The "Today I did something to my bike" thread

Waa7 wrote: »

Agreed, I blew out the fuel lines and then replaced the pipes into the filter and the carb and ran the fuel and it was clean. Took me ages as it’s my first time but glad I done it. I’ve to bring it for a spin in a while to see has it helped.

Good stuff, hopefully that will sort it.

ronanc15 wrote: »

Front caliper on the bike seized or stuck. My own fault, one of the particularly cold days where the roads were salted to death I should have given the bike a serious wash down when I got home but it was baltic so I bailed. I'd say the salt has expanded and stuck. Anyways, first bit of work the VFR has needed so not the end of the world.

If you are lucky some break cleaner spray might flush that out

goblin59 wrote: »

If you are lucky some break cleaner spray might flush that out

zubair wrote: »

Ye, at worst I would say caliper off and a scrub.

Yeah I'm hoping it's a handy one, I'm sure it is. Lesson learned anyway not to be such a lazy bollox ha!

CJhaughey wrote: »

Hot water works well to move salty crud, also look at this stuff: https://www.chmarine.com/salt-away-salt-remover-concentrate-sa32-946ml/?gclid=CjwKCAiA6aSABhApEiwA6Cbm_902GUpUWcKKtRUPga9xeRJ4On-X-T0Ksg47pe2tO0t6C4qPmyDnqhoCBXMQAvD_BwE

Handy little vid here too https://youtu.be/b3ocmkQQtFQ

CJhaughey wrote: »

I find him difficult to listen to, but his vids are generally good.
.

Can I add to that the missenden flyer, itchy boots and ryan f nine and my go to pet hate is yer man from revzilla who starts everything like an auctioneer Anthony I think the tóssers name is.

Skill Magill wrote: »

Can I add to that the missenden flyer, itchy boots and ryan f nine and my go to pet hate is yer man from revzilla who starts everything like an auctioneer Anthony I think the tóssers name is.

I dont mind Itchy Boots, fort nine dude I cant listen to though.

Actually enjoyed missenden flyer on some vids. The nine lad is annoying.

The 44 teeth lads are quite good too.

I've been enjoying the likes of Dave Moss tuning (suspension and ergonomics setup) and Bret Tacks as well (general skills and off-road stuff, this man can hussle)

Engage safety squints and sure you'll be grand!

flashinthepan wrote: »

Got and additional Led high brake light as when I put the Topbox on I thought the brake light may be a little obscured so toying with the Idea of fixing one of these to the Topbox with some kind of waterproof quick release connector

Brake Light is 10" Long and about 1" wide by about !/2" thick
It has 3 wires White ( negative )
Brown ( low power )
Red ( High Power )

For that type of brake light it would probably be easier to fit it to the top box plate or to the reg plate holder. Otherwise it would be cleaner looking to get LED strips and fit them inside the top box and remove the reflectors.

flashinthepan wrote: »

Just looking at that there now :-) and the topbox is curved so that's a non runner

Presume its too big to fit it into the top box (thats what she said).

Tackled the brakes on the VFR this weekend. Hot water and some brake cleaner had sorted the most immediate build up of ****e and the resulting lock up but to be sure I took off both of the front calipers yesterday and gave them a good scrub. Wasn't 100% happy with the movement of the front wheel so changed all the fluid and bled the system. The VFR has linked brakes (rear brake activating the middle piston of the front left caliper) so there's a bit more to it. I was think the secondary master cylinder might have been causing some drag on the front centre piston. Rear caliper is in a bitch of a spot so the wheel has to come off to access it, handy though with the single swing arm. Thing is I didn't see much of a difference at the end of it all when I give the front wheel an auld spin whilst on the centre stand. Brakes feel better alright but there still seems to be a bit of drag when I spin by hand. I'll take it for a spin tomorrow and see what way it is after, I may be just obsessing over a non issue at this stage - not 100% sure. Do you folks get much free movement on the front wheel if you give it a spin?

All in all a great learning experience though. A lot to be said for a haynes manual and a few youtube tutorials. First road bike I've had and first time trying anything mechanically on a bike so it's quite satisfying to be able attack it myself.

ronanc15 wrote: »

Tackled the brakes on the VFR this weekend. Hot water and some brake cleaner had sorted the most immediate build up of ****e and the resulting lock up but to be sure I took off both of the front calipers yesterday and gave them a good scrub. Wasn't 100% happy with the movement of the front wheel so changed all the fluid and bled the system. The VFR has linked brakes (rear brake activating the middle piston of the front left caliper) so there's a bit more to it. I was think the secondary master cylinder might have been causing some drag on the front centre piston. Rear caliper is in a bitch of a spot so the wheel has to come off to access it, handy though with the single swing arm. Thing is I didn't see much of a difference at the end of it all when I give the front wheel an auld spin whilst on the centre stand. Brakes feel better alright but there still seems to be a bit of drag when I spin by hand. I'll take it for a spin tomorrow and see what way it is after, I may be just obsessing over a non issue at this stage - not 100% sure. Do you folks get much free movement on the front wheel if you give it a spin?

