What have you done to your bike today? Archive.

[hellkat]

Started the old Snarley up, just to make sure it was still alive.

I've had the engine covered in a fleecy blanket since before Christmas, but apart from a synthetic "rain cover" (which is almost shredded now ), its been out on the street in the elements, as it usually is.

Took a couple of goes, but started after a bit of patient priming.

Ran it for ten minutes, and then promised it that I might ride it to work tomorrow, if this bright weather holds out.
Then covered it back over, LOL

If the weather holds out to the weekend, I might take it down to Amesbury Geezer to give him a bit of a thrill, get him to give us a bit of a pre-spring once-over.

*might*
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Pigeon]

XR250R valve clearance check. Only been 2k miles since last check, but technically should have been done 1200 miles ago.
All fine bar a tiny adjustment on 1 inlet

https://i.imgur.com/iqbxZ2e.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DDYBKjC.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Xr9mY7u.jpg

Fired up ok and got my shopping before the snow

https://i.imgur.com/BnM31D8.jpg

[UncleFester]

MOT. Service. Upgraded fork springs and different oil to make the front end a bit more compliant but keep looking at the 2020 Z1000SX and thinking it's time for a tradeup.

1500 miles last year Need this lockdown gone.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[Bhud]

Project bike number plate fitted, and rear brake light activation spring fitted. New phone - don't know why this photo turned out so bad.

https://i.ibb.co/w68j6Q6/number-plate-fitted-png.png[/url]

[Hong Kong Phooey]

[hellkat]

I looked at my Super Tenere today, rusted to fuck, in bits in my garden shed. Its all there. Just ... in bits.

And the XJ900 engine, totally out in the elements, corroded as fuck. I don't even think I still have the frame, which was conveniently cut in half by my daft ex

Might see if I can talk Amesbury Geezer into having it in his garage, so that on some cold Wiltshire night he might want to go out there and have a look just how difficult it might be to strip down and restore.

If anyone can, I'm sure he can

I need to get into my garden shed and sort that fucker out.
More determined than ever to clear the garden now.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Whosthedaddy]

MOT for the RSV

Passed with a mention to clean the front brake as binding a little.

Sad thing is only done just over 1000 miles since last year!

Oops, must get out more
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Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy

[Britabroad]

Went to garage, started Tigger, started coughing with inhaled fumes, turned her off, went back to warm living room, posted on here!

[Pigeon]

Haven't used Striple for 7 weeks, last parked up wet in garage.
Heading out later so went to check tyre pressure......brakes had seized to the now a bit rusty discs.
Various bolts on the engine casings were rusty. As were the exhaust headers. The bike is 7 years old, so can't cry too much. But am annoyed because it was unnecessary. I parked a wet bike in a garage and put a sheet over it and haven't looked since. Poor.

Stuck brakes. Didn't finesse it, just forced it until they freed enough to move the bike. But given the rust etc, cleaned them up.

Pads looked to have superglue on them, so filed it off and roughed them up a bit.

Sliding pins were rock solid too. Might explain slight uneven pad wear.

Cleaned them up. bled them.

https://i.imgur.com/8Ctc7do.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2zqrOMp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8ft1BSF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BthLmvB.jpg

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

wow they've come up really well
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[hellkat]

Checked the oil, checked the tyres.
Took it to High Beech.

Cleared away some right old demons that were chewing on my ear.

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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

Oops! Rode it to work and back.
Woot.

Traffic Tetris: I'm back in the game.

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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[UncleFester]

First ride of the year for me on Sunday gone, weather was perfect, did a couple of lovely circuits of the Codicote road. Great to be back out, biking makes me smile.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[recman]

[UncleFester]

Old Welwyn up to Hitchin then to Barton le Clay and then back again. It's not the longest of loops ( i turn around in the School carpark at BlC) but it's a pleasant mooch.

Once we're out out of lockdown i'll be back up to the services at Baldock and then out to Buntingford and back via the A10.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[NJD]

Brake Saga Day 1/

Brakes were feeling spongy but couldn't tell if it was the front or rear so decided to take the task of overhauling the entire system on despite it being the tail end of winter (a yearly overhaul in the middle of summer generally being my favoured time of year to do such tasks meaning a hassle free life, beside light regular cleaning, until next time), but then quickly realised that attempting to overhaul monoblock Yamaha blue-spots outside in gusts of wind, and the threat of rain overhead, was a bad idea.

