.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Devaclis]

I had the same question last year. It is not a problem. It is typical of motorcycles. Nothing to worry about :)

[rybo]

I had the same question last year. It is not a problem. It is typical of motorcycles. Nothing to worry about :)

And cars. The brake system doesn't have a mechanism to retract the pads when you let the brakes off, so the pads touch lightly all the time. On the uber expensive stuff (see the brembo catalog for the Master Cylinder that Rossi uses...it's about $3500) they have a way of pulling the pads back and having the front wheel run free, but then again see the pricetag and determine if that's worth it to you...

[dragos13]

+1 for Rybo's response

Another option is to get floating rotors. They are suppose to shift just enough to push the pads back and reduce friction. I have them on my bike and honestly couldn't tell the difference lol.

[Joecycle]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Makes me feel a little better knowing this isn't a safety concern.
The only thing I was thinking is maybe there were slider pins (like a car) that would need lubed up over time.

Thanks.

[XJ600s]

How much rubbing is normal?

So I went outside today after a longer ride to check why my centerstand was wobbly (loose mounting bolt) and thought I'd check the brake pad life too.

Well, I put the bike up on my stands and spun the wheels. The back wheel would barely spin in neutral, maybe 4-6 inches (rotationally at the tire) given a good spin by hand.

The front would spin about 1/3 of the way around and stop. I noticed that my brake pads are touching the surface of the rotor and causing unnecessary drag (at least in my opinion).

How much should they grab the rotors when not used? This seems like it is causing me quite a bit of extra drag at higher speeds and reducing my mileage quite significantly (between 30-35 most days, todays tank was 42.2mpg).

Is it worth it to pull the calipers, open the reservoir, and push the pistons back inside the housing? The pads have a lot of life left and I bled them less than a year ago sot here shouldn't be any air in the lines.

Any thoughts?

Forgot to mention, the bike is a 1994 Yamaha Seca2, the rear brakes are stock, but the front brakes are dual calipers from a 2003 Yamaha R1.

[dragos13]

Do you hone the rotors between pad changes? Sometimes the old material can cause drag on the new pads. Did they spin better before?

I spin the wheel on my R6 and usually get about 3 full spins on the front and almost two full spins on the rear wheel. It seems your bike has excessive drag.

[XJ600s]

I haven't changed the rear pads since I got the bike. the front pads are what came with the brake system, and the rotors came with the fzr600 wheel I bought.

how much does it cost to hone rotors? is it something I can do myself?

[dragos13]

You can buy a honing tool for pretty cheap ($25 i think) and just connect it to a drill. It takes some time but you will find most of the drag on rotors is caused by buildup from previous pads. Get all that crap off and you should be good to go. If you need any help let me know. I'm a ways down south but I have the tools to get the job done.

[XJ600s]

I ran by the auto store to pick up one of those honing tools, but they had never even heard of them before. :dunno:

So I decided to just go home and spent about 30 minutes taking off the calipers, pushing the pistons back in with the reservoir open and re-sealing the system back up. I had no brakes the first 10 pumps or so, but then they grabbed the pad, and I am back where I started. Only now, the front wheel spins almost 2 full revolutions before stopping. It seems better, but we'll see if it stays that way after a few rides. I didn't get time to do the rear as that requires pulling the side fairing to get to the reservoir.

I guess I'll have to rip the front end apart one of these days and do a full proper cleaning and inspection of the gaskets to make sure its all kosher. And, I might even swap to stainless steel lines just as a little upgrade.

Thanks for the help.

[Captain Obvious]

Like the above said, bike brakes usually drag. Its a bit of a downer.

But, how much does your front rim spin with the brake calipers off and the axle tightened? After you reinstall the brakes and torque everything down, how many revolutions can you get?

On my TL, I can get about 3 revolutions with the brakes off. Brakes on, I get a little over 1.

[XJ600s]

Brakes off I get 4-6, hard to count as it really spins freely, but not loose.

Brakes on, I get between 2-3 revolutions. Its better now, but I'll check it again in a few days after I ride on it more.