Running sweet as a nut!

[jvaughan]

Just picked my bike up from my local man who does bikes in his spare time.

Full service for the pricely sum of £80 inc parts (plus he fitted the new chain and sprockets), washed and polished the bike too.

OK he cannot stamp the service card, but its a top quality job and his standards are very high.

Bike rides and feels like new

[Cie]

I can see I'm gonna have to book mine in with him, because everywhere else is simply not happening

[peterb]

Sounds like a very nice man !

[JB1]

Why don't you have a go at doing it yourself Cie?

[Cie]

Now I've bothered my arse to look at what's needed, I've done most of the service in an afternoon, just need to do the plugs, air filter and brake fluid. Shouldn't be too hard, apart from all that bleedin bleeding.

[YEN_POWELL]

Now I've bothered my arse to look at what's needed, I've done most of the service in an afternoon, just need to do the plugs, air filter and brake fluid. Shouldn't be too hard, apart from all that bleedin bleeding.

Just fit a pipe to the caliper nipple, immerse the other end in a jar of brake fluid to stop air getting into the end (or get one from Halfords with a non return valve for a few quid), undo the nipple and keep pumping fluid through whilst making sure the master cylinder is topped up. Keep going till all the old fluid is pushed out. Take your time and you may not have to bleed it at all (unless you think it needs it).

Empty the brakeline first and you'll be there for ages trying to get the line to fill again, unless you have one of those expensive suction bleeders.

[Cie]

Thanks Yen,

I've done car brakes before.. but never changed the fluid. You've answered the only real question I had, which was do I need to empty the old out before putting in some new fluid. Obviously not.

Now to order the air filter

[YEN_POWELL]

Thanks Yen,

I've done car brakes before.. but never changed the fluid. You've answered the only real question I had, which was do I need to empty the old out before putting in some new fluid. Obviously not.

Now to order the air filter

Well you can empty it out, but there lies many hours of misery. I've got an old Kawasaki GPz750 manual and in it there are many useful tips which no longer get mentioned in modern books. One, is the correct way to bleed a brake (which books still tell you how to do) but next to that diagram is how to fill a brake line, which is similar to bleeding but the lever squeeze and nipple tightening (steady at the back) is in a totally different order. I still occasonally have to dig that book out when replacing a complete brake line or caliper.

[barftone]

If you want your brakes doing Cie come on over and we'll bleed them. You can get a Mityvac brake bleeder for about £35 and it is money well spent. Just be careful not to get any fluid on your paintwork. 5 fingerprints on my Mini bonnet 20 years ago taught me that one!

[piguglyshandydrinker]

Thanks Yen,

I've done car brakes before.. but never changed the fluid. You've answered the only real question I had, which was do I need to empty the old out before putting in some new fluid. Obviously not.

Now to order the air filter

Well you can empty it out, but there lies many hours of misery. I've got an old Kawasaki GPz750 manual and in it there are many useful tips which no longer get mentioned in modern books. One, is the correct way to bleed a brake (which books still tell you how to do) but next to that diagram is how to fill a brake line, which is similar to bleeding but the lever squeeze and nipple tightening (steady at the back) is in a totally different order. I still occasonally have to dig that book out when replacing a complete brake line or caliper.

Any chance of digging out the info and putting the main point's on the site for us all?

It's one of those job's that should be simple and quick in theory - but never seems to turn out like that!

Phil