1st September 2022
Rabbits
A great night's sleep - turned in at about 2200 (after a generous Cuban Rum and Mexican Coke*) and went out like a light.
I woke at 0745 and honestly don't feel any jet lag at all. I learned yesterday that - unlike every other wide bodied jet - the 787 does not use bleed air for cabin pressure, and that the cabin altitude doesn't go above 6000'. I think I'll be choosing to fly 787 whenever I get the choice from now on
I quickly put some clothes on and join Jorge in the garage. With the current temperatures and humidity, first thing in the morning is the only civilised time to work on the bike (although today will prove to be much cooler and more pleasant).
Jorge assures me this is solely for use behind his bicycle...
So - first job of the day - change the front brake pads. This is straightforward and is achieved without removing anything other than the calipers, and undoing the lower bolt on the front mudguard. The pins and spring clips are dirty, but clean with a wipe from a cloth - confirming Jorge's suspicion that there has been oil contamination from the fork oil seals failing. The underside of the front mudguard is also covered in oily dirt.
We soon have the new pads in place, everything cleaned up, and bolted back onto the bike. Jorge takes the bike for a short test ride and declares the braking improved.
Regular readers may remember that I lost the headlamp guard in Utah a few years ago. I got a replacement, which I notice Jorge has beefed up with some locking wire to lessen the chances of a repeat perfomance.
We drive over to the BMW dealer again, and pay an extortionate price for a pair of fork seals and scrapers.
Catherine - this bike would be perfect for you...
Act Two - fork seals. Unlike bikes with a conventional suspension, BMW Telelever bikes do not rely on the forks to provide damping. This is the reason you can brake hard without any nose-dive. The forks are really just sliding tubes connecting everything together. Nevertheless, just like conventional forks, they have oil within them, and seals to keep it there.
To change the seals, you pop the rubber dust cap off, revealing this 14mm nut. On the fork leg below the yoke, are flats that are about 22mm (we used an adjustable spanner), to allow you to get the nut undone.
Bloody hell were they tight...
I had to use a steel pipe over the handle of the adjustable spanner whilst Jorge used a long handled socket to undo them. It turns out they are designed to be tightened to 45Nm - but these were
way over that...
OK - time to use the special tool (AKA the Ice Axe) to lever the old scrapers out; then a screwdriver to remove the star clip and finally the ice axe again to get the seal out.
We moisten the new seals...
...and scrapers with a little fork oil before replacing them, using a suitably sized socket to get the seals home. You know when they are in the right place, because the groove where the star spring clip fits is visible...
Aster keeps watch from a distance...
OK - all fitted - time to re-insert the fork legs and bolt them back up. We tighten the nuts to the
exact torque...
Act Three - fuel tank QDs.
The other day, whilst removing the tank, Jorge had one of the cross pipe QD links break. They were the old BMW plastic ones and had come to the end of their life. I think he had a couple of gallons of fuel spill on the garage floor...
I arrange to get some Gucci stainless steel connectors sent to him from
Beemer Boneyard - which cost me my left kidney
So, to make life a lot easier, I got two right angle connector pairs, so that you can leave the cross pipe on the bike when taking the tank off. It's the same setup I have on my bike and works really well. The only snags are :
The proximity of the joints to the tank and telelever. I encourage Jorge to use crimp-on connecters (like the OEM ones), and then cover the metalwork with either self-amalgamating tape or heatshrink, to further reduce the chances of damage. Also to get the
exact right length for the crosspipe, to minimise movement.
After a little trial and error, we reach the perfect set up, crimp all the connectors, and wind self amalgamating tape around the crimps. We then refit the tank, giving it a good clean before fitting the 'bra' that the tank bag zips onto...
Jorge then finishes up by using the self amalgamating tape to cover some splits in the handgrips (which are exposing the elements of the heated grips)...
Then declares the work complete
He will take it to work in the morning for a shakedown ride...
*Mexican Coke is made with cane sugar, rather than high-fructose corn syrup. It tastes like Coke did when you were a child...