Motors Motorcycle Mayhem

I used ACF-50 to cover my bike while it was laid up 18 months ago and it seems to be effective. I redid it again in January just to be sure. I've also used it on my tools as well and it definitely protects them.

 

It's good prevention, but once rust is established, it only slows it, doesn't halt it. For that you need a chemical neutraliser like Kurust, together with some copper (not copper-coated steel!) wire brushes to get off the worst of it before you start. The best you can do with active rust, I've found, is copper brush it back as much as possible, kurust it, then metal polish or ACF-50 over the top regularly.

I've taken far too many years of biking to finally grasp that 90% of rust prevention is having a nice, expensive bike with good quality metals on it. You see 15-year-old touring bikes from big Japanese brands that haven't got a mark on them, then you see South Korean things like my Hyosung, or Brazilian cheapo things like my old CG125, or Chinese things like Lexmoto and Sinnis, that are rusty 18 months from new. Poor quality metal will rust as soon as you spit a single bit of mud or rainwater on it; really nice metal, with a nice finish, will last for years without showing rust, if you wash it occasionally.

I wish I'd known this before I bought a Hyosung. They're fine if you religiously garage them and clean and polish them constantly, but they just melt when they go outdoors in Britain.

 

I've found the problem with my front caliper, 3 of the 4 pistons are seized solid and unfortunately so are the bolts that hold the caliper together so I can't try out my piston removal tool to get them out just yet.

Despite the promised help I'm having to do this myself so at the moment I'm putting tiny amounts of penetrating oil on the bolts holding the caliper together and need to create some sort of jig to hold the caliper solid while I try so get the bolts out..

There's no way that should have passed an MOT.

 

MOTs are the most ****ed thing going, I've had vehicles pass them with fractured springs, rusted running gear, all sorts. Guys doing them keep an eye out for their overall pattern of submissions (too many clean/easy ones and they get scrutinized) but day to day, if they can tell you're not a VOSA narc and are just some boring Joe who just wants to keep using their car, they'll overlook a lot to get you out the door quickly. In my limited experience. They just won't take chances with things that are mission critical, usually - which is why yours is an oddity. Front brakes on a motorbike is THE thing that I'd say they'd never deliberately overlook, which raises the scarier prospect that they simply missed it...

My Hyosung may live again yet; I found a blown 30A fuse, which makes sense (put the battery terminals on backwards) and gives me hope that the bike itself may be otherwise okay. Will find out tomorrow. Not that I'm very emotionally invested at this point, it's a bag of shite, but I'd rather it were a working bag of shite.

 

Maybe. maybe not.
A 2000's bike with a 4 pot caliper may be able to apply sufficient force with only 1 pot to pass the brake test, after all it's the same test that a 1970's - 1980's bike has to pass with a 1 or 2 pot caliper

 

If you have an air compressor and some g-clamps you might not need to split the halves - clamp pistons you don't want to move (or use a pair of brake pads), then apply a bit of air pressure into the port where the brake line connects.

I'll reiterate my offer for you if you fancy, also

 

Thanks again for the offer. A local garage kindly loosened the bolts for me, no charge as I 'was doing mechanics'. He did say that if it were him he'd replace the caliper rather than refurb due to the amount of corrosion and a damaged piston (although it wasn't leaking). He didn't think the caliper had been touched since new. New caliper is around £110 so I might do that.

 

Finally sorted front brake binding problem. After dismantling the caliper one of the pistons was totally seized and is still in there, 1 came our easily and 2 were a bit of a struggle using a cheapie piston removal tool from eBay.

Taking the advice of the local garage who'd helped me by removing the screws that held the caliper together I bought a new one. I didn't realise, not only do you get the caliper you also get the Brembo pads, spring, retaining pin, basically everything apart from the banjo bolt and mounting bolts, all for £110. I highly recommend the Oxford Solo bleeding kit as it made bleeding a doddle.

Here's a video of the end result:



Here's a reminder of what it was like before the caliper replacement: Remember it passed it's MOT with this and the garage that sold the bike said this was normal.



I don't think bleeding the caliper will have primed the ABS but I haven't checked the activation light yet. If it's not working I think I can prime/activate it by putting the brake full on (on a quiet road with no one behind me) and I assume the brake fluid will need topping up after that. If anyone knows another way (apart from getting a dealer to do it) let me know

 

Well… that sucker don’t wanna come out…



Try as I might, I could not budge it with needlenose pliers. I’m trying to plug it, so I have to be careful I don’t do more damage trying to get it out, but it’s starting to look like a pretty hefty hole. I’ll give it another go tomorrow, but at this rate it’ll be the AA getting my bike down to the dealer ready for Friday…

 

Too late to help you with this one but these gripping pliers are good for this kind of thing. I've used them to remove awkward screws and also a key that snapped off in a lock with only a really tiny piece sticking out.

