what have you done to your "bike" today

[VTRDark]

A bit chilly. Nice to have a rear brake again The pads are sh1t, no comparison to Brembo's but what do I expect for cheap cheerful £5 pads. I shall get some more Brembo's at a later date when I have more funds to spare.

(:-})

[tony.mon]

This weekend I have spent two full days sorting the USD front end, it's pretty much finished now.
It was a bugger to bleed, I should have pre-filed the lines and calipers, which would have made it bleed easier. Doesn't brake fluid taste horrible?
The captive spacers for the SP1 front wheel are a fraction off, one caliper is out of alignment by 1.5mm and so the pads bind slightly on the discs, once they've worn a bit hopefully it'll be ok.
I could use a shim, but then there's no point using captive spacers....
The mark 2 version will be better.

Woodcraft clipons are nice and easy to fit, as they're a 2 part clamp, but getting things to clear has been a pain.
I had to fabricate a bracket for the front brake reservoir, that took longer than I thought but looks ok.

So I haven't made any progress with the ram air and air box, so that's stalled at the moment.
But I should get another spare day towards the end of the month, so maybe a bit more can be achieved then.
No pics, as the project thread looks almost exactly the same- but now the forks are working, fitted with all new internals and springs, gold compression dampers and ready for a road test and set up.

Bike's not T+T atm, so I'm in no great rush.

I have heated grips to fit, but I can't bring myself to admit I'm a wuss and can't manage the cold.
On the other hand (NPI) I will soon have a commute of about an hour instead of 20 minutes starting February, so perhaps I won't feel so macho after a day or two of chilly commuting.
It'll still be better than two hours in the car, though- getting bored with that already.

[agentpineapple]

Tony I might need your help with brake reservoir placement, when I fit my riser's....

[bigtwinthing]

Got the Forks back from Roger ( thanks Roger) and rubbed them down ready for spraying and the etch primer.

[AMCQ46]

Not today but yesterday.

Did the big road trial in Shropshire and tonight as my muscles come to terms with teh shock I look like I am hobbling like an old man.

On the plus side the sun was out all day and I managed to finish and clean a few sections ( not many )

On the minus side it had been raining in that area for about 2 weeks without stop so the clay ground was more slippy than ice and the rivers were high....so 80% of the sections were down a steep clay slope into a river, over some big rocks and back up the slope..... And I hate big rock steps.

So section 1, I walked the section in the river and 3 steps in and there is a feck off big hole and I am stod up to my baldrocks in cold water.....only one leg mind so it could be worse.
I got through the section for what I thought was a messy 3 after getting stuck on a rock step only to be told it was a 5 as they were scoring it based on the "no stop" rules and the bike had come to a stop
Bike stalled in next section as there must have been water in the carb and it wouldn't idle...so another 5.
Next section I managed to fill my other boot full of water and I might have got a 3 then a few more 5s.

The group of sections after that were 10 times worse and even getting to the section was tough mixed with dangerous. So after a stop 5 and a 3 I am sliding down a 30foot clay slope to the river trying to stop my bike, so I jump off it and although I can't stand on the slick clay slope I use the handkebars as an anchor and drag the bike on its side down to the bank of the stream. I jump into the stream and pull my bike off the bank towards me, but the bottom of the stream is mud and when I try to step back my feet won't move so the bike keeps coming and I fall over into the river ..... My mate can't help as he is pissing himself laughing and is recording it on his helmet cam, so I sit in the river till another competitor picks the bike off me. I will post the link to the vid when he sends it
But on the plus side I was keeping te airbox out of the river .

The next section had a bigger rock step, and I hit it and bounced back down throwing the bike away from me in the hope it would stay ontop of the rock so I didn't have to lift it back up there to get out of the river. It didn't stay up and when it fell it broke part of the throttle housing on the grip and as I draged it up the rock I noticed I also had a flat front tyre.
At that point I had done 14 sections out of 40, I was soaked, and my bike was damaged and I wanted to just go home, but I wasn't going to let my mate down so I carried on.
Riding on the road with a flat front was ok-ish as long as I kept my weight well back and didn't shut the throttle .
Fortunately the sections didn't get worse and some were even cleanable and I rode better and started to enjoy myself.

And to make it worse I put it in the shed wet and dirty and left it like that as I had work to finish before Monday, and still haven't cleaned it tonight as I can't move my arms.

Here is the poor old girl

[tony.mon]

Tony I might need your help with brake reservoir placement, when I fit my riser's....

Pics will follow once the final positions are sorted, fairings on and everything clears.

[VTRDark]

I will post the link to the vid when he sends it

Now that I can\t wait to see. Sounds hysterical. Reading your post had me in stitches. But you had a good day the end of it. I prescribe you for the aches and pains.

(:-})

[lloydie]

Well done al that's sounds like hell but fun if it was like 25'c but in - 'c feck that

[Watty]

Lmao at that Al your a hero

[agentpineapple]

quality al
I look forward to the video, you sir are a hero, most of us would have been sat in front of the tv...

[Jamoi]

I'm looking forward to seeing that too! Trials riding is hard work, sounds like you really got stuck in!

[Duffy1964]

Fair play Al, I last rode in a trial about 10 years ago I had a BSA B40 which was heavy as feck when muddy and knackered, also had a Montessa 348 cota for a year or so.

I have got a BSA Bantam project in the loft to build once I get my Storm fighter built.

I remember my legs aching for days after a hard trial, it's a killer going up and down stairs, really gives your muscles a work out eh fella.

[AMCQ46]

Update on the weekend hell:

to make it worse the results are out now and I was last with 126 points dropped on the easy route. That is compared to the top expert who won on 4 points dropped........and doubly worse was that if I had bee 6 points better I could have avoided the embarrassment of being last.

the vid will follow

[Watty]

Update on the weekend hell:

to make it worse the results are out now and I was last with 126 points dropped on the easy route. That is compared to the top expert who won on 4 points dropped........and doubly worse was that if I had bee 6 points better I could have avoided the embarrassment of being last.

the vid will follow

At least you competed mate, did way better than I'd be capable of

[VTRDark]

+1 Watty

Taking part and coming last is better than not taking part at all. Respect to you Al for competing in something like that at your age.

My Venhill dome head bleed nipple banjo bolt 10 x 1.25mm turned up this morning along with a simple brake bleeding kit I thought I would give a try.



I have got to say what a wonderful product the bleeding kit is. Best I have tried yet, simple and effective

Fitted the Double Banjo Bolt to the Master cylinder, bled that off, and moved onto bleeding the callipers with the new brake bleeding kit. It's basically some tube with a one way valve (similar to a speed bleeder) within the line and attached to a bag. Looks a bit like a Caffata or Drain bag....Actually more like a Caffata when it fills up with brake fluid



Attached the end of the tube to the bleed nipple which is a very good fit, no need to use the supplied spring clip. Loosened the bleed nipple and starting pumping away. Easy peasy and simple to keep an eye on and top up fluid at the same time. Bled my front brakes in minutes. I then went and bled the Master cylinder again juts to make sure.

Brake lever feel is as good as I'm going to get. It's better than it has been in a while, but still more lever travel than I would like. I will just have to upgrade the Master cylinder to a CBR one at some stage. I'm not going to get any better with the standard system I have now May even get some CBR callipers at some stage but I shall start with the master cylinder.

Still waiting on a new rear pressure switch to turn up!!!

(:-})