First off Hub, this has nothing to do with my ZX-14, front brakes are perfect on Big Red. After changing the front tire on my CBR for the first time about two weeks ago, I now have heavy front disc drag. I took her completely back apart twice, each time checking the spacers, alignment, re-torquing everything, bouncing up and down on the front suspension and pumping the front brake with the pinch bolts loose and then retorquing. All the usual tricks to no avail, there is still heavy drag on the front discs. Up on the stand with the wheel off the ground, a healthy spin and she stops in about 1/4 turn. My ZX front will spin several revolutions. When I roll her in and out of the garage I can feel and hear the drag. Local Honda shop wants to look at it under warranty, they think the caliper pistons are sticking and not pulling the pads back clear of the rotor. Makes no sense, it rolled free before the wheel was off for the tire change and the bike is still brand new, barely out of break-in. My theory is that when I re-assembled, the lower fork legs are not perfectly parallel with each other, maybe a few thou off. The front axle is designed so that it can be moved in and out relative to the left lower fork leg apparently for adjustment reasons. Since the rotors are mounted on the wheel and the calipers on the lower legs, there is some room to get things a hair off center. In theory, calipers are self-centering and this should pose no problem. Since the radial calipers are precison fit into bushings on the lower fork legs though, this may be throwing my pads slightly off with respect to the rotor, i.e pads and rotor no longer perfectly parallel. Again we are talking a few thousands here but enough to cause some drag. Given some time they probably will wear in to the new angle and stop dragging. I made a high speed run and checked front rotor temperature and it was barely warm to the touch so no harm being done. What sayest thou O' great purveyor of cycle knowledge and lore?

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/17/2009 @ 3:17 PM *

"pumping the brake lever with the pinch bolts loose"....hhmmmmm.....Dumb question here...did you push the pads BACK into the calipers ALL THE WAY just before you slipped the front wheel back on?And how IS the lever action?(sorry,I'm not HUB).

Sounds like your answer's over on the Fireblade forum Kruz-that one fella(Jetpilot)seemed to nail it good with the Reservoir/fluid answer.Must be an interesting setup on that Honda-sounds like a lot of "hassle"?LDH and Ripperton on that 1000CBR site sound like they've done this before

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/17/2009 @ 8:38 PM *

Did someone say-"band" Sacrilege!Blasphemy!!!(although he gets points for having a BLUE bike(motorized couch?)Whatever ya call it. ........It's a HONDA!!!!!!!!!...I don't KNOW Kruz's answer-that's why I thought(foolish of me I know) my post might be of help,just in case someone over there who actually OWNS a CBR might be able to HELP him out!(just in case he hadn't looked there).

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/18/2009 @ 3:31 PM *

Just out of curiosity-I read those posts over there before I posted up here(initially)-The assemblage of that Honda brake/frontend sounds to me like a REAL drag(no pun intended)-NOTHING(well,okay,similar in principle) like our brakes.Hell,even I changed out my brakes-without so much as a smidgen of anything not working(or fitting correctly) during replacement and install.I went with what I knew from experience working with AUTOMOBILE brakes.I did however check my service manual just to make sure I had things installed correctly.Seemed to me those CBR brakes are quite quirky to get em in there and operating correctly.My Kawi-pretty straightforward and "normal" if I could use that term(Maybe I "just got lucky"?)

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/18/2009 @ 4:18 PM *

Kruz,
Do you have the factory service manual? If you do, follow it to a tee. My track bike is a '06 CBR1000RR (which I sold today) and I had the front off many times without issue. You will find your answer in short order if you do a search on the "other" forems. LDH and Ripperton know their stuff but, you wisely realize this problem occured after your R&R. Go through the front end install procedure again and I'm sure you'll find the little nuance that is causing you grief. Best of luck.

Kruz,
I just flipped over to the 1000RR.net and saw you were already there. Been a member there for years. You'll find you answer there, if you have not already. Again, Good luck and be patient. These are your brakes we are talking about!

Hello Hub, guys, thanks for all the tips. It's been too cold here to get out and play with it so I haven't had a chance to fix it yet.....if it really needs fixing. I did ride it Sunday afternoon and the brake drag is not that bad. I did notice the new 10R has a similar brake noise when rolling it in and out of the garage, maybe not quite as loud. The 14 is dead quiet in the front, very free. My VTX is very quiet also but then it's got only a single caliper front.

You guys are right about the CBR front end. It is finicky and requires some patience and technique to get it right and drag free. The 14 front end is a no brainer, torque to specs and it's good to go. One of the guys from Dan Kyle Racing had a blurb on there about getting the brake drag out of their CBR race bikes. He said you need a triple tree stand, not the front fork type stand (Pit Bull) to make sure you can move the fork legs slightly relative to each other and find the point of minimum drag. With the Pit Bull stand, your lifting the front end of the machine by the bottom of the fork tubes. With all the front end weight resting on the stand, you can't move the leg freely to find that minimum drag point.

Hub, with this design, tightening the axle nut locks the axle spindle to the right fork lower (as viewed from riders perspective). The left fork lower can move slightly in or out as it floats freely on the axle spindle. When you tighten the pinch bolts on the left side you lock her down. I'm thinking I have her locked down with the forks just a hair out of parallel. The pads have worn in, now the angle is just slightly off until they have time to reseat. On the other hand I may be full of crap and there is something else going on.

I like your theory about cleaning the caliper pistons but it seems if they were sticking it would have showed up before I removed the front wheel for tire replacement. Also bike has only 2800 miles and never been in the rain. Front end was super clean, you could eat off it. Local Honda shop is no help, they acted like this has never happened before. More likely, most mechanics and customers are not as finicky as I am when it comes to setup and a little brake drag doesn't bother them. I don't want to spend $1200 on a pipe and Pcom to gain a couple horespower then lose it all cause my front brake is dragging.

Hi Hub, thanks for the tips, this whole thing's been a bit of a drag (no pun intended) but you've given me food for thought here. I'm going to pick up a triple tree stand in the morning and play with this thing until I'm happy with it. . Once I finger out the magic sequence, next time should be a snap. I thought about those calipers being in a slightly different location than original but man those are precision bored holes in the caliper mounts and the caliper pins are surface ground for precision...almost a light press fit there. Then again it does't take but a thou or so to mess things up so I'll give your method a shot. The only other option is to ride it for a couple hundred miles and see if it doesn't just go away on it's own accord.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/23/2009 @ 9:21 AM *

This is all done on a front stand (under the triple stand is preferred) Snug the left side pinch bolts, torque the axle nut, torque the right side pinch bolts. Loosen the left side pinch bolts and move the fork leg in and out while squeesing the front brake. Tighten the pinch bolts when you find the point of lightest drag. The left side spacer is really just a bushing as it does not bottom out in the fork leg like the right side does.

Got this off a CBR site, apparently a common problem, I'll give it a try...can't hurt.

Gotcha Hub, If I had had someone here when I did the dance that might have got 'er done. I had no way of holding the front brake on while simultaneously tightening them pinch bolts, my arms ain't that long LOL! Where's them vise grips?

No problems though, I need a triple tree stand for fork maintenance anyway.

Good points all Hub, I'l find what works on this critter and give you a full report. No "reach around" though!

I finally broke down and bought the T-Rex triple tree stand and that was exactly what I needed. I loosened the left side pinch bolts and you could move the left fork leg in and out on the axle spindle about .020" with some hand pressure. I spun the wheel and locked the front brake several times to let everything find it's own center and then re-torqued the pinch bolts. Brake drag sound is gone now and the bike is noticeably easier to roll.