Ooops

I shall be going to play with a coke can to see how much difference
they've made.

I'm running out of things to do to the bike now (apart from replacing
bits of body work that are looking shoddy) I think.

It's had a new indicator to replace the one Power Grainger had gaffa
taped on, new chain and sprockets following my target fixation on the
rock in scotland, new downpipes, new tyres, all new brake seals and
the braided hoses.

I can see how the Bling thing starts - "there must be something else I
can replace"

 

Wouldn't putting the brakes on as normal do the trick or have I missed
something important?

I replaced my front indicators a couple of weeks ago. They don't look
nearly as ratty as the old taped on ones and almost look nice. Along
with the bars I'm not going to spray them with exhaust paint as....

Exactly. Ripping the fairing off mine and going all out to make it look
as bad as possible has given me a blank canvas and putting new parts on
it is a way to see how it might evolve.

I posted a link to instrument light bulbs that changed colour a while
ago. Maybe that's a good place to start before you think about getting
the chrome out.

 

The force is strong in this one.

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..73392../..18192.../..3184./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^' RBR Landmarks: 0 Points: 0 Miles: 0

 

Silly sod.

Anyway, talking of bleeding brakes, has anyone used one of those vacuum type
devices that Halfords sell - you need to connect it to your tyre valve to
create the pressure. If so, any good?

 

Try going the other way: start drilling bits for lightness.

 

OIC. I thought for a moment you wanted to put the brakes on and still
have them on when you ran over a coke can to make the bike skid...

I've never had a "tits" moment when braking hard, I've pulled an
unintentional stoppie when avoiding the back of a car and had a little
slidette in the wet when I was going round a blind left hander and
they'd put a speed camera up. I've certainly never crashed because I
braked too hard, the opposite in fact. I think if some idiot pulls out
on you you're going to forget the coke can and grab a handful anyway but
ICBW of course.

It's possible. When my bike first went "darkened" rat, it looked really
nice clean. It was all brand new matt black and looked good. Now it's
all kacked up from winter I want to carefully jet-wash it to take all
the old paint off, this will reveal the white paint underneath on the
wheels. It will either make it even more ratty or inspire me to some
blinging goodness. However, Auvache is getting the bling neons that are
on it at present so the ol' tin of exhaust paint may make a spring time
appearance.

Heh, what can I say? I wish I'd been there ;o)

It was never going to evolve the way it was. I was having local toe rags
taking a shine to various bits and things were going missing from it -
Everything from bellypans to fastners. Riding it at anything over a ton
was not a good idea.

The bling side's where it's at, baby.

I'm living in denial ;o)

 

It's probaly drawing air in from somewhere. Possibly through the threads
of the bleed nipple, especially if it's being loosened more than half a
turn.

A trick that works on soft brakes - and why I don't really know - is to
cable tie the brake lever hard on and leave overnight.

 

If you've loosened them and you're having problems then yes. Bear in
mind they can draw in air and not leak - unusual but possible.

 

Don't undo the nipples too much - half a turn should suffice - as it can
draw air in through the threads, especially with vacuum bleeders. The
compressor driven one I have is an absolute bastard for this.

 

Kiran said...

Those aren't vacuum, those use air pressure to drive fluid through the
system. The vacuum ones attach to the bleed nipple and suck the fluid
through. But yes, I have used the air pressure one and therein lies a
tale...

You see these kits come with a selection of reservoir lids, with a hole
in the top so you can connect the air line, see. However, what with it
being designed for cars, there wasn't one that fitted my bike. Well,
that shouldn't present a problem, as this one *almost* fits. When
working at pressure, almost is never good enough. I was aware of this,
but I was also desperate.

So I screwed it on as best as it would fit. It looked good enough. So
you fill the bottle with fluid, attach that to the reservoir, attach the
hose to the spare wheel and then brake fluid shoots out of the
reservoir, reaching about 10 feet in the air and landing in the adjacent
stable. A frantic decoupling of components and wiping off of sprayed
fluid was followed by a small amount of swearing.

At this point a remembered the instructions say that the tyre should be
deflated to approx 10 psi. I'd forgotten to do this, the tyre I was
using was a BFO tractor tyre which, upon checking, was at 60 psi. Ok, so
perhaps that was a little too high. I set about dismantling the system,
cleaning it up and drying things off. I thought that maybe at a lower
pressure the lack of a proper fitting lid wouldn't be such a problem, so
I decided to tape the fucker down, just to make sure. Unfortunately,
during this process, I forgot to let any air from the tyre. You can
guess what happened.

So a fag break and a head scratch later I decided to have one last go.
Only this time, I had a spark of inspiration. I was going to need to get
a few more bits for the bike, so why not order a new reservoir cap? I
drilled a hole in the reservoir cap, connected it all up, lowered the
pressure in the tyre, plugged it in, opened the bleed nipple and away we
went.

This was after fitting the new braided hoses, fluid came through
quickly, bubbles stopped. But the lever was still spongy as ****. I had
a few more goes but still couldn't get it sorted.

In the end I resorted to getting my dad to give me a hand doing it the
old fashioned way. Which worked, perfectly.

I tried using one the other day, the process worked fine, with no
repetition of the previous **** ups, but it didn't actually work.

So, no - not any good, but we have already established that I am utterly
fucking incompetent when it comes to this sort of thing.

 

"without my knowledge or consent" is that clear now?

Then he can get his own bike and post questions about that, not use
mine to fulfil his quota of bike related posts.

 

I didn't actually realise it was your bike until you mentioned it.

 

I didn't actually realise it was your bike until you mentioned it.[/QUOTE]

I didn't realise he'd been anywhere near it (after I'd specifically
said I'd rather he didn't) until someone else mentioned he'd seen the
post in news. I'm still very annoyed, maybe unreasonably so, but given
everything else that is going on frankly I DGAF.

In fact I'll just <flounce> now and have done with it.

 

Do you personally vet everyone who helps out at a dealership if you
take the bike in there?

Sounds like a job was being done that is easier with two of you, and
Bear kindly helped.

Time of the month again already is it?

 

That's the trouble with you - you start off all careful and then get
carried away.

Out of interest, what did you top it up with? It can be tricky if
you've got a cup of tea in your hand while bleeding brakes. A bit like
answering the phone while ironing.

 

you do that kind of phone-answering? coo.

 

the cont known as Bear says...

Was there a rubber grommet type thingy under the master cylinder cap?
I've seen similar happen before.

 

That reminds me of Chimay, 2003, when we were all nicely pissed, and
Niall's mobile rang. He poured a quarter of a litre of Chimay Rouge into
his lughole.

 

The rubber bellows that expands to fill the space as the level drops in
the m/cylinder? I've always wondered whether they actually served a
useful purpose.

All I could think of is that would stop the fluid picking up air bubbles
as it sloshes around on bumpy roads.

 

I remember seeing it on a police motorcycle safety TV show - or a
motoring programme which featured a bike safety slot - or summat - in
the early 1980s. It is, indeed, good.