What did you do to your bike today?

[smallfrowne]

Service Time

 

Today the kawa was in for a bit of pampering.

 

Brake Fluid. So lovely and see-through now. And nipples on relatively new bikes are just so lovely to undo.

 

Coolant, even rinsed it through a few times before putting new stuff in. Only the finest made in Rotherham stuff an' all, Granville Rapid Cool. Though now its blood is no longer green but red, seems wrong for the kawa. Also I just realised now that the portion of water locked in the engine side of the thermostat will have diluted the mix, to an amount I don't really know and that's annoying me. £10 or so down the local bullseye motor factors.

 

Motul 7100, sod it, it's all mystically red and not very oil coloured. £59 with a gen-you-ine kawa made in china filter from the ol' sportsbikeshop. Very little metallic shards at the bottom of the old washing up bowl upon tipping away the old stuff as well.

 

Ktech shock is refitted ready for a little test tonight (hopefully). They said they didn't see anything wrong with it, though the oil was ready for a change, so not money completely wasted maybe - £150. They have offered to give it a bit of check in the workshop if I ride it in. If it's still trying buck me off on the bumps I will be down there this week, they're a good bunch - sorted me out for various other matters in the past.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Looking like I've sold the Thunderbird.

Beautiful thing, will be sad to see it go, but bikes should be ridden, not just admired.

 

[smallfrowne]

Well. That's that I think. Went over every bit of crazy paving I could find on the way to my sisters and back again to pick up some pistachio spread. It must've just been the old oil in the shock. It's absolutely laaaaaarvely smooth now. Only trouble is the front now. Time to do the oil on them I suppose. At least that won't cost me 150 quid, just faffery. 

But that's breakfast sorted, croissant and pistachio spread

[Simon Davey]

@smallfrowne That's an excellent result, glad it worked out. 

 

[husoi]

Yesterday booked MOT for the pan.

If that bitch fails it, I'll set it on fire

[RideWithStyles]

Dont be so harsh and burn the mot guy.

[Fiddlesticks]

On 05/08/2024 at 17:18, Angela Collen said:

@Fiddlesticks what a superb bike, somebody is going to love it, sorry you had to let it go,but you look like you've really taken care of it

They backed out. No harm no foul.

[Ian Frog]

MOT on Saturday so got my best girl on the stand for a bit of a clean and check over.

cheers 

Ian 

[husoi]

now we wait

 

Not the same nice guy as before

Edited August 7, 2024 by husoi

[Simon Davey]

5 minutes ago, husoi said:

now we wait

 

Not the same nice guy as before

Good luck 

[Ian Frog]

Thanks guys ! 

I am confident all will be well. 

She has been with me from new in 2004 and has not given me any worries so far !

Cheers 

Ian 

[husoi]

Yyeeyyy clean pass

That's it done for another year

Now need to take a weekend for going somewhere 

[Simon Davey]

Well done @husoi

[Fiddlesticks]

Nice one. Was getting concerned we'd have to call the fire brigade.

[S-Westerly]

I didn't do anything but my local dealer delivered it back home having hopefully done the required warranty work. They had it for almost 3 weeks but they knew I was away and wasn't in any rush. Son in law is over on Sunday to take it away for its secure garaging while I'm away. Military married patches don't usually have too many scrotes.

[Simon Davey]

Flippin eck, something just went to plan! 

Apart from having to revert back to the old bleed valves... 

Just cleaned my rear calliper, replaced seals and pistons, reassembled with new pads and pins, aaaaaaand, bled it all through without issue. 

Rear brake now works a treat, and the fluid no longer looks like old cooking oil. 

 

Something tells me it seized because of the lack of calliper cover. I'll see what I can find on t'internet. Edit: Cover ordered from Fowlers, delivered for less than £15

Edited August 9, 2024 by Simon Davey

[smallfrowne]

Nice work, satisfying. And yeah it probably doesn't help not having a cover on. Underslung caliper issues, they love getting wet and grumpy (that was meant to be grimey but I'm leaving it). My dad came round to test and show me his setup for a weeks worth of luggage but I ended up ordering him some new brake pads. He is very heavy on the rear it seems! It's only done 4k or something but barely a wafer left. It's also an underslung caliper and it looked rough for being basically a fair weather bike. I'm sure he'll clean it before he drops it off, he will won't he... (I probably wouldn't ) And is then expecting a loaner bike (the new green one!) like some kind of dealer service . 

