If you’ve been following my blog posts I’m sure by now you’ve realized I am a complete coward when it comes to maintenance on my bike. While I don’t mind the odd minor job on my dirt bike (like changing the oil) anything more than that makes me cower at the back of the garage. As such, when I dropped my Daytona a couple of weeks ago (http://www.eatsleepride.com/blogs/alx/i-had-yet-another-moment) I was faced with a dilemma: Should I take it to the shop and let them deal with it as normal or fix it myself. In other words, do I spend the money or an entire afternoon skinning my knuckles and swearing until I am blue in the face, only to find I have to go back to the shop anyway?

The damage, at first glance seemed minor. The rear right turn signal, right mirror and brake lever were damaged. The first two looked pretty straightforward. The brake lever looked a little more complicated though. For a start, the bolt to remove it was hidden and meant I had to remove the rear set to get at it. And then there were a couple of springs and the kind of sprung retaining washer that I almost invariably lose. However, it still looked somewhat “doable” to me so I took the plunge and ordered the parts.

When I picked them up, for some reason the local shop had ordered me a front brake lever when I definitely asked for a rear lever. No matter: I wasn’t looking forward to that job anyway. I was right about the mirror and turn signal. It took me maybe fifteen minutes to do both jobs. As a bonus, I neither stripped my knuckles nor offended my very polite neighbors and nor did I have anything left over. Mind you, it was really just two bolts for each job so it think even I would have been surprised if I cocked that up

In wheeling the bike out, I realized I had another problem. The front brake lever now travelled all the way to the bar. Pumping it a couple of times made it bite just fine but that’s not the response I typically want from my brakes on the road. A quick check found no leaking fluid so I can only assume the bike being tipped up somehow lead to an air lock in the system. Whatever: it was time to bleed the brake lines…

Yesterday I got a call the brake lever had finally arrived. A trip to the store revealed that it was indeed the correct part this time so I decided to pick up some brake fluid too. It was a sunny day and I was determined to put the Daytona back on the road.

The brake pedal proved simple enough. The bolts securing the rear set needed a few taps to loosen but off they came. It took a little bit of fiddling to get the springs back on I’ll admit, though only because I was so buoyed by getting the rear set off that I had neglected to look which way around they went. After putting it back together, I fired the engine, span the rear wheel on the paddock stand and jabbed the pedal. Fully expecting the pedal to fall off or even a wall of flame to burst forth, I was pleasantly surprised when the brake bit. Crap, I was thinking. I’m three for three now. Time to do the bleed.

Now, this is where my knowledge of bikes gets really sketchy. All those caveats about “don’t get air in the line” or “don’t get it on the paint or your entire bike will dissolve” make me very nervous. The manual also talked about some tubing. I live in the middle of a large city: why on earth would I have tubing around the place? I could have gone to the local automotive store and picked up a one man brake bleed kit, but $16 was a bit rich, so instead a quick trip to the local hardware store yielded something that was $2.49. Truth be told, the pictures of the fish on the box didn’t really inspire me with confidence, but hey, I was on a roll.

Back home, the tubing was just about made to fit. Off comes the cap of the master cylinder. The bottle with clean brake fluid is resting precariously on my toolbox and I’m leant over the bike with a spanner ready to do on my own what the manual and every one else’s website calls a two-person job. Cracking open the bleed nipple and slowly, and I mean s-l-o-w-l-y, depressing the brake lever reveals a nice, albeit somewhat bubbled stream in the clear tube. Tighten the nipple, release the lever and try again, a little firmer this time. Same thing but less bubbles. This can’t be happening. In my world, the fluid should be shooting over the fence possibly taking down a passing bird on the wing, but no. It’s working. I repeat a few times as the manual says and it’s still fine.

Topping up the master cyinder, it’s time for the other side and I don’t even have to reach as far this time. This is effortless. I’ve not even kicked the bottle over yet, spilling no doubt highly toxic brake fluid into the nearby drain. Damn, the left side is good too.

Finally, it’s time for the master cylinder bleed. This looks tricky. I have 2 feet of hose and the bike is at least four off the floor. No problem. I’m doing so well, I balance the bottle between my thigh and the turn signal. I repeat the procedure – Loosen nipple, depress brake lever, tighten nipple, release – five or six more times and it’s clean. I finally top off the master cylinder, replace the cap and the bike is back in one piece. After cleaning my hands and wheeling the Daytona back into the garage, I am in awe of myself. Fingers filthy, I am now one of those guys – someone that can fix things. What next, I think? But there are no more jobs to do, at least not today but the next time something needs to be done I will definitely consider doing it myself.

Finally, while the brakes now seem better than ever, I’m still not 100% convinced there’s not a problem somewhere else in the system, like maybe a cracked joint or something. However, I’m not going to find out about that until tomorrow when I head out of town for a weekend run and will be breaking very early for pretty much every corner. For now, my fingers are crossed and I’m going to help myself to the beer I just earned.

** Update: Well, it turns out I was correct. The front brake is still spongy, despite the bleed. Well, it’s spongy until you press it a couple of times and then it bites as normal. Move the bike forward a few feet and it’s the same. I think it’s time to remove the calipers and strip them down, looking for damage.

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