Hi. The front brakes on my bike are binding when cold,but free up after a few miles. Is this common and will a calliper overhaul sort it out. Thanks.

 

I had this and my calipers suddenly just bound for good, so i replaced the seals etc. At first this solved the problem and then they just stuck again so had to replace the calipers( vfr 750 fv fit straight on ). Turns out one of the calipers had a split along the case ( leaking air /fluid ?). My advice would be ,because of the age of these bikes now, check the casings as much as the pistons and seals...............I`m sure my case is rare but on the safe side an overhaul can`t hurt..

 

Mac
I'd make you spot on. The age of the aly castings is starting to show on these bikes.
I recently found to my horror that a dust seal had popped out of place after my brakes seized up one morning a couple of weeks ago. It turned out to be a problem on one calliper (front R/H) and on closer inspection I found that the metal around the seal had simply disintegrated. The seal was therefore free to just come right out as the piston traveled to compensate for pad wear.

Here's a pic of the seal. It obviously seems in a hurry to go somewhere else, probably some fancy dress party or a mason meeting.
It didn't occur to me exactly what was happening when I first removed the calliper until I'd removed the pistons and seals and given it a good clean up.



Here's what it looked like after the clean up.



I asked a Honda dealer how much a new calliper was.
You know sometimes when you feel you'd better lie down before you hear the damage, in this case I should have dug my own grave.
£387.00!!!!!!! FVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVCK!!!!!!!!

So, I changed the piston seals on both callipers, and after a good clean up and bleed they work fine again, better than they ever did in fact.
I have located a second hand one on ebay and will be buying it very soon.

It's interesting to hear that the VFR callipers fit but bearing in mind that there are quite a few different versions of 1KF brakes dependant on the year of manufacture it may not be quite such an easy plan to find sensibly priced new ones.

I'd be very interested to hear of anyone who has come across affordable new callipers for a 1991 Hurricane without feeling they've been gang raped by Honda.
In the mean time I'm not going to fill in that deep hole I've prepared.

 

Oops, it seems like photo ****it has uploaded the wrong pictures.

This is the one that should have appeared showing the seal popping out.

 

Victor, give your calipers a good inspection like henry and mark said, and they may just be in need of an overhaul/new fluid.


Wow, henry... that's not good at all.

On the price thing, all you can do is buy a decent looking used one. Ebay is the place, as you know.
If I needed one, I'd go with something like this. You can't beat $37 shipped for a caliper.
However, they aren't usually a part that would normally need replaced so there are usually abundant spares off of wrecked bikes.
$575USD+ for a caliper is absolute robbery. Hell, I'd call it kidnapping, rape, battery, and grand theft all rolled into one transaction.
(I wanna smack somebody just hearing that number....lol)

 

Have had the issue myself have not stripped them down yet. Good info & PICS Henry
Thanks ........think I'll scout around for a another set myself on the cheap, clean up and
put new seals in. My rear caliper has the same issue, but not such a priority anyway.
At least I don't have to screw with bleedin' DCBS

 

Keep in mind that seals pretty rarely need to be replaced. A good disassembly and thorough cleaning will generally do the trick. It's important to note that the only thing that retracts the pistons when you let off the brake are the tiny ridges on the seals. IT's not hard to see how some dirt can inhibit that.

 

Take a look at the pistons as well , mine were a bit rusty and sticky .

I still need to replace them , will get around to it this summer as it's been too bloody cold to work on the bike!

 

Haha! Yep, pretty much.
I was just figuring up how much I paid for the parts/acc that I've bought in the last month and it came to just under $575. Sooo... you can get one new caliper from honda or: A new motobatt sealed glass mat battery, a new set of JT sprockets (front/rear), a set of philips Xtreme +80 H4 bulbs and adapter rings (from germany), a set of nelson rigg saddlebags, new front and rear paddock stands, a new Scorpion EXO graphic helmet, and a new Michelin PR2 180 rear tire (mounted and balanced).
And mind you, this is everything above delivered to my door!
Considering you always get what you pay for, I'm sure it's a dam fine caliper....