brakes locked up on me. not really

[cowboyup3371]

i visually inspected everything when i got the bike and it doesnt show any exstensive wear or is anything "dirty", im noy going to spend the time rebuilding everything just incase. you wouldnt buy a car and tear it down to the block would you?

How much time is your life worth? Taking an one to two hours at night after dinner to take your brake master cylinder and calipers apart to ensure everything is clean and then putting in fresh brake fluid will save your life. Trust me. Yes, it is messy and can be a pain to get the parts quickly but we'd much rather see you posting than find out you were in a wreck because of it.

No one here says you have to tear down the entire engine but even on any car, the first thing I do to ensure it runs right is to replace tires if they look low, perform a tuneup, and check all the brakes. Like Octain said, the car has double the footprint, if you will, on the road that your bike does. Make sure your bike will keep you on the road and not in a hospital bed.

[UncleMike]

Absolutely #1 thing you should do with any used bike you get.

(If you care about your continued safe existence, that is.)

[Audioslave784]

While you have the brakes off I would change out the brake lines as well. The outside may look perfect but they are double layered. I had all new pistons, seals, MCs, and pads, but even after all that my bike left me stranded one day when the rear brake locked up.

Turns out the inner layer had fragmented somewhere, and suddenly in the middle of a long ride, it wouldn't let the fluid out of the calipers after I touched the brake. Luckily I was on a road where I could stop safely, but it also could have stopped me in the middle of a highway.

[Adler]

Ed's picture up there is actually fairly typical.