Uhm.. what's this?

[Eklipse]

Monday after I put my tire and caliper back on, I took my bike for a test ride. I looked down and there were sparks coming from the caliper and a scraping noise. There was also a groove in my rotor.

So today I went out and took the caliper off to see if I could find a problem. This fell out when I took the caliper off. I'm fairly certain it was the source of the sparks. It looks like one side was ground off. So can anyone tell me what it is?

edit: I went for a test ride. Alignment seems good. It's still sparking. It seems like it tends to spark more when I hit a bump or something. I guess I should try to get this peice back in somehow. Just curious, but are the pads metallic? Mine seem metallic.

I think I found the culprit (big pic): http://home.earthlink.net/~keith_erwin/images/jackedcaliper.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~keith_erwin/images/whatsthis.jpg

[The Buddha]

That is there to keep the pads from either sliding out or sliding up into the caliper or in other ways getting the hell out of there ... Very very neccesary ... maybe someone who has more detailed input can chime in ... BTW yours looks like it was cut in 1/2 ... the one I have is almost the length of the longer pad ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[cummuterguy]

it's an anti-rattle clip for your brakes.  remove your front caliper again and look for the 'clean' spot on the bracket where your brake pads sit.

Hard to tell for sure from your picture, but it looks like it's intact enough to re-use.

[cummuterguy]

went outside to look, couldn't remember the exact placement.  

If you look just below the top bolt for your caliper on the fork leg, you'll see the 'squared' section of the brake pad bracket. it slips on right there.

[pixelmonkey]

well.. from what i can tell it's not part of the rear brake system

or any part of the rear wheel....

i dunno
chris<pixelmonkey>

[pixelmonkey]

went outside to look, couldn't remember the exact placement.  

If you look just below the top bolt for your caliper on the fork leg, you'll see the 'squared' section of the brake pad bracket. it slips on right there.

you're right!

number 7


i was thinking it was the rear brakes he was working with.

oops
chris<pixelmonkey>

[cummuterguy]

here's a pic of it installed...

[The Buddha]

OK My bad ... they changed this part in 96 I think obviously along wiht the whole caliper ... My 89 is what I was going off of ...
http://houseofmotorcycles.bikebandit.com/partsbandit/oem_schematic_view~mscssid~1CSV97QTABV08HQGTE3A7S21PF3SERB3~schem_dept_id~724179~section_dept_id~1~section_dept_name~OEM+%28Stock%29+Parts~dept_type_id~2~model_dept_year~1989~model_dept_mfr~Suzuki~model_dept_id~703240~model_dept_name~GS500EK.asp

Mine is the #7 in that pic ... Thanks y'all ... Should read post before shooting mouth/keyboard off ... OK
Cool.
Srinath.

[Eklipse]

Hmm wow, thanks. I wonder if it's too mangled to reinstall. I guess that peice missing could be responsible for the sparks. I'll go outside later and put it in.

Thanks all

[Eklipse]

I'm pretty sure this is responsible (big pic):
http://home.earthlink.net/~keith_erwin/images/jackedcaliper.jpg

I'm not sure why it's doing this. I guess either my wheel got pushed over about 1mm or my forks got bent about a mm.

I don't think I can do anything about it. I guess I'll just ride it until the metal grinds down enough to stop sparking.  

Here was the original damage:
http://home.earthlink.net/~keith_erwin/images/gsdamage1.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~keith_erwin/images/gsdamage2.jpg

While I was down there I put my Sigma BC1600 on. The magnet that comes with it is all kinds of impossible to mount on the rotor. I put it on with some plastic ties. I think It's going to fly out. I hope I don't lose an eye. Maybe I'll glue one of those rare earth magnets on like I read. I put in 290 for the circumferece of the wheel. It was Circumference x 1.61 I think. I hope it's right, I can't compare it to my speedo, unfortunately.