One of those bike fettling jobs you wish you had never started.

If it's not broke then don't fix it right?

The day started well with the arrival of a Talon 42t rear sprocket for
the YZ250. That was soon deployed, though it needed another couple of
links taking out of the chain. If it should prove too high, I can always
go down one or two on the front sprocket.

Next on the agenda was the binding front brake. So I adopted my usual
strategy of getting the caliper off, removing the (new) pads and working
the pistons out, cleaning them up then smearing with a bit of rubber
grease and then pushing them right back in - followed by several cycles
of pump out a few mm and push back in.

They were a bit sticky at first, but after a few iterations they were
both moving in and out nice and evenly. Put the caliper back on, spin
wheel, apply brake - nothing. Much, pumping of the lever failed to
produce any pressure at all. I've been meaning to change the fluid since
I put the new disc and pads on, so this now seemed essential.

At least the two horrible little cross-head screws holding the master
cylinder reservoir cap on came out easily (unlike the lad's YZ85 - but
that's another story). Oh, ****, the fluid was like Quink. Poped on my
one-man brake bleeding kit and cracked open the bleed nipple on the
caliper and tried to pump the old fluid out. A feeble dribble of ancient
fluid resulted rather than an impressive squirt. I suspect some shite in
the fluid has got pushed back up in to the hole in the reservoir. A
master cylinder rebuild wasn't supposed to be on the agenda. I'll give
it a go with the existing seals (which don't look too bad) and nice new
fluid and I've ordered a new piston and seal kit, but it's looking like
I won't get to Loton on it on Sunday. Which is a tad annoying, because I
was able to ride it OK at Hartland even with a slightly binding brake.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

snip>

Why don't you rob the master cylinder off a different bike and change
it back when the new parts have arrived and you've rebuilt the
original one?

I've got a ZX10R master cylinder and brake lever assembly you can
borrow but you'll need to blag a reservoir from elsewhere because I
don't have a spare one.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Andy Bonwick

*Waves*

Got an R1 one kicking around somewhere. Who knows? If I'd ever got
around to fitting it to the VMax I might not be able to tell when it's
going to rain...

 

I have a horrible feeling that I'm one of the few people to understand
this allusion.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

I doubt that.

But then, biros were Strengsten Verboten at my junior school.

 

Nah! The average age of this NG must be in the 40s. It's still available
too.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

/raises hand..
Still have a bottle....

 

Thanks for downgrading me a decade or so...

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

# They called the bastard Steph...

Bugger.

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

Rubbish. I was forced to use a fountain pen at public school. It's right
**** if you are left handed.

 

wessie said:

Bollox, only if you are one of those lefties that writes like they are
hiding their answers in an exam situation [1]

[1] or writing like a spaz

 

Mine was for drawing plans on film for ozalid copying on diazo paper...
Used rotring pens mostly but sometimes you couldn't beat the effect of
ruling pen sometimes
Fek; things have changed....

 

My handwriting was appalling in the 1st & 2nd year. Then, the purchase of a
slender Waterman pen made a difference. I could hold it at a more
comfortable angle and began to write more neatly.

 

I went to Israel on a lark, had all my money stolen the 1st day and
figured I'd be there a while earning it back, so I enrolled in an
Ulpan to learn Hebrew. Holy crap, what a revelation! Being written
right-to-left, it was amazing how easy it is to write for a left-
hander. Words, no, _ideas_ leapt onto the page, instead of being
shoved, kicking and screaming. It's pretty hard to curse an entire
culture for writing the wrong way, so I'll just curse my genetic code
that made me left-handed.

Up yours.

 

The Older Gentleman posted:

Even I know that one.

 

Me too... and it also tastes awful!

 

An ink used by children and common people, I believe.
I buy Waterman Encre Havane from a little shop in Burlington Arcade.

 

Nope, and I'm *much* younger than you.

 

Quink always smelt a bid odd.
I preferred Stephens Ink [1]

[1] Fnarr

 

I use a proper fountain pen every day, for just about everything.

As with WUN, ball-points were banned at school for all handwriting work
and I never lost the habit of using a 'proper' pen. Plus somehow, a
really good pen makes writing more of a pleasure, in the same that any
quality tool makes a job better.

I've got a Cross Titanium, which I bought about 10 years ago, plus maybe
half a dozen parkers of varying ages and styles.

I like fountan pens, me.