pulsing front brake

[Woolsey Dip]

I wonder if I could get some advice. I noticed my front brake "pulsing" when I slowly approached a stop. It was very pronounced. On quicker stops, I don't notice it. I routinely use both brakes for every stop, and I'm a pretty gentle rider -- no sudden or hard stops unless I have to. Is this an issue I can address or do I need to take it in to the shop? I can do basic stuff, but obviously I'm no mechanic. What might be causing this? It's like the disc is warped, but it's not. Or it could have something sticky on it in one place? I don't see or feel anything with my hands, though. Any advice will be much appreciated.

[Triangles]

the front brake is pretty simple. it's a hydraulic piston that squeezes the pads on the rotor. There is nothing to my knowledge other than the rotor that would cause pulsing. What you may be describing is the noise made by the brake pads sliding over the holes in the rotor. When slowing from expressway speeds it can sound like "angry bees" depending on how much brake pressure you apply.

does the braking pulse as if you were squeesing and releasing the brake lever extremely rapid or is it just noise but the braking force is consistent? If it's just noise, it's probably normal as described above and I wouldn't worry about it. If the braking force is pulsing then you probably have a warped rotor. I have no idea what else it could be. Let us know what you figure out.

[Woolsey Dip]

It's not a sound. I'm going to look at it very carefully -- I'll get help if necessary -- and figure out what is doing it, and I'll let you know. I can't imagine any way the disc could have gotten warped. I'm hoping it was something oily that got on the disc and made it slick in one spot. Theoretically that could cause what I was feeling.

[burkbuilds]

I wish I had the answer for you, but I do not. However, the brakes are pretty simple, and it won't hurt anything for you to pull the front caliper, (2 bolts and it is free) clean and lube it and visually check the calipers and make sure everything is moving smoothly and check the brake pads. I have had bikes that "pulsed" and all I did was clean and lube the calipers and put a new set of pads on and it was cured. The pads are fairly inexpensive and the mechanics of the calipers are very simple. I also like to bleed my brake fluid pretty often, but I ride in a lot of wet weather and I'm concerned about moisture contamination, that may not apply to you, but clean brake fluid will help preserve your system. Good luck.

(If you buy the pads on e-bay I'd recommend staying away from the "Sintered" ones, they are extremely hard and they squeal when wet or cold, but I've had good service from the Kevlar and the Ceramic ones. The Kevlar's are quiet and I get over 10,000 miles out of them, the Ceramics occasionally make a little squeal, not often or much, but they last about 1.5-2 times as long.)

[Triangles]

I'll second the ceramic brakes, I use ceramic brakes made by Scandanavian Bike Systems (SBS) that can be had thru the Parts Unlimited catalog.

I agree with burkbuilds. A little time and probably less than half of what a dealer would charge you just to look at them might be worth it to save a little cash as long as you're comfortable performing this type of maintenance.