Brake disc knock/wear
 

Hi all,

I am currently on a RTW trip (www.thebigbiketrip.com) with a friend on two 1150GSAdv's (2004 models). We have approx. 85,000 miles on the bikes and have both noticed a loose front disc. We have done lots of ripio (gravel roads) in South America, but noticed firstly a few loose bolts holding the discs on. After removing a couple to investigate, I noticed there is a slight shoulder been worn into the alloy hub of the wheel, and it is now possbile to rotate the disc slightly on it's fittings, causing a knocking sound when you move the disc by hand. I have attached a photo of the bolt location to the alloy hub, and hopefully you can see the slight shoulder.

My question is has anyone else noted similar problems on the front discs/wheels, and if so does anyone have a good solution to the problem? My fear is that the wear will only get worse from here on, and with Australia, Japan, Russia, Monglolia and Kazakhstan to go before returning to the UK, I don't want to get stuck high and dry with no front brakes!

The only solution I can see at the moment is either to machine the hub mounting positions and then space them back out to standard thickness. Either that or maybe fit a solid washer behind the disc mounting points, but then the bolt spacers will be too tight and the disc won't float anymore.... anyone got any bright ideas???

Cheers,

Rik & Rob

Hi Robin!

Don't get it wrong! You have floating break disc's!! There is a bit of movement(supposed to !!) between the disc and the base!

It's a bit difficult to tell you it is allright or not from the distance. But when you meet other travellers have a look on their break's .


Sunny greetings from OZ werner

OK ,I'm not familiar with Beemers ,but if you have a good machinist available why not build up the worn shoulder with weld and then mill the mountings back down to spec ? This will make sure the mounting face is square and also it will be the correct thickness .
Then run a tap through to clean up the threads in the hub .

A quick fix could be to source some longer bolts and fit a locknut on the inner side of the hub .
This will reinforce the mounting bolt and reduce any tenency to rock .
Check the threads in the hub ,they may be worn and will probably need an insert [helicoil ] .

Good luck .

Yes I have encountered that...

A friend of mine was kind to lend me his 1100GS since my beemer had lost an exhaust valve.
To ride his bike I just had to get it passed the yearly national/state inpsection... I had loaded the bike into my VW Type 4 not checking anything on the bike... as I rolled the bike into the hall/"garage" at the inspection site I realized that there was not a chance in ... to get it approved.

The discs were rattling like symabals/maraccas/rattle-snake... and my friend had been riding this ?!

My friend "solved" the problem by swiveling(?) spacers and placing them on the mounts. No more rattling and he did get his bike through the inspection whilst I solved my transportation by buy a R100RT from 1981.

Solution:
* spacers/adaptors - any local workshop should be able to make them for you.
* stay put an await delivery of new parts.

First chance you get - install new parts.