Never do this....

[webspoke]

Try to take out too much free play at the brake lever - just a couple of turns of the master cylinder pushrod should do it.  Felt great in the garage, nice firm lever (and still nice free wheeling).  4 miles down the road on 121 the next day, the front brake starts dragging the bike down to a complete stop before I can get it to the shoulder, leaving it in the middle of the right lane, unable to roll      

My confused brain can't process that its the front that is locked, it felt like i had run out of gas, or the engine lost power.  I keep trying to shift into neutral and push the bike but it wont budge.  Luckily I'm not run over, and a few cars back is a cop in a tahoe who blocks the lane and helps UJ and me drag the bike to the shoulder.  UJ zips off to grab tools, and I get to sit and reflect.  The brake lever is now solid, no play, not sure if it started when i touched the brake to begin our exit, or back before getting on the highway.

I've read of this issue with rear brakes, and with hyper front brakes.  Fair warning.... Check your free play when swapping levers or master cylinder setups!

[CajunR]

YIKES!  Glad to hear you didn't get hurt.  And thanks for sharing... I've never heard of that happening.  Tucking that into my "don't do that" file... 

[Duc L'Smart]

Very glad you're OK

[webspoke]

UJ will chime in soon, glad I didi not make the same adjustments on her bike 

[UnionJill]

UJ will chime in soon, glad I didi not make the same adjustments on her bike 

It was one of those 'what the f' moments...  One moment we are rolling down 121; getting into the right hand lane preparing to exit.  'Spoke starts to slow down... his rate of deceleration seemed a bit more than normal, but then this his daily commute and there is a bunch of construction.  I try to match his braking rate… next thing I know I am flying past him on his right; I am hard on the brakes and I am just flying past him (ok, the brakes on the Triumph aren’t all that great, but still).  I look over at him and all I see are his eyes as big as saucers.

I finally got pulled over about 40’-60’ past where he stopped.  I had thought he ran out of gas (it is a Duc) and expected to see him on the shoulder as soon as I got off of the bike.   I turn around to see a jeep partially blocking traffic for him and he is just tugging on the bike trying to get it to move.

By that time one of Plano’s finest  pulls up and helps us drag the bike off to the side.  ‘Spoke was still thinking that it was the tranny that was seized up so he was picking up the back of the bike and couldn’t figure out why the cop & I couldn’t just walk the front end back; until we noticed that the front was the problem.

An hour or so later, once we got the bike rolling and back into the garage to get checked out, ‘spoke made the comment “glad I didn’t do it on your bike too”  (me too)

[TresGatos]

Holy cow!  That could have been the end.
I'll leave mine to the pros for sure

[dallas2r]

Wow man... really glad to hear that didn't turn into something nasty. Sounds like you kept your wits on the rapid deceleration. 

[Pinocchio]

Hmm....I would be very, very careful before venturing out again on that bike. Check everything until you find the source of the problem. I have never heard of this. At the very least I would give a Ducati tech a call about it, just to se if it is a known issue. Check, check, and recheck...

[webspoke]

Hmm....I would be very, very careful before venturing out again on that bike. Check everything until you find the source of the problem. I have never heard of this. At the very least I would give a Ducati tech a call about it, just to se if it is a known issue. Check, check, and recheck...

Thanks, doing most of that today.  I have read of this on other ducks, usually after a lever change.  Anything which could alter the free play dimension at the plunger in the master cylinder.  It is also an issue with the rear brakes sometimes, usually after a rearset change, which often require a plunger/free play re-adjustment.  There is obviously a too-tight dimension 

[RichD]

Yep... it is fairly common... not "frequent", but it does happen.

ESPECIALLY check the rear brake lever/freeplay after touchdown/crash.

RonR had a slightly tweaked rear brake lever melt his pads off...
I've seen it with other bikes too.

The other day I was agressively bedding in front brakes and boiled the fluid in the calipers...
If the master cylinder cant vent that pressure quickly it will lock the caliper down on the rotor QUICK.
-It is important to have the piston in the master fully clear of the vent port. 

[swanny]

I remember this happening to Swanny's S4RS after he installed aftermarket rear sets. The rear brake overheated and basically melted it's guts and warped the rotor. Locked things up big time! Not 100% sure of the final verdict but it was suggested early on that it was a free play issue. I'm pretty sure the whole repair cost was on Swanny, Ducati would have nothing to do with it since he installed the rear sets himself. At least that's what I remember. Maybe someone remembers the details better than I do. Sounds similar though.

Yep that is pretty much right on.  The rotor was fine.  It toasted the rear caliper and damaged the speedometer sensor.  Ducati gave me the heisman and wouldn't cover anything since I installed the rearsets.   I took the rearsets of my S2R and bolted them straight onto the S4RS and this happened.

Glad Webspoke was able to get off the road safely and eventually make it back to the house.

Swanny

[Duc L'Smart]

Yep that is pretty much right on.  The rotor was fine.  It toasted the rear caliper and damaged the speedometer sensor.  Ducati gave me the heisman and wouldn't cover anything since I installed the rearsets.   I took the rearsets of my S2R and bolted them straight onto the S4RS and this happened.

If I recall correctly, there were flames involved

Good to see you postin' Swanny

[hiero]

Yep... it is fairly common... not "frequent", but it does happen.

ESPECIALLY check the rear brake lever/freeplay after touchdown/crash.

RonR had a slightly tweaked rear brake lever melt his pads off...
I've seen it with other bikes too.

The other day I was agressively bedding in front brakes and boiled the fluid in the calipers...
If the master cylinder cant vent that pressure quickly it will lock the caliper down on the rotor QUICK.
-It is important to have the piston in the master fully clear of the vent port. 

I seem to remember having to fix that on the side of the road....

I did it once on the monster, luckily on a surface street!  It's a combination of the low or no free play on the master cylinder piston rod and the heat expansion of the fluid in the line.  Not a fun combination!

... not sure if it started when i touched the brake to begin our exit, or back before getting on the highway.
...

You may not have touched the brake at all before it started because the heat expansion can do it if the freeplay is nonexistent.  glad to see you're ok though!

[Ronr]

I seem to remember having to fix that on the side of the road....

  

[ngk12]

I just did the levers and rearsets on my bike. havent ridden it yet, and now im going to go back and double check everything.. thanks for the info