I usually work on my bike but got some new tires and haven't done that before and don't have the tools. Got my local bike shop to install for me.

When I picked it up, right away noticed that there was almost no play in the front brakes. with the tips of my finger I can pull in 1/2 inch to be fully engaged. Feels like I am barely able to reach and wrap around when applying and fingers are fully stretched out.

I asked them about it and just got a, "I dunno know, feels ok to me" answer. Before my brakes were perfect, now does not feel right. have to rotate my whole hand over to actually get a grip.

what can I do to trouble shoot this?

 

Kinda hard to say what is wrong without actually looking at it or feeling the lever. But the first thing i would check is to make sure they installed the wheel spacers properly. Look at the brake disk and see if it is centered into the caliper and not forced to one side. Lift the front tire off the ground and try to rotate the tire and see if it moves freely. Second, they may have pushed in the caliper pistons without removing the brake fluid reservoir cover. That may have caused the problem also. Open it up (wrap a rag underneath first) and take a look. If enough fluid is in there, pump it a couple of times slowly and see how it feels then. They could have added to much brake fluid also.

 

I hoisted it up and there is drag from the pads on the rotor. I spin it and gets a half to full turn before stopping and you can hear them rubbing. Attached a couple pics

They look pretty close to centre.

Going to take back to the shop and get someone else to check it.

 

Here is another.

 

Doesn't look far off, but that does not mean that the wheel was installed right. You shouldn't have much resistance while trying to turn the wheel while its up in the air. Spinning only half way is not good. Take it back, if it wasn't that way before they did something wrong.

 

Tell them to make sure that the bearings didn't move, spacers and washers properly placed, and that the proper sequence for tightening down the axle is done. They should do axle nut first and then pinch bolts. I like to push the front of the bike up and down after tightening the axle bolt and then I do the pinch bolts. That helps to make sure the axle sits properly.

 

I would also make sure that your slide bolts on your caliper isn't bound and the caliper itself is install properly. Last time my son had his tires replaced the shop didn't install the caliper right and we had to remove it and install it right. They too said they didn't see anything wrong with it.

 

Buy the shop manual and learn to adjust your own brakes.

Unrelated, did you check the wheel bearings while the wheel was off?

 

The shop may have accidentally bumped the brake lever when the wheel was off. With the bike on a lift, open the front caliper bleeder screw slightly and rotate the front wheel/tire. There should be a little brake fluid that comes out as the pads retract a bit. Continue until the rim rotates as normal, then tighten the bleeder and make sure your brake fluid level in the master cylinder is OK.

You might have to slide something thin between the rotor and the caliper while the bleeder is open to get the pads to move enough. A putty knife or something similar should work pretty well. Avoid using anything that could damage the pads or gouge the rotor.

 

if you didn't get this fixed yet, your issue is probably one or more of the pistons in the caliper is sticking, it is a fairly common event..to fix exercise the pistons several times though there whole range of motion (push them all the way in and use the brake to push them back out) that will usually fix the problem, if not you will need to rebuild or replace the caliper..