Front End Noise

When slowing down to a speed of 25 to 35 miles per hour, the front end has this buzzing/zipper kind of noise. It comes and goes and when you use the front brake, it goes away. The bike has a custom Pro One Wheel and Rotor. The 6 piston brake caliper is a HHI. When we switched out to a stock HD Rotor, the noise quit. We did have to chim up the caliper for the stock HD Rotor but not the custom Pro One rotor. Any ideas?

check the bushings that go throu the lower legs. put the bolt in check for movement. You can get over size bushings and antirattle clips.

Could be wheel spacing allowing the wheel to walk.
Could be the floating rotor is slightly wider and might require you to shim the caliper. If so, it has to be smack dab on the center or you will get this noise as the rotor rubs on the inner or outer pad.

What year is the bike? The later model i.e. 2k and later with sealed bearings will have a slight scraping sound.

Have a question. I didn't know front wheel rotor's floated, thought only the caliper floated. Also, if there is a problem with the front wheel spacing,(spacing allowing the front wheel to walk) Indy would have a much bigger problem i.e. very severe handling problem. anybody have a thought on this?

The king is a 2004 FLHR and the front end was customized with a Pro One 18" wheel and matching rotor. It was also customized eliminating the dual brakes. It now has the HHI 6-piston caliper with left side rotor. When we switch the rotor out to the HD stock rotor which is thinner than the Pro One rotor, we did notice the back pistons were not working the brake pad. Seemed they were frozen. They are now working with the stock rotor and the noise has been eliminated. The Pro One rotor is thicker and the previous owner did not have the caliper shimmed up with the rotor. If the rotor is warped, could that have been causing this buzzing/zipper noise?

glad to see you got the problem fixed. You can't mess around with the front end. Have a uncle that the front axle nut came off messed him pretty good.Was riding a honda 350 1970something.

Are the HHI calipers set up for thicker rotors like say, PM's? Running a thick rotor on a caliper designed to std width geneally won't work to well.

thats funny, my 06' fboy has the zipper type noise when I apply the front brakes too. Is this something I should take up with my dealer? I just thought that it was the hydraulics? this is my first HD...

All of the new 2k and later style calipers tend to do it. Brake dust builds up and you get that light sort of scraping noise. Changing to a low dust pad helps especially a high performance pd like the Lyndall Racing Brake Z pads and to boot, you get a big boost in performance over stock. I run LRB's in my RK...went beck to gold on the back 'cause I got a heavy foot on the rear brake. Z pad on the front and I really like the control they give me.

Thanks CD for the info, when I wear them down a bit more, I'll change them to what you recommended.