[tahoest2]

1998 ST2. In transit from Truckee, CA to Monterey via 36(KILLER RIDE) and will hit 101/1 tomorrow.

During my ride, my rear brake pedal all of a sudden went 'dead'. Usually there is about an inch or so to engage the brake, out of nowhere, it went to like three inches. I stopped immediately, the rear brake was draggging pretty hard. I pumped the pedal a few times, rotated the tire while on the center stand, it took some force-way more than usual to rotate. Being in the middle of nowhere and getting dark I pressed on, stopped a few times to make sure nothing was melting. Well, the pedal came back to normal, and the brake works now, but with a bit of noise. The pads were JUST replaced.

Any input? Seems like the piston got stuck for 10 minutes before returning?

 

[EricT]

Sounds like a problem with the rear master cylinder. I would just avoid using the rear brake until you can get it looked at.

 

[Gearbox]

I would say it was because the pads were dragging for some reason after being fitted and this boiled the fluid and caused a vapour lock , hence the lever travel , which went away when it colled for a while.
As advised , try to free the pads off the disc and then avoid using the brake again until you get the chance to investigate properly.