Front wheel lockup

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Well, that was interesting...
 
I had problems with my brake light staying on after I released the front lever. Tried to move switch a bit but that didn't work so I glued a washer under the lever end. Seemed to work fine - no drag discernible -  but after about 8 miles my front wheel began to lock up then froze. Luckily got her down to a few mph when it froze completely.

Sooo, I did an emergency leveroptomy there by the side of the road and removed the front brake lever completely.  Wheel back to normal.  Only had a few miles to go with rear brake only (makes you appreciate that front brake a bunch.

Put it back together (less washer) and appears to work fine now, but could there be any damage that isn't apparent lurking to nail my ass at the worst possible moment?

Thanks

[3W-lonerider]

only 2 things coulda happened as far as damage..if there is no visable damage to the rotor as far as color change..then it's ok..then i would look at the brake pads..if they don't stop as well then you may have glazed them..if thats the case.. scuff them up with sandpaper to remove the glaze. but the reason they locked up is because the pads were dragging to much on the rotors and your fluid got extremely hot. and expanded. with nowhere to go besides push the pistons out on your calipers locking your brakes up.. i'd say you should be fine.

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Hey thanks, I appreciate the advice. Kinda what I figured, knew something was heating but hadn't thought about the fluid heating up to cause it.

[Ricky-D]

You have (had) two distinct and different problems that may be related, but not necessarily.  The brake light switch is a mechanical switch located in the housing on the handlebars. The switch is a "normally on" switch which is held in an off position by the lever being in full forward position.    The symptom of the brake light being "on" is most likely the lever not returning to the full rest position.

The lever is "pushed" by the spring in the piston assembly so if the lever doesn't return properly it is going to be because the lever is jamming in the housing or the piston is jamming or the spring is collapsed. The lever needs to be freely moving.

By shimming the lever you caused the piston to depress thereby blocking the relief port that lets the brake fluid return to the m/c. This is the reason the brake pads remained pressed against the rotor and heated up.

A quick fix is not necessarily the correct way to solve a problem and can, like in your case lead to more severe problems. I would suggest a little lubrication might have been the correct way to work on solving your problem. Try to get things working by getting back to stock configuration and only modify as a last resort.

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Yep, there's always two levers, Lever A & Lever B.

The right choice here was to Lever B. 
Thanks