[edward.powersiv]

Hey everyone, I had a pretty scary moment and was hoping for some advice. I purchased a 2008 Street Triple not long ago and went through it putting all new fluids and checking brake hardware and cleaning/polishing/greasing where needed. I thought she was all good, but one day I was driving (luckily close to my house) and the front caliper locked up in the middle of a busy road, was terrifying. I have since completely rebuilt front rear calipers and front rear master cylinders. I think the main cause was the small return hole in the front master cylinder being rusted shut. Also the pistons were really dirty and there was obvious brake fluid gooey water stuck in the calipers.

So I am confident in the brakes now, but.... I am now not so confident in the rest of the bike. Do y'all have any suggestions on other things I should check for that are potentially catastrophic? Chain, sprockets, wheel bearing, loose bolts, etc etc? Thank you in advance.

 

[Bat-1]

There's no correlation between having a brake lockup and other systems. What likely happened is that there was very slight positive brake pressure (I've seen this more than once with aftermarket levers where the person installing it didn't align the little hole in the lever with the recess properly - an easy thing to miss if you've never done it before). So your brake fluid expanded slowly until it eventually pushed the pads into the rotor.

In 40 years of riding I've never experienced anything catastrophic. Half a dozen rear flats but you instantly feel those and can coast to the side of the road. Never had a front flat. I'm religious about proper tire pressure and check almost every time I ride.

Chain's jumping is the only catastrophic failure I've seen among people I've known. Keep an eye on proper chain slack and it's unlikely you'll have an issue.

Random bolts vibrating off I've never experienced. You could use light duty threadlocker on them for peace of mind.

 

[edward.powersiv]

Thank you for the reply Bat-1! I rode a brand new bike daily for a couple years like 10 years ago, only thing that ever happened with that one was the whole shifter assembly falling off while shifting because of a loose bolt lol. I will keep an eye on the things you mentioned and appreciate the advice!

 

[ENYtime]

If you’re concerned about bolts coming loose, a little dab with a paint pen across the top to the mounting surface makes it easy to check at a glance.
It has definitely saved my butt a few times going off road…