What to check for after first ride home
 

Hi all

Shold be picking up my curvy '02 Saturday evening, really excited!

The bike itself is clean as a whistle, and is currently problem free.

However when I get it I am still going to undress her a little to check things over, it'll also be a nice way to get acquainted ;)

All the obvious visual stuff has been checked already at the time of viewing by my biker friend.

The bike has been in dry storage for a while and only ridden a few times. Started first time from confirmed cold when I went to look at it so I assume the battery is ok. R&R has been replaced also by a GSXR600 one.

This will serve as my own little checklist so if anyone adds anything here I'll edit my post.

Things I'm going to do/check:

Bleed front brake (bit on the spongey side, nothing drastic)
Check Tyre pressures
Adjust, Clean & Lube chain (bit tight, and bit dry but otherwise has plenty life left)
Polish front forks
Clean air filter (K&N)
Check Oil (properly, only dipped a finger in last time)
Check coolant/water
Taking off Tax disc, lobbing it under the pillion seat. Plenty of pikeys round.

Things to buy:

Oil Filter
Oil
Brake Fluid
Bleeding kit (heard this makes it super easy?)
Autosol
Grease for brakes (RRG?)


Anything else...

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

i'd change all fluids and filters, service front and rear brake calipers, then ride the thing.

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

How hard is it to service front + rear brake calipers - I have a haynes coming, is it easy to follow from that?

Might as well add a list of fluids I'll need.

What type of oil do I need?

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

http://www.gixerjunkies.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=71989 - might need to sign up and sign in for image but servicing calipers would be something similar to these (but much simpler with sv as they're not opposed pistons, its a sliding caliper setup iirc).

Oil - hein gericke are doing 4 litres of oil and a filter for £19.99, think the manual recommends semi synthetic for the SV - as long as it's changed every 3,000 - 4,000 miles depending on how hard you ride it, the engine will be happy.

There's a 'how to' in the gixer technical section on how to change coolant as well as how to refresh brake fluid - worth a look to give you an idea of whats involved :)

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

Not to hard for the front, rear strip can be a sod (but YC or some1 should be able to clarify)
Make sure u get some red rubber grease and copper grease/ slip

Haynes is good for it, but a tip is use a couple of g clamps to hold the pistons out to save bleeding them twice look at this thread for cleaning tips http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=151525

as for oil:
- engine oil semi syth 10w/40 castrol or shell
- Brake fluid dot4 putoline £5 for 250ml Half litre should me more than enough

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

Thank you very much!

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

You may well find your rear brake pins are seized in place. You will need to soak at least overnight with penetrating oil. Not WD40 water dispersant that some seem to advocate. try to grip with thin nose mole grips and twist up/down to break the hold.

Otherwise it is drill a small hole behind the pins and punch the sods out. Those on their second or more Suzuki tend to coat the brake pad retaining pins with copper grease as soon as the bike is purchased to prevent the inevitable.

A smear of RRG on the pistons when you re assemble. and ordinary grease on the front calliper sliding pins. I use a vacuum bleeder. Makes the job a piece of p155.

Re: What to check for after first ride home
 

Hmm, ok.

I'll probably take the bike round my buddies house becuase he has a shedload of tools, whereas I have about 4 screwdrivers and some gaffa tape ;) Hopefully he can help out if I supply beers :D

I dont really want to be without my SV for much more than a day. If they are seized maybe I'll just stick em back on and buy a pair of serviced calipers (£40 arent they?), swap em over, service mine and resell.

EDIT: I do want to learn to do things like this myself confidently, and if I had all the time in the world to work on my calipers with a working set on the bike I can take more time about it and not panic.