OK, went for the first ride this year, it was great, just a little windy though.
My front brake was terrible. There was some liquid on the floor by the front wheel in the garage. I thought it was the front seal, but now I don't know.
I noticed that my lever doesn't have much free play in it, it starts tightening up from the off position. I don't like that, then I was thinking that oil may be getting on the disk/pads so in the middle of the ride in Camp Verde I went to the car wash and wash the brakes really good and hosed of the rest of the bike. After that they seemed to work a little better at stopping the bike. I went down the biggest hill in the valley, I don't know if I have ever made it up, but anyway....
While at the car wash i bled the front brakes to try and get some free play in that lever.... I did it twice and it didn't help much.

How do you get the free play in the lever?
I want to figure that out first before I get new pads & etc. Do you think the cylinder / piston is sticking or needs to be rebuilt or replaced? I don't know what to do!

Oh and another thing I noticed when I got home was the right foot peg is bent pointing about 1" to the rear. Can I remove it and use a vice and hammer to straighten or will it snap?

Thks.

 

It sounds like the piston is sticking in the caliper.

Ride on
Brewster

 

Get the front wheel off of the ground and see if the brake is dragging. That will tell you if the caliper is binding-if it is, open the bleeder on the caliper and see if the binding goes away. If it does then you have a fluid restriction either in the hose or the m/c. If it still binds then the piston in the caliper is binding and the caliper needs to be rebuilt.

 

 

I got everything moved around in the garage and got it up on a stand.
The front wheel is not dragging much, it is a repaired disk so it may have a little inherent drag, which I'm not too much worried about.
Can't find any more fluid, but I think it is the right fork seal, TBD!
I did find that there is a screw & retainer nut that was turned all the way in on the lever, pushing against the master cylinder piston. I loosened that up and it seemed to allow more free movement.
I'm going to try it out on my next spring tuneup ride and see. If it works I'm going to pull the pads and make sure they are not 'lubed up'.
thks for the suggestions... back to the trails!