I have a pair with my puncture repair kit for my bike.

 

Just increase the tyre pressure to 9 bar and it will gently ease itself out

 

Great result, nicely done. I agree that £110 seems like a bargain! I make front caliper cleaning part of my oil change routine - leave it draining while you pull the pads, push the pistons back and give everything a good clean up, reassemble and by the time you're done the oil is fully drained and ready to refill. Rear caliper is on every rear tyre change.

 

Congratulations! shes beautiful!

 

Earlier this year I sold my Monster - I decided that I fancied a change, but also something with a bit more adjustment etc. I'd started riding fast enough that the Monster was starting to misbehave, but I'm not skilled enough to ride around it. Having had it 5 years, it seemed like a good opportunity to mix it up.


After a lot of hemming and hawing over what to get I'd settled on - fully adjustable suspension, either a triple or V4 motor (don't like singles, most parallel twins or inline 4s), quickshifter/blipper, ABS and if much more power than the Monster, wheelie control.


One thing led to another, a cheap personal loan and finding one that needed a little TLC means I ended up buying a cheap trailer and collecting this Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory - it's a 2017-on model with the digital dash, but passive suspension. Picked it up for £7200, but it needs the fork seals doing, so that's this week's job. Safe to say it's quite the machine!




After the first ride out I decided the HP Corse exhaust was a bit much - the MotoGP rudeness was fun for about 10 minutes, after that it was just a bit embarassing. So for now back to the standard can (wired open) which sounds great, but I've got another can on the way.



Had a great weekend on it, very good fun, and after the first 10 minutes nowhere near as intimidating as you'd think. I'll never, ever get anywhere near its capabilities on the road or track, but it's very reassuring that I'm the weak link.

The quickshifter/blipper is incredibly good fun, the suspension is actually more supple than you'd think, the dash is fantastic and best of all the musical engine is a constant wonderful companion.

So this week I invested in a couple of stands, and it currently sits looking a little sorry for itself while I clean and give it a check over while waiting for fork service tools. Note the huge pan of filth underneath is from where I'd degreased and cleaned the mud out of the radiators, they were rather grubby!



I'm very impressed with the build quality - everyone thinks Italian bikes are cobbled together rubbish, but this is full of lovely fasteners and quality components everywhere. Little touches like most of the bolts are a head size down, with a wider shoulder, and a little drilling in the top. e.g. an 8mm hex head instead of 10mm and drilled to gain a tiny weight saving back. Lots of the fasteners are also aluminium or small stainless too.

 

Thanks! Sorry we've ended up with crossed quotes as I hit "Post" way too quickly.

 

Yep, I’ll be adding that to my arsenal, think…

9 bar?! That’s 130 PSI! It wouldn’t “gently ease itself out”, it’d be out of there like a rocket and embedded into the fence behind!

 

They are useful, I bought a set in the Pimoroni sale the other year

 

OK, so a clue as to why my post has been removed ?

 

Nope. Not shifting. Can’t get enough of a grip on it, there’s not enough protruding. Trying to lever it out even further just risks widening the hole even more. I suspect that a bolt has gone in “head first” and is now acting like a mushroom plug inside the tyre.

AA time it is. But the garage can’t have my bike until tomorrow, as they won’t have room to store it due to all the work they’ve got on. I tried explaining this to the AA call centre person, and asked if I could book recovery in advance. All they could/would do was send a patrol now - anything more than that I would have to sort with them directly when they get here.

I called them just after 1300 and the original ETA was 1355. Of course we blew past that. A text message then said 1455. Yep, we’re past that too. The tracking link I got now says 1610. So if I’m lucky they might get here by about 2300 tonight, at which point they’ll tell me what I already know: they can’t plug it. And then I’ll get back on the call-out merry-go-round tomorrow and offer a sacrifice to $deity in the hopes that it’ll get the bike to the dealer by 1700 when their workshop closes.

Of course the mistake here is mine. I made it 9 years ago when I assumed that owning a motorcycle would be cheaper, easier, and more convenient than a second car .

(I did have extenuating circumstances at the time that pushed me to a motorbike, but explaining that doesn’t make for an amusing self-deprecating quip.)

 

I can't see anything in the thread history tool, if you want to PM me I can try and find out, but I'm not aware of any reason someone's binned any of your posts.