Ive been riding my bike for about 6 months or so but have just recently noticed that my brakes could be bad. Nothing really noticable of course. I bought this bike off some guy and from the looks of it, he had kept it outside. Seat is alittle faded from the sunlight, there seems to be like an oxidation on alot of the metal parts. For example, where the engine sticks out under the rear suspension well that whole section seems to be oxidized. It kinda looks like there is water spots all over the metal but wont come off with anything i put on it. Well anyways back to my original question. I was riding my friends new R6 and the front brake was very sensitive. Well i understand that it is an R6 and they come with alittle bit nicer brakes, but my bike only has 3600 miles on it, which isnt nearly enough for brakes to faded out. When i use my front brake it seems like i have to use alot more force to stop than i should. I never really noticed it before, but could it be possible that as a result of him parking it outside that it could have damaged the brake pads or rotors. Ive heard of brake pads becoming glazed over, but wouldnt know how to detect it. My father keeps telling me that their fine, and that i have nothing to worry about, but i still wonder on if my brakes arent up to full potential. Also if anybody knows a good way the clean the metal parts of the bike that would be great also. thanks

 

try flushing the old brake fluid out and replacing it with fresh stuff..that could make all the difference right there

 

There is a chance that the rotors are glazed. This usually happens when you break them in with too much heat. 200 grit sand paper (by hand) on the rotor surface and the pad surface to rough things up will help if that is the problem. Still, the R6 has much better brakes than you do so it's gonna feel different.

 

thanks guys, i'll try both to see if that works any better

 

also about the metal, does anybody know how to clean that or does it basically have to always be an eye sore?