brake squeak (i know this is common, specific question)

[thepaintbox]

The rear is squeaking a bit during normal riding. It seems to happy less at slightly higher speeds...say...over 30. That, or i can't hear it anymore. I'm not sure if this could be old brakes (bike has 5900miles) or just the way it is going to be.

The front brake works like magic.

[GZ250]

5900mile is nothing, I have 20k plus and i have original pads, no squeak or anything. sometimes after moisture (rain) squeaking can occur or just a case by case difference. simple cleaning might help. if the front brakes give a rattle noise that means the pads needs replacement and i need after every one year. i use bopth brakes but whenstopping onslow speeds or just in stop go situations in a traffic jam i use the front brakes as i can change them myself for the read i had to go to the shop will cost more for labor.

[David Bo]

PLEASE READ MY POST FROM LAST WEEK

Re: Rear Brakes
OK, I just came back from "cleaning" my rear brake shoes. It really was not as hard as I thought it would be. All I did to get to them was roll my back tire onto a couple of boards to raise it off of the ground about 3". Then I took my jacks stands and shimmed them up a 3" by placing additional boards under them. Once I got my bike standing in the stands my rear tire was about 4" off of the ground. I un-did all of the brake bolts and loosened the tire bolt. Next, I pushed the tire all the way up to the front as far as it would go. Then I kind of took the top of the chain and moved it off of a couple of the rear sprockets (on the top portion of the sprocket). With the bike in neutral, I slowly spun the tire backward until the chain fell off of the entire sprocket. Then, I "lifted" the weight of the rear wheel off of the mounting bolt and pulled it out. The rear wheel rested on the floor and I was able to get inside the hub for cleaning. IT WAS FILTHY!!! I sprayed brake cleaner in and around the shoes and inside the wheel where the shoes come in contact with the wheel itself. I sprayed A LITTLE white grease onto the little pinion point inside the hub and re-assembled everything.

Things sound a lot quieter back there now. I used to hear a faint grinding sound in that hub even when the brakes were not applied. Must of been all that dust and crap inside there getting stuck in between the shoes and the hub wall. The shoes themselves still had a lot of meat on them so I probably will not replace them until next year.

This is just another example of how easy it is to work on these little buggers. By the way, if anyone would like to try this out for themselves, make sure you have a couple of spare cotter pins close by. There were two cotter pins that need to be removed during this operation and, if you are like me, by the time you remove them they no longer look like cotter pins .