Brakes

A very weak spot for me because I am nervous to screw with them.  Also being the end of the season, I won't have them looked at by a tech until next year.  They are making a light grinding sound when I spin them freely on the stands.  Also while riding, If I am doing 65, and let off, it decalerates quickly.  Even if in a higher gear. Maybe I am being paranoid.  The bike stops when it needs too so stopping is not an issue.  A while ago, I noticed a hard grinding sound under heavy breaking.  I was thinking it needed pads, but a mechanic said it is good to go when it went in for new tires about 2 weeks ago.  Thoughts/comments

are the rotors in good shape?

sure i guess, how can I tell

brakes are easy. Dont be skeered of them.

anyone have an easy writeup of how to check or replace things like pads and yada yada

pads are simple, remove the two bolts that hold your caliper on its hanger, once you remove those two bolts the caliper will come off, remove/replace brake pads, re-install and your good to go, i did my in the beginning of the season and it took me no more then twenty minutes to do.

It is simple, but I'd recommend doing one side at a time.  First time you remove the metal pad holder thing, it may seem a bit weird putting it back together.
 
Some pads have a groove down the middle of it.  It's a wear indicator.  You can use a flashlight and look at both pads on each caliper to see if the pad material has worn to be flush with the groove.  Then it's time to replace.  Pads often wear unevenly so check all 4.

Bike does slow down when you get off the throttle except in second gear it seams to me    lol


Goose

disc brakes are always slightly touching the rotors, so the slight grinding noise you hear with your bike on the stand is normal. every bike ive seen does this, as well as cars too.

as far as deceleration when letting off the throttle, very normal.

So basically I am just being paranoid and not worry too much.  Like I said , the bike still stops when it needs to

decel is normal..
Grinding when on the stands- normal mine does it to.
Grinding on braking.Depending on the metallic content of the pad and how heavy you are braking -normal..

Ive gotten on mine hard enough that they were" whirring" on heavy braking (due to the pads gripping the cross drill rotors so hard and fast)..

Everything you mentioned is what every sport bike does.

Same here - I'm sure autos do the same, the cage and insulation drown it out (So do the screaming kids) - I'd attribute a lot of it to the drilled rotors.

Agreed with all the above posters. However, when you do get ready to change your pads...it's very simple. One of the guys at the 599 forum I'm on did a YouTube vidoe on how to change pads. Maybe this will help...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6UaxIE_N8g
 
Piece of cake...even for someone who's never done it before. I used this video when I changed pads the first time on another bike and it made it really simple.