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This video gave me both a crush on Ari Henning and a good tip about using a rag to kick the wheel forward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA6OPG_cFms
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Apr 24, 2022 04:51
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Seeing that thumbnail with a tape measure beside the chain and just dying a little inside. Like I get that people do it but it's just crazy to me.
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Apr 24, 2022 04:58
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You're calibrated through experience. I know about an inch of play when I see it now, but before that I needed to learn what was normal. Like I know most people don't pull out a torque wrench for everything, but doing that has taught me at least 3 levels of tight (hand, regular tight and big-loving-lever tight) and rough numbers they correspond to, where there used to be only 1 level of tight (the one where you shear off an oil filter cap bolt because you're a cave man).
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Apr 24, 2022 05:25
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Slavvy posted:Seeing that thumbnail with a tape measure beside the chain and just dying a little inside. Ari rules. He’s making videos for people who don’t know wtf (eg me) so he opts for quantitive over qualitative. I’ve watched his videos as a reference point for pretty much everything I’ve done on my bike (plus having the service manual), and I can’t think of a time where he left anything out.
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Apr 24, 2022 06:06
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Yeah I know, I guess I'm doing the mechanic version of 'a superduke is fine for a learner' wherein I forget that all the things I do automatically avoid crashing the superduke are not automatic for learners.
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Apr 24, 2022 06:10
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Go by the manual, it will make your life easier.
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Apr 24, 2022 14:05
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Go buy the manual, it will make your life easier. 
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Apr 24, 2022 16:32
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Will I adjust to lower bars after a while like I adjusted to naked bike wind blast? The 919 came with Renthal Ultra Lows and after my first ride I was feeling it in my wrists and wishing for big tall dorky bars instead.
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Apr 25, 2022 01:34
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FBS posted:Will I adjust to lower bars after a while like I adjusted to naked bike wind blast? The 919 came with Renthal Ultra Lows and after my first ride I was feeling it in my wrists and wishing for big tall dorky bars instead. Planking is a fast way of getting used to this. Try imagining your grips are covered in rice paper you're trying not to tear, use your core to keep your grip light.
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Apr 25, 2022 02:31
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It is worth noting that lower bars are designed for high speeds in every way. They bring you lower for reduced drag and wind blast at high speed, obviously...but at the same time, they essentially require that you ride fast to be comfortable. At a hundred miles an hour, the wind blast pushing on your chest supports much of its weight, and that feels fine. But at low speeds, you are unbalanced and either have to hold your core tight (tiring) or put the weight on your wrists (bad).
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Apr 25, 2022 06:16
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That's so true. The first time i rode at a 'slightly' higher than legal speed, it was kind of a revelation that i could relax and let the wind support me.
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Apr 25, 2022 12:11
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Slavvy posted:I'm gonna go with the rivets have exploded, but before pulling the primary cover try clutchlessly shifting it and seeing if it's still a problem. Then try adjusting it properly, do it at the primary first. Back the cable adjuster off, adjust at the clutch, then set the lever with the cable. The increased clutch effort, if real, is alarming, but could be a lovely cable? First, I would have thought exploded rivets is no-run situation, as in the bike should be grounded until fixed, no? Barring that, if shifting clutchlessly works fine, what does this point to? That the basket/plates are fine and it's just a cable/primary clutch adjustment problem? I'll do the full adjustment properly (at primary, then cable). I'm comparing lever feel/effort to another (less old) Sportster I rode recently that had a noticeably easier (and predictable) clutch pull. Mine seems to take not only more effort, but is somehow less predictable, in the sense that while shifting I sometimes have to 'look for' where it bites. It's a bit hard to describe, maybe the "range" of the friction zone is wider? Don't know if that means anything. Lastly, if I'm replacing the clutch plates, anything else in the primary that I should look at while I have the primary cover off? epswing fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 15:33
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Hmm, anyone familiar with that weird linkage on the shift lever on a Grom? It attaches to the footpegs to limit lateral movement. I see people replace them with a direct attach shift lever. I have a Chinese Grom clone I use as a friend bike and to get around locally. Friend maybe was too rough on the shifter and it snapped. Do the Grom shifters work to take that load off the spindle gearshift? Or is it unnecessary and direct connect shifters are fine? I wonder what the engineers were thinking.
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Apr 26, 2022 22:10
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The purpose of that is too integrate an adjustable length pushrod so you can move the shifter up or down for ergonomics, if you go to a direct shifter you're at the mercy of the splines.
