while riding at a slow speed i hear a squeak/squeal coming from what seems like the left rear tire area. i just got the bike and the rear pads are supposed to be brand new (but i havent checked). i figured there was some dirt/dust that was causing the squeak and cleaned the rotor with brake cleaner and its still there. i dont notice a change with applying the brakes or at speed (that could be due to the loud pipes and wind.

any thoughts on things to check?

 

Allignment of the rear wheel could cause the brake or belt to squeal.

 

what would be some other symptoms of this? something i can check on my own?

 

That means she is happy!

 

How is your belt riding on the rear pully? if you can jack it up and rotate the wheel you may be able to identify if it's the belt side or the disk side. If as you say the rear pads have recently been changed then I would look closely there for anything installed improperly.

 

when it sounds like the pads are expired and dragging. i will have to lift it up and see if i can find anything

 

The brake pads drag on the rotors. I forget the technical term for this type of brake that does not really retract the pad. It is often niticed as a metallic swishing noise from the front brake.
If the noise does not seem to be in time with the rotation of the wheel, if it is slower or very irregular then it is likely the belt.

 

the metallic noise is about right, but its from the rear, not the front. it does seem to be timed with the wheel rotation, which made the brakes my first suspicion

 

+1 on the brake pads as first suspect.

 

well i took off the brake pads and they seemed glazed. i roughened them up a bit and cleaned them up and such. from my quick ride around the neighborhood it seems to have solved the issue. gonna head to the store in a while and see about it then