Need the advise of the group. Last year i found that my front brakes pulsed when i got on them hard, and towards the end they were pulsing more and more. I bought a used set off of ebay, and checked my pads. Everything looked and felt ok. Now i noticed that when pushing my bike around in the garage i can hear my pads rubbing on the front rotors. Something it did all the time before i had to replace the rotors. Is this normal? I am afraid that when the last owner put it down he might have tweeked the forks and by extension the Brakes. Before i start riding it this spring i plan to check/replace the pads and double check the all the bolts to make sure they are torqued properly. Any other thoughts?

 

You might need to rebuild your brake calipers. If brake fluid isn't changed regularly (and it rarely is) in can start to gum up in the tiny passages inside the calipers. This sort of acts like a check valve. You can increase your brake pressure when you squeeze the lever but the little "booger" of dirty fluid blocks the passage upon return and wont let the calipers release all the way. The constant light rubbing is likely what warped your rotors since they were never cooling completely. Rebuilding the calipers is simple and basically amounts to disassembling them and cleaning all the individual components. You shouldn't need to buy any parts. Worst case you would need to buy a new seal set which is about $16 per caliper. But as long as you're careful when removing them you wont need to buy anything but new brake fluid.