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Apr 26, 2022 22:36
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Omfg quote isn't edit wtf
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Apr 26, 2022 22:37
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Slavvy posted:The purpose of that is too integrate an adjustable length pushrod so you can move the shifter up or down for ergonomics, if you go to a direct shifter you're at the mercy of the splines. Thanks. I feel better about a direct attached shifter if needed. I have an official Grom one coming in, no idea if it will fit. Hard to source the Chinese part. I have a direct attach shifter coming in too to try. I'll just go with whatever fits and is ergonomically acceptable. I'm glad I don't let people learn on my Kawasaki. 😂 I hear that poor cush drive also taking a beating, friend is downshifting at bad rpms and locking the tire sometimes.
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Apr 27, 2022 19:45
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Adjusted the clutch properly, things are much improved. Also removed a bit of transmission fluid, it was a bit high. Now the shift from 1st to 2nd usually clicks in perfectly, though once in a while it gives a small clunk/grind, but this seems acceptable for now. The friction zone is where I want it, and after lubing the cable it’s an easier lever pull. Yay, time to wrench less and ride more.
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Apr 28, 2022 17:44
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Sooo i just replaced the rear brake caliper seals on my FZR600. It appears that the brakes aren't dragging anymore, great! If i pull the bike onto the kickstand and give the wheel a kick, it doesn't immediately stop rotating anymore. I just feel the normal chain/transmission drag. I bled the brakes. Pumping the pedal, opening the bleed nipple, close, release pedal. Rinse and repeat, same for both brake cylinders. Add fluid as needed. When no more air was coming out, i went for a test ride. While i can still lock the rear brake by going apeshit on the pedal, i have to push in the pedal really far to get any kind of braking action. The first 50 percent of travel does nothing. The last seems to work fairly okay. When i press the brake until there's good braking action, the pedal doesn't sink. One thing i didn't find on my brake, but which is mentioned in the shop manual, are shims between the pistons and the brake pads. Are they essential? It actually kinda looks like in my case they would make sense, because the travel of the pedal is simply too big. Is there any other bleed point that i gotta do? Is there anything else that can go wrong? LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 18:17 on May 2, 2022 |
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May 2, 2022 18:15
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Sounds like the pads just aren't bedded in yet. The shims won't change your pedal stroke, actually stop and think about how hydraulic brakes work. If you're not getting braking until really far in the travel your issue HAS to be bleeding, physical problems with the lever or caliper, or pads not bedded in. That's it, that's your choices. Try bleeding the MC banjo.
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May 2, 2022 19:31
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The pads are the old ones. Didn't replace them yet. They still have a couple millimeter to go till the wear mark. I will try the MC banjo tomorrow (and the caliper again, just to be sure) and report back. I don't know a whole lot about brakes, i'm more of an electronics guy. It's a small miracle i'm actually doing this 
LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 19:58 on May 2, 2022 |
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May 2, 2022 19:55
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Alright, i just rode through the city for a bit. Dropped by the motorcycle garage that deals with vintage bikes (they had a very droolworthy Ducati Darmah in the shop). I asked for their judgment, and they used the vacuum bleeder on it. Long pedal stroke remains, but the 'bottom' of the pedal got just a bit firmer. Small but noticeable improvement. Didn't have to pay anything But now the rear brake disk, after going 80km/h for about 2km, went from 'cat in the sunshine warm' before they bled the brakes, to 'i can press my hand against it for exactly 3 seconds before having to let go' hot. Wh... How does that even make sense. It doesn't to me. Something's hosed, but not enough to start leaking, smoking or to stop working. The worst kind of hosed. Bike can still be pushed around by hand without too much effort, but still it's not as friction free as it can be, i suspect. It's definitely improvement over the situation before replacing the seals, because earlier the disk got 'instant burn' hot from a short trip on a 50km/h road. I quickly learned to first hold the back of my hand near the disk to feel for any heat radiation, before very quickly touching it. The shop mechanic (type 'Old curmudgeon', "Well, i'm waiting for parts anyway so i guess i'll do it for you") didn't think there's anything wrong with the main cylinder and that at least the pedal feel is as good as it will ever be. I reckon i'll shove some fresh pads in there and see what happens. Perhaps somehow part of the pistons are hosed in a way i don't recognize and making them work on a different part, makes the problem disappear. But honestly, they look totally fine to me. Only some marks on the part that sticks out past the dust seal, nothing on the bit that is inside of the cylinder. If i win the Kawa ninja 650 from the raffle i entered, or find an Kawasuzonda 3 Letters 400 before i fix this, the poor FZR 600 will probably be sent off to the next guy. Don't worry, i'll not allow it to be scrapped. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 14:44 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 4, 2022 14:30
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LimaBiker posted:Alright, i just rode through the city for a bit. Dropped by the motorcycle garage that deals with vintage bikes (they had a very droolworthy Ducati Darmah in the shop). Could be the friction hardware is sticky and not letting the pad retract enough. Also could be there is still air, even from an experienced mechanic. Here's a way I learned recently to check for certain, also a good way to fill empty brakes: Take a new bottle of fluid, run a CLEAR hose from the bleeder into the bottle. Just start pumping the brake pedal, don't mess with closing the bleeder at the bottom of the stroke. If air is in the system, it'll start coming out through the hose and you'll see it. If you never see any bubbles, all good. Caveat: I'd never heard of that before a buddy showed me, and there is likely something wrong with that method so Slavvy or whomever can yell at me about it, but I did the brakes on my wife's car and my bike in the same day with complete success as far as I can tell.
