Sticky front brake :-(

Ok, so, I have a '78 KZ650--near perfect shape when i bought 2 years ago. And the story goes, 4100 miles on it and had been stored indoors for 19 years and so on...
Just recently i found a great machanic to help me with the more heavy workload repairs and maintence, and he does a great job!
So far i had him clean the carbs, adjust the valves,replace original fork springs w/progressives(much better!) change out both tires,tighten all spokes, replace the steering bearing and bleed the front brakes...oh and replace the chain too!
Now $350 and several 6 packs of imported beer in labor and about the same in parts(minus the beer) later, i have found that my front brake is sticking..CRAP!
So, where should i start?
For example, when i have the bike up on the center stand and spin the front wheel, it doesn't spin like it should...it makes about 4 or 5 rotations and then stops.
I first noticed it when i was pushing it around in my garage...
so, do i need to replace the pads?
Or can i just make an adjustment?

Thanks all,
Erik

sounds like the caliper is sticking a little. It might need to be cleaned. My wifes bike sat a god while befor we bought it and had the same problem. I took the calipers off the front and tore them open to find gunk in side them! not much ,but enough to cause them to not release fully and cause the pads to drag. That caused them to heat up and expand and become worse about dragging. So any ways,you might want to just try cleaning and rebuilding the calipers.

Yeah, that's what i figured...i just don't have that much experience with brake repairs.

Does this take a bit of time? expensive?

Thanks again!

Erik

hmm time? not too much , as to parts,its simple stuff.. an O ringand a dust boot and a wiper ring in some calipers. As to hard.. just get a good manual and take your time , and read befor you start. just be aware that it could be that you could have pitting in the bore of the caliper, from sitting and the brake fluid drawing in water , and the water settles in the bottom of the bore. So be prepaired to spend a bit of time..

Great! Thanks for all the info!

Do you think a Clymer is sufficient for use of a manual?

-erik

Clymer should get you thru ok. The longest part about the whole job will be the brake bleeding afterwards.

Great! Thanks tons~

you might want to consider going thru the master cly also and swap it over to DOT 5 FLUID, I am in the process of doing this on the rear on a kz1000, I have a friend who did the whole bike, never has any brake fade plus the fluid will not damage the paint

Interesting. I'll have to snoop around and see if i can come up with the part(s).

Thanks Tons~