Brakes

[Boof]

Hi just brought a 06 xb12r and and finding that the brake pads when hot grab the disc. So after it has been ridden it's hard to push ..How do I back the pads off a little?

[08herobolt]

Backing them off won't work. You may have a caliper starting to seize up. If you back them off, then the next heat cycle they will be right back where they were. Pop the caliper off and look for corrosion or anything that may have built up around the caliper pistons. But for the love of God, don't hit the brakes with the caliper off. The pistons will shoot right out if you do.
Also inspect the brake pads. It sounds like they may be contaminated with grease or some other fluid. Personally, I'd change the pads while the calipers of. It's a cheap way to ensure they aren't the problem.

[lowkey]

Does it have aftermarket levers? If it does, some get sent out that are pushing on the MC slightly and when everything gets hot the pads will drag or even lock the front wheel, which happened to me. There should be a micro bit of a gap between where the lever contacts the piston on the MC. If you take the lever from the MC arm part (the pivot bolt) you can see if it's hard to align the bolt through the hole again and that would be what I'm talking about. You can fix it with a file or dremel until it isn't pushing on the piston to get the pivot bolt back in. This is all at the handlebar area, not the caliper piston that 08herobolt is talking about. Also check that the rotor hardware is correctly installed.

[cjanderson_90]

^ I agree. Aftermarket levers can cause drag! I took mine off after a near accident.

[Boof]

Bingo!Thanks,it was a project bike that couldn't be finished by previous owner ,he made an attempt to grind back the lever pusher be not enough, so I just ground a little more , works perfect now. Cheers and thanks.
Boof:)

[DougH]

Glad you got it figured out with a simple fix. Now you can enjoy riding with a bike that is hopefully safe (might check to see what else this project has had done to it)