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May 4, 2022 16:13
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That method does work but often doesn't get the tiny bit of air out right at the end, if I'm bleeding from dry I do it that way until bubbles stop coming out, then do it the pressurized way for the last little bit. Anyway it sounds like the problem is stuck caliper pins, that would cause both the funny travel and the dragging.
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May 4, 2022 18:17
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There is a flat sort of spring clip that hooks behind those pins that pushes down on the pads. That definitely causes the pads to experience friction VS the pins. I don't know why that clip is actually there tbh, but i'm sure the engineers had a reason for it. The pins are totally dry now, i cleaned them with brake cleaner to get rid of old gunk and dust before reinstalling. I'll see what happens if i give them a light coat (as in 'it won't ever drip off, not even if the brakes get hot') of bearing grease. If that makes things better, i'll buy some copper grease or whatever is good for high temperature environments. I didn't lube anything during this job, i only coated the pistons and seals in brake fluid when installing those. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 22:38 on May 4, 2022 |
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May 4, 2022 22:35
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Has anyone got any experience renting bikes in Europe? My friend and I are going to Le Mans and were planning on doing some touring after. Itinerary isn't set yet, I'm just wondering if there's any recommended agencies or services. Motoshare is everywhere, which is convenient, but airbnb for bikes... Not sure about that.
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May 4, 2022 23:01
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LimaBiker posted:There is a flat sort of spring clip that hooks behind those pins that pushes down on the pads. That definitely causes the pads to experience friction VS the pins. I don't know why that clip is actually there tbh, but i'm sure the engineers had a reason for it. 1. NEVER EVER USE COPPER GREASE. It is not grease, it is not a lubricant, the only place for it on a motorbike is exhaust stuff, if you're using it anywhere else feel free to stop and then slap yourself on behalf of the next poor oval office that has to deal with it. 2. I thought you were dealing with a sliding caliper, I was referring to the sliding pins on those. You seem to have an opposed piston caliper so this doesn't apply. Don't lube the pad retaining pins, just clean them with a wire wheel. The clip is there as an anti squeal measure, it's easy to misalign the pads so check they're sitting properly and everything is clean and orientated the right way around. 3. If bleeding isn't the issue and the brake is dragging, you've got some problems and shouldn't ride the bike. Either you have a piston sticking forward, or the pads are mechanically jamming, or your disc is so worn and warped it isn't flat anymore.
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May 5, 2022 00:57
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Slavvy posted:1. NEVER EVER USE COPPER GREASE. It is not grease, it is not a lubricant, the only place for it on a motorbike is exhaust stuff, if you're using it anywhere else feel free to stop and then slap yourself on behalf of the next poor oval office that has to deal with it. This seems to be a thing on YouTube among some mechanics to reduce brake squeal, gently caress knows why or where it came from.