Phoned a shop and asked them if they could blow the pistons out with compressor air if I had the callipers loose (yes), but when I got there they wanted to remove the "blue-spot" to poke the caliper out (thankfully not doing so since they didn't have the tool to hand); but they did blow out the rear pistons for free (which saves me much time with the amount of work in such a short space of time I need to do).

Now I had a bike with no front brakes, for no reason...

... after visiting my regular shop they took the time to explain why working on one piston at a time, or one side, was really the only way to go about overhauling monoblock calipers like the blue-spot's; and so I left the front calipers and seals with them since I don't have an air compressor and spending that amount of time outside (bleeding, re-bleeding, re-cleaning etc) really wasn't viable.

At home I discovered the seals I've been sent for the rear are too small (thanks Wemoto), and so that's another time delay I didn't need.

Such a fun day.
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The do it all, T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶l̶u̶m̶p̶,̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶N̶o̶o̶d̶l̶e̶

[NJD]

Brake Saga Day 2/

Today I continued work on overhauling the breaking system, and started with fitting the used rear braided brake line I purchased before I got the bike. I used the original banjo bolts as the ones that came with the lines are the crappy type from Wemoto that have L/H mark indicators on them but aren't L/H thread (and of which I've snapped many times in the past): couple of new copper washers on the original banjo's should be good enough.

https://i.postimg.cc/YCYbJs3J/20210224-102149.jpg

Mock fitted the rear brake caliper to ensure the line does indeed fit, but owing to the fact that Wemoto have now confirmed they sent out seals that are way too small there's not a lot I can do until the set I've since had to order from Powerhouse (eBay) arrive.

I knew there was a feeling of "why did I once tell myself I'd never order seals from Wemoto again (TRK branded)" when I pressed "pay now" on the giant list of parts, and now I know why (alongside poor quality before they've even been fitted):

https://i.postimg.cc/bJNgSNhh/20210224-101426.jpg

The front's are still at the shop, and so that's out of my hands. I only hope what I've left with them are the correct size.

~

Weather warmed up slightly so covered the front wheel in degreaser and sprayed away with water, and the same with the rear (to a lesser degree since I couldn't be bothered to put it on the stand and spin the wheel ):

https://i.postimg.cc/1zSJPr74/20210224-112412.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/MGYtGfg5/20210224-112445.jpg

~

Then my twenty-pound project forks arrived. I don't need them, but since they have the preload adjusters on and the standard ones on my '99 doesn't it was a no a brainer. Maybe I'll get them rebuilt and put them on one day.

https://i.postimg.cc/MTPD726j/20210224-115248.jpg
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The do it all, T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶l̶u̶m̶p̶,̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶N̶o̶o̶d̶l̶e̶

[Fisty]

Moved it out of the way of the freezer so I could get a leg of lamb out.
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Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Rear tyre fitted & balanced on the KTM, cleaned inside of swingarm, chain, chain adjusters & guard, sprocket, spindle, it's like a new bike at the arse end.

Need a warm dry day to hose down and clean the rest.

Waiting for rear brake pads but there's enough meat on the old ones to take it for a ragging, need to check the new rear spring and adjusted damping settings. Friday is having it.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8

[reavsie]

Put slime in the tyres, went better than expected.

Have to put my trust in the slime (rather than sticky string things) now I'm running a bike with inner tubes.
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Previously: GP100U, GP100U, RD200, GT380, GSX400, CX500, VT500, VT500, GS500, R80/RT, ER5, CB500, ER5, CB500, ER5, CB500X
Now: RE Himalayan

[arry]

Was fitting Bar End Mirrors because I've somehow not resisted the urge to tinker with the R NineT despite saying I wouldn't mess with it at all. Got a set cheapish that were good quality so decided to go with it.

I'd always noticed that my brake / clutch lever were quite aggressively sloped down towards the ground - you can see it in this pic here:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50126256863_f63397227c_c.jpg

Made it a bit of a cripple hook to get over the bars to reach the levers and, frankly, the clutch was ridiculously awkward to operate in slow speed situations. Didn't think much of it when I bought the bike but later I realised that the bars had been put back on.....a bit.....well.....off

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50981230618_5307fe13b5_c.jpg

You can see the crosshair there is supposed to mark the centre line and line up with the clamp. It's well off to the right and the bars had been rotated around in the clamp to quite an extent that they were off on that plane too.

What's worse is when looking to undo the bolts I noticed the Torx in the top of the clamp and the Hex heads in the bottom holes. I know that the previous owner had Rizoma bars on it and I'd also guess there were risers involved, and the original bolts got swapped out for these Hex ones. Decided on the grounds that I didn't know the bolts' provenance, and that new ones from BMW were a few quid, I'd just change them back for originals.

