What have you tinkered with today?

Just wondered what you have been doing to your bike today? Whether it be a service, a repair or a modification (or even just giving the dirty girl a good old wash down). Thought it would be good to acknowledge those little efforts that help keep your steed running sweetly.

Am fairly new to Org, so if there is a similar active thread, please send me the link.

I got my first big bike 2 mths ago , its a 2001 naked with 50k (and needing lots of TLC)

As my front brake was binding I decided to investigate. I loosened bobbins using a nut and bolt and cleaner. Whilst cleaning I noticed that one of the front calipers had perished seals (one was half hanging out) and was full of corrosion. Ive not had much hands on experience with mechanics, but after watching a variety of Utube vids, I felt like having a go at rebuilding the caliper. The pistons needed a fair amount of attention.

The new seals arrived today and I was able to put everything together and bleed the brakes etc.....problem solved...and brakes are much more responsive...I guess the pistons must have been jamming before.

I felt quite pleased with myself after, especially as two blokes I ride out with, said they had never dared mess with their own calipers, other than to change pads. These blokes have done 80 years of riding between them....wtf!!!

[Bibio]

good for you, you have now learnt a valuable skill that will save you wonga cash in the future. well done

word of caution though, if the pistons were pitted anywhere below the seals then you run the risk of the brakes failing due to fluid leak. did you clean out the seal recesses completely of crud before you put the new seals in? did you use Red Rubber Grease to assemble the seals and pistons? did you also pay attention to the sliding pins and grease with RRG? and please tell me you never put copper grease on the back of the pads if there were shims there already. copper grease eats and swells rubber seals. did you do both callipers?

i'm afraid to say that there are a large number of bikers that dont know a spanner form a screwdriver but it sounds like your heading in the right direction of knowledge

Had no rrg, but its on order. Will give sliders attention when I do other caliper at weekend. Do you coat both piston seals with it? Does that not contaminate the brake fluid? I did use a little copper slip on pad shims though. I'll avoid that in future.

Don't mind making a few errors as long as I learn in the process. ....oh and as long as I don't cause myself injury in the process!

[Bibio]

you 'rub' the RRG into the seals (between finger and thumb) and give a little coating you also smear the piston wall with RRG before you insert it into the recess/seals. yes you will get a little red coming out when you bleed the system but it wont harm performance. dont worry if you have excess RRG when you insert the piston as the seals will 'wipe' most of it off, when you push the pistons flush wipe the excess into the groove then remove the rest. it wont matter if there is some left on the 'faces' of the calliper as RRG is very high temp grease and wont melt. i cant emphasize enough that you must get the seal recesses as clean as you can, its the crud that builds up in the recesses that seizes the piston due to forcing the seal against it.

i know this might sound OTT but i strip/service my callipers every year just before the winter, do this and you will always have good brakes, also RRG and time is cheaper than pistons and seals

[Richie]

60 Glove Boxes destined for China

[andrewsmith]

Good for you. I'm like Bibio and service the brakes every year. The performance stays constant, I will say my other bike hasn't had the calipers serviced for 20 months and they're rubbish

sent with the power of thought, through the medium of magic marker

[Messie]

Moved to Bike Talk, as it's talk, about bikes

[maviczap]

Nothing yet, I've just had breakfast.

[Stuart42]

Trying to get 888 race bike to complete lap of The Island.
Cheers Stuart

[Dave20046]

Sent back a dangerous aftermarket Welsh lever and endlessly dicked about with satnavs

Incredibly Tomtom no longer let you map your own routes on a PC & send to device and the garmin I have is one of two models where it isn't possible. New google maps (app) no longer supports it & other free iphone apps also don't appear to support it so now I have to either pay for an app or buy a higher spec garmin.
grumble...