Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day! 2/2/08

[kurt]

Re: Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day!

Had a great time, got lots accomplished, but still not completely finished. It sure beat staying home sick. I'll let Wizzerman fill in the details.

Oh and what a rip-off this company turned out to be. I've seen the work first hand.

 

[Gilk51]

Re: Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day!

Three bikes worked on:

of course Jen's Honda 919.

Norman's ST1100 - he had several things to look at.

James' Triumph Tiger - mainly bled the brakes and changed brake fluid.


It wouldn't be a tech day if Murphy didn't show up in force. Just the things that affected me:

Decided not to bring the box with drill bits, hole saws, and easy-outs 'cause I didn't think we would need 'em. Well, we did for Norman's bike.

I loaded all my tool boxes with no problems. In Temple, my Jeep's tailgate would not open.

Finally, after Kurt, Chris, Norman, and James had departed and I turned the key on the Jeep and got the fast click-click-click.

Thanks to Jen for manuevering her car and providing a jump.

Oh well, an interesting day...

 

[Jbay]

Re: Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day!

ever have a brake line break? my rear line broke - the stainless banding is all frayed; could this be from bleeding incorrectly?

 

[kurt]

Re: Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day!

ever have a brake line break? my rear line broke - the stainless banding is all frayed; could this be from bleeding incorrectly?

Nope. Sounds like a defect to me.

 

[wczimmerman]

Re: Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day!

Wow! What a day! I can honestly say that I am exhausted. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to Chuck, Kurt, James, and Norman for coming out!!!

Ok, the Good News:
Jen's bike is reassembled and it looks good! We started off with a sea of parts and slowly worked our way down to the end. It was very exciting to see the bike looking like new again! It truly was a team effort with each person basically working on a different area. We found LOTS of things that weren't right such as not torqued at all or incorrectly or just missing pieces. I was given the wrong battery, so Jen had to make a run to CTPS to exchange it.

The Bad News:
It's not quite ready yet. The front end needs some sort of alignment. The bars sit slightly turned to the left when riding straight despite our best efforts to tweak it back in place. It is running, and running well, but this needs to be addressed and it will require some special tools to get it done. I rode the bike down to Georgetown Honda for them to fix this (based on Kurt's high recommendation), so for the first time in more than 5 months the 919 rides again! Understand that NOTHING was tightened properly and the previous shop said they replaced the steering stem bearings, so I suspect that needs to be tightened properly and the some sort of alignment between the top bridge and lower triple clamp will probably get the bars lined up. The steering stem nut (at the top) was supposed to be at 73 lb/ft and it was barely hand tight!! Not to mention that the caliper bolts were finger tight! We also found the the front fender had been overtighened and cracked as a result. I have about $130 worth of parts to return minus a 25% restocking fee which will cover the cost of a new fender.

With everyone's help we gave the bike a thorough inspection, bled the brakes, and replaced all the parts. The SWMOTECH rack is installed, but the Givi windscreen was missing 2 pieces from the mounting kit, so I'll be getting with Twisted Throttle to get those sent to me.

The motor sounded great and fired up with the first push of the starter.

Jen was a bit disappointed that she can't ride it just yet, but we are SO CLOSE now and I want it to be right before she gets on it.

I hope we made everything as easy for our guests as possible. The pizza was good and pie was fantastic.

I will post pictures sometime tomorrow (I'm sure Chuck will beat me to it). I'm pretty beat.

 

[wczimmerman]

So, I figured I would upload the pics now...

Before (as it was when we TOOK it back from the shop):

The work area:

One happy camper:

The finished product:

 

[Gilk51]

Re: Reassemble Jen's 919/Temple Tech Day!

I will post pictures sometime tomorrow (I'm sure Chuck will beat me to it). I'm pretty beat.

First, thanks to the Zimmermans for being great hosts and ordering some of the best weather in 3-4 months!

Just a couple of pictures, I'm beat as well but had to get them in before WC!

The primary patient ready for surgery

Chris (WC) checking the service manual for the right course of action:

The most we could do (no windshield):

photo server is very slow - will try some more tomorrow...

 

[Jbay]

murphy's law keeping everyone busy,

what no photos of Norman's ST, the carb synch was cool, will have to try that on the bonnie

 

[Tourmeister]

Wow, I've never seen a stainless brake hose come apart like that Did it happen while you were riding? That could have been a disaster if it got all over the rear tire...

 

[wczimmerman]

Hey James-glad you made it home safe!! That definitely looks like a defective line!

We don't have any pics of Norman's ST mainly because I've never seen anyone so adept at taking a bike apart and putting it back together again so fast!

Update on Norman's caliper bolt that broke: He followed me down to the Honda dealer and they offered a pack of Motion Pro bolts for $0.98 but they wouldn't fit. He put the temp bolt back in and made it home safely. The last we spoke, he was going to order all 4 caliper bolts online and just replace them all.

