Tinkering thread! What are you up to?

[Stevemr]

Rear Master cylinder rebuilt today.

[Steve Bass]

Bob_Defly said:

It's finally warm enough here to start tinkering.

New tyre(s) for the dirtbikes.

Bridgestone Battlecross X30 for me, and moved my 1 season old Dunlop AT81 to my son's bike, to replace his perished front tyre.

And put in some HD innertubes.

My hands and shoulders still ache, my god what a job... Had to order some better Motion Pro spoons in the end as my tyre irons were st. They made
the job much easier.

Get yourself a dirt bike tyre changer, 5/6 spoon ended levers and a big bottle of Windowlene.....(the ultimate secret weapon!)

Changes are a doddle

Edited by Steve Bass on Sunday 21st March 14:40

[Stevemr]

Back on and bled. Tried my new vacuum bleeder, Xmas gift from my wife, wow does that making bleeding brakes easier.

Edited by Stevemr on Sunday 21st March 15:58

[mikey_b]

Stevemr said:

Back on and bled. Tried my new vacuum bleeder, Xmas gift from my wife, wow does that making bleeding brakes easier.

Edited by Stevemr on Sunday 21st March 15:58

Care to share the model you have? Need to do mine and have never really got on with those spring-loaded-valve-in-a-tube types. And reaching around trying to pull the levers whilst fiddling with a spanner on the bleed nipple isn’t much fun.

[Stevemr]

Not sure what make it is. Came off amazon, not stupid money, was a bit sceptical, but after having a mare bleeding the back brake on my other bike before Xmas, thought it was worth getting. So far very pleased I did. Got the front callipers and master cylinder off today to rebuild, so will report back if it works as well on the fronts.

[airsafari87]

Stevemr said:

Not sure what make it is. Came off amazon, not stupid money, was a bit sceptical, but after having a mare bleeding the back brake on my other bike before Xmas, thought it was worth getting. So far very pleased I did. Got the front callipers and master cylinder off today to rebuild, so will report back if it works as well on the fronts.

Looks like the same one as I have.

I used to on the Mrs SV650 the other day after fitting new brake lines.

Only problem I had with it was none of the supplied fittings fitted the bleed nipple. It wasn't a problem though as I just attached the short length of tubing to it instead.

It did make bleeding them a doddle too.

[Stevemr]

Yes, none of the fittings went on the bleed nipples, but the tube fitted fine on it’s own.

[KurtFlew]

Replaced the valve cover gasket on my ZX10r yesterday, what a complete ballache that was. Had to dismantle near damn the whole bike...front nose cone, clocks, headlights the lot. No wonder it's a few hundred quid job at a garage.

[mikey_b]

Stevemr said:

Not sure what make it is. Came off amazon, not stupid money, was a bit sceptical, but after having a mare bleeding the back brake on my other bike before Xmas, thought it was worth getting. So far very pleased I did. Got the front callipers and master cylinder off today to rebuild, so will report back if it works as well on the fronts.

Ok, thanks for that - I’ll look up something similar on Amazon.

Regarding the fittings, I guess the tube itself probably counts as one fitment size, and the others are adapters from it. :-)

[shirt]

srob said:

Kitchen table tinkering

The full size bikes are pretty much sorted so not a lot to do in the garage. Will give the Venom a service before we start using it again but won’t bother until nearer the time.

Been enjoying model making during lockdown, quite fun learning airbrushing and stuff

That looks impressive. I bought the 916 and 888 kits but haven’t made much progress yet.

After telling myself ‘no more project cars’ I’ve stayed true to my word, and bought a project bike instead

Ducati 848, complete bike less engine and electrics. It’s been neglected, having been used as an advertising hoarding/shop sign for several years, but otherwise complete. Plan at the moment is to fit an air cooled 1100 motor and get it running.

[Stevemr]

First front calliper rebuilt.

[Stevemr]

Tiny indicators arrived. Need some spacers and extensions to fit them. Silly design on wiring, with block connector, that won’t fit through 8 mm hole, so will need to cut it off and solder wires.

[Dog Star]

Last week I was horrified to see that the disc bolts on my mint R1 were all corroded.

This morning I will be swapping them over to some luvverly jubbly titanium bolts. Shiny.

[nigelpugh7]

I’m not doing anything major to my Africa Twin, well that’s what I thought until realising the genuine Honda LED fog light kit I have cobbled together has 29 pages of instructions!

I built the light units and mounted them on the bike earlier this week, but not started on the wiring, and Thursday I put by back out, so I’m currently spread out on the lounge floor flat on my Yoga mat!

[HairyMaclary]

My bike only gets washed twice a year. Jet washed all the winter crud twice and ACF50'd the bike ready for the summer.

It's done three winters now and cleans up like new. Magical stuff.

Anyone else love the smell or ACF50?

[nigelpugh7]

HairyMaclary said:

My bike only gets washed twice a year. Jet washed all the winter crud twice and ACF50'd the bike ready for the summer.

It's done three winters now and cleans up like new. Magical stuff.

Anyone else love the smell or ACF50?

Oh yes, we love our ACF 50, We’ve always used it on the Caterham’s and defenders too, so seem to have enough to coat a fleet of bikes!

[srob]

shirt said:

srob said:

Kitchen table tinkering

The full size bikes are pretty much sorted so not a lot to do in the garage. Will give the Venom a service before we start using it again but won’t bother until nearer the time.

Been enjoying model making during lockdown, quite fun learning airbrushing and stuff

That looks impressive. I bought the 916 and 888 kits but haven’t made much progress yet.

After telling myself ‘no more project cars’ I’ve stayed true to my word, and bought a project bike instead

Ducati 848, complete bike less engine and electrics. It’s been neglected, having been used as an advertising hoarding/shop sign for several years, but otherwise complete. Plan at the moment is to fit an air cooled 1100 motor and get it running.

Thanks mate. I’m planning to build up my 1990s superbike collection in the spare room

[Bob_Defly]

Adjusted the chain tension and installed a rear disk guard.



I do love having the space and time to work on stuff, so cathartic.

[TimmyMallett]

Less tinkering, more buying. Not had a bike for about 6 years now but new house with my first garage ever deems it ever more a priority to have a bike to put in the aforementioned garaaaaage, along with carpet leftovers from afore-aforementioned hoooose.



Replaced battery tender cable from a Optimate style one to a CTEK.



Created some space for kit so it's not in the hooooose.

[airsafari87]

Sometimes having a 3D printer is so friggin handy.

Noticed while I was out fitting some heel guards to the bike that the rear brake line holder/ clip had sheared in half somehow?
Quickly knocked a new one up on the laptop and fitted it to the bike. As Ace Ventura would say 'Like a Glove'