Ducati Monster Forum

I need your help!

My rear caliper seems to have gotten stuck against the rotor while I was riding and the brake line and speed line are now burnt, the caliper is leaking, and completely non responsive. I’m trying to remove the wheel so I can do some maintenance and repair but don’t know how to remove the wheel without the brake in a safe way :)

Best,
Alex

First off: glad you’re ok.

Second: on an S2R1000 you shouldn’t have to remove the caliper to remove the rear wheel.  You will need a rear wheel stand, a 46mm socket and an impact wrench to remove it as you can’t use the brake now to hold the wheel.

This situation was caused by there not being freeplay between the rear master cylinder and the pin actuated by the foot pedal.  You need about 1.5 to 2mm worth of play in there so that as the rear brake fluid heats and cools the hydraulic fluid has a place to expand to.  If you don’t have that space, the fluid heats up and the brake caliper self-applies the brake to the rotor... which heats up the fluid more... which self-applies the caliper more....  A vicious cycle.

Hey!

Thanks for the advice, I was hoping to skip the impact wrench as I don’t have one :) will go get one though! :)

As for me being ok, I’m not even sure what could have happened and not sure I want to know. It was a 100k ride, mostly on highway and this was about a month ago. I’ve been working on the bike and just now noticed the rear brake situation. Thanks for your words. I’ll now ask even though I’m not keen on knowing :) what could have happened?

Best,
Alex

Also related to this question: I live in Europe and wonder if I should pay for hel or fren brake lines or if anyone here recommends anything else? As mentioned above, my brake line is now basically melted.

Best,
Alex

I can’t guess as to what happened to your specific bike.  I have seen this failure after people work on rear brakes or install rearsets.  If you haven’t done either of those, then I don’t know.

I have no experience on which line to buy.  I’ve had great experiences with both stock Ducati lines as well as aftermarket replacements.

Maybe a friend has an impact you could borrow?  Can you rent one?

I actually bought one, i figured might need it again :)
I actually just got a house with a 45sqm garage just for the bikes, so might as well stock up on all needed tools. Who doesn’t love tools :)

The last thing that happened with the bike is I handed it to a Ducati mechanic to install new sprockets and chain And new tyres (the front sprocket was stuck so I gave up). Then I rode the bike to the house which is around 100km away. So don’t know if he  did something or if it’s just a coincidence.

Best,
Alex

I would take photos and ask him about it.  There should be no reason for that to have happened from a chain/sprocket replacement (imho)

Good, so just an unfortunate coincidence :)

Has the bike ever been down on the R/H side?

wow! glad you ok;
.. .break ceasing and burnt break line after sprocket and tire changes just isn't right; the caliper is in that area and related;
defiantly take pics;
check the caliper mounting bolts
and free play duc-stew mentioned.
go ask the shop to repair the damage.

let us know how that turned out. cheers

That happened to me once. Doing about 75mph on the freeway when the rear brake just locked up. I thought I’d surely crash with the back end hopping up and down but somehow managed to save it. Took the rear brake off after that and never looked back.

 :o!

WOOOW!

… how'd you manage to save that one, glad to hear you had a good hold on when that happened; good to hear you did.  [bow_down]

Not completely sure but there are some signs that it has been (scraped front fork for example). Why do you ask?

Rear brake pedals sometimes bend in a tip over, light crash, get adjusted for position, and you lose that necessary free play.

I suspect that's what happened to your bike. Often times it won't lock on short rides, but your 100 K ride did the trick.

Ah! But i replaced the rearset over a year ago, but maybe i did a poor  job of it :)

Check the free play.