Probably needn't have bothered:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50981935706_195af77f8a_c.jpg

And then all back together with the new bolts, lined up proper and feeling happy:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50981230363_d6ebab6bf8_c.jpg

Slightly worrying from a mechanical ineptitude point of view is that not only did previous owner manage to skew the bars off like that, they'd also confused the M8's in the lower section with the M10's in the upper. The torque settings are quite different - 19nm for the M8's and 38nm for the M10's. Well it's fair to say the M10's came undone a lot easier than the M8's did Also, no sign of any thread lock despite the M10's requiring it as per the book.


Never mind, done now, and bar ends fitted nicely - although god knows what happened to my T50!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50981254813_245aefe9dd_c.jpg

That did NOT happen on this job! Halfords Advanced as well, not anything cheap n 'orrible.

[hellkat]

Caned it.
Round town, ya know, just aaht and abaaaaht

Cut people up, flipped the bird several times, winked and gave it large with the red lipsticky grin ... Yay!

Urban riding is seriously underrated.
Every day is a new adventure in dodging death.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[NJD]

Brake Saga Day 3/

Started the day with a system still in a million pieces, and by the end of it managed to get roughly seventy-five percent of the work done.

Firstly I popped down to the local shop to collect the fronts, but they hadn't managed to make a start on them yet; and so I went home to work on the rear as the Powerhouse seals I had to order because Wemoto sent me the wrong size ones had arrived.

The seals went in okay, but the pistons did not. Monoblock calipers really are a massive pain. The rear can be split, but owing to the fact I can't see a torque setting for the two bolts that hold the caliper together I wasn't going to open that can of worms. After getting one piston in I used a brake spreader tool and hand force to get the other one in as a piston covered in brake fluid and tight space made it harder than it ever needed to be.

Then I put all the shiny bits in, and put it on the bike and bled the system (which surprisingly didn't take that long). I'm not overly fond of how close the rear M/C is to the battery, mind.

https://i.postimg.cc/nrzd1xPb/20210226-130112.jpg

Then somewhere between 4-4.30 pm I got a call saying that the fronts were done, and so I rushed to pick them up (close at 5 pm); and almost had a heart attack at the price I had to pay for labour (its been a while since I've paid someone to do work for me, and since its a job I've done before on other bikes I was naively surprised at what such simple jobs can cost).

After putting all the shiny bits in I put them on the bike and set about installing the used braided brake lines and fixings; and removing the old mounting system and rubber hoses in the process. I would have done this sooner, thus saving time, but without the calipers to hand there was no way of knowing what side of what hose went where.

https://i.postimg.cc/1XdLp3P2/20210226-171632.jpg

Then I tired to bleed the system, but daylight faded and I had to admit defeat. I've got fluid flowing through both sides, but owing to the fact the system is full of air its hard to tell how much progress I made. The lever is still soft, and so I've probably got a test in patience coming up. I could have just bled the system using the rubber hoses and been on the road sooner, but the T joint on the standard set up is meant to be a pain for trapping air so would rather spend the time removing it and be on the road properly than "rush" things and still have to change the hoses over at a later date.

I may also have to bleed the rear system a little more owing to the fact I had to remove the weight from the rear brake pedal to work on the front, but that should take all of five seconds and a few pumps.

~

Also, as an aside, I realised a few things today: (1) I damaged the hex key when I caused the battery to spark attempting to tighten the terminal the other day , and (2) kitchen roll really is a better workshop consumable than those blue cloths I've been buying since forever and an age.

Oh, and B&M have the 100 packs of gloves for £5.99 if anyone's struggling to find some at a reasonable cost. Thanks to the pandemic that was one workshop consumable that I've struggled to source at reasonable cost for a very long time.
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The do it all, T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶l̶u̶m̶p̶,̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶N̶o̶o̶d̶l̶e̶

[UncleFester]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2ki.com-vbulletin/1300x616/154447912_10157685326345264_5968197094101671336_o_2c56c216448c7988248cf8d04f1384f83b24df6f.jpg

Bought some new stuff to make it shiny.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[pepperami]

Opened the garage doors and took the covers off the bikes to circulate a bit of air around them to hopefully delay the damp setting in.
Hooked up the Kawasaki to the trickle charger.

Sad to see them sitting there like that

I don’t even hear the odd bike going past out here .
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!