 

[Jbay]

Wow, I've never seen a stainless brake hose come apart like that Did it happen while you were riding? That could have been a disaster if it got all over the rear tire...

it broke by the rear brake, there are still frays left in the connection; it broke while braking on the IH35 frontage road, the cable was pointed out so I stopped and pumped the rest out away from the bike; I was sure the front was going to do the same

 

[Tourmeister]

Bleeding the brakes should not have caused that. I would pay a visit to the dealer for some warranty work if they are original equipment.

 

[wczimmerman]

Could something have cut the line (road debis?) or maybe weakened it?

 

[Jbay]

Could something have cut the line (road debis?) or maybe weakened it?

 

[Gilk51]

WC and Jen had the security system set up - handler Cassie and Guard Dog, Trip

Of course, the security team, Cassie and Savannah, was everywhere

The work area with Chris (wczimmerman)

Norman (tigerknight) working on his 2000 Honda ST1100

Work in progress

James (JBay) in supervisor mode

He also worked a bit on his Triumph Tiger

Norman found that the light was more uniform in the garage - his ST had a bunch of pieces removed

Two operations in progress

Looking good with the topcase mounted

Chris off for the first test ride

Kurt handled the "second opinions"

The Zims have taught their girls well - the frequent test rides were done in Kurt's attire and they kept yelling, "Dad! Your gear!"

 

[dutchinterceptor]

Chris,
Good to see that you got her back together. Much better than the last time I saw it! Shame y'all had to go through such a hassle.

 

[Jbay]

interesting discussion on teflon and SS brake lines for race carshttp://nichols-usa.com/tip683.htm

"I have never seen a factory line fail yet I've seen many stainless lines fail but probably due to abuse like letting the caliper hang from them."


"One more thing about the stainless steel braiding. This is not to give the hose a higher pressure rating at all, period. Remember the chinese finger trap we all played with as kids. They conform to any size fingers and allowed some twisting but they wouldn't allow you to PULL your fingers out. That's what the steel braid does. If it were to contain pressure it would be annular or a tight helical wrap not a 45° or 60° braid. It is there because the Teflon hose is not as strong as the rubber hose and pull cycles fatigue the connection. Call any hose manufacturer and talk to their engineering department. Braid will not help a rubber brake line have better feel. Bigger calipers will though."

The reason that most stainless lines do not pass DOT testing, is due to the fatigue resistance of the stainless wire used in the braid itself is extremely low. The most common failure point in stainless lines is in the high stress area around the end fittings where there is not sufficient strain relief.

Some companies who offer stainless lines have adapted a "spring" type strain relief at the junction of the fitting and line, and they have passed DOT."

 

[kurt]

Interesting, are your lines OEM? They make it sound like no braided lines could pass DOT, yet BMW's all include braided lines these days.

 

[Jbay]

yes they are stock, even the bonnies have braided ss but they are covered in black plastic, if they are Goodrich they may have a bad reputation

http://forums.probetalk.com/showthread.php?t=1701030494&page=2

maybe the DOT has to do with the PSI rating and "cheap" materials, the Speigler lines seem to be what afteremarketers put on; also race lines are high performance but not DOT

I might just go rubber for the rear brake, on the Tiger the brake hangs low

 

[kurt]

I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with OEM. The Feds would be all over a defect like that forcing a recall if it happened with any type of regularity on the Tiger.

 

[kurt]

So Chris, how did the 919 ride for the trip to the dealership?

Norman, how did the balancing work out (carbs and wheel)?

 

[wczimmerman]

Other than the handlebars being slightly off, it rode great. No wobbles, nothing fell off (that's a big deal considering nothing was tightened properly beforehand), and the motor ran strong. I do miss the windscreen though.

I spoke with the Service Manager at Georgetown Honda and requested Bob based on your recommendation (and told them that). He came out and looked at the bike and could see that it was off a bit. I requested the wheel alignment get fixed, the steering stem bearings checked for proper torque, and the headlight get aligned. I hope to hear from them tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

[kurt]

Any news?

 

[wczimmerman]

Yes.

They tried to straighten everything out at first, but it just wasn't lining up. They called me to see if I was OK with them tearing into the steering stem as they felt quite strongly that the shaft for the steering stem (attached to the lower triple clamp) was probably bent. I told them to check it out. They then called me back the same day and confirmed that it was bent and I had 2 options: 1. They could try to straighten it out or 2. They could replace it. I told them to go ahead and replace it. I also asked them to check the bearings since the previous shop was supposed to have replaced the lower triple clamp and the bearings. They called me a short time later and said the the bearings had not been replaced either. So, I had them add that to the work order. Throughout all of this they have been very courteous and helpful. The order was placed for the lower triple clamp and bearings and they said they don't see a reason why it shouldn't be ready by this weekend.

Kurt: great recommendation on Georgetown Honda.

Side Note: Kurt, whatever bug has been going around hit me Monday and I'm actually home sick today (very rare for me). I've been pretty much laid out for a couple of days. Hot/cold flashes, severe congestion, sore throat, dizzy spells, even my skin hurt. I spent most of my day yesterday shivering.

 

[kurt]

You need to retrieve the parts and take them to court to recover your expenses.. I'm not a fan of legal remedies, but this takes the cake.