wheel squeeking!?

[mattfuzzy]

hey everyone
ages ago (probibly about 2 months ago) i started hearing a squeeking coming from my front bike wheel, this stopped and started randomly and got worse/better randomly too, i ended up taking the bike down the local bike shop and got whole new forks costing me £223, and now im hearing the squeeking coming from the front tyre once again today, im not too pissed off about the forks because they were rusted to hell and back anyway and needed replacing (even though now it seems that wasent what was causing the squeek in the first place)

im just thinking about it (knowing bugger all about bikes) and just guessing, i think its something to do with the calipers/break discs, has anyone else had this problem and know what is actually causing the squeeking? (guess its a long shot)

thanks in advance

[Slinn84]

very common problem, chances are its your pads sticking to your discs. does it only happen when your going slowly?

try taking your pads out and rubbing copper grease on the backs and re-installing them, this stops them rubbing against your caliper pistions

give your pistons a damn good cleaning too, they always need it so its worth doing anyway but it just keeps things running smoother

[mattfuzzy]

ahh ok, guess i will be spending a while learning how to do bike maintenance then are the pistons hard to get to and clean and so on? because i really dont know feck all about bikes other than how to ride em

[Slinn84]

what kind of bike is it?

if its just a simple 4 piston caliper then it's really easy

simply unbolt the brake caliper and detach from the frame, (dont pump the brake when its displaced or you'll be spending weeks trying to prize the pads apart)

remove the pads (usually be removing a cover on the upper side of the caliper or a retaining pin, after this the pads will just fall out, NOTE how they fit in the caliper)

with this done you can see the pistons, they will protrude about 2mm out

to clean them put a metal bar in between the pistons and pump the brakes until they clamp onto the bar, wash pistons down with brake cleaner then push them back in all the way (careful not to overflow your fluid resivoir), they may be very stiff getting back in but use a peice of wood for leaverage

when clean, smear back of pads with copper grease and re-install, re-attach the calipers and pump brakes a few times until the brake lever is tight again, and hey presto, hopefully non squeeky brakes

[mattfuzzy]

the bikes a gilera DNA 125, thanks for the rundown ill make note of it, will this effect my riding? ie. make the bike hazardous to ride? if i dont sort it right away?