What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Worty]

G'day Fellas.
I always say "brakes only slow you down".
Well I've been trying to get the front brake of the HD to do a little better. Replaced the original single piston caliper with a Wilwood 4 piston, HEL braided line and a Drag Specialties master cylinder. Also needed a pressure switch for the brake light.
Got it all mounted up. Took her for a short ride. Not impressed! About the same stopping power as the old original single piston.
I think there is a problem with the new 9/6" Drag Specialties master. When I was bleeding the system the lever would travel about 2/3 distance and hit a very stiff spot. If I put more pressure on the lever it would travel to the bars but most of the time wouldn't return! This can't be normal? On the road it hits this "stiff spot and I can't pull the lever any further. I was expecting to be able to lock the wheel, I can on a mates standard 2000 twin cam! Bugga!
I'll throw the old master back on to see if that works.
Cheers

Bloody brakes.  I share your pain mate.  My lever travels 2/3 to the bars and hits a very firm spot where the brakes are fully engaged.  If I try really hard, I could get the lever to the bar, but that'd be unnecessary pressure as the brakes are fully engaged with a softish application anyway.  The lever not returning is really odd - is it a master cylinder issue - can't see it being the caliper if the wheels are still turning with the brakes off.  Anyhow, I now have a brake bleeding kit so's not to spend an afternoon pumping fluid through the pipes a gnat's p**s at a time.

Good luck with it mate.  Oh, and by the way, I'm making my own carb balancing tool as in this youtube clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgwKcoryblk&ab_channel=UrbanMonkTV

[Roger (Doomtrainbarx)]

I  soon realised the best and cheapest HD front brake upgrade was this !!

[muskrat]

G'day Roger.
I'm afraid that would rip the spokes out 
Cheers

[Worty]

I  soon realised the best and cheapest HD front brake upgrade was this !!

What am I missing here

[Roger (Doomtrainbarx)]

I  soon realised the best and cheapest HD front brake upgrade was this !!

What am I missing here

Rather than spend large amounts of cash on PM brakes I bought a complete Yamaha XJR front end and grafted it into my !1989 FXRS.
Cost me £200 in total - result is it handles better and boy does it stop 

[Catz]

Rather than spend large amounts of cash on PM brakes I bought a complete Yamaha XJR front end and grafted it into my !1989 FXRS.
Cost me £200 in total - result is it handles better and boy does it stop 

I thought i recognised the front end. For even better stopping power you can fit some Yamaha R1 Blue Spot calipers which are a direct fit. I originally put the XJR front end on my CX500 Custom but have since gone back to a standard set up. Still got the loose front end as i've got a FZR1000 EXUP USD on my XJR.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
I found the problem. Because I'm fitting a 96 master beside an 88 switch block the bit on the lever for the 96 type brake light was hitting the switch block.
Will have to wait now till Tuesday. Getting ready for the Winter Rally. Bugga I have to take the Ranger as I have tools and parts for the club ride on mower. Double bugga, the caravan is already there so I can sleep in comfort. Pitty the poor buggers in tents, not! But the bonfire will keep us warm.
Cheers

[Joolstacho]

And then you could trash the trash H tractor and just ride a Yammie. All good!

[Worty]

I  soon realised the best and cheapest HD front brake upgrade was this !!

What am I missing here

Rather than spend large amounts of cash on PM brakes I bought a complete Yamaha XJR front end and grafted it into my !1989 FXRS.
Cost me £200 in total - result is it handles better and boy does it stop 

Ahhhh, gotcha, a lot of 'front ends' off more modern bikes look much the same to me.  Now if you'd got Earles Forks/suspension on it ........!

[Worty]

Made my carb balancer today as it was raining  

But yesterday went for a 175m blast around East Yorkshire on the Beeza in the gorgeous sunshine.   All went without a hitch, and I think she's leaking less oil - WTF is that about then.

[RDfella]

Having only recently fixed the fuel pump on my Focus, now the PAS pump has thrown in the towel. I see the rack is leaking too, so the time has come to stop working / spending on it. Will take it to the scrapyard whilst it still drives.

To lift my gloom I did a bit on the vee twin. A bit of input would help here - apart from my Firestorm, I have 2 vee twins - a 50* 800cc OHV I refer to as GB50V. That was followed by the 60* 1,000cc OHC that I call the GB60V. But now there's a 3rd underway - currently referred to as GB3. So, question - for elegance / simplicity, any suggestions how I should differentiate them on this board?

Anyway, the GB60V shows signs of running rich - it 'lurches' around 30mph in 3rd (with its short stroke, high CR & light flywheels there's no chance of 30mph in top). And there's a lot of these daft 30mph roads around here, introduced by idiots who believe they're safer (a person was killed a few weeks ago shortly after a nearby road was reduced to 30mph).
Anyway, decided the most richness was just above tickover - according to my exhaust gas analyser. So today I machined the slide cutaways from 3 to 3.5. Will see what that does that when the weather improves sufficiently.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
My 51 A7 has run for me for 42 years without a choke. Now I'm up the mountains and see a lot of minus temps she's a bit harder to start in the mornings. As I treated her to a new concentric after the motor rebuild (932 ordered without a choke) I think I'll try.
Ordered the whole kit, lever, cable and choke fittings. The cable was way too long and had a feral on the carb end. I had to drill out the new carb top for it to fit. Not happy with the way I had to snake the cable to take up the extra length I ordered one 5" shorter. It arrived and the outer is the right length but the inner is 1,1/2" too short and the carb end is plain to be used with a screw in adjuster. BUGGA I had modified the carb top (not enough room for an adjuster on a plunger with a concentric).
I found a really old throttle cable the right length but the carb end was shagged. I made a new feral fitting with the center hole just big enough for the nipple to fit through and glued it on. All good.
I'll have to wait (won't be long) for another sub zero morning to test it.
Cheers 

[Worty]

I find it weird that the choke is set at off against the spring.  This meant that the choke lever kept being pulled back on.  In the end, I tightened the screw in the centre of the lever to ensure it was constantly off - never had a problem starting it, even in coldish weather.

[Greybeard]

I find it weird that the choke is set at off against the spring.  This meant that the choke lever kept being pulled back on.  In the end, I tightened the screw in the centre of the lever to ensure it was constantly off - never had a problem starting it, even in coldish weather.

Same here. I tightened the friction up on the lever. My bike did not need the choke during the months when I rode it.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
It's been quite a while since I started the Cafe up. I just finished painting the tank (again) so thought before I put it on I'll hook up the aux tank and run her up. Bit hard to start, 3 kicks and it takes all my weight to do it. First run not bad, wouldn't idle and was very rich on the left. Let her cool off for an hour and took two kicks to fire. Didn't want to run on the left. Carbs off and now striped and in the harmonic cleaner. I'll give them a few half hour runs and throw'em back on tomorrow.
Cheers