fastbob

It needs filling before you start bleeding . Cheapest and quickest way is stick a meter of pvc tube on the furthest away bleed nipple, open and suck. When you see fluid , stop because it doesn't taste very nice .

In case I missed it , what's the reason for the head removal ?

So is there a load of crap ( mineralization ) in those grooves ?

Maybe a sticking float valve , can you smell petrol when this happens ? Could explain why this happens when you stop but it's ok once you get going again.

That's a lovely looking master cylinder but where's the mirror going to go ? On mine I just sanded all the raised lettering off the cap and polished it. I also installed a master cylinder repair kit. In case you are wondering, my cover got shredded in the storm last week, the ER has to live outside because I only have indoor space for one bike . Not exactly riding weather today http://i.imgur.com/nYFM4SL.jpg

False alarm then . If you didn't take the seals out and carefully scrape out all the mineralization from the grooves they sit in then you definitely need to do it next time . To get the pistons out you need to pump them out as far as possible but they need to come out equally. So if one takes the line of least resistance, it needs holding back until the other one catches up. As its a one sided floating caliper why not just remove the pads, put it back on the bike and pump away ? Provided the combined thickness of the pads is just less than the depth of the pistons, this should bring them far enough out to enable them to be pulled out easily. You could try it with one pad first to see how its going . A gentle pulling and turning motion with Mole grips and a piece of rubber inner tube to protect the outer face worked well for me when I did my GSXR and that's 12 pistons ! Also very important on this particular caliper is to make sure it floats freely on its pins so they need cleaning and greasing . Finally if you're needing a g-clamp to get the pistons back in there's something wrong . Two strong thumbs should be enough.

The reservoir has an expansion bellows and a vent but removing the cap might have helped. I could push mine in easily with my thumbs so something isn't right.

Firstly, did you prize out the seals and remove all the mineralization and crap from the grooves that the seals sit in ? If not then this is what might be making the pistons hard to push back in . If it were me I wouldn't mess around with grease guns or compressed air, I would just reassemble the system, bleed the air and then pump the pistons out with the brake lever. If the caliper is useless then you have a good excuse to do an ER6 upgrade as suggested in one of the Pony Power youtube videos. Good luck.

Well if you'd asked me two years ago I would have said bland badly finished run of the mill commuter bike . But since I've restored a high mileage ex training school rusty wreck and put another 8000 miles on it including a 1630 mile trip to Scotland I have nothing but respect and admiration for this friendly little bike . After 20 years wrestling with GSXR 1100s it's nice to get back to a more basic and less demanding style of motorcycling. Here's a compilation of pics charting some of our excursions. http://i.imgur.com/copDOj1.jpg Oh yeah, a stupidly loud exhaust does give it a certain extra something.

This is a Pink Floyd lyric right ?

Or shes driving over a portal to hell? It is London after all Watch the skies and check your watch .http://i.imgur.com/3rrr14q.jpg

Pure guess, but when a bike dies in the same place on the same journey it can be that a coil is packing up . It's because its got to the same temperature, usually happens after about three miles . Happened to me years ago . I got stranded in Aberystwyth, every time I got to exactly the same place the bike went onto two cylinders. I would go back to the campsite, mess with the carbs while the bike cooled down, everything would be fine so I would set off again and after three miles it would conk out again in the same place. Turned out to be a knackered coil but all the symptoms suggested fuel and plugs .

You can probably hear it because you have taken your helmet off.

lets have pictures ( real bike porn )

Errm .. Have you determined that the head can be removed with the engine in the frame ? Most workshop manuals will tell you what you can and can't do at the start of the engine section. Good luck with this undertaking. I've done this job once before on a GSXR 1100 L . A few tips, write notes , bag and label everything, take lots of pictures and if your not in the right frame of mind walk away before you bugger it up

Good point , you don't want a magnet attached to the crank shaft!

Yep, see my ebay pic , £350 . Purple wheel included.

Maybe they are shorter , and the caliper mounts , wheel diameter, axle thickness and clamping method, disk spacing , travel, damping characteristics, mudguard mounting points, type of speedo drive , spring compression rate and weight of the bike ?

Fork seals don't leak when there's no oil left in the forks

How much research have you already done ? I've just googled it and I can say with reasonable certainly that both 1200 Bandit and RF 900 forks are 43 mm in diameter. So that's a positive start , I'll leave it to you too compare all the many other dimensions. Wouldn't it be easier to just have yours re chromed and re ground ? There are many uk companies that offer this service as well as a rebuild with new seals etc. http://i.imgur.com/TZOX7S9.png

Hi and welcome, I'm not sure if this is helpful or not . Are you building a street fighter or special or do you just need to replace some damaged forks ? Anyway, there are quite a few sets of RF 900 forks on eBay right now at reasonable prices. If you want to upgrade to upside down forks you're going to need yokes ,an axle, calipers , wheel etc. in other words a whole front end . Here you go http://i.imgur.com/dGbPFhy.png

Oh okay, i was just wondering if there was anything i was missing. But on my bike the crank breather is just aimed out anywhere and isnt connected on the other end, cheers anyway Well it's been modified then , I pretty sure that the thick pipe in the picture is the crankcase breather and this would allow fuel to pour straight down into the crankcase. If yours is disconnected then dirt can get into the engine . How about a few pictures of this bike just to get a general idea what state its in .http://i.imgur.com/QkVMLvq.png are you sure you're not looking at the drain pipe that is also shown. These are often plugged to prevent oil getting on the road .Also if your vent isn't connected that means that dirt can bypass the air filter and get straight into the carb.

It can get in via the crankcase breather pipe that vents into the airbox. This might not be the case on the CBR 125 , this is just general advice.

Apologies to AMW I appear to be repeating your excellent advice concerning fuel draining into the oil . I've been through all this grief myself with my ER5, they are notorious for it .

Then the float valve is sticking open and the carburettor is flooding . This is usually caused by the tiniest particle of dirt or a flake of rust that lodges itself just behind the hole that the rubber point of the float valve needle sits in . If this is the case then this will happen regardless of whether the petrol tap is working or not . However, if you are sure that the petrol tap has been sticking open as well then there is a strong possibility that a lot of fuel will have drained into the oil in the crankcase making it dangerously thin . May I suggest that as a precaution you do an oil change before running the engine for any length of time. Finally, I know you have bought a tank and at a good price too but have a look at this , the price is at the bottom of the page , very small.http://i.imgur.com/2vmYIbm.png one of these might be a good idea while your at it . http://i.imgur.com/ITB64Pf.png