[roy_ryall]

My 2013 has developed a noise in the rear brake when stopping. It occurs only at very slow speeds just before I come to a full stop. It is a pulsing gridding noise. It only occurs after you get the bike to a riding speed and stop, not if you are at a stop and try to reproduce the noise without getting up to a higher speed again. I had a new rear tire mounted recently by the dealer, but I have ridden it a couple of times since replacing the rear wheel on the bike, but I first noticed it yesterday. My first guess was bent rotor from the tire change, but it does not show any obvious wobble and I would think that the noise would have been there on the earlier rides. My second guess is a sticking brake shoe or maybe the rods the brake shoe rides on have developed a pit on them from my testing the braking of the new tire. I took to the dealer yesterday and the mechanic said that the brakes stop fine and that maybe the shoes have not seated in yet (2,200 miles on the bike?) or some dust or a small stone had gotten into the shoes and/or caliper. I am going to remove the rear wheel today and see if can see anything. I am going to take back to the dealer if I can not resolve it myself. I am leaving for a 8,000 mile trip in 10 days and would like to have it resolved before I leave. It would not be good to have a problem on the road.

Any ideas or suggestion?

 

[oldkid]

Sounds like a warped rotor. I would put it on the center stand and turn my hand first to see if you can see if the brake rubs in one place. However as the dealer said, brakes do have a break-in period.

 

[JohnK]

If you tested it aggressively after the new tire mount then you may have glazed the pads and they will need to be deglazed or wear in will reset in time as if they were new .

 

[yammer1hammer]

The squealy wheel gets the grease

Hey Roy,

If you recently had the rear wheel off and you have ABS, which i believe your do, look at the rear wheel ABS ring. It is easy, even for professionals, to slightly bend the ABS ring when changing tires. This slight bend will result in noise quite like a bent rotor or a pebble embedded between the pad and rotor. Even in your humid neck of the woods, i doubt that the pad pin, and shim are corroded enough to sound off, yet. Also, there is usually a thin piece of plastic between the pad and metal shim, called an insulator, that could be missing.
If all this is up to snuff, try some 'squeak be gone' sold at the auto parts store. It is a mild adhesive that goes on the BACK of the pad. It usually helps.
If the ABS ring is unbent, the rotor unbent(they are usually not bent in a simple tire change), and no foreign matter ground into the various parts, the 'squeak be gone' should do the job.
A side query: where did you buy your tire?

Have a great trip, ride hiway 50 across Nevada, and God bless,

yammer1hammer

 

[roy_ryall]

Sounds like a warped rotor. I would put it on the center stand and turn my hand first to see if you can see if the brake rubs in one place. However as the dealer said, brakes do have a break-in period.

The rotor does not show any wobble

If you tested it aggressively after the new tire mount then you may have glazed the pads and they will need to be deglazed or wear in will reset in time as if they were new .

This maybe the case. I rode it this morning and the noise is still there, but in more intermittent.

Hey Roy,

If you recently had the rear wheel off and you have ABS, which i believe your do, look at the rear wheel ABS ring. It is easy, even for professionals, to slightly bend the ABS ring when changing tires. This slight bend will result in noise quite like a bent rotor or a pebble embedded between the pad and rotor. Even in your humid neck of the woods, i doubt that the pad pin, and shim are corroded enough to sound off, yet. Also, there is usually a thin piece of plastic between the pad and metal shim, called an insulator, that could be missing.
If all this is up to snuff, try some 'squeak be gone' sold at the auto parts store. It is a mild adhesive that goes on the BACK of the pad. It usually helps.
If the ABS ring is unbent, the rotor unbent(they are usually not bent in a simple tire change), and no foreign matter ground into the various parts, the 'squeak be gone' should do the job.
A side query: where did you buy your tire?

Have a great trip, ride hiway 50 across Nevada, and God bless,

yammer1hammer

If the noise does not quit and the dealer is not doing anything, I will try it.
I am going to ride hwy 50 from Reno eastward, then go south to southwest UT.

 

[curly]

Mine does this too and I have not had the tire changed. I notice it only after I have ridden in rain and the bike sits and dries overnight.

My theory is it is sand and road grime that gets on the pad and disc and after drying makes that grinding sound the first time the brakes are applied in the morning. Mine only does it on the first application of the brakes. I never hear it after that.

In six weeks of ownership I have been rained upon about 90% of the time. One thing is for sure. The Burgman has so far proven waterproof.

So, have you ridden in the rain when you hear this noise?

 

[roy_ryall]

I have not ridden the rain with this bike. I did wash it a couple of days several days before I rode it. But the noise has continued after riding. Yesterday, I rode about 250 miles and another 75 this morning and it is still making the noise, but more intermittently.

