The front brakes on all the bikes i’ve had have suffered from front brakes binding - should i be cleaning them from time to time? Is riding daily through london to blame?
Had a quick look online about cleaning brakes but it looks a bit of a ball ache, with getting pins out etc
The alternative is visiting the garage every time it happens…
How often is it meant to happen?
If you never clean em then its gonna happen quite alot . For a simple slide and return clean its all pretty simple . If its the seals have swollen its more time consuming but simple enough . I can do a simple clean and service in about an hour . Seals could take 2 - 3 hours depending on the extent of the corrosion .
I never clean my brakes. Although I ride mainly a-roads daily. But I have the bike serviced regular as clockwork. Never had any issues. … come to think of it … I never clean my bike …
Yes they need to be cleaned, more so if you ride through urban areas and all weathers.
You can either pay someone else to do it, or learn how to do it yourself. It’s pretty easy with the right tools but only if you know what you’re doing…
Brakes are vital so bear that in mind before you go to work on them, have someone supervise you and check your work if necessary
I’ve taken the OMC lesson on cleaning brakes… it’s actually really easy when you get the hang of the technique that matt will show you 
Riding in autumn and winter doesn’t help with the road saltthey put down as that corrodes. Again it is one of those tasks you can’t give an exact time to strip and clean brakes as a bike in the garage might need years to develop the same faults as a daily used hack.
If you’ve never done it before, then the task seems daunting. But it is actually quite easy, if you prepare first. Obviously, head to You Tube as there are lots of tips and show me how videos now out there.
But essentially in DIY you need a couple of tools/items to stop one or more pistons moving out. This is so you can ‘hold’ the freely moving piston in place, whilst working out the stiff piston. Then using the brakelever/fluid you pump all pistons out as far as they can safely go without falling out. At that final stage you can do the last push to break the seal ofthe piston and split the calliper for better access.
Next stage is cleaning out the glaze that forms inside with a scraper. And lastly don’t skip on money, replace all brake copper washers, calliper split seals and all piston seal with new replacements.
nb
I guess brake cleaners help reduce the crud corrosion from the road, but TBH they weren’t around when I started biking and so even though I’ve started using them this year, I can’t give a thumbs up on them. All I can say about cleaners so far is they clean the out side of the callipers fine, but didn’t make the scraping the glaze off inside the piston holes any easier. The scraping for me is the hardest part of the cleaning process.
good stuff, i think i’ll see about booking in a session at omc then and doing a supervised run before making a decision on whether its worth doing at home or leaving it to the garage
cheers
