Brakes banging

So riding my bike the other day, I had a few bad experiences. First my clutch cable broke as I was leaving for class, needless to say I never made it to class. Some misc bolts and creativity later, I managed to make it home. On the way home it sounded like my brake rotor was slapping my brake pads at slow speeds. It might be happening at all speeds and I just can't hear it over the wind noise. If I apply slight pressure to the brakes it stops. I'm wondering if maybe the pads aren't resetting and sitting to close to the rotor and slapping. That or my rotors are warped which I am hoping is not the case. If someone has input I would love some help.

 

What bike?

 

Not a good way to insure ones health, and happiness. A new cable is not that expensive. Replace it!

I am sure that there are fifty guys that could hit you with the have you done this questions. Fitz, and myself included.
Your descrition of the problem could be anything from a stuck caliper. To a dead wheel bearing.


Brakes are a major safety issue. You will come to a stop! The choice is yours if you live to ride again!

Ghost

 

The clutch cable was ordered! I have no intention of riding the bike until I get the parts to fix everything. I'm going to tear into the front end this weekend to try and sort things out. Any good resources as far as troubleshooting the brakes?

Also the bike is a 83 seca 750 sorry about that

 

It might help to mention that I rebuilt the front brake calipers before I took the bike out after purchasing it. The bike has gone 350 miles without any issues until now. What I plan on doing once I have time is pulling the front calipers off and seeing if they are frozen again. If they are fine I'm going to double check that everything is mounted correctly and nothing got banged loose. If that checks out I'm going to go get the rotors inspected? I say this as a question because I am not sure if it is possible to do this, but I imagine it is.

 

You can inspect the rotors yourself; you just need to check them for run-out.

As far as rebuilding the calipers, did you attend to the relationship between the calipers and their holding blocks? By that I mean cleaning up and lubricating the "sliding" pin (not the pad retaining pin) and replacing the pin boots if necessary; are all of the steel shim plates (between the caliper and the holding block) there? Anti-rattle springs above the pads?

How many miles on the bike?

If the hole in the holding block or the holes in the caliper that the sliding pin goes through, or the sliding pin itself, are worn excessively the caliper can rattle/bang in relation to the holding block.

 

I was kind of worried about the boots, I thought about replacing them when I rebuilt the calipers but I couldn't figure out how to remove them without tearing them to pieces. Hopefully I just need to add some more lubrication to that. The anti rattle springs were re-installed when I rebuilt the calipers, I'll have to inspect them to make sure they are still doing their job and not bent out of shape.

The bike has just over 25K.

 

Another factor on the seca is the front anti-dive which is linked in with the front brakes. Incorrect functioning of the anti-dive will cause issues with improper brake function.

To check the wheel bearings quickly. Grab the top of the wheel, and try to shake it from side to side. Any movment will indicate worn bearings.

Ghost