Q:I have 2005 Harley sportser xl 883, Rear brake has a slight squeal noise at very low speed, when brakes are not applied. With rear wheel off the ground, there is a slight drag on the wheel, brake pads look okay, disk is not discolored

Squealing brakes are usually caused by some sort of pad contamination. I had pulsing and slight squealing on my Buell Cyclone brakes. I read online that you should clean the rotor with steel wool or scotchbrite and brake cleaner. Then they said to take the pads out and dress them up on a sheet of medium grit sand paper laid on a flat surface. They had me take the right pad and put it on the left and the left on the right. Oh, you also need to put a very slight bevel on the edges of the pads. It 100% cured the problem and took about 1/2 hour. When it happened again the next season, I replaced the pads with Lyndall Golds and never had a problem again.

Q:Today I went on a ride with my husband and we both have gsxr 600cc sports motorcycles. We noticed in the morning after we came from the store that the covers on our bikes where half off and it couldn‘t be done without someone messing with them. When we first took off on them everything was fine. At first it was mine my motorcycle chain came completely loose while I was riding, and then my bike started to make sounds and when shifting it sounded like my bike was struggling and then it sounded like it was taking a lot to try to go over 35 mph. My bike has never ever had these problems. I am crazy about how I maintain my bike. Then it seemed like when we rode a little more my husbands bike also started acting funny making sounds and sounded terrible. What can people do to mess with your bike to make it mess up? We are having the cameras checked at the apartment and what can happen happen if we find out if someone tampered with our bikes and we report them? What kind of trouble would they be in ?

There are about a million ways to mess up a motorcycle. Everything is out there in the open. I would suggest getting a storage locker for your bikes. Parking them in an apartment parking lot is not a good idea. Once you suspect foul play, you really need to check everything before riding again. Once you heard a noise, you should have stopped riding immediately until you knew what was making the noise and that it wasn't dangerous.

Q:Okay say i am in third or second or even first gear there is a stop sign coming up how do i brake correctly?do i hit clutch hit the rear brake and slow it down and once stopped hit the gears all the way down to first? or do i brake n while i brake hit the gears down?

It all depends, on the bike you are riding. No matter what kind of bike you ride, you should always and I dome mean always use both brakes. Once again, how you use them depends on the bike. On a sport bike, you use more front brake than the rear. On a standard and a touring bike, use both brakes evenly. On a cruiser or chopper use more of the rear brakes and almost no front brake. A motorcycle is not a car, you don't have the weight transfer that a car does. Since most of the weight of a car, is over the front axle. There is a valve in the brake line, that reduces the brake pressure to the rear brakes. So that they don't lock up, so you don't spin out. When you hit the brakes on a car, 70% or so of the car weight is transferred to the front axle. So 70% of the braking power is in the front brakes. On a motorcycle, this is not the case. A sport bike is just like a car, most of the weight is on the front of the bike. So you need to use the front brakes more, more so than in a car. On the other end of the scale, is a chopper. On a chopper it's almost safer, to remove the front brake from the bike entirely. That's because only about 15% of the bikes weight, is on the front tire. I never used the front brake while I was moving, only to hold the bike in place when stopped. I, ride a Harley road king, here's how I stop. I use the rear brake to slow down, then down shift to the next lower gear. Repeat using both the motor and the rear brake, till I'm in 2nd gear and almost stopped. I come to a complete stop, using the front brake and down shift into 1st gear. If I have to stop fast, I pull in the clutch and use both brakes to stop.

Q:I replaced the front brake lever on my ‘05 CBR1000RR and bled the brake system several times. I even purchased and used a professional bleeder kit with a hand pump. The brakes continue to gradually build up pressure until the pistons on the calipers are fully expanded and won‘t retract. Even when I crack a bleeder valve to relieve pressure, they still build up pressure over time until I bleed some more fluid. What should I do?????

The prior post is most-likely correct, the bolt your using to hold on the new lever is too tight. What you don't want to do is loosen the bolt too much where the nut will fall off. You may want to find another bolt with a nylon nut so you can leave the bolt loose but the nut don't have the ability to fall off. If the lever isn't too tight then your master cylinder would be the problem. Usally there is a spring that will make the plunger return to its bottom location and releave the pressure in the lines making the fluid return to the reservior. so either your spring is weak or plunger oring is defective.

Q:Motorcycles

The 03 levers will not work on an 09. The piovt pins are different diameter and if the 09 has a clutch safety switch, the 03 clutch lever doesn't have the actuating tab. The pins were changed in 04 on the new rubber-mount engine/chassis and I can't remember what year they started using the clutch safety switch. You will need to get levers made to fit an 09.

Q:do trial bikes have a conventional clutch operated by a lever on the handlebars, or is it a centrifugal clutch? also how many speeds does the transmission have? and as far as the brakes go, where are they located? it just seems like it would be really hard to do the things they do on trial bikes with the same control setup as a normal motorcycle

I second the answer given by McGuyver. Hi answer is spot on. Hey irkt, My first car was a 1964 1200 cc Volkswagon Beetle. I remember Bultaco brand of motorcycles along with Montessa and Ossa. I watch a very young kid tearing up the track at Red Bud during a two day riding school. The teacher was Gary Bailey and the kid was David BaiIey. At the time Gary was riding a Bultaco with a side car due to a broken right leg encased in plaster. I met, talked with, and shook hands with the great Roger DeCoster at Red Bud in Red Bud Michigan during one of the National MX races.

Q:I would like to comm with someone who has had experience bleeding honda motorcycles brakes for this model. I cant get the pump to pump.

Place a rubber hose on the end of the brake bleed valve and run it into a can filled with about an inch or two of brake fluid. Take the top off the brake reservoir, open the bleed valve a bit, then squeeze the brake lever slightly. Close the bleed valve and release the brake lever. Some bubbles should flow out of the tube into the can of fluid. You may have to do this many times before all the trapped air bubbles are released. Top up the reservoir as needed.

Q:In nj is a moped considered a small motorcycle?

blanket, water can, matches, a big knife, and a carton of smokes

Q:BMW ABS system is not used to shorten the braking distance?

Modern car on a large number of anti-lock braking system installed, ABS both ordinary brake system braking function, but also to prevent the wheel locked, so that the car can still turn in the braking state to ensure that the direction of the car's braking stability , To prevent the occurrence of side slip and deviation, is the most advanced car, the best braking effect of the brake device.