I did have another theory about the noise. This morning I rode the bike very slowly, barely moving, with the brake lightly engaged to listen to the noise. The noise repeats too close together and at a regular rate to be a bent rotor. A bent rotor would only make noise at the bend. My new idea is the ABS unit. The mechanic made a comment about the bike being a ABS when he looked at it.

 

[NormanB]

Off the wall but why did they change the tyre so soon?

 

[roy_ryall]

I installed a car tire so I would not need to do it on the trip.

 

[Jeff_MdR]

You could put the mc tire back on and see if the problem persists. Any other details you'd like to share while we troubleshoot with you?

Would love to hear about your 'loneliest highway' ride - I've thought of doing that myself.

 

[roy_ryall]

If you tested it aggressively after the new tire mount then you may have glazed the pads and they will need to be deglazed or wear in will reset in time as if they were new .

You maybe the winner???

This morning I removed the rear brake caliper and nothing looked odd. I blew some brake dust out of it, reinstalled it, and took a short test ride. Blowing out the brake dust did not work because the noise was still there. I decided to try lightly dragging my rear brake while riding 25-40 mph for 2-3 miles. When I checked for the noise again, it had disappeared. I tested it 4-5 more times, no noise. Time will time if it is truly gone, but for now no noise.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[JohnK]

ccasion7: ccasion5: Lets hope that it stays gone.

 

[edorfox]

Interesting that your noise comes from the rear brake. I have a similar sounding slight "grind" while duckwalking the bike around the driveway and very slow operation. It is definitely a "something's wrong" noise but, I have chalked it up the floating brake rotors transmitting vibration noise through the wheel hubs. The rear brake is quiet as a mouse.

Ed

 

[curly]

Hope you got it figured out. I'm glad it's not the ABS.

 

[westnash]

Would not the car tire void the warranty?

 

[roy_ryall]

Would not the car tire void the warranty?

Where did you hear that one? And besides, the dealer installed the tire.

 

[azccj]

My 2013 has developed a noise in the rear brake when stopping. It occurs only at very slow speeds just before I come to a full stop. It is a pulsing gridding noise. It only occurs after you get the bike to a riding speed and stop, not if you are at a stop and try to reproduce the noise without getting up to a higher speed again. I had a new rear tire mounted recently by the dealer, but I have ridden it a couple of times since replacing the rear wheel on the bike, but I first noticed it yesterday. My first guess was bent rotor from the tire change, but it does not show any obvious wobble and I would think that the noise would have been there on the earlier rides. My second guess is a sticking brake shoe or maybe the rods the brake shoe rides on have developed a pit on them from my testing the braking of the new tire. I took to the dealer yesterday and the mechanic said that the brakes stop fine and that maybe the shoes have not seated in yet (2,200 miles on the bike?) or some dust or a small stone had gotten into the shoes and/or caliper. I am going to remove the rear wheel today and see if can see anything. I am going to take back to the dealer if I can not resolve it myself. I am leaving for a 8,000 mile trip in 10 days and would like to have it resolved before I leave. It would not be good to have a problem on the road.

Any ideas or suggestion?

My 2013 makes the same noise you describe when using light pressure on the brake handle and almost at a complete stop. Mine has just a little over 1000 miles on it. I'm not to concerned about it.

 

[MJR]

Would not the car tire void the warranty?

That depends on the dealer and whether or not it causes something to fail.

 

[roy_ryall]

My 2013 makes the same noise you describe when using light pressure on the brake handle and almost at a complete stop. Mine has just a little over 1000 miles on it. I'm not to concerned about it.

Mine had 12,500 miles on it when I sold it. I watched it to see if there was any unusual wear on the pads. I never saw any.

 

[edorfox]

Interesting that your noise comes from the rear brake. I have a similar sounding slight "grind" while duckwalking the bike around the driveway and very slow operation. It is definitely a "something's wrong" noise but, I have chalked it up the floating brake rotors transmitting vibration noise through the wheel hubs. The rear brake is quiet as a mouse.

Ed

Well, as it turns out, I was wrong, it was in fact the rear brake. It would actually transmit the vibrations up to the handle bars which made me believe it was the front. Well, as we all know, when you have pad squeal on a car, you put this sealant stuff on the backs of the pads to eliminate the squeal.
I removed my rear pads and cleaned the pad backsides and all the points that push on the pad backsides with alcohol. I then spread some RTV type silicone adhesive on all the pressure point "witness marks" on the pad backsides. I reinstalled everything and pulled up on the parking brake for one click and let it set for a few hours.
Well, on the test ride, so far, not a peep! I'll report back if this doesn't hold up but, I think it's fixed. Sooo nice not to have that racket!

Ed