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Post-winter maintenance

Morbius

Morbius

Morbius

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Joined
16 Jul 2008
Posts
2,241
Last weekend I started getting the bike ready for the new riding season. I pumped up the tyres and gave the bike a quick wash before lubing the chain.

When the bike was on its paddock stand and I was turning the rear wheel by hand, it felt a bit stiff. Is this anything to worry about or will a ten minute ride sort that out?
 
Shouldn't be anything to worry about but I'd do a couple of things just as a matter of course in that case. Drop the chain off the rear sprocket. Does it feel the same, still a bit stiff?. If so, whip the wheel off and remove the sprocket carrier and drop the wheel spacers out. Have a look at the bearings inside, give them a clean if the grease looks a bit dirty and then repack once again with fresh grease. When refitting, clean the spindle and give it a nice fresh coat of grease as well.

All the above is worth doing but the stiffness could simply be down to the chain needing a good clean and lube. Once this is done and the bike gets moving, the chain should free up a little.
 
Is there any marks on your rear disc ? I'd put it down to crap between your disc & pads but wouldn't be happy riding it until I found out Exactly what it is.
 
Surface rust on the disk? Go for a ride, if it's to the point you have to put wight on the rear wheel to turn it, then maybe put thought into it. But if it's simply a bit stiff, go for a 10 min run to get some heat in the chain and lube it up.

Jobs a good'un
 
Cheers guys, I thought it was probably harmless but after a while I started to doubt myself so thought it would be prudent to double check.

I think I'll have a look at the caliper later. I'm trying to get into doing as much maintenance by myself as I can, but I'm having to learn by doing it. I guess I don't have to drain the brake fluid as I'm not replacing the pads, correct?
 
Nope, no need to drain any fluid if you are just taking the caliper off for a look or removing the pads to make sure the pistons aren't a tiny bit stiff. Remember and pump the brake lever back up again before riding off though!!.
 
Morbius said:
Cheers guys, I thought it was probably harmless but after a while I started to doubt myself so thought it would be prudent to double check.

I think I'll have a look at the caliper later. I'm trying to get into doing as much maintenance by myself as I can, but I'm having to learn by doing it. I guess I don't have to drain the brake fluid as I'm not replacing the pads, correct?
Click to expand...

No and you wouldn't have to bleed the brakes even if you were changing the pads either. The pads are just held on by one or two retaining pins usually.

Just take the calliper off and check that the pistons are sat fully inside the calliper. If the edge of the piston is showing at all, get a screw driver behind the pads and push them back in as far as they will go.
 
Right, update time.

I removed the caliper and everything seemed fine. Had a look at the piston and noticed that there was a little bit of gunge around the circumference that was making it stick a little bit. Cleaned it off, pushed the piston back in and everything seems good. It was easier than I thought it was going to be! The only difficult bit was working around the giant cannon of an exhaust that the 650F has :D
 
Morbius said:
Right, update time.

I removed the caliper and everything seemed fine. Had a look at the piston and noticed that there was a little bit of gunge around the circumference that was making it stick a little bit. Cleaned it off, pushed the piston back in and everything seems good. It was easier than I thought it was going to be! The only difficult bit was working around the giant cannon of an exhaust that the 650F has :D
Click to expand...

It is a bit of a pain to get around isn't it, it's actually a lot bigger than it looks when you get it out.
 
I tend to strip and clean my calipers at least 2-3 times a year, and Im a fair weather rider these days. Once you've done it once it doesnt take long to whip off the calipers and pads, push the pistons out (not all the way out, use a small drift to stop that) clean the pistons, then push them back. In (leave the brake resovoir lid off and use a proper tool to push the pads apart rather than a screwdriver if you can).

Bit OTT maybe but I like nice sharp brakes.
 
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