Pre-Purchase Inspections Are IMPORTANT!!

[aniwack]

This one comes from the Great Book of Face. A buyer found out the seller greatly overexagerated the "great condition" that the bike was in. I'll let you guess why.

 

[Jerseyst]

At least the bleeder cap is on though right??

 

[gmtech94]

I get it the clamp is too tight .

 

[Sadlsor]

What's the problem?
The worm gear clamp looks to be in good shape...
(Yes, yes, yes. I'm kidding.)

 

[OldMcClelland]

wouldn't this just make the SMC active all the time, creating rear drag?
rob

 

[MattSTlouis]

This would make it not engage and would make a great last resort on road repair if you could get the SMC to free up.

AND I DON"T CARE WHAT ANYONE OF FACEBOOK SAYS, I WOULD TRY IT IN AN EMERGENCY!!!!

 

[Igofar]

I hope you have a reasonable medical co-pay if you resort to trying stuff like this.

 

[Mellow]

yeah.. should work in an emergency to get you home...

 

[Igofar]

Once the SMC fails, and the piston is stuck in the bore, attempts to limit the movement of the smc housing would do nothing.
It would be unsafe in my opinion to attempt to ride the bike for any reason in this condition.
Doing so would only put the rider at risk.

 

[Upt' North]

Definitely not clever but I spose if it was on there it was doing the job intended of masking the fault.
Buyer beware.
I know it'll never catch on but some manufacturers have a front lever and a rear lever that work independently. I know.....it's nuts and will never catch on.
Upt.

 

[MattSTlouis]

O.K. how about this ---

It's late at night on a dark road with no cell phone service. You are riding with a friend and a deer jumps out in front of you and emergency stop into a stuck SMC and now you hear banjos in the distance. Thinking fast you have your friend hold the rear brake lever while you push with full force onto the the rear caliper or pry a screw driver into between the pad and rotor to force pressure into the SMC to release it from its stuck entombment in the cylinder where it now resides. After the piston is pushed free you clamp it open and head for the garage, narrowly missing the banjo wielding hunting party.

 

[Sadlsor]

I guess that works, if you don't have a fiddle or a guitar strapped to the back...

 

[Igofar]

O.K. how about this ---

It's late at night on a dark road with no cell phone service. You are riding with a friend and a deer jumps out in front of you and emergency stop into a stuck SMC and now you hear banjos in the distance. Thinking fast you have your friend hold the rear brake lever while you push with full force onto the the rear caliper or pry a screw driver into between the pad and rotor to force pressure into the SMC to release it from its stuck entombment in the cylinder where it now resides. After the piston is pushed free you clamp it open and head for the garage, narrowly missing the banjo wielding hunting party.

All your brute strength and ……….won’t do anything but Maybe push the pistons off the rotor, which would free up the rear wheel enough to push it off the road to a safe place.
However, it would NOT free up the piston, which would more than likely remain stuck where it is.
And as soon as you pressurized either brake, your starting over.
I’ve seen several rear rotors, brake lines, rear caliper mounting brackets damaged by prying of stuff like a fool.
It it were me….and I didn’t want to damage anything further….and needed to escape the guy with a banjo….of course being a guitarist, I’d probably hang for a while and play a bit….
A much simpler method would be to remove my 8mm box end wrench from the toaster oven, crack the rearmost bleeder, to release the pressure, hop on the bike and ride way to a safe location without Touching either brake….remember your escaping your banjo player, not continuing to ride…
So let’s see…pry stuff and damage more stuff…or loosen one bleeder and don’t touch the brakes till your at a safe spot…
I’ll have to think about this more
But seriously, I would suggest to anyone who had this happen, don’t risk riding the bike, or try to jury rig the brake system.
I’ve opened up more of these units than probably anybody you will ever meet in your lifetime, and have seen them so jammed up that they had to be drilled, tapped, and use a puller to remove the piston.
I doubt you and your friends fingers are that strong.
Be safe, not foolish, I’ve seen more than a couple riders die due to brake issues.

 

[oude geit]

Glad I got rid of mine. Safest move I made.....

 

[cjames431]

Maybe it delinks the brakes!?

 

[jfheath]

If I was in the dark road, late night, no phone signal, wet, tired, about to get exposure situation, I would select one of the following options.

1. Look for the nearest Transylvanian Castle, 'cos there's always one nearby in such situations.
2. Hope that a Hammer Horror Film contract was about to come round the corner to help out.
3. Open up the rear outer bleed valve and pump out as much fluid as I could catch in the only bit of cleaning rag that I carry. Leave the valve open to make sure it sucked in as much air as possible before closing it up. Ride to somewhere safe relying entirely on my front brakes and call recovery.

But that is like one of those comic book 'What Would You Do?' situations. The actual answer is that I'd never let that happen to me.

I don't understand the idea behind the circlip. It isn't big enough to stop the minute amount of movement to apply the rear brakes.

 

[SMSW]

The unasked question is, "How long has that clamp been there?".

 

[Larry Fine]

How hard would it be to pull the rear caliper off the bike?

 

[Obo]

How hard would it be to pull the rear caliper off the bike?

Hard. Normally you need tools to remove it.

 

[MattSTlouis]

All your brute strength and ……….won’t do anything but Maybe push the pistons off the rotor, which would free up the rear wheel enough to push it off the road to a safe place.
However, it would NOT free up the piston, which would more than likely remain stuck where it is.
And as soon as you pressurized either brake, your starting over.
I’ve seen several rear rotors, brake lines, rear caliper mounting brackets damaged by prying of stuff like a fool.
It it were me….and I didn’t want to damage anything further….and needed to escape the guy with a banjo….of course being a guitarist, I’d probably hang for a while and play a bit….
A much simpler method would be to remove my 8mm box end wrench from the toaster oven, crack the rearmost bleeder, to release the pressure, hop on the bike and ride way to a safe location without Touching either brake….remember your escaping your banjo player, not continuing to ride…
So let’s see…pry stuff and damage more stuff…or loosen one bleeder and don’t touch the brakes till your at a safe spot…
I’ll have to think about this more
But seriously, I would suggest to anyone who had this happen, don’t risk riding the bike, or try to jury rig the brake system.
I’ve opened up more of these units than probably anybody you will ever meet in your lifetime, and have seen them so jammed up that they had to be drilled, tapped, and use a puller to remove the piston.
I doubt you and your friends fingers are that strong.
Be safe, not foolish, I’ve seen more than a couple riders die due to brake issues.

I opened one up for the first time on one of my st1300s(I bought another one since we talked a few weeks ago) while I was rebuilding the front master cylinder. It was not working perfectly so I just took it off the bike last night,, disassembled it and cleaned it. Now it is much smoother. Why not just do this every 12,000 miles with a brake fluid flush?