Tenere 700 front caliper Squeaking

[lakiozoon]

Hi,

 

I recently had to troubleshoot the squeaking noise I was getting from somewhere on the front of the bike. 

I managed to resolve the issue so this isn't really a question but a possibly helpful information for other users.

 

High pitched squeaking was intermittent, mostly heard when coasting in low speed (due to the low engine noise) and was pretty annoying. When heard, it sometimes had a cyclic sound like the front wheel brake/bearing was rubbing onto something. Interestingly, the bike wasn't making noises when applying the brakes, only when the brakes werent engaged.

 

When I got the bike into a dealer, they wouldn't take the warranty for this issue as nothing was damaged and/or malfunctioning (determined after a short inspection). They pointed out that the rust on the front discs could have something to do with the noise (btw that wasn't the case).

 

Then I took the bike to the local mechanic (more like a bike-whisperer). He took off the front brake calipers, disassembled them and lubricated the calipers.

When he took out and disassembled the right caliper, the support pad sitting above the brake pads fell off because one of the pins holding it in place was bent outwards (marked red on the picture). He told me this was the most probable cause of the squeaking.

With some pliers he bent it back and seated it properly onto the caliper and the bike never made a sound again.

 

I can't find a Tenere 700 support brake pad picture I mentioned, but I found one from Honda so you can see what part I'm talking about.

 

Cheers!

[ahamay]

I found similar bent thingy on my rear brake caliper. It didn't make any noise. It was bent on assembly in Japan. Incidental finding while replacing original pads. 

[Gary...]

No noise here. But I'll check mine too... thanks...

[AZJW]

Moved to Tech Tips and added front caliper to topic.