Oh, for F***'s SAKE!!! (EDIT: sorted, thanks)

[meyrick]

The weather has really cleared up down here so, as I had my last 'lesson' with my dad yesterday, I decided to go for my first ride on my own.

Put on my suit of armour , boots, flourescent tabbard thingy. Went out to the garage, pulled out the ramp, unlocked the bike and popped it off the center stand and.......oooooooh.....crunch. Dropped it....again!!!!

Back brake lever mangled, again! Front brake lever also buggered. No idea how I'm going to fix that, because it's attached to the hydraulics, which I know nothing about. What a way to spoil a nice, sunny day.

Just had to vent that so my nerves aren't so shattered while I'm pulling the poor dear to bits.

Paul

[instigator]

Sorry to ehar about that mate, happens to everyone the same way as everyone leaves their disck lock on once. *cough*

centre stand work.

See when you're pushing your bike off its centre stand, do it like this. One hand on the left handlebar(closest to you) and the other on the back of the bike, if there is a pillion grab rail, use that.

Then, put your right foot onto the centre stand foot bit which should be on the ground. Don't apply any weight to it yet. The, with both arms, push the bike forward(its forward, not yours) and as soon as you feel it moving forward, apply some of your weight to the centre stand. Once the bike is forward enough, you should be pushing down sufficiently on the stand so that you can basically let go of the bike and it can stay there, so that its not on its centre stand fully, but if you take any mass at all of the stand, it will fall. At this point you can pull the bike slightly to you when you are releasing weight from the stand. Do it very gradually of course.

Infact, if you want, put the side stand down and you can put it down on that.

The key is practise. I pratised with the company of my dad, he stayed on the other side of the bike and was there if I was going to drop it. And drop it I did (my 125) but no damdage was done because he caught it. Push the bike around yourself more, get used to its weight, its centre of gravity.

My bike mechanic can walk a bike backwards fairly quickly with just one hand on the closest handlebar. He can do it because of how much time he's spent getting used to bikes and their weight and the best way to handle them carefully.

If you wish, I can make a small video clip to show you how I do it.

[Frost]

From now on, stand astride it, push the bars forwards and grab the front brake once its off the stand, no way to drop it!

Brake lever is np to fix.
I thought the rear brake levers were pretty strong on CB125's?

[meyrick]

Thanks for the tips, guys, I will definitely try those out. Up until now I have been holding both the handlebars and just throwing the bike forwards That's how I was taught in CBT

The back brake lever is sorted (I'm getting good at fixing that ) The front lever I need some help with. It's a front disc brake so it's a lever attached to one of those silver boxes, seemingly full of liquid for the hydraulics(?). Basically I want to know what will happen if I take it off. I have no idea. If I take it off will a) nothing happen, b) brake fluid start spraying out everywhere, c) something else?

Cheers,

Paul

[Laura]

You only need to take the lever of and get a new one not the hydraulics system :O
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[meyrick]

[Hex]

Just take it off with no worries.
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[swampy]

All the brake lever does is to acuate a piston in the master cylinder, which in turn pushes brake fluid into your caliper. This then moves the piston(s) in the caliper onto the brake pad (although the piston and pad are in constant contact they are not fixed together) and pushes the pad onto the disc causing friction which should then slow you down (hopefully ). So in answer to your question the brake lever doesn't come into contact with any brake fluid, and you're ok to remove it at your leisure without buggering anything up
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[meyrick]

Cheers guys, I just went and did that. I was surprised how simple it was, really. Only problem was that when I tried to straighten out the lever it snapped in two Don't know my own stength

I filed the end and polished it and it now looks like it's supposed to be like that. It looks quite good actually, just the clutch lever still has a blob on the end sort of gives it away. I can't really bring myself to chop off the end of my clutch lever so they are matching though

Paul

[ts50x0]

dont worry about how it looks mate, dont buy a new lever untill your sure u aint gonna drop it again

[meyrick]

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Sorry to hear about the drop mate. Third time lucky!

On a similar note. Anyone got tips for putting the bike onto it's centre stand? Whenever I do it I feel like I am wrenching my spine out of place so I must be doing someting wrong! I have a SR125 if that makes a difference.

[instigator]

dancemonkey - just as I've said really, but reverse the order.

Put one hand on the closest handlebar to you, and the other on the grabrail/end of the bike.

With your right foot, push the centre stand down so that its pushing against the ground. If you're putting enough weight onto it, then you can let go of the bike with your hands and it'll stay vertical.

The, with your hands in the aforementioned position, put more weight onto the centre stand and try and pull up and to the left. That should be enough to get it up okay.

When I had a 125, and I was getting used to it, I found that rolling the bike backwards slightly made it easier as you're building up momentum to make it easier to mount onto the centre stand. With practise, you can do it without rolling the bike back at all. When going from a 500(mine) to a 125 and putting it on the stand, I find I do it far too quickly and I apply too much force to pull back.

If you can perfect the technique on a 125, then it'l help hugely with bigger bikes.

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Cheers matey, I shall practise that tomorrow (when I'm a bit more soberer (is that a word?)

[dodsi]

center stand on that thing! light as a feather!

I used to pick that bike up and move it! cant do that nowerdays

Missing the SR's fuel ecomomy and lightness and ease of use in town!

I have to be all responsible with the throttle now

with the SR just put your foot on the lever and stand up on the lever and it flies onto the stand!

[Frost]

It may seem hard to put the bike on its center stand now, but after doing it for a few ceeks you can do it without any effort at all.

On the CBT you are taught to push it off the stand stood by the side of it. The only time's i ever dropped my CB was doing it that way. If the thing lurches to one side you're fucked, all your strength will just pull the grip off the bar.

Sitting on it and bumping it forwards means you have a foot down on either side at any time, you don't really need the front brake, but i allways coverd it out of habbit anyway.

[mchaggis]

The way we were taught on CBT to take it off the centre stand is the only cause of my static drops other than moving 130kg by brute force rather than with wheels. Why they teach it like that is anybody's guess...

Similarly with taking the side stand off. I just get on and worry about the side stand when I'm about to pull off. For a bigger bike, having the side stand down when getting on is a huge help. It's also useful if you're wheeling a heavy unfamiliar bike about, as you don't have to worry about letting it go on the left hand side.
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[Frost]

Why they teach it the wayt hey do i don't know.

Getting someone who has never been on a bike before to do it isnt exactly a gentle confidence building start is it? especially if they drop the thing, i should imagine doing that has reduced the condidence of a fair few people to zero before they have even got on the damn thing!

[meyrick]

[JonB]

Even on my ped I found it hard to push it off the centre stand the way they taught me at the CBT at first. Now all I do is sit on it and rock it forward.
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[pipnet11]

When your putting it on the stand theres usually a rail to grab onto. Looks like a pillion grab-rail but further forward, this helps a lot. Im quite sure theres one on the CG, there was one on all GSs.
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[Frost]

Most CG's have a granny rack on the back. pull up and slightly back on this, and push down hard with your right foot. the left hand ont he bars is purely for stability