There's lots of us out there riding around on 'older' hardware and that's a good thing. My motto is Re-use, Repair then Recycle. For those of us with bikes in the 10-15 year old mark will no doubt experience the odd 'consumable' failure. One such incident that happened recently to me was more than a little rattling, pardon the almost pun.
Trundling along my favourite route from the hinterland where I live to the coast the other day I approached a corner (on the dirt naturally) and went for 1 finger of front brake just to wash of a little momentum, as you do. I curled my index finger around the lever and began to squeeze.....and squeeze...only to be met by a minimal amount of resistance that diminished with every millimetre the lever moved toward the grip!! Eventually the level and the grip caressed in a Bonnie and Clyde type of way, finding pleasure not only in their proximity to each other but also in the look of anguish on the face of their hapless victim IE me! As you know all this happened in about 5/10ths of a second and my cat like reflexes kicked in and I compensated with the rear brake. I was immensely satisfied to feel a good solid pedal much like a manly handshake in its presence.
I rolled to a stop just around the corner in a safe spot and began my search for the reason behind my squishy plumb like front stopper. There was nothing obvious to see. The reservoir was full and clear, there was no fluid leaking anywhere and if the lever was 'grabbed' instead of 'squeezed, there was momentary resistance or 'pedal' as the car monkeys' would say. However regardless of the action, if pressure was applied consistently, Bonnie and Clyde caressed again. Very puzzling. I assumed that there was one of two things going on. Firstly, there must be some air getting in and causing the spongy action OR Secondly, there could be some bypass happening in the master cylinder and venting back into the reservoir. In either case, no fluid loss to the outside world.
I limp home and start piecing together my strategy. This is where my point, which I assure you is coming, begins. On old girls like my GS, those components that rarely, if ever, fail and get replaced, become an issue. Like for instance my brakes. I bled and bled and bled the system but no solution. I then assume that the master cylinder is the culprit and call the good old local BMW dealer for a price and 'waiting' time for a piston kit. They assure me that they have one in stock (that was a surprise in itself) and that it was $139.00. Well that's not too bad as its a piston and cup set, remove replace and your done, well a little honing and other such things but you get my point. I concede defeat and prepare to head off an pick up the kit. I noticed a damp spot on the floor just under the rear of the front guard. I smell it and no surprise, it's brake fluid. I follow the trail up the guard and find the source, a little puddle at a junction at the splitter on the fork brace. I give the lever another squeeze and see a tiny jet spraying out from just behind the crimp on the banjo!! Then the eureka moment. That is where the flex happens as the front end rises and falls and naturally where the flexible line get the most stress. The line has rupture from the inside out and the fluid up until now has been filling the gap in between the layers of the line, effectively de-laminating it from the breakin either direction.
Now this is where may point is made. I thought that a piston kit for the master cylinder was a maybe in stock, I thought for a while as I reached for the phone, I wonder what the story is for the top hose? Another quick call to BMW and I find that not only do they not have one, there are none in the country and they would be 2 weeks ex Germany at the least!! I didn't even ask for the price but I would assume not much change from $200.00 and that would probably be optimistic. So the point is, if you ride an old girl (and my GS is just 13yrs) you may find you are going to have a sequence of failures that take weeks to repair and at considerable cost and inconvenience. What do you do? You find a local workshop that can make these things for you and be very nice to them!!
In my case I legged it to the house, grabbed the Yellow Pages and went to the Brake section looking for a local business that actually makes hoses and line. You know what, they aren't thick on the ground but they are out there. I considered for a moment the option of removing the hose and taking it down and having them make one up. Them by the way was Suncoast Automotive Services and this service is while you wait. Great guys. I knew from past experience that there is always a gottcha when you get something done to a component in isolation to the device from which it comes. So since I did have brakes, albeit requiring a couple of pumps to arrest things completely, I decided to sneak down there and have the whole situation investigated by the pro's. Well they were the most helpful guys I have had the pleasure to be a patron too in a long time. They ran an optic over the GS and made sure that all the fittings and dimensions were ones they had or could work within and lent me the tools to remove the old hose with. Within 15 minutes of handing them the removed line, I had an exact replica with all the scuff shielding and all, in my hand ready to go back on. Which it did and with a little fluid and some bleeding, hey presto I had 'pedal' ....l..ah I mean 'lever' again. Top notch job. Dave an Phill were most helpful and Phil actually rides a BMW so we spent some time chewing the fat so to speak and all in all a very professional pleasant experience.
As Dave was handing me my invoice and EFTPOS receipt he pointed out that they also manufacture, on site, while you wail all manner of cables. You know bowden type stuff that runs your Clutch (if you running an old girl or small 'joby') and throttle etc. So I am going to spend a day removing all my cables and dropping them in for the guys to duplicate at a fraction of the cost of factory ones.
So the moral of this story is this. If you run an old chooky or dual sport you should be prepared for these types of once in a lifetime failures. It will happen it's just the nature of things. Being off road guys if we do have said failure on the track it can be very disappointing, frustrating and in some circumstances dangerous. So, do as I did and find a local supplier/manufacturer that can make/supply the hoses cables etc and stock up on spares. I like to run them in the bike along side the 'working' ones so that in the event of a failure, you simply disconnect the failed until and connect the spare, no track side pull-down and pieces of bodywork, nuts washers, springs and tools everywhere. Just a couple of minutes and your off.
Just sayin'............
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