Replaced the rear pads again today. Seems the rear wear twice as fast. There isn't quite as much material to contact the disc as up front, but still... And I don't usually use the rear allot for stops. Maybe I'm using it more than I realize. <shrug>

Also, it feels like I have a slight amount of play in the head bearings. There is a very slightly noticable <tink> on hard deceleration from the front. Feels like the head bearings anyway. Anything else I should look at while I'm readjusting and greasing it ?

Tanks a ton.

Pads: check to make sure the lever assembly is free moving and not hung up in a slightly depressed position, it happened to me once.  Just pressed enough to not notice it but still wear the pads.

Head bearings:  put it on the centerstand and weight the back tire (usually helps if you use a person as it's not as stable in this position and you will be applying jerking motions)  This should bring the front wheel a little off the ground.  Try jerking the triples up, down, left and right.  If there is a problem in the head bearings you most likely will notice either a sound or some play in a given direction.  Noise up there could be anything.  Did you do your front pads recently??  Maybe you didn't tighten a caliper bolt down??

the stem brgs need grease.....

you should be able to see this rolling the bike around and hitting the front brakes....you should be able to see the stem move.....this is bado bado

clean and grease the crap out of them
factory is very stingy on grease....
they want to sell u more brgs

Ya, I had both calipers off, but things are tight. The 'tink' was before the new pads (for the record).  I just noticed it today on the ride to get the new pads. Turned out the front pads were still fine, and only the rear were toast, as usual.

I'll check out the manual for the clean n grease method. I'm familiar with what a slightly loose head bearing feels like from cycling/MTB'ing. This doesn't feel like that _yet_ but I believe you're right. I'll tear it apart tomorrow and make it right.

Just wanted to clarify it's _barely_ noticable, under heavy front braking so far. There isn't any noticable slop in the head/stem bearings just yet. I'd imagine once there is, they're trash right ?

Thanks !

Rear pads ... OK even if you use rear ocassionaly, should not ever wear. The problem more than likely is a bad caliper. Bleed it and clean and grease the slider pins. And I mean bleed it like a  maniac. This is one reason I prefer DOT5 fluid. 4 takes water and gets clogged up and BS like that.
Cool.
Srinath.

i would also recomend checking to see if the rear brake arm is bent a little.  This would cause the back caliper to be out of alignment and cause the brake pads to wear down faster.

Quote from: nastynate6695 on January 06, 2008, 08:53:49 AM
i would also recomend checking to see if the rear brake arm is bent a little.  This would cause the back caliper to be out of alignment and cause the brake pads to wear down faster.

I actually wondered about that, given the fact the caliper was beating around against the wheel back when the jughead at Dons Cycle Supply didn't put bolts in. I measured the Remaining pad's thickness and there were mirror images, with a little less at the rear of the pads because of the shims.  There was exactly shim thickness for difference, so I don't think the arm is bent.

I'm betting the caliper is a little on the tight side causing the quick wear. Guess I'll need to rebuild the rear caliper when I put new front pads on next.

The bike road fantastic today. Even managed an unexpected 2nd gear wheelie coming over a rise. After bleeding a few ounces through both calipers there is a huge difference. I think they both had absorbed some water prior to the service. I'm mindset to bleed the brakes with each oil change now. And grease the head bearings. Amoungst all the other stuff that means quality time.

Try this also.Remove the caliper,take off the brake resivor cap,press the pistons back in the caliper slowly,put caliper back on,install pads,check fluid level and put the cap back on.Remember to place a rag around the resivor to keep fluid off the paint.This seemed to help my problem with the back brakes.My theory is that when the pistons are pushed back with the cap on it causes pressure to build up in the resivor.Effectively trying to push the pads back together after they're installed.