Brake seized - how to prevent it in the future?

[dabigginger]

I last used my Hornet back in mid-October. A few weeks later, I went to wheel it out the garage to wash it. There was a fair bit of resistance coming from the front brake (it was a fair struggle to push). A few weeks later, I had to move it out the garage again and it was really hard to move. I mean when I pushed it forwards, the front of the bike dipped quite a lot. The front brakes are almost completely seized on the front! Anyway, they free up if the calipers are tapped lightly with a rubber mallet. I'm hopefully getting this fixed shortly (I don't feel 100% confident working on the most important part of the bike).

Anyways, I was wondering if there is anything in particular I can do to avoid this happening again? Was this possibly just caused by lack of use? If I get it fixed up, then don't use the bike for a couple of months, is it likely to happen again so soon?

[hmmmnz]

clean your brakes with warm water everytime you ride in the uk's shitty salt covered roads,

better yet start patitioning your local mp to get salt gritting stopped,
it fucks bikes and cars and is bad for the enviroment,

regular grit (small stones) will give a decentish grip for cars (the only people who matter, apparently) and wont rust everything to buggery
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[dabigginger]

I thought warm water was a big no no where salt is involved as it speeds up how quickly it corrodes metal and helps dissolve it into harder to reach areas...

[Itchy]

Strip them down every 6 months , should be no problem,

As a preventitive when you ride in winter (and summer) let the bike cool down a bit and hose the bike off a bike...

Also you might want to use a bit of red rubber grease when you reassemble the calipers and pistons.
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[hmmmnz]

[iooi]

Make sure when you park the bike up you don't use the front brake to stop the bike..
Or give the calipers a tap, spin wheel to make sure that the pads are moved away from the disk.
Sounds like the pads are sticking/rusting to the disk when parked up rather than anything else.

I would also stop washing it and putting it back in the garage for a few weeks, at least without taking if for a good ride to clear all the excess water of the hard to reach places like pads and disks.
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[Kickstart]

Hi

[metal ken]

I sometimes use a non penatrative grease like silicone grease on the pistons and either copper of aluminium paste on the back and side of the pads, be carefull not to get any on the pad friction material or disc.

Or Sometimes for a quick fix i spray the pistons/back of the pads with a non-penatrating lube that doesn't react with rubber. Lubes like wd-40 are penatrating and are a big NO-NO on calipers.

As said on this post it is always good to give them a service on a regular basis, servicing and prevention is the best method for fixing a lot of bike problems.

Good luck, Ken
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My motorbike breakers metalken.co.uk

Current bikes, GSXR750 Fighter, GSXR7/12, RD350 race rep, KH400

[Itchy]

[Kickstart]