Brakes sticking

Q_Ball

Hey all,

Recently my brakes have begun to stick. in particular my front brake. Its gotten to the stage where when i'm changing gears the bike lurches forward between changes. I also cant wheel the bike in or out of the garden because it pretty much refuses to move without a huge shove. Unfortunately i havent got two pennies to rub together so i need to know if there's any way i can loosen them myself? i'm just afraid that if it gets any worse i'll be doing head over handlebars in no time!

madrab

easy way, tap (not whack, tap) the calliper with a mallet (rubber mallet) a few times, this will give you a temp solution

but what you should do is take the callipers off, pump out the cylinders a bit (not too much so that they fall out, although you may need to take them out) & give them a really good clean to take any grime deposits off them, brakes may need to be blead as well

Q_Ball

cheers madrab.

i'd be afraid to take of the callipers incase i'd mess things up more!

Pigeon Reaper

It's easy to fix the callipers. Just make sure you put them back together correctly. Also make sure you don't get anything on the pads or the disc. Never force the calliper over the disc otherwise you'll be crying when you hear how much a new disc costs. If you know anyone who has fixed their bike in the past ask them to show you how to do it. At present you may need to take them off to fix the brakes, even if you do mess it up it'll be cheaper than the hospital bills and a new bike.

Q_Ball

thats a good point. i went looking through all my RiDE and Bike magazines and found an article on servicing your brakes! think i mught just brave it

a_ominous

I had a similar problem on a previous bike.
Bought some brake cleaner, about 12 yoyos a can.
removed calliper and pumped brakes. Found one brake piston was sticking. Used a ring spanner to prevent good piston moving and freed up sticky piston. Cleaned it with brake cleaner fluid and fine wire wool and life was good again.

But as you asy, there is the potential for screwing it up. And you're messing with the most important system on the bike, the brakes.

Disks AFAIK are >100 each. For newer bigger bikes, there's 2 on the front and they get replaced at the same time.

delanest

I had the same problem before. Got it off ok and free'd it up. The probelm was when I put it back on, there was no pressure in the brake fluid. I had to bring it to a shop to get the guy to sort it.

never found out how he did it?

ANTO D10 DUB

delanest wrote:

I had the same problem before. Got it off ok and free'd it up. The probelm was when I put it back on, there was no pressure in the brake fluid. I had to bring it to a shop to get the guy to sort it.

never found out how he did it?

using the power's of septic peg i predict this man will die in a terrible accident.:eek:

madrab

delanest wrote:

I had the same problem before. Got it off ok and free'd it up. The probelm was when I put it back on, there was no pressure in the brake fluid. I had to bring it to a shop to get the guy to sort it.

never found out how he did it?

how much did you pay for that? hope he did it for free/ultra cheap as it is either a case of pumping the brakes, 10 second job or bleeding the brakes, 30 min job

Fabritzo

Bleeding brakes