Drying out saddle sponge

I'm slowly getting this old GPz550 sorted and whist settling the
Uni-trak re final torque yesterday I noticed water coming out from
somewhere and it turned out to be the saddle.

I think it happened whist standing uncovered for the last couple of
years at the POs place and got in via what looks like wear holes in
the middle of the pillion position (it's been covered since at mine).

Now luckily the seat pan is plastic so it's not going to rot much
other than the staples but I wondered if there was a known trick for
drying such things without upholstering it, or will it just dry out on
it's own given time?

 

Stick it in the airing cupboard.

 

Saddle? SADDLE? It's a bike, not a fucking horse.

Yes - eventually.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Ah, ok, will do ta.

 

That got a smile


--
Gavin.
http://www.stoof.co.uk
For the road: GSXR600 K1
For the track: GSXR400 GK76A
For the rest: Citroen Belingo

 

Fill it full of Tampons.

--
Gavin.
http://www.stoof.co.uk
For the road: GSXR600 K1
For the track: GSXR400 GK76A
For the rest: Citroen Belingo

 

Ok, another thing to try then Steve. I would have thought that if it
was going to just run out it might have done so by now but maybe on
it's end it will be a bit more likely to do so?

:-(

I am pretty sure the water mainly got in via these strange wear marks
on the pillion position (they look as if they have been chewed through
from underneath by a mouse or summat)? Realistically I was wondering
if they were from some throw-overs or a courier type use double
top-box in it's past.

 

Hmmm, it just might work. ;-)

Funny you should say that though. A mate gave our daughter a punch bag
(for her Taekwondo) and it was packed full of (new) disposable
nappies!

 

Ok ta. I think I'll just try to persuade as much of the water out as I
can first (by squeezing it from one end like a toothpaste tube), stand
it on it's end when the sun is shining and leave it in the airing
cupboard the other times (filled with tampons). ;-)

 

Even a corpse dries out of its own accord eventually, but I reckon that
chucking the saddle in the airing cupboard (God how I miss mine) will see it
bone dry within a matter of days.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

YOU A-fucking gain!

Bollocks to this, it looks like I'm going to have to read every bastard post
in a thread before chipping in.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

http://coughlan.fr/saddle.jpg

D.

 

You know it makes sense ... ;-)

 

Hehe Des, it amazes me how people can find nit-picking more
interesting / productive than just answering the spirit of the
question (unless they don't have an answer of course)?

But then it is UKRM so perfectly predictable. ;-)

 

I've done a fair amount of splitting hairs in my time, dude, so I shan't
answer that one ...

D.

 

Ok, well I am putting a combination of the replies into practice and
see what happens.

Today I popped the r/h/s footpeg carrier back on, re-fitted the rear
master cylinder and bled the brake. Still feels a bit spongy (does
come up firmish at the end of the stroke) but I guess it might improve
once the new pads have settled in and or been bled again?

 

Sometimes it's an idea to raise the caliper above the reservoir (with
something in the caliper to stop the pistons ejaculating all the fluid, of
course), which means removing it and getting a helper.

Also you could try cable tying the brake lever back as far as it'll go after
a few pumps, then leaving it overnight.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Ok, that's easy enough to do, especially now I know it all comes off
etc.

Ok, I'll try that if the fist step fails.

FWIW, when I stripped and cleaned the rear master cylinder I couldn't
seem to get the input pipe out. The internal ping_fuckit was partly
rusted away and stuck in the groove. Even once I'd got it out I still
couldn't remove the plastic_elbow_tube_on_plastic_disk_thing from the
master cylinder body (it went round but wouldn't pull out). I read
somewhere there were two holes in there and if the smaller was blocked
it would be difficult to bleed. In a shit_or_bust action I managed to
pull the plastic fitting out without breaking it [1] and was able to
properly clean a check the said two holes (and the small one was very
small and it was full of crap in there, in spite of several blast
through's with brake cleaner and the air line).

When I re-assembled it all today I filled the reservoir and loosened
the bleed nipple and noticed the fluid running away and bubbles coming
up into the reservoir. A few cycles of pumping the pedal and topping
up the reservoir saw fluid coming out of the bleed nipple fairly
constantly. I then did the traditional bleed process ... slight
pressure on pedal, loosen nipple, pedal moves to near end, lock
nipple, release pedal, repeat ... and I then seemed to get a
reasonable action. However, it's still more movement than I'm used to
with rod operated drum rears but would probably be more efficient for
similar pedal pressures?

T i m

[1] The reason I couldn't get the fitting out easily was because of
corrosion under the sealing grommet had 'expanded' the grommet and
held it too tightly.

p.s. I've just stripped, cleaned, lubed and re-assembled one of the
anti-dive units (I wanted to change the fork oil anyway). I wanted to
give them a try as-is before (probably) blanking them off (with bypass
groove).

 

Bit of 1/4" plate mole-gripped to the swinging arm, acting as pseudo
disk and supporting the caliper as high as possible. Left hand on
bleed nipple, right hand on foot brake pedal a few pumps later have a
much quicker acting brake (less travel).

Cheers Beav ;-)

p.s. The water is still slowly dripping out of the saddle, currently
standing on it's end in the garden sun.

 

Your idea of slight pressure on the pedal needs looking at. Pump the pedal
until it's hard (f'narr) and THEN hold it down and loosen the nipple.
Tighten the nipple before the pedal reaches the end of it's stroke and
repeat as necessary.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19