AT parts

[londonbubble]

Ladies and Gents, I purchased some secondhand front brake calipers with braided hoses, a brand new set of carbs, and a front brake lever with master cylinder thingy. They are all from an RD04, will they fit my RD07? I have placed aforesaid items next to there counterparts on my bike and they look the same, are they?

And has there been any posting explaining how to fit the braided hoses, pref with pictures.

London Bubble

[africatijn]

as for the parts, if they look the same, they probably are. Try them on I should say.

As for the braided hoses, they should bolt on just as the normal hoses. Exept for the fixed piece of piping between the forks. Maybe you connect straight from the caliper to the master cylinder. A picture would help...

[djadams]

And has there been any posting explaining how to fit the braided hoses, pref with pictures.

Don't know, but here's a tip anyway...

Before you fit the new brake line (any new brake line, braided or otherwise) take the caliper off, take the pads out, and pump the piston(s) out a fair way, without pumping them all the way out. Make sure the master cylinder reservoir doesn't run dry during this process. If the pistons are filthy dirty, clean them up with brake fluid and a toothbrush.

If you have two front calipers, do this to both.

Only when you have lots of fluid in the calipers do you unbolt the old hoses from the master cylinder. Best to ensure that there isn't much fluid in the reservoir at this point, as it can flow straight out of the master cylinder. Leave the lines on the calipers to help ensure you don't spill the fluid out of the caliper, it doesn't do your paintwork any good at all, and you got it in there for a reason.

Hang the calipers somewhere safe by the old hoses (bad practice to hang calipers from hoses, but you nolonger care about these hoses), to ensure you don't lose any fluid, and fit the new brake lines to the bike, ensuring they're routed correctly (same as old lines is a good bet). Then holding the calipers with their hose fittings uppermost, remove them from the old lines and hold them up to the bike. Making sure everything is the right way round, bolt the lines to the calipers using new copper washers. Do it as tight as you can whilst holding the caliper - this won't be very tight, but tight enough for now.

Once all the fittings are nipped up, hold the caliper with the brake line fitting uppermost and slowly push the pistons all the way back into the calipers. If you're doing the front and you have two full length lines, it doesn't matter which front caliper you do first. If you've got one full length and a link line, best start with the one on the end of the link.

This forces the brake fluid up the brake line from the bottom, and expels the air in the line out through the master cylinder and reservoir. Make sure the reservoir doesn't overflow at this point.

Filling the lines from the bottom like this works wonders - prevents trapping air in the lines which takes ages to bleed out.

Once the caliper pistons are all the way in, refit your pads, and refit the calipers. Now the calipers are bolted on securely, you can torque up the fittings properly. Then pump the lever, keeping the fluid level topped up, until the pads are touching the discs.

You can now bleed them conventionally - put a bit of tube on the bleed nipple top carry expelled fluid down to a jar or some such, and squeeze the lever whilst undoing the bleed nipple, then do the nipple back up before releasing the lever. Do this until there are no bubbles visible in the tube, and again keep the master cylinder reservoir topped up throughout.

Then, as a last measure, pull the lever back (it should be reasonably firm) and use a cable tie/rubber band/bit of wire/anything handy (I once used a girlfriends "contingency knickers") to hold the lever back towards the bar for a few hours/overnight. This helps any remaining tiny air bubbles to make it back up to the master cylinder and gives you a really firm lever feel.

Job done.