How much damage can a rear brake sustain?

[skypeace]

Glad I put the bike on the lift instead of riding it today and began my Spring maintenance routine, I was only expecting to inspect and maybe change the brakes shoes and I have a high performance rotor that I bought last year waiting to put in.

What I found was that I had completely disintegrated one of the rear brake shoes and was melting away about 5/8ths of inch of the actual caliper. You can see some of the melted aluminum on the edge in the bottom photo, but there was a lot more melted aluminum that I chipped away before I realized that I was not going to be able to salvage the rotor.

Well if I am down 7 to 10 days getting all of my issues taken care of I don't mind as it is safety first. Ordered a new(used) caliper with brake shoes and have the rotor already along with a new American Elite tire for the back. So I am encouraged. Thank you Lord!

[sportsterdoc]

Appears that float pins were dry and caliper not floating.
If that was the case, be sure the new pins are properly lubed.

[skypeace]

Originally Posted by sportsterdoc

Appears that float pins were dry and caliper not floating.
If that was the case, be sure the new pins are properly lubed.

Thanks Doc, just the kind of input I was looking for.

[sportsterdoc]

Very welcome

[oilly1]

What a case for pre-ride inspections! Thanks for showing that, and doc for answering.

[wedge]

Amazing that you didn't hear anything. Probably wear one of those noise deadening helmets? After Pete Wilson decided that I need to wear a helmet I near got run over quite a few times that first year (by almost changing lanes due to not hearing anything coming). Then I got a smaller helmet that doesn't cover the ears. Life is better.

Pete Wilson should have kept to taking care of his own head not mine. F'n Pete Wilson.

I don't remember him ever amounting to anything. So I guess the helmet law may be his crowning achievement.

[sportsterdoc]

Originally Posted by wedge

So I guess the helmet law may be his crowning achievement.

Is that a pun?!

What year did CA start requiring a M/C license and what year did CA start requiring helmets.

No M/C license required when I started riding on the street in 1963 and I remember being lidless through the eighties.

[wedge]

Well, I moved here in 75, and a MC endorsement was required on the license back then. I'm not sure when Pete Wilson was governor, but we didn't need helmets before his reign of terror. I moved here from NH, and we didn't need helmets there either. I always wore one in the dirt, but never on the street.

My original license from 75 was a IBM card that you folded in three to get in your wallet. I had that for a very long time, because if you didn't get tickets, you didn't get issued a new license. That old one got me out of a lot of trouble, because when a cop would see it, they would let you go because it showed that you had been riding for so many years without any tickets. The draw back was that the endorsement stamp wore off the card, then they would say I didn't have it, then I would have to show them the tiny smudge where it used to be and they would send me on my way again. It actually used to wear off the early regular licenses too. Now I think it is more permanent.

Oh yeah, it was definitely a pun.

[rocketmangb]

Might think about doing the master cylinder as well !

[John Harper]

I think the helmet law in CA started in 1994 or 1995. I got hit by a car right after the law was implemented. Glad I had a helmet cause the back of my head hit the asphalt.

John