Hey everybody,

Stopping in to say hello because I have to! My name's Lee, I'm living in Portland, OR. I got a 1985 K100RS a couple of months back and it is an incredible bike. 72k miles, maintenance records going back to 600 miles. A couple of week after I bought it I changed the oil and took it for a ~1200 mile ride from here to interior BC and back without a single problem.

I've been lurking this forum without registering for a long time and I've picked up a whole mess of great tips about my bike. I have a quick question, though: I just swapped out my front brake pads for new EBC ones. The pads on the left caliper slid in fine, but the new thicker pads were a really tight fit on my right caliper. The pistons are pushed in all the way and I had to get rid of some excess brake fluid, but they're still rubbing up against my rotor pretty tightly, to the extent that rotating my front wheel is pretty difficult. Is it just a matter of bedding them in or is there a bigger problem here?

It will pay to pull the calipers apart and clean any accumulation of crud of the piston as that is what is most likely the problem and it wont let the piston go back far enough.  Don't take chances with brakes. They are the single most important thing you have to give you a long riding career.

I didn't say Hi so now will have to be it Hi!

welcome aboard ...

Great to have you with us and look forward to reading your posts in the technical sections.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Welcome Lee. I too think cleaning the caliper of crud will solve the problem. If it's dragging significantly, it may overheat the rotor and cause it to warp, so do attend to it before riding. The braking systems are too important to take chances with.

An update about my brakes - turns out whoever put my front wheel on last wasn't a big fan of centering it quite right. With the worn-down pads from before it wasn't a problem, but with thick new pads the wheel needed a little encouragement to sit in the middle of the calipers. I loosened the axle, gave it a little wiggle, and it's been riding fine ever since! Thanks a lot for your suggestions, everyone.

great result
cheers ..

Hello Lee, Glad you found this site. I too lurked for a while and found the answers a couple of my questions that some other sites couldn't. If your thinking of going to the national rally in Salem OR, i'll be there and hope to meet in person. Ride safe and enjoy.

Welcome Lee !