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May 5, 2022 08:10
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Bike's barely being ridden at the moment (read: my tripcounter says 30 miles since i last topped up the fuel in the middle of winter) for obvious reasons. The SV is chugging along nicely Using copper grease is something pretty old afaik. It wasn't applied to the brake pad back plates and i didn't have any problems with squeal, so i didn't bother with it. I have found it somewhere on the bike: on the valve stem of the front wheel, which has a metal valve cap. Odd. E: it appears to have fixed itself overnight. I was gonna get the pads out to give the plates a good scrub. But i kicked the tire, and it spun freely. To be sure, i tried bleeding the brakes again. One or two tiny bubbles still came out. Took it onto a rural road, got it properly hot, kicked it, spun freely. Rode home over a short stretch of highway, felt the disk after getting home, it's now back to 'cat in the sun warm', i estimate 40 deg C, easy to move around, and still spins freely. This feels totally normal to me. The pedal feel down low feels rock hard, couldn't push it to the end of the stroke if i wanted to. The fairly long 'dead zone' remains. But the (tiny) bubbles still coming out make me believe that there is still some air in the system. There's a part of the brake hose that runs in an arch, i'll unclip it to try and coax any trapped air bubbles, just in case the vacuum brake bleeder at the garage didn't catch those. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 13:00 on May 5, 2022 |
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May 5, 2022 09:23
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LimaBiker posted:I have found it somewhere on the bike: on the valve stem of the front wheel, which has a metal valve cap. Odd.
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May 5, 2022 13:00
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX7lW5EW1wk Video showing how much (or little) the brake still drags. But also the free stroke in the pedal. The wet stuff is just water. I scrubbed the sides of the backing plates with some steel wool and cleaned some dirt out of the caliper, because again it got hot on a test ride this morning. When i got it to about 80ish degrees by normal use, it just didn't wanna cool off anymore despite not using it. But now (after cleaning, see video) it seems to act pretty normal. With the cover off, i can see the top of the pads move a fraction of a millimeter. There's one thing that irks me, the pistons are very hard to push back. I pushed on them with one bleed nipple open, and i can squeeze some liquid out of the nipple, but i can't seem to really move the piston by hand. I'll try again tomorrow i guess. I'm starting to think about just buying a new master cylinder and caliper. But lol, the parts i'd get would also be 30 years old with potentially similar problems. I thought about trying to bleed again with a different brake line routing, but turns out the brake hose is inside a loop that doesn't have an open bit. So i can't take the 'hump' out of the brake hose without removing the whole line from the system. Is it worth the effort? LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 15:35 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 15:24
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Bleeding is not your issue I don't think, air in the system can't make it drag. If you had enough air in there to justify needing to move hoses around the thing wouldn't work at all. Honestly seems like the pistons are jamming, did you clean everything obsessively when putting the caliper together? Have you rebuilt the MC at all? You tend to vomit out huge amounts of words but the actual information on what you've done or why is hard to discern.
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May 6, 2022 18:24
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The reason why i write a lot, is because i can't always judge which information is relevant in a system that i'm not well acqainted with. For instance, should i bother with writing down that when i was cleaning the cylinders, i noticed some black tarnishing in the grooves where the seals go? I wouldn't think so. It's not a thick layer of corrosion and it does't contact the piston. No brake fluid is creeping past the seals. But perhaps i don't realize how tight/critical the tolerances are and it actually is important so i write it down anyway. I didn't touch the master cylinder because that's not gonna be the problem, i'm told. So far i only replaced the seals in the caliper, cleaned everything very well, and bled the air out of the system, after which it was fine for a bit. Then i went to the garage to ask for their opinion on pedal travel, which was not bad enough for them to suggest anything other than bleeding the brakes. After which the brake was dragging again. Jamming is indeed the issue, it seems. When i was cleaning the sides of the backing plates this afternoon, i noticed that one of the pads could just be lifted out, while the other one i had to lift up with a screwdriver i poked through one of the holes. However, i don't know *why* it jams. Because i did the seal replacement exactly to fix pistons that jam, and the pistons and cylinders were pristine. There are only some marks on the parts of the pistons that aren't gonna enter the cylinder (the bits that were covered in brake dust). I can try one other thing, and that's swapping the left and the right piston. If the other brake pad/cylinder starts jamming, then i'll know that something's wrong with the piston, even though i can't see anything. But then i might as well just get two whole new pistons... LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 19:49 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 19:46
