Front Brake Seizing.

Ok guys, I'm back !
Yes I know you thought I'd buggered off but I wanted to keep you up to date on the progress of what has been going on, especially for those outside the UK.

Some background for those new to the forum in previous threads here;








Right, myself and a few others have been trying to get KTM to come up with an explanation and we brought in the UK Road Safety Depts, VOSA, do get involved and this week, eventually, they came up with their findings.

The bottom line is that they blame the riders !

I won't bore you all with the numerous emails flying around but one of the guys off the KTM UK Forum had a conversation with the Engineer at VOSA and he said (quote);

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Hi guys, i just Spoke to Martin ( VOSA) on the the phone. seems a sensible chap. This is what was said (if i remember right) He said my bike is different than the rest as mine didn't lock up. 5 others have locked up while the owner was riding. they will not be looking into mine any longer as there is a difference between them. although the info will be sent to KTM. we talked about the test as outlined above and why the problem has occurred.

Its due to crud build up on the pads and caliper piston. this crud Must be washed off before each ride as its not a std road spec caliper. salt and the material used to bind the salt is what holds the extra crud on the caliper. this in turn stops the race spec piston from returning and the brakes lock. race spec caliper are as the are called race spec not road spec. extra care is needed with them.


KTM have issued in our handbook guidelines on how to maintain the race spec brakes and we MUST carry out that maintenance. Hence wash before each ride, hose out the caliper and use the cleaning spray they recommend. if we don't maintain the caliper in the way they recommend its down to us if we have a problem. cos we have been told how to maintain them and have failed to do so.

My view is this. if you notice any extra noise or it feels harder to push , sudden biting or disc looks gray rather than shiny, service the brakes. I don't think I can honestly recommend anyone coming to the forum to buy a KTM for road use, unless they understand its a race spec brake that MUST be cleaned before each ride. If i had known I MUST clean the brake every morning before my 5 o'clock trip to work I would have considered the CBR1000R for sure. may be i need another bike for work? do KTM do a go to work, don't need a brake service model ??? Yam/honda could do well out of this. 5 guys got a poor deal.

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So the thing is KTM now class the SD as a Race Bike and not a Road Bike, essentially turning an everyday bike to an occasional one.

I'm not going to start the arguments again, but I would urge you all, especially if you live in Europe, to take extra care with your brakes.

In the winter rinse them before and after every ride otherwise, if you are unfortunate enough to come off like I did, you will get no help from KTM.

If I had been told this before I forked out my £9,500+ on my SD I don't think I would have bought one after all. I just wanted one I could ride and not have to do exhaustive safety checks before every ride, including a possible wash !


I'm not getting into any discussions (there have been far too many already) I just want to bring it to the attention of all SD riders so they are aware of the facts.

Stay safe guys.

If they really did cover this in the manual then you're SOL. The fact is that they satisfied the requirements to make these bikes road legal, but the equipment is "higher spec" and thus they advise you to clean it regularly.

As far as them saying to clean it after every ride, they're just covering their asses further.

It's not cool, at all. Unfortunately I don't think you have much of a leg to stand on if you aren't abiding by their (seemingly ridiculous) 'maintenance' schedule.

I don't ride in winter so this doesn't bug me much, but I know that if I was subjecting any of my bikes to snowy salty conditions that I'd stay on top of those brakes like nobody's business!

Hi everybody,
I´m very sorry and quite troubled of reading about this very serious issue with the brembo brakes. From my personal experience i can not (fortunetly) complain about the SD brakes. I have a 06 bought in 08 and the brakes always handled fine. I live in the south of Portugal, it doesn´t snow and the rain is accepteble.
Still, at one of my services last year in 2009 at the local KTM dealer, my brakes or pads where changed due to a KTM recall, that´s what they told me.
I don´t know if this info helps at all but i thought i should post it here. Perhaps KTM has recognised the problem but doesn´t want to assume it publicly.
I hope this all sorts out, in the best interest of all of us.
Ride safe.
Luis

I changed to EBC HH's about 6-9 months ago and they are better.
But I think for the K's I do each month I should clean my caliper more often just to be sure.
Also I think the original pads warped the disc's slightly and thus the EBC HH's are working as well as they could.
I plan on buying a new set of disc's as mine are close to the 4mm min spec and I'll get a new set of EBC's when I replace the disc's.

Has anyone seen Pg 130 of this months BIKE magazine !

Its still bloody happening !

He left his still for months, the problem you're comparing it to is seizing up between normal rides. Can't really compare the two in my opinion.

As there have been more recent crashes due to this problem and to try and bring together everyone who is concerned or who have already had problems, I have set up a new Facebook Group which you are invited to add to your friends list and make comments on what you think should be done.

The name of the Group is




Feel free to add !!

Not sure if someone else has already asked this question but shouldn't you be in contact with Brembo on this? It is their brakes that are causing the problems after all.

I did have a problem with mine last winter where the left calliper kept sticking and heating up. A good clean sorted the problem. If it had seized on me and I'd dropped the bike I would have been pissed but I'd be asking questions of Brembo more than KTM.