front caliper lock up

[Anonymous]

my front calipers locked up almost throwing me for a loop. checked fluid,ok,checked calipers,grimy but ok, brake line not pinched.just bought this bike,gs 1000, any info would be great

[Billy Ricks]

Could be the pressure relief hole in the master cylinder plug. You should take apart the calipers and master cylinder and clean them up. Check your rotors for warps.

[gspaul]

Check the calper's first, they are easy to pull apart ,could just be the caliper bolts sticking, a little bit of hi-temp grease will help there.
Or the return could be blocked in the master cylinder, when I rebuilt mine there was about 1/2in of dirt in the bottom!

[Anonymous]

bleed

we bled the cylinders and it works o.k. now but what are chances of a repeat?

[gspaul]

Pull the calipers anyway, don't take chances!

[Anonymous]

old school

i heard from a guy that has a custom shop that tricked these out when they were new, and calipers and rotors, were the first things they changed. i want to keep it as classic trick as possible.i gets lots of kudos for the condition and look of it,not to mention the sound of my non-baffle stock pipe... what say yall?

[G man]

I may be an alarmist, but I don't play around when it comes to brakes. On an old bike you just bought, you have no way of knowing what maintenance has been performed. Ideally, brake fluid should be flushed and replaced every year or two.

I would rebuild the masters and calipers and probably replace the rubber lines with SS braided units while you are at it. It is not hard and you will be impressed with the improved performance.

[tfb]

I once had a Yamaha XJ550 that pulled exactly the same stunt. You would pull on the front brake, and then when you released the lever the brakes stayed on. Which was pretty crazy, not to mention scary. 8O

It turned out to be something to do with the master cylinder. I never was able to narrow it down further than that -- and so I took the safe option and replaced the master cylinder, piston and all.

Mike.