Is there a big name company who should check out my bike (2008 kawasaki ninja 250r) for safety or should i just look in the yellow pages for like a motorcycle repair shop or something. I bought it used and it was only owned for about 6 months but the owner didnt ride it often so I have been riding it for about 3 months now and recently I have heard a light squeking/schreaching sound while I am braking or coming to a stop. So I just want to make sure It is safe to keep riding.
OK,. lets back up a little. (this advice is of course academic at this point, BUT) When looking at a used machine, ALWAYS say to the seller I want my mechanic to check it out. If he balks or twitches or stumbles, fumbles or even farts, you walk away. In general this was NOT a smart move just buying the bike and riding away care-free. No matter WHAT the seller says. First things first: call the Kaw shop. If there's not one within 50 miles, web (regional) search motorcycle repair in your area. Next, when you do find a suitable outfit, take it in and tell them give it a physical and do a PM. Last: get out your checkbook and don't cry about what they charge you. You should have done all this BEFORE now. Remember: an informed consumer can never be taken advantage of. btw: it sounds like brakes to me. Make sure to check disc thickness and gouging.
Sounds like maybe your pads (Brake) are going out. Don't call one bike shop in the book, call and visit as many as you need to, until you find one you feel comfortable with. You need to treat this like a relationship because if you don't work on your own bike, that's exactly what it is. Don't fall for the easy answers that you want to hear, listen for things that make sense. These people are running a business. You want to be treated fairly. You need to be good at holding off saying, Well the other guys said. Shops that give a lot of free information (Towing, bike events, legal flyer's, for sale billboards, etc), are usually the fairer ones. Since you don't mention where you're at, we can't help you out with personal experience.
Some brake noise can be trouble, some is normal, some is abnormal but not troublesome (except to your ears). You can look at the brakes yourself. Make sure that the pads are parallel and not ******, and that there is sufficient lining material. How much is enough? A new pad will have roughly a quarter inch of lining material bonded to a metal backing plate. You should be able to look at the edges of the pads and see two layers, the metal backing plate, and the friction material which bears on the rotor. The thinner that friction material gets, the closer you are to needing new pads. If it wears to the point that the metal backing plate contacts the rotor, you needed new pads a while ago. Most bikes need the choke (or mixture enricher) to start from cold. yours sounds normal.
