[marksib]

So I went down on my Roadmaster a couple weeks ago. Right side of the bike had all sorts of cosmetic damage. Mechanical damage was the front brake lever and master cyclinder which were replaced. The repair was delayed multiple times because the dealer couldn't get the air out of the lines and bleed the brake properly. They finally called me yesterday and said it was done. On my 11th mile home out of 50, the front end started to vibrate and to my chagrin the front brake locked up. Had to call the dealer to come get the bike and take it back and try again. They just texted me an update and said they're still working on it, having trouble getting the air out of the lines, even with Indian corporate's help. Any suggestions from the mechanics out there? What experience have you had with brakes and this issue? Thank you

 

[Max Kool]

Air causing a brake to lock up? That's odd.

Sounds more like they overlooked something related; overfilled the master cylinder reservoir for instance.

Good luck getting trust in your bike back. This sucks

 

[Silverback]

Having not seen your bike, the damage before it was repaired, and the brake bleeding problems, to me it sounds like your problem is much more serious that simply having air in the brake lines, because any half-experienced mechanic is capable of properly bleeding the entire brakes system of air. And poorly bleed brakes do not cause the brakes to lock up.

My WAG is that you may have a brake line with damage that can not be seen, such as internal delamination or deterioration or debris in the brake line from the damaged master cylinder in the line or ABS unit or some resulting intermittent problem in the ABS unit. Based on the accident, replacement of the master cylinder, and problems bleeding the brake lines, What I would do is start by reverse vacuum flushing the brake lines (to remove any possible debris and then replacing the upper brake lines, flushing the entire system, and then verifying the ABS unit is functioning correctly. I'd also carefully verify that their was no damage to calipers and how they are functioning.

 

[Ironbutt70]

I don’t see any mention of the ABS module. That’s what I would be checking for a lock up issue.