shudder to stop

Buells with ZTL brakes are notorious for brake pulsing and my bike is not immune.  Most people assume it's a warped rotor, others believe it's pad build up.  Another thought is the flexible mount system on the rotor mounts becomes bound up or off center.  Unlike normal brakes, where the caliper is spring mounted, the ZTL system uses a solid mounted caliper and a spring mounted rotor.

Jacking up the bike to remove the wheel is a bit nerve racking.  The exhaust has two jack points, one front and one rear.  The weight shifts to the opposite wheel and the side stand.

Removing the front wheel, is complicated by the perimeter rotor design.  It's not difficult, it would just be easier with a third arm.  Once the wheel is off, all you need is a T40 socket and you can pull the rotor.  Under the rotor lives the flexible mount system.  I soaked the hardware in good ol' PB Blaster while I prepped the rotor for resurfacing.  

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of the sanding process.  I used my el cheapo electric sander and some 200 grit paper.  Using the vice to hold the rotor, a few light passes with the sander then a few by hand and I moved on to rinsing with brake parts cleaner.  

Reassembly was difficult until I realized I was being stupid.  (That tends to happen.)  Once the wheel and rotor were back together, you could definitely see (maybe not from the pics) there was a change in appearance.  

Putting the wheel back, was just like the removal, complicated by the rotor.  After some struggles, I got the wheel back in place.  The axle is a left hand threaded, so be aware!  With the wheel back on, I could feel once spot of drag and I'm curious if it's due to reusing the old hardware.  

Tomorrow, McMark and I will finally get to ride together, even though it's just a short one.  I'll update this post with a report on the brakes.  

**update**

McMark and I did some laid back riding today, focusing on getting experience riding in the rain.  The front brake on the Buell is much better but not perfect.  Time to order the replacement hardware kit.  I don't believe the rotor is warped, it was just build up.

I need to hook the bike up to ECMSpy to see if I'm still getting a trouble code for the active muffler control.  I'm having some low speed popping and stumbles, including one stall.  I need to clean the throttle body and plates, while I'm in there, I might as well clean the IAT and see if it helps.

**update**