Nissin Calipers Overhaul.
The Bandit has been a lot of fun so far, but one thing was niggling me. Although all the discs and pads looked quite new, the rear brake was squealing so loudly I was actively trying to avoid using it.
So a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd whip off the rear caliper, clean up the pistons and pads, and apply some grease to the backs of the pads. During the cleaning of the pistons, I noticed part of an O-ring sticking out on one side. The only thing I could do was unbolt the two sides of the caliper and remove the pistons to see what was going on.
The secondary O-ring (dust seal) must have been so dry at some point that it got caught on the piston and worked its way out. However it happened, I popped out the pistons, cleaned everything up in soapy water, blew it all dry and refitted the O-ring along with rubber grease. With careful refitting of the piston, all was well. Obviously this was done with both sides of the caliper, and then new brake fluid was flushed through. The back brake was then perfect... and silent.
What I did notice while the caliper was apart was the amount of orange, jellied brake fluid hiding within. There is no way this stuff is getting out unless you strip the caliper completely, which left me wondering about the fronts...
Rusty Tanks? Sounds like a Blues singer.
And if you leave the rust to spread, the blues is what you'll be singing.
Takes me back to when I was 18 or 19, riding a '58 Triumph Speedtwin. My mate and I were on our way into Hereford, the traffic was backed up a bit from the roundabout and we were busy swerving our way through when he came alongside me, on his Stan Stephen's Stage-3 tuned, RD350 YPVS, to tell me that I had a water leak.
My initial response was "F#ck, where from?"
It dawned pretty quickly that there is no water in a pre-unit Triumph! The tank had split and petrol was absolutely pissing out all over the head and barrels! I killed the engine, which helped a little because the vibration stopped, and calmly pushed (very quickly) it over to the bike shop that used to be on that very roundabout. A mechanic there gave me a tray to put under it, and my mate gave me a lift back home where I borrowed a Transit from work to pick up the old Trumpet. Job's a fish.
But I digress, as usual, because we're now in Bandit country. One of the first things I noticed about the Bandit was the fuel gauge, and it didn't move as Suzuki intended. There was also rust visible in the tank.
A quick test of the fuel gauge goes as follows: unplug the tank sender unit, rear right of the petrol tank on the Bandit, and insert a wire into both terminals of the loom. This is basically returning 12v to the gauge (or mimicking a full tank). The gauge went to the full position so happy days. Time to pull out the tap and fuel sender.
Bigger cubes!
Part of the reason for putting the GS550 on the road was to take things at a gentler pace. While the CBR600RR is amazing — compliant, smooth, light, quick — probably too quick, you need to be a bit careful where the constabulary are concerned.
Ambling round on the GS is great, it's happy mooching round and gives you plenty of time to take in the scenery. I absolutely love being on old stuff too. Points and condensers, carburettors, air-cooled engines... they just have more soul. The smell in the garage after they've been for a run is awesome too.
But then you hit that steep hill, loaded with hairpin bends, and she struggles in first gear just to make it round. It starts me thinking about GS1000's, GSX1100's, something a bit bigger, torquier. Something that will go two-up with ease, trundle around all day on the sniff of fumes and sit at 3,000 to 4,000 RPM.
Mmm... nice but too expensive nowadays.
So, it got me thinking. What about the first of the Bandits? 1157cc, oil/air-cooled monstrous fours that ooze torque and charisma, and will wrench your arms off just off idle. Basically the detuned engine out of a GSXR1100. Always wanted a GSXR1100. Mmm, here we go again!
Gumtree.
Such a visual feast of all things bargain, if you look properly. There were lots on there, later 1250S models with the water-cooled engine, but all were runners and commanding large sums of money. I prefer a project for much smaller sums of money. And I found one. But it was a thirteen hour drive, for a non-running Mk1. It looked in reasonable fettle (obviously in photos) and Murray, the guy selling it, seemed pretty legit, in fact an absolute legend. So transport was organised...
