Very weird thing happened today on a short ride...

[pgeldz]

So...
 
Today was the day of the mini photo-shoot.  At some point during the short stint to the site, I experienced what I can only describe as something getting wedged in my rear brakes.  The bike had serious drag.  At first I wrote it off as strong engine deceleration, but this was way different.  The motor seemed to strain to actually accelerate.
 
So I come to a light and turned around to look at my rear brakes, and they were smoking!!!  I was like, eh?
 
I should have rolled the bike backward a little bit to dislodge whatever was caught in there, but the light turned Green and I had a train of people behind me so I took off.  I had to take off aggressively just to get the bike moving forward because there was so much drag.  Stomped on the rear brake a few times to see what's what, and after a little bit the bike became free and all was back to normal, except for the scorch marks on the rotor towards the inner diameter where it's bolted on.
 
The only thing I could think of is that I had just cleaned the bike for the photo shoot since I did a track day the previous weekend, and maybe when I was wiping off the rolled up rubber on the wheel some of it fell into the rear caliper and got lodged between the brake pads?
 
I really don't know.  Never had anything like this happen in all my 30 years of riding.  Very weird.  Has something like this ever happened to you?
 
- Paulie

[Beemer]

A friend of mines rear calipers on his truck were dragging (so I suspected) because they were smoking real bad going down the highway one day and he was baffled as to what caused it. I told him to check the simplest things first but he is no mechanic so he took it to his dealership. They said they went over it and found nothing that caused the smoke, then suggested he let them replace his whole brake system and (poor guy) he told them ok. $1,400 later the problem was still there so then I checked the springs that pull his brake pedal back and they were weak. We replaced them and then the dragging brake pad issue was resolved. So, check those calipers to see if they're sticking. It may be what you said and won't happen again. GL!!

[hobbs]

One thing you can do is use a infrared thermometer to check for hot spots, or to see if one caliper is working harder than the other, on the front anyway.

[hippiebikerchick]

It's probably a good idea to make sure your brake pads aren't glazed and your rotor is still true.

[pgeldz]

Thanks for the info guys. I had a good look at things this morning before I went on a long ride. Bike is fine. I suspect it was a small rock or stone because my rear rotor is scratched up pretty decent, so it definitely wasn't rubber like I thought and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a piston sticking issue either.
 
Rear rotor is still runs true, 'cept for discoloration and scratch marks on it. Tested the rear brake out on the ride today and it's still as strong as ever (too strong actually).
 
Still, because I'm so particular, I may just changed out the rotor and pads just for piece of mind, cause I'm not sure if the stone or whatever got caught up in there took a chunk out of the pad material or not.
 

 
- Paulie