My motorcycle brakes glassed up. Is there any way to unglass the surface or do I need to replace the brakes?
Since you haven't said, and there is probably no reason you should know, the pads could be glazed through contamination – there is nothing you can do to clean it away, sanding will ameliorate the problem but will not solve it. Replace them, they aren't expensive considering the job they do.
You can ususally clean up glazed pads with a sheet of medium grit paper on a flat surface. Tape the paper down and lightly glide the pad over the paper. Take special care to not inhale the dust! You can lightly sand the disk if you want, but they actually sell an attachment for your drill that works better. Before and after you do any of it, clean the pieces with brake cleaner. I would only try to save the pads on a fairly slow moving street bike though. To me, the risk it too great on a bike that is going to be ridden hard. Plus, you can get a decent of pads for $30-50.00. I did the cleanup on my old CL350 Honda, but on my Buell, I would just get new stuff.
Try scuffing the surface with 240 grit sandpaper to remove the glazing. Then, ride for a bit stopping easy and steady pretty often. No hard braking, though until they feel right. Good luck.
