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@whatfriends
look at the brake front straight on, see the bolt on the right above the brake pad? make sure it isnt too tight.
also, the bolt that holds the whole thing together (one end is hidden behind the front arm) shouldnt be done up too tight either. you'll have to take the brake off to do this easiest. have a play, its not hard to figure out what bit tightens against what bit. but as a tip, its not just a matter of loosening the allen bolt that holds the thing to your fork. both these things will make the brake sticky in return, or just plain not return.
squeeze the calipers together with your hands (not using the lever), if they return fine then its a problem before the caliper, such as knackered cable inner/outer, too much bendy kinkyness in the cable. another thing people overlook is the actual lever being too tight. depending on what lever you run there may be a pivot bolt rather than just a pivot. dirt harry is a prime example, its easy to get a bolt thats too tight so it messes with the return.
good luck.
oh, and what Buddha says about oil. just keep it away from the pads/rims and dont use wd40 except for cleaning cables (i am a cheapskate so dont replace inners unless they are too short/frayed {sometimes i just cut the frayed bit off} or too badly kinked).