Motorcycle Brake Caliper Horror

[MikeW]

My local shop showed me the rear brake caliper off a Honda Blackbird the other day and I just had to share it.

I've never seen a caliper this far gone before. It's actually melted from the heat. I was told that the owner rode the bike for around 15km before noticing anything. The caliper is a 3 piston single sided sliding type.  From what I can gather the caliper was cocked over and the inside edge of the outside pad was locked onto the disc. Because of this it didn't generate enough force to stop the bike but it generated enough heat to melt the caliper.

I never did care for this type of caliper 

[nc43bsa]

That'll buff right out.   

[guzziart]

One of my bigfoot GS riding buds inadvertantly had been applying rear brake pressure to a point where the brake rotor was glowing red.  The only reason I saw it was because we were just past dusk, it looked like a red neon light.  Anyway, pads & rotor miraculously survived.