I’ve noticed recently my front ultegra SL brake caliper doesn’t return to it’s starting position, clamping onto the wheel.
Took advantage of the snow today to give the bike the once over and I can’t work out why it’s happening. I’ve isolated the problem to the caliper, but its clean and well lubed. If I do it manually it goes back fine, so has anyone got any ideas what might be causing it to stick?

cheers!

Pivot bolt seized or too tight would be my guess.

They do stick sometimes, probably got wet, or washed, or gunged and not used for a bit. You can eithertake it all apart and unstick it, or just hose it down with WD 40 and work it by hand.

cheers, I’ve oiled it and worked it, but still sticking, I’ll take it apart tonight and see whats what.

Change the cable?

wors, definitely not the cable. disconnected the caliper from the cable and it was still happening…

Are the pads worn ? They tend to stick when they wear down.

had the same on mine. One of the pivots will be tight, strip it, clean and grease and unless you have 3 hands, struggle like mad putting it back together. Once you’ve done the front the back will be easier.

wors, pads are ok. Large, I’m gonna strip it tonight

Same thing happened to my SL rear, a full strip down/clean sorted it. Bit of a pig to put back together though with the spring tension.

Get rid of the bike and get a mountain bike steve, you know you want to 😀

If they were working fine they should be okay in the end.

The pads, are they hitting the rim square on? sometimes they wear over the edge of the rim and catch. If they ‘spring’ back when given a bit of help it could be that. Don’t over tighten, I think that’s the main problem with STW builders.

Edit, I’d avoid stripping down at all costs. They do very little mechanical work and as yours can be persuaded back I’d just remove them and lube them and put them through the motions off the bike.