Progress and patience!

[tzimmerm]

So, this last Saturday I got the front brake all rebuilt, using the cut-to-length brake line kit from TCBros.
It was incredibly easy to use, and seems to be of very good quality.
New piston and caliper rebuild kit from Mikes. I got the pads from TCBros, but I wish I would have gotten them from Mikes, because they cost 1/3 more, and didnt come with a new little metal bracket.
Side note- I did buy a clymer from mikes and it didnt help me with my ‘77 caliper at all, so I just reassembled it on my own.
Check out my old (right) VS new (left) pics of the caliper slide rubber! We’ll see how long my new one lasts; I used regular bearing grease to lube it because I ended up using the grease gun method to remove the old caliper piston.
New motion pro speedo cable confirms the speedo is not working right. Rode her home from the garage I was working in and it was awesome. Got me and my daughter all geared up to go for a ride sunday morning, to realize as we pulled out that the rear tire was flat.
Of course it’s going to be 70 today and tomorrow, the powersports store is closed mondays, and I have a dental appt tomorrow right after work, so I won’t get another chance to ride until wednesday. I couldnt find anything in the tire. I tried pumping it up with my bike pump and It sounds like the leak is coming from around the valve stem.
Other progress-
I ordered a sweet new seat from texavina on eBay, and a set of brake pads from niche cycles on Amazon today. I’ll post some really nice pics after I get the new seat on. The bike really looks cool. Anyone else been unlucky enough to have a brand new inner tube crap out after a week? I’m sure it’s not unheard of. Anyway, this better be the last setback. LOLOL RIGHT?!
***This post has been modified from it’s original version. It has been formatted to better utilize paragraphs***

 

[Signal]

Goodness you sure said a lot in that post.
Posts are easier to read if split into paragraphs.

If you need brake components talk to 650 Central / Vintage Brake. The owner Michael Morse is a top bloke he knows how to make these bikes go fast and how to make them go round corners and stop.

Try and get hold of some rubber grease it is red and sometimes blue for your brake components. Normal grease will perish your rubber components in time.

Hope you get to go for a blat on Wednesday.

http://650central.com/
http://www.vintagebrake.com/

 

[5twins]

I prefer original rubber parts as opposed to aftermarket. That caliper slide rubber is a perfect example. I'd be using an original cleaned up and lubed before that poor copy.

 

[tzimmerm]

Where do you get original rubber? Ebay? For 10.00 I’m not too worried about how long it lasts. The front brake was sticking and now it’s not. If it lasts one season that’s fine with me. It takes 10 minutes to change out.

 

[5twins]

Yes, eBay or directly from Yamaha, but they don't carry everything anymore. They do happen to still have this part but it's pretty expensive ($17). But, this rarely needs replacing, you just clean, lube, and re-use the original. I've overhauled quite a few of these brakes and so far, I haven't had to replace anything. That means seals too. I just clean all the parts and reassemble. If it holds fluid and doesn't leak then it's fine. So far all I've done have been good afterwards.

Unfortunately pretty much all the repro rubber parts made for these bikes are crap. Foot peg rubbers will wear "bald" in a season or 2, kick start and shift rubbers will split, same with side cover mounting rubbers. Some of this stuff is still available from Yamaha and reasonably priced (shift and kick start rubbers).

 

[SEd27]

You should still be able to get the original part from Yamaha (I did last summer).

I had originally used the aftermarket rubber when rebuilding my front caliper, but it swelled to the point that braking was adversely affected.

It was weird, because I was super careful on the install. Something reacted with the rubber though and the sleeve got completed gummed up.

Learn from my mistakes and get the right part, so you only have to do the job once.

 

[Mailman]

For future reference, starting at post #530. ( my first caliper rebuild )
http://www.xs650.com/threads/my-60th-birthday-present.47639/page-27

Here is another very good tutorial
http://www.yamahatriples.com/index.php/how_tos/brake-caliper-rebuild/