Fire3500

I'm going to have to beg a bit of expertise from you folks... I've got an issue that doesn't seem to be progressing. Bike: 1985 GSX-R 750 F Issue: front brake, cannot get a decent lever, lever comes back to bars, will not improve with repeated pumping Already done: strip and clean callipers, strip and clean master cylinder, new seals in callipers, new seals in master cylinder, new HEL lines (bypassing connector union as simple is good, right?), new correct spec brake fluid. So the front brakes have been completely stripped and cleaned and re-sealed. New lines and bled up seemingly correctly however the lever comes back to the bars and the brake effort is compromised by this. The lever is not bent and the bore/cylinders of the callipers and master cylinder looked all OK. The weird thing is that when attached to the fork legs and biting on the disks you get this crap lever, but if you unbolt the callipers from the fork legs and let them just "float" then you get a great lever that you'd feel confident to ride with. I'm pulling my hair out over this one, anyone any ideas? Cheers!

Thank you fellas, sincerely appreciate the encouragement. Let's have some decent weather and I'm sure a few rides will sort my head out! :-)

Well the slabbie just has a front brake issue to crack, then we should be up and running with that little bugger! :-)

OK, so this got out of hand fast...

Hang on, if we use MEK and breathe deeply then we might *have* a good time, just not a long time... I'm confused. ;-)

Slabby has an MOT... after new calliper seals front and rear, new chain and sprockets, new throttle cables, full service and a good going over of the carbs...

As an act of resistance, I'm fettling... also going to try and flog a couple of other non-OSS bikes to keep the wolf from the door... fingers crossed. On a less negative note, the Slingy will have a fork overhaul this week and the Slabbie is going off to Chris Gunster in Grimsby for carb-balancing and MOT! :-)

Fingers crossed I'll be able to keep one.

Thanks dudes, I've got them both advertised but I'm hoping the Slabby goes as I've more of a deep bond with my Slingy, market will decide which, if either, I get to keep. Just grumblings of real life interfering with my bikes... dammit.

Thanks for the welcome, folks. It looks like I've jinxed myself... circumstances over the last couple of weeks mean that these and a few other of my bikes are going to have to be put up for sale. Jesus, 2016 has sucked in just about every way imaginable. 2017 had better be better... Grrrrrr

Thanks folks, haven't really got my sleeves rolled up with the Slabby yet. Oilyspanner is right, it's a Japanese import and seems pretty original. I'm not sure about the front indicators but everything else seems present and correct, and all works too! The plan at the moment is to get a fresh set of tyres on it, a new chain and sprocket set (do I go OEM or get a modern chain conversion?) and give it a deep clean, hunting for things to fix. It's got fresh oil in already but needs the carbs balancing and I'd imagine it won't hurt to give the forks a bit of a freshen up, fresh brake and clutch fluid etc. It's mega-comfy, actually feels more like an armchair than a sportsbike... that was one of the biggest revelations of the Slingy when I got that, how comfy it is! The Slabby feels even more so. I think initially she needs just fettling and cleaning as there's a lovely patina to her, and you only get to wipe that away once I guess? Things like the faded clock needles are the sort of thing that I'd want to do something about, but my god... the luxury of a fuel gauge! That's something only known to my Dad's teapot previously. I've had the Slingy about a year now and she's not a bad old girl, was painted by Dream Machine and fettled by Bob Farnham before I got her. She was owned by an RAF Harrier Jump Jet pilot who seems to have cared for her well. Not mint though, and I've already replaced the mirrors with NOS items sourced from Tel Aviv and Tokyo and added a new screen as the original was yellowed, I've tucked that away. Also swapped the clocks as the original speedo had a very odd home-made needle on it and the tach was a bit dinged and rusty on the back, the replacement starts at "1" though, not "3", which bugs me. I had a bit of a learning curve with it, including the vac' coming off the top of the carbs and that flummoxing me for a bit, and for some reason I keep leaving it on reserve, so I've drained the tank a couple of times. It had some old Dunlop Sportmax on it until a couple of months back and I've replaced those with Bridgestone Battlax BT016PRO and they have given me a lot more confidence to chuck it about, in fact I need to go through the suspension on it next... I've been toying with the idea of getting some "L" forks and a steering damper. My all-time want was for a 750L, my K is close enough but there's something about an L that just does it for me. Other things on the to-do include an end-of-season deep clean and a thorough service, as I've a slight weep on a fork seal so those shall be stripped, polished, resealed and given some fresh oil, while there's also a new (secondhand) set of headlamps and fairing brace to fit to further tidy up the cockpit. Other wants would be either an amber headlamp cover or a one-eyed top fairing for a more endurance look, the Yoshi system is a bit tired looking but polishes up alright and the "pass" button doesn't work on the LH switchgear. I don't have a pillion seat either, so the pegs could be jettisoned if I gave that some thought. I've not bothered so far as I haven't wanted to relocate the seat lock. The top of the cam-cover occasionally gets a misting of oil too so there's something else to look at when I get a minute... Mostly though, she gets ridden and I really enjoy the performance, which is fast enough to feel fast without being litre-bike bonkers, and other than a bit of wallowing from the front end the handling is good enough to keep most things within nibbling distance in the bendy bits. Comfy enough to do London and back from Lincolnshire in a day, and actually pretty decent on fuel when ridden in distance mode. I've read the rules, I probably should have posted this "hello" thread in a different part of the forum so thanks for not crucifying me. I like rules, and hope that picture content helped make up for my wrongdoing.

Just saying a quick hello from Lincolnshire, as I've signed up this evening for the forum. I've presently got a couple of oil-boilers, plus one of my Dad's bikes, lurking in the garage that fit the OSS description. My 1989 750 Slingshot is a nice old bus, and I seem to have recently done a deal that's resulted in an '85 Slabbie being sat in there too... not too sure what to do about that one though, as I wasn't actually supposed to be looking for another project... d'oh. Let's see though. There's also my Dad's 1994 GSX600F that he doesn't know what to do with, it's a 12k bike that he's had from new and in pretty decent nick really. It needs a chain and sprockets, a repaint of the frame and the wheels refinishing but otherwise isn't bad at all. It's tucked up out of the way until we figure that out too. So yeah, hello!

There's a lad in Brigg in Lincs with an '86 on a C plate in blue and white that he's had since new, not the same tenure as you and yours but says a bunch about how people feel about their GSX-Rs...