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The two most common causes of overheating brakes are a frozen caliper and a plugged small port in the mastercylinder. I don't remember which front brake on the '83 is linked to the rear master, I think it's the right one. If it's the left one then the probable cause of your dragging and overheating brake is a frozen caliper. The caliper mounts with two bolts to the fork, the smaller bolt passes through a sleeve inside the caliper casting. If the sleeve in the caliper gets corrision between it and the caliper body it can't slide from one side to the other as it's supposed to and will eventually bind up the brakes. Take a look at your brake pads if one is a lot thinner than the other that indicates a frozen caliper. The cure is to remove the caliper, drive the sleeve out, clean and relube the sleeve. It's not likely that the linked brake has a port problem if the rear brake is working normally.
If your caliper isn't frozen and can move a little side to side then take a good look at the two ports in your front master cylinder. These are small holes that go between the reservoir and the master cylinder bore. There is one larger hole and a much smaller one toward the output end of the bore. It looks like a dead ended hole but there's a very small hole that goes all the way through to the cylinder bore. If that gets plugged it can cause a brake to drag or lock up.
I wouldnt ride the bike in the condition you're describing because you could get a sudden lock up of the front wheel which wouldn't be fun. Fix the brake before riding the bike.
The two most common causes of overheating brakes are a frozen caliper and a plugged small port in the mastercylinder. I don't remember which front brake on the '83 is linked to the rear master, I think it's the right one. If it's the left one then the probable cause of your dragging and overheating brake is a frozen caliper. The caliper mounts with two bolts to the fork, the smaller bolt passes through a sleeve inside the caliper casting. If the sleeve in the caliper gets corrision between it and the caliper body it can't slide from one side to the other as it's supposed to and will eventually bind up the brakes. Take a look at your brake pads if one is a lot thinner than the other that indicates a frozen caliper. The cure is to remove the caliper, drive the sleeve out, clean and relube the sleeve. It's not likely that the linked brake has a port problem if the rear brake is working normally.
If your caliper isn't frozen and can move a little side to side then take a good look at the two ports in your front master cylinder. These are small holes that go between the reservoir and the master cylinder bore. There is one larger hole and a much smaller one toward the output end of the bore. It looks like a dead ended hole but there's a very small hole that goes all the way through to the cylinder bore. If that gets plugged it can cause a brake to drag or lock up.
I wouldnt ride the bike in the condition you're describing because you could get a sudden lock up of the front wheel which wouldn't be fun. Fix the brake before riding the bike.