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Slavvy posted:Bleeding is not your issue I don't think, air in the system can't make it drag. If you had enough air in there to justify needing to move hoses around the thing wouldn't work at all. Honestly seems like the pistons are jamming, did you clean everything obsessively when putting the caliper together? Have you rebuilt the MC at all? You tend to vomit out huge amounts of words but the actual information on what you've done or why is hard to discern. This is my takeaway too that the caliper rebuild didn't take. Do you have photos of the pistons or the bores? Good photos, not some loch ness monster or bigfoot's dick quality stuff. Did you use the correct and high quality o-rings in the rebuild? they could be causing the pistons to stick. The only way its going to drag from air is if the air gap in the master cylinder reservoir is too small. ie: you overfilled the reservoir. Excessive pedal travel: look at the pivot pin and its clevis. They're probably hogged out from being three decades old. Pump the pedal several times. does travel reduce? stay the same? E: fwiw I don't screw around with rebuilding aluminum calipers or master cylinders. The bores are usually hogged out, a reseal is a temp fix without sleeving the bore. cursedshitbox fucked around with this message at 19:56 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 19:52
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The pivot is fine, the pin/hole where it connects to the master cylinder's rod is wallowed out. That has some influence, but not that much. I sadly didn't take any pics. I have one picture from before cleaning, and that doesn't show much The seals are from https://www.tourmax.jp , no idea if those are especially good or bad. When i pump the brakes, everything stays exactly the same. Pedal doesn't sink, nothing seeps out. Reservoir isn't overfilled. E: i have no idea if the caliper is aluminium or not. Probably is. But you might be right here. I asked the PO, and he has already opened and cleaned the caliper before, which is about 4 or 5 years ago. I don't know if he also replaced the seals but knowing him he probably did. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 20:18 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 20:05
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no idea on tourmax' stuff, their site seems...rudimentary alright, what does it do when you pump and hold with a fair bit of pressure on the pedal for say 30 seconds? 1 minute? will it slowly bleed down? you should measure pushrod travel at the master cylinder for verification. If it slowly bleeds down the master's piston seals/bore is worn. With the pistons still being hard to push in with the bleeder open it rules out any interference outside of the caliper itself. I just saw your other post. The pistons aren't usually machine fit to the bore. they are however precision machined surfaces. They will also wear against one another with use and time. You can try to swap the two pistons around. If you're willing to do some exploratory surgery. Split the caliper body again, Label one side A, the other B. Remove the pistons and label them(A,B), remove the /bore o-rings. Insert the piston partially, and rotate it. Note the force it takes to rotate the piston. Does it stick at all? Is there an area where it spins easiest? Go back and forth in rotation. Really feel it out. mark this location. Try inserting it further and doing this again. Does it again freely spin in the same spot? Try the other piston. Any better? any worse? Use the best of the two pistons. Try the other body half with the same procedure. Take notes here. it will help. Put the seals back in, orient the pistons in the direction they sticking the least. What you're feeling for here is tolerance between the piston and the bore, and you're setting the piston in the bore with the greatest tolerance so that it doesn't bind. When you orient the piston to the bore, see if you can run it through its travel. Feel free to use compressed air to work the piston in its bore. (should also note that pistons aren't really one to be easy to spin but it is possible) cursedshitbox fucked around with this message at 20:23 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 20:21
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To add to the above: Clean out the seal grooves with a right angle pick or a tiny brass wire wheel. Crap can build up in there causing the seals to pinch up on the pistons too tightly. Also, there is a tiny return hole in the master cylinder, if this is clogged with crap it will give you the kind of symptoms you have. I think the fear of alloy calipers is majorly overstated though. Like yeah if they're hosed they're hosed but you don't need to be taking the dial gauge out or anything, the seals stick out so far you'd need some severe damage to make a decent rebuild not work. MC's are more fraught yeah, but a small hone goes a long way. Another thing that occurred to me: check that your brake hose isn't so swollen internally that it's restricting the fluid. Doesn't match your symptoms that well but it does happen a lot on old bikes, can make it so you can apply the brake with some effort but it's reluctant to return. Slavvy fucked around with this message at 22:32 on May 6, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 22:28
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 R is 12v from batt. If I read this right, if I want to add an ignition switched relay, I just need to tap the orange cable behind ignition, other spade to chassis/ground? (The other two relay spades are just the interrupted 12v that would feed my new circuit)
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May 9, 2022 15:27
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Yes, you can get a switched 12v from there that you can turn on a relay with. When in doubt, get your test lamp out!  (Re: my brake woes i'll continue working on them on the weekends, my vacation is over so i have a bit less time. Will take them apart, remove the seals and see how hard/easy the pistons slide and/or rotate) LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 16:09 on May 9, 2022 |
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May 9, 2022 15:47
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Yep, will absolutely "test twice cut once", just wanted to make sure my reasoning was sound Thanks!
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May 9, 2022 15:52
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What are these connectors called? The red and black terminals. 
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May 12, 2022 18:29
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