Soft front brake, what gives?

[qslim]

Sort of off-topic, my friend rides a new GSX600. Like the accident waiting to happen that he is, he left the wheel lock on the front when we were pulling out of a parking lot this morning. Brilliant. Went over the front, bent the clutch lever, no biggie. Picked it up, realized that he now had no front brake. I pointed out that when the resivoir is on its side, the MC gets a gigantic air bubble. So we rode carefully back to my place, and have bled the crap out of both from calipers and the MC, to no avail.
There is absolutely no air in this sucker anymore, I'm sure of it. We must have put three bottles of fluid through the system manually, and I also used my air-powered vacuum bleeder. There is not an ounce of air coming out of any of the bleeder ports.
What is wierd is that you pump up the front handle 'til its firm, and you're good to go. Walk away for 20 mins and it's still fine. But, as soon as the bike starts moving the lever goes all the way in like there is air in the system, and you have to pump it up quickly to get pressure back.
The wheel lock he used goes through the front rotor, so I proposed that he may have damaged the caliper when the lock came around and smacked it, but the caliper looks fine.
Any thoughts?

[JayH]

Probably one if not both of the rotors are bent enought that he now has no brakes. Have him sit down before pricing out a rotor.

[Billy Ricks]

Probably one if not both of the rotors are bent enought that he now has no brakes. Have him sit down before pricing out a rotor.

My thoughts as well, bent rotor. Does it shudder or pulsate any when he hits the brakes?

[qslim]

I have no idea if it shudders. If you wanna come over and ride a sport bike with no front brakes, have at it. He's gonna ride it (slowly) to the dealer in the morning, I guess.

[JayH]

Hopefully he has a big credit limit.

[tconroy]

[QUOTE=JayH]Hopefully he has a big credit limit.[/QUOT Does he have any kids that can wait to go to college!!!!!!!!He could also refinance the house!

[flyingace]

Before you spend $ on a rotor, have you verified that the brakes push the pads toward the rotor when you squeeze the lever? Maybe the problem is something broken in the master cylinder...

[qslim]

He took it to the local dealer today, rang up a tidy $400 bill for a new rotor. How 'bout that. He also threw his wheel lock in the trash, but now he wants an alarm.
If he'd just bought a 25 year old brown & orange 600lb bike like mine, he wouldn't have to worry about theft prevention!
BTW, good call, JayH.

[katoranger]

He took it to the local dealer today, rang up a tidy $400 bill for a new rotor. How 'bout that. He also threw his wheel lock in the trash, but now he wants an alarm.
If he'd just bought a 25 year old brown & orange 600lb bike like mine, he wouldn't have to worry about theft prevention!
BTW, good call, JayH.

I can buy a GS for that.

[tconroy]

I can buy a GS for that.

WOW!Thats half the cost of my gs.I would get rid of it and but 2 or 3 gs's to put in the garage!!!If ya crash one at least you would have a backup!

[Billy Ricks]

If he had done the work himself he could have bought a nice set of aftermarket rotors for that.

[Boondocks]

If he had done the work himself he could have bought a nice set of aftermarket rotors for that.

Yes, I hated to bring it up but since you already did I will second your observation.

A new set of EBC rotors for his bike would cost $360.

[DaveDanger]

Aircraft owner/operators have a trick they use with locks or covers that get put on the outside and inside of their planes. Similar to your friend's predicament, if you take off in a plane that has a gust lock still in place on the control surfaces, or a cover in place over the port that measures airspeed and density... you're in a world of hurt in a few seconds. ALL of those locks or covers have a huge red or bright orange warning flag that you can't help but see as you walk up. I know if I used a wheel lock on my bike, there'd be a cord from the lock to a cover on my ignition switch so that the key wouldn't go in until the cover/lock is removed.

[bwringer]

We shouldn't feel quite so smug -- GS parts prices are also disgusting. The best price I could find for new rotors for my GS850 was $132.43 each.

(One of the old ones was warped, and they were right on the lower edge of acceptable thickness.)

I decided to redouble my eBay efforts, and a week and $40 later, I had a lovely low-mileage set of rotors in front of me, still attached to their front wheel.

[Billy Ricks]

I picked up a set of PFM iron rotors for my bike for under $200 if I remember right.