Got the bike back on the road following front caliper rebuild: new pads, cleaned up the pistons and seals and stuck them back in with plenty of red rubber grease.


I went with SBS sintered pads after reading a fairly lengthy discussion on this forum, just had a 20 mile ride and they feel pretty good. They feel less snatchy than the old pads and certainly give more confidence in stopping power. We'll see how they chew up my discs, they're already pretty scored anyway.



Bleeding the brakes went reasonably well, I did this a little while back when I installed braided lines and the process is much smoother for me now. So this year so far it has been new brake lines + pads front and back, full caliper rebuild front and back and newly upholstered seat.


Every day I've been adding my special potion of ATF/Acetone to the exhaust bolts. Today I did it after a 20 mile ride when they were nice and hot, another tip from on here. If the heavens hadn't opened as soon as I'd done it I was tempted to see if I could crack them open. If they do open, I'll order the new exhaust, if they snap in the head I'll just go and cry. 

My downpipes are starting to look very crusty, in the quest to keep the old bird on the road and looking her best I'm gonna have to change them in the near future. Downpipes alone plus end can are +-£300, buying them seperately runs >£300


From what I see there's basically Black Widow and Delkevic giving the best value/range and it seems to me Delkevic are the better of the two. My riding buddy has a Delkevic on his bandit and it's pretty sweet.


I don't want a neighbour waking howl, I use my bike to commute in the summer from 6am and pissing them off is not my intention. I want a decent exhaust that let's the engine run well but let's be honest, in a tunnel if you wang the throttle back with the standard can it's a bit underwhelming.


I'm also a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to styling. No streetfazer here (sorry 74eldiablo). So with this in mind I've narrowed down the following 2 options, just putting it out there for your thoughts:


The practical option : 450mm so i guess this is the neighbour pleaser. This is also the same one my riding buddy has.
The wishlist : I like the look of it, perhaps a little stubby at 320mm but they don't have a longer one. Again, I'm not about announcing my presence to the whole neighbouhood.


So what do you all have? It's hard to make a decision without hearing how it will sound on the bike. There's also £50 between the practical and the wishlist.

Hi guys

As the title says. I didn’t remember to take photos of the others before sticking them back in the callipers, these are probably on the better side but not much between them all.

This is after cleaning with brake cleanr and a light sanding with 400 grit. There was a clearly visible line of dirt when I got the pistons out and all the corrosion is in that area, above the seals, so I don’t think there’s an issue but it’s always good to have all your opinions.

I always just upload them to imgur then link in the post. So far nobody has made any serious complaints.

I’m in the market for some second hand stainless. Do you know anywhere good to source them? Fleabay only seems to have new ones.

Edit: there’s actually some on the for sale section right now!

seems the fzs 600 caliper is utter shite back from 1980's hence why people upgrade, brakes are usually good or bad on any bike but on the fazer the R1 stoppers at the front are tip top whilst the rears are well just parts bin specials as yamaha didnt see fit to have good rear brakes on a sports tourer

The blue dot FZS1000 upgrade is looking more and more attractive right now.

Hi guys

My latest bit of maintenance has led me to overhaul the rear caliper. I've had nothing but success with Wemoto before so ordered some new seals and pads from there. After finally getting both pistons moving with compressed air, then pulling the old seals out of one side, the new brake fluid seal went in no problems but the dust seal just would not seat in the groove properly. It was almost like it was 20% too big in circumference although it was a perfect fit around the piston alone.

Eventually I held it up against the old dust seal and it is indeed noticeably thicker.

https://imgur.com/a/WOQBVKA

With this extra thickness it won't seat in the groove of the caliper and is effectively useless. I didn't realise Wemoto weren't OEM but I thought they would be better than this. The brake fluid seal seems to be the same size and circumference as the old one but how can I be sure it won't leak brake fluid all over the place when I need to stop.

I will ping an email off to Wemoto and see what they say.

Where do you all get your seals from?

Quote from: snoopysmutt on 23 March 2019, 10:20:00 pm

But its not quite the oldest bike, a few years ago we had a thread about the oldest bike and my May registration was the oldest at the time.
Not from new as I am the 3rd owner but I have owned it 18 years and is my only bike - always with the caveat, as per my signature.

If that was somewhere near the oldest, then was the question ever asked of who has the highest mileage? Mine is at a paltry 50000km/31000 miles. Anyone gone past 200 000 miles?

Sent the seat off to Poland a couple of weeks ago for a re-upholstery with Wijalis and got it back yesterday.

Piccies (imgur)

I quite like the standard look of the box eye fazer, has something of a retro feel, but I do want mine to be somewhat personal. After much deliberation I went for blue piping to match my new blue brake lines (rear one just waiting to be installed).

Costs:
£125 in the eBay shop for the reupholster, including return postage.
€23/£19.5 to send to Poland.
I contemplated having the gel cushion added but it was an extra £45 and I didn’t think it was worth it. The seat feels nice and firm as well as much grippier on the turns. I think it is a touch wider and higher as well which is probably a good thing for lanky old me.

All in all I recommend Wijalis, maybe a little expensive compared to others on mainland UK (I'm a Brit abroad) but the end product is top notch.

Here's a link to a thread a few years back about the same.


http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php?topic=17732.0

Damn, I wish I had seen that thread a bit sooner. I would've used one of those guys in the UK. Read a few reviews of Wijalis and by all acounts he does a good job but I could've spent more on the seat and less on shipping (he wanted 45 quid extra for gel insert). Let's just hope when I get my seat back it's the best ting I have even sat on.

My seat is currently at Wijalis in Poland for a reupholster. I’m expecting good results. Was a bit more than I expected though. The eBay listing led me to believe the item cost plus shipping included shipping there as well as back to me but it doesn’t. Was around £140 in the end.

You will also have to disconnect them from the handlebar end as well to give yourself as much slack as possible. It’s a pig the first time you take the cables off but gets easier.

Gonna have a go at fitting the new braided brake lines tomorrow. Got some new DOT 4 and cobra lines. I don’t have a bleeding kit but I do have a small oil suction kit for changing oil on small engines via the dipstick hole and I reckon I can get it to work.

I’m gonna tear down and rebuild the callipers as well at the same time. Never done this before but I’m hoping it will be a fairly straightforward job. I’ve heard the bleed nipple is easy to snap off but any other tips from the seasoned foccers will be well received. I’ll do the front and if it goes well I’ll also do the rear.