Vibration when braking at speed

[Guitarman]

Just returned from a trip to Assen for the WorldSBK and my TTSE has developed a severe shudder when braking at speed, rode down from Inverness to Perth to meet up with my friend last week and all was good up till then, we then rode down to Newcastle for the ferry via the Coldstream road and the bike started to shudder when I had to brake hard using the front brake. I have read a few threads and it seems to be the disks are warped in my opinion, I have just arrived back today and the bike has now 10750 miles on the clock which is not a lot. Great bike but a lot of flaws due to poor design or quality control. 

[tdragger]

Most likely the discs are not warped but rather the bobbins are dirty and not floating properly.  A very common issue and there are several threads on how to rectify.  I have since replaced the rotors with EBC rotors and no longer have the issue.  You can clean the bobbins and achieve the same results.

[brenchley]

You might want to check brake pad wear.

[Saddle Tramp]

Given the relatively low mileage mentioned by the OP, I would tend to agree with tdragger’s assessment. On the other hand, pad thickness is easy enough to check. 

[trophied]

Mine have done that a couple of time in the past and have just started doing it again and I have a trip coming up so I'll be cleaning the bobbins.  That has always solved the issue in the past for me.  I don't think it's warped discs at this point, my 2013 has 23,000 miles on it now and still has front brake pad life even though I've already bought some EBC pads I don't need to install them yet.  I guess I don't brake like everyone else!

[Guitarman]

Thanks for the responses, cleaned the bobbins and took out the brake pads and they have plenty of wear left on them.  Cleaned everything and reassembled then out for a run and the same issue. This afternoon removed the wheel and again cleaned the bobbins and checked the pistons in the calipers and all good will try again tomorrow. Not a good design.

[earthman]

Originally Posted by Guitarman

Thanks for the responses, cleaned the bobbins and took out the brake pads and they have plenty of wear left on them.  Cleaned everything and reassembled then out for a run and the same issue. This afternoon removed the wheel and again cleaned the bobbins and checked the pistons in the calipers and all good will try again tomorrow. Not a good design.

Did you actually rotate each bobbin whilst cleaning them? When the disks are cold, if you grasp them between thumb and fore finger for example, can you feel much movement, can you hear them knocking/rocking on the bobbins by hand??

I agree that the design/tolerance on these is not good.

[Guitarman]

Yes I rotated every one again whilst the wheel was off and gave them an additional spray, just seems a bit strange that this has developed over the course of a days run. I don't normally brake hard but yesterday I had a few hard stops from speed and the bike stops ok but still has the vibration