Continuing - So what did you do to your bike today...?

[GSXKING]

  I've said it before @Hooli is definitely a mate I'd like to have in my corner.

[Tally]

Stripped  the brakes today as they were binding , cleaned out all the crud from the seal seats. Greased all the pistons again ( red rubber grease), re-seated the seals as they were perfectly fine. Bled the brakes , and all is fine now , smooth braking ,no juddering. Just for good measure I bled the clutch as well as the fluid didn't look the right colour. Rears needed no attention. time.

[Hooli]

Always worth doing the clutch, the fluid goes manky as hell down at the engine end.

[Tally]

Yeah hooli the fluid was black , so changed it was.

[Kiwifruit]

Same problem in NZ the scrotes as you call them have no fear of the law. We really need a bit of vigilante justice. We have a breed of people that walk into a supermarket and push a trolley full of groceries out the door screaming at security "you can't touch me" and they can't. Its reported as shoplifting, i'd call it looting. Mate had his car pinched from outside his house, then it got used in a robbery, coppers said they had a good idea who did it.... but they are only about 13 or 14. Yes Hooli....before they breed !!

[grog]

Today wiped over 14, pumped tyres, ready to go👍Weather my problem, rain just keeps coming. Dry day today, first for a while, forecast reckons some bloody front coming, could expect another 200 mm. 279 for March, 1030 so far first 3 months. No good for bike or golf, no good for head, driving me crazy.

[Hooli]

Small update on the CBF.

I can't find pattern bars that are correct anywhere, seems it's too new for anyone to make them yet. Ordered some that are 1.5" narrower but correct apart from that. At £21 compared to £105 for genuine ones, it's worth a try to get her back on the road if nothing else. The bars arrive tomorrow so it should be fixed by the evening.

She's going to order a genuine clutch lever too, can't find them anywhere either. But they are only £14 from Honda so not worth trying pattern bits at £7-8 in the hope they might fit. I used some heat & persuasion on the old one. It's straight enough to ride with now, I wasn't going any further as the end started to crack.

Bloody knackered today as she had no way of getting to work this morning so I got up to give her a lift in, her shift started at 5:30am and it's about an hour to get there via her place. I'm daft aren't I? Just in from taking her home too. Doing the same tomorrow but she's on a later shift so I get to sleep all night.

If you're wondering, yes I would & I am trying 

[KiwiCol]

Best of luck my good man!  I'm sure I speak for all when I say we're all 'rooting' for ya . . .     

[Hooli]

Well I'm picking her up from work this evening, having run her over there earlier. Straight back to mine so she can ride home on a fixed CBF. Not long back from the test run & I haven't laughed as much for ages when on a bike. it's a brilliant little thing, slow as hell obviously but bloody fun as it loves bends. Just pin the throttle & aim. I thought she was mad the speed I'd seen her corner on it, but it's how it wants to be ridden. I really enjoyed that few mile this evening. I was still chucking when I got back indoors.

Along with fitting the bars, including drilling them for the switch gear as being the wrong ones the holes were in the wrong places. I've also tided up the dangling wiring where she'd fitted heated grips & a quadlock. It's now all sealed up & tided to the frame under the tank so it's much neater & should last longer as it's not swinging around near the engine fatiguing the wires till they snap. Chain needed a lot of adjustment too, she does do it but I think a winter of salt & 7k miles (impresses me on a 10 month old 125) has pretty much killed it, she's due a back tyre soon too.


I couldn't resist a silly pic while out.

[MickyJB]

Oil and filter change and air filter change, plus had another immobiliser key cut, next is to get it programmed.

[KiwiCol]

I took the bike out for a bit of a run the other day & noticed the front brakes were pulsing quite badly, not dangerously, just very noticeable.  I figured it must be the bobbins, so yesterday had the front wheel off & cleaned out the bobbins with penetrating oil & brake cleaner. Took it for another run this morning & she's a good 'un again. 
I was going to bung in some new pads I've got here, but the ones in there are only about half worn at most, so no point installing them yet. 

[Eric GSX1400K3]

That reminds me to do mine.  Took daughter #3 out for a local blast, night ride this time. Still very happy with the Stedi LED headlamp, i may need to adjust the horizontal position of the entire headlamp a tad, was a bit too low. Bike ran well, although the low rpm snatchiness is still slightly there, im thinking the primary TPS may be suffering the same fate as the STPS.  Will bung in a new one when funds permit.

[Hooli]

My mate Nic (who's 125 I repaired recently) has got her Mod1 test on Friday & was worried she hadn't got the hang of U-turns on big bikes properly in the lessons she's had. She's learning on Hornets the same age as mine so we've spent an hour in a big empty car park tonight By the end of it, she was fine & looked confident doing nice tight U-turns that I think were tighter than test size.
It's oddly satisfying helping someone else improve isn't it? she wasn't dragging the back brake enough or holding enough revs up to start with. Not sure it'd be explained to her in a way that clicked in her head that you control your speed with the clutch as it's more precise. She got it quickly enough tonight though and was much happier by the time we finished. We might do it again Thurs evening after a bike night, depends if she feels she wants too.

To the downunder types, the bike test here is in two parts these days. An off-road section called Mod1 that covers U-turns, stops & a swerve. The basic layout is you ride up the pad, U-turn and as you come back you do either a controlled stop, emergency stop or swerve around a cone after passing a gate. So with crap U-turns you're screwed, especially as you need to reach 31mph before each tested bit. I think there's some other bits but not sure what.
Mod2 comes later & covers all the road riding bits.

[KiwiCol]

31 mph U Turn?  Man you guys must be good up that side!   

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Well done Hooli in helping out a mate, it is satisfying to see people learn from what you try to teach them. Kudos to you bud.

Test here is not too different, except its all in one session, u turn, swerve, emergency stop and iirc, a std signal and turn left or right.

Road Theory session is usually before.

Mind you i did my test 20odd years ago. Might have changed a bit by now.