help my hydrolic brakes are locked help
 

I just bought a new kona bike (cindercone).
Here is the problem - it has hydrolic disk brakes made by hayes. I took out the front wheel and now found out that somehow the brakes are locked and i cannot put back wheel back on (the drum of the wheel does not go between the brake pads)

Help help help
Coccobean
(noman)

Basically, what happened was your pistons got stroked without the rotor in place. You may have inadvertently squeezed the levers without the rotor in place, causing the piston and pads to travel further than normal.

All you need to do is push the pads/piston back into the caliper housings. A piece of black, plastic (about 1" x 2") marked "hayes"was probably provided with your bike. Using the wedged surface, insert that piece between the pads. As you push the plastic between the pads, the pads will force the pistons back into the caliper.

If you don't have the black plastic wedge, you can use credit cards or anything that is relatively stiff, but soft. If you use something made of steel, you could damage the brake pads.

To prevent this from happening, I put that black plastic wedge between the pads when I remove the front wheel.

If your pads are squeezed all the way together, then you might try using some business cards or playing cards to get them apart. Work one in between the pads, then a second. After that slide one at a time between the other cards to slowly force the pads apart.

If you cant get them far enough apart, take the pads out and use the box end of a 10mm wrench to push the pistons back to the starting point, then the brakes will self adjust to the right setting.

take the brake pads off, shove your PLASTIC tire levers into the gap between the pistons and slowly lever away until there is a bigger gap. Try to push in the direction of piston travel and avoid side to side stuff.

Next time you remove your front or rear wheel, stick a piece of clean card stock (fold as required for thickness) between the pads where your disc (NOT DRUM) was. when you or your budy forgte and sqeezes the lever the pads won't bottom out against each other.