There will usually be a small bit of drag on the brakes, but after a dry day with no salt get out and do some hard braking and that should knock the high spots off the pad/disc interface.
Make sure the guide pins are running freely, give them a twist to check they are not seized.
Pump the pistons out a small distance more than they would usually come out and pull the bellows seal back and clean the pistons where they go into the caliper.
If they are still dragging it might be corrosion behind the square seal in the caliper which causes excessive friction on the piston.
I have had this before and it stops the pistons from retracting as easily as they should.
The sure is to remove the pistons and seals and then thoroughly clean the seal groove and then refit the seals with a small bit of red rubber grease behind the seal, or if you find that hard to get ATE make brake cylinder paste #7600

CJhaughey wrote: »

There will usually be a small bit of drag on the brakes, but after a dry day with no salt get out and do some hard braking and that should knock the high spots off the pad/disc interface.
Make sure the guide pins are running freely, give them a twist to check they are not seized.
Pump the pistons out a small distance more than they would usually come out and pull the bellows seal back and clean the pistons where they go into the caliper.
If they are still dragging it might be corrosion behind the square seal in the caliper which causes excessive friction on the piston.
I have had this before and it stops the pistons from retracting as easily as they should.
The sure is to remove the pistons and seals and then thoroughly clean the seal groove and then refit the seals with a small bit of red rubber grease behind the seal, or if you find that hard to get ATE make brake cylinder paste #7600

Cheers man. Gave everything a good cleaning and greased where appropriate ones too, some bits did seem quite stiff. Gave the pistons a fairly decent clean too but i stopped short of pulling them out entirely. I'll give it a good blast soon as theres a good dry day and see does that knock off any remaining high spots like you said. Id say it'll go a long way towards it. If it doesnt I'll take a look at removing them fully.

H_Lime wrote: »

Some amount of drag is acceptable but if the discs get hot to the touch without using them you have a problem to solve.
If you've doubts just bite the bullet and buy a genuine seal kit.
On my blackbirds there's a bearing the lhs caliper uses to activate the valve. If it's stuck or in need of lube the rear caliper can drag.

Does the blackbird have linked braking too? Wasnt sure if its a feature of a few hondas or confined to the VFR. Seal kit seem reasonably priced anyway so not a big deal to pick one up. Seals a tricky job?

ronanc15 wrote: »

Does the blackbird have linked braking too? Wasnt sure if its a feature of a few hondas or confined to the VFR. Seal kit seem reasonably priced anyway so not a big deal to pick one up. Seals a tricky job?

May be differences but mostly same I believe.
Yeh a full rebuilds doable but it's a wee bit of a mess on these, everything's all over the shop with annoying complications, in other words honda did what it does and couldn't help themselves

CJhaughey wrote: »

Price a rebuild kit for them, probably not that expensive and a good time to do it when idle and the roads slippery with Ice.
Its not rocket science but just take your time with them

Had a look earlier and they're cheap enough to pick up. I'll probably pick one up to have there anyway.

Lots of pic!

So my bike is taking shape over here in Vancouver, put on the risers (which was a lot of work with cable extensions and so on), new mini boards, sissy bar, fender eliminated.

Still more to do to her, but it is so much more comfortable now.

zubair wrote: »

Saddle looks class.

This is what happens when you get a new job and watch Sons of Anarchy.

2 kilometres from home and the clutch or gearbox went on my KTM 990SM. I'm only through a tank of gas on it since I got it before Christmas.


It was picked up by the shop to be taken off for repair.

D3V!L wrote: »

2 kilometres from home and the clutch or gearbox went on my KTM 990SM. I'm only through a tank of gas on it since I got it before Christmas.


It was picked up by the shop to be taken off for repair.

Youve had some bad luck with bikes!

goblin59 wrote: »

is that the one from City spares?
That sucks big time!!!

Yep, same one, I did about 200 kilometres on it so far just in and out of work.

GBX wrote: »

Youve had some bad luck with bikes!

You're telling me. My other bike had a replacement gearbox and clutch due to failure at 3000 kilometres.

H_Lime wrote: »

Did the clutch lever go solid or graunchy by any chance?
What happened.
BTW quit your job and work in product testing!!

Yep, the hydraulic clutch just wouldn't disengage. First happened when I went into a roundabout, shifted down from 2nd half want through the bend and then it got stuck in neutral while leaned over :eek:

CJhaughey wrote: »

Sorry to hear that D3vi!.
That's not bad luck, you have had no luck at all with bikes.
Have you ever thought about a Japanese bike?
I know they aren't as flash as a Euro but generally they don't seem to give as much trouble as Euro's either.

Yes, yes I have. When I was a young lad that's all I bought. Never gave me a moments trouble.

Depending on how the current two go I may still go back to a Jap machine.

My other bike is a 1250 GSA and there's nothing from Asia to equal it at the moment.

D3V!L wrote: »

Yep, the hydraulic clutch just wouldn't disengage. First happened when I went into a roundabout, shifted down from 2nd half want through the bend and then it got stuck in neutral while leaned over :eek:

That sounds pretty ****ing terrifying!
nuts to that!