Get the front wheel spinning...

[ChaP]

 ???Hey guys,

I just completed the installation of new tires both front and rear.  My front wheel is not spinning the way I think it should.  I feel that the brake calipers are binding slightly, should I re-bleed the brakes so that the calipers are not binding?  I know that the pinch bolts on my bike has to be torqued to 16ft/lbs.  And when I spin the wheel, I can hear the brake pads rubbing on the disc(s).  Is there something else that I might have overlooked?

Any tips and advise will be greatly appreciated.

Patrick

[EX#996]

What kind of bike do you have?

[ChaP]

Honda CBR-600 F4i - 2003.

[EX#996]

Sorry, I can't help you with that one.... :(

[Thingy]

The brakes will normally drag a little bit.  But, if you feel that it is dragging too much, I can give you one possibility.

The brakes have dragged pretty bad on my GSX-R a few times.  The problem turned out to be dirty calipers.  The pistons that push the pads at the disk were dirty and would not 'retract' when pressure was let off the brakes.

Rebuilding the calipers solved the problem.  You should replace the seals when you rebuild the calipers if you want to do it right.  However, I have gotten away with using the same seals if necessary.

[ChaP]

Thanks for the pointer, did not think about the calipers being dirty.  

Patrick

[xseal]

try untightening and retightening the axle and pinch bolts. Sometimes they get the fork a little twisted and bind the wheel.  

[Protein Filled]

Cleaning the calipers is a good place to start. Also, you can leave the pinch bolts and axle slightly loose as well as the caliper bolts and bounce the front end a few times to get everything to settle and see if that helps.

[Sunny]

Does F4i use two equal length wheel spacers/collars?  If not, maybe you installed them wrong!  Check them and make sure you put them where they should be.

I usually tighten the axle bolt to the specified torque first, then bounce on the bike with the wheels on ground to make sure the forks are not twisted/pinched toward one side.  After that, I then tighten the axle pinch bolts to the specified torque.

[ChaP]

 ;DThanks guys for all the pointers and tips.  I reassembled everything  correctly, including bouncing the front end up and down a few times before buttoning up the axle bolt and pinch bolts.  Plus, I did bleed the front brakes a couple of times on each caliper and that seemed to be the trick.  

I appreciate all the feed back...thanks again.

Patrick