 

Oh and if that is the old bleed nipple in your picture it still looks lovely to be fair. Wemoto bless 'em always seem to send me the wrong pins so I've got a collection of them, end up reusing the old ones, which is a bit unsatisfying, nevermind. 

[husoi]

Does bragging about the bikes to the estate agent and telling the continental tours I've done counts?

[Simon Davey]

@smallfrowne

Cheers..

It's a new bleed nipple, I measured the thread which was the same, but overall 2mm longer. There are two, one on each side of the calliper, I sussed it wasn't right when I put the vacuum pump on the inner side bleeder, and could hear air being drawn through that front one 

I hadn't pulled much fluid through, 10 minutes of wire brushing and poking the old bleed valves with a poking thing, and they're fully restored, very little mess swapping them over.

 

Is your Dad using the new green machine for Germany?

Edited August 9, 2024 by Simon Davey

[Simon Davey]

3 minutes ago, husoi said:

Does bragging about the bikes to the estate agent and telling the continental tours I've done counts?

 

Yes, it counts/matters to us, and if it makes us feel better, then why not.

I manage to tell every human/not human about my bike, whether they're interested or not. Our horses think it's amazing......

[smallfrowne]

2 hours ago, Simon Davey said:

@smallfrowne

Cheers..

It's a new bleed nipple, I measured the thread which was the same, but overall 2mm longer. There are two, one on each side of the calliper, I sussed it wasn't right when I put the vacuum pump on the inner side bleeder, and could hear air being drawn through that front one 

I hadn't pulled much fluid through, 10 minutes of wire brushing and poking the old bleed valves with a poking thing, and they're fully restored, very little mess swapping them over.

 

Is your Dad using the new green machine for Germany?

Ah. Nicely resolved then

 

And no, absolutely not.

[Bianco2564]

Well today’s events took a turn. Removed the rear shock and found the lower shock mount is cracked, a common fault on the RGV. I can buy a repair piece from TTW and he has a fabricator that has jigs to align it for welding.

Took a couple of hours work from having a rolling chassis to a bare frame.

 

 

[Simon Davey]

Simple, not very exciting, but very satisfying, and absolutely essential. 

Plastic cover for the rear caliper arrived today, courtesy of Fowlers. 

 

Below is without the cover, no wonder it seized. 

[muldoon74]

having received all the bits n bobs (other than those I thought I had..) went to adjust chain..

 

Found that with the adaptor fitted neither my torque bar nor breaker bar fit in between nut and exhaust. 

 

Then found out my 14mm socket from the set I've had for years will round off the nut (it's not hexagonal but the many pointed type).. So had to stop that. 

 

Went to B and Q, no hexagonal 14mm sockets.

 

Went to Halfords.. Hurray! a hexagonal 14mm socket! Asked the staff member to open cabinet but he said "you'll need to ask someone else with a headset I'm too busy".. Then went back to sorting his scooters out...

 

I walked out. Mood I was in I may have thumped the ignorant **** but decided to just leave instead.

 

Chain is probably about 600 miles past when chain should have been done (according to recommendations of every 600 miles).. 

 

Should be OK for a ride out tomorrow but my Grail ride to Tyndrum (and beyond?) is on hold until I get chain done. 

 

It's a 2022 model CB125F, done 1900 miles. I've read (whether true or not) of people doing thousands of miles on them totally neglecting the chain etc but I don't want to be that guy... 

 

As a side note, can the exhaust be loosened to allow me access to the nut in order to loosen it? 

[husoi]

Many moons ago, when I had the vfr800 my chain would last quite long thanks to the dry lube I always used.

The chain would go white for a while and the rings always in perfect condition