Brake Caliper Maintenance - very happy with the results

Hi all,

My Valkyrie's brakes have been dragging a bit and were lacking feel. The dragging wasn't bad enough to heat things up, but it certainly was annoying. Also I found the back wheel could lock up a bit too easily for my liking without any kind of feel or warning to tell me it was about to happen. So I thought its time to clean and service my calipers.

I was, in the past, always a bit wary of working on my brakes in case I messed up and compromised my safety. However after learning how to do a full caliper rebuild on my project bike (1982 Honda V45 Magna) I felt I could tackle this job without any worries.

After taking the calipers off their mounts and removing the pads, I cleaned everything up with brake cleaner, rags, and q-tips. I then used a small paintbrush and applied a liberal amount of brake fluid to the exposed portion of the pistons and allowed it to seep down into the bores where it could lubricate and soften the outer seals.

After letting it sit for a while I cleaned it all up again and then set to getting the pistons moving freely. I needed to rest the calipers on a solid surface next to the wheel and put the end of a socket wrench extension into the pistons. Then with gentle taps of a rubber mallet on the extension I was able start moving the pistons in. Then I put a block of wood in the calipers and carefully (gently) squeezed the brake lever to start moving them back out. The wood was used to prevent the pistons from popping right out. After repeating this process a couple of times and a final clean I felt I had achieved a nice smooth action.

I then cleaned the brake pads and also cleaned and lubed the retaining pins, reassembled and mounted the calipers back on the bike. Then it was a case of squeezing the brake lever/pedal again to seat the pads and build up the resistance in the lever/pedal. Note that I did not disconnect the brake lines, so no bleeding was required.

I then took the bike out for a test ride and can honestly say the braking performance has been transformed. The stopping power is much improved and the feel of the braking system is now much more progressive and sensitive to my inputs. The dragging is gone and the back wheel is behaving much better under firm braking. A great result!

I guess my calipers were getting close to seizing up and this little job may have saved me from encountering bigger problems down the track. I'll now keep a close eye on them and hopefully won't need to do a full rebuild anytime soon.

I would recommend this 2 hour task to anyone who wants to make sure their brakes are in great condition and working as well as possible.

Cheers,

Mark