What did you do to your bike today?

[natemoen]

I'm looking for a place that will turn the rotors before I lock it all together finally.

The rotors are stainless steel and can't be "turned". They need to be ground/sanded. Most places don't have the stuff to do it.

[jetmechmarty]

The process to properly resurface these rotors is Blanchard grinding.

[Orange4]

Except for the fact that they were turned at the factory. Ain't no Blanchard marks on them stock puppies.

Internet myth #7593465: You can't machine motorcycle rotors.

You can, however, say that they may be more challenging than automotive rotors to machine.

See:Rotor machining

[jetmechmarty]

Internet myth #7593465: You can't machine motorcycle rotors.

You can, however, say that they may be more challenging than automotive rotors to machine.

See:Rotor machining

You are right. One of my XS650 buddies down in Florida turned his on a brake lathe and as you may know, it's the same rotor. It turned out perfect. Generally, it's very tough to find someone willing and able to do it. You will, however, find people on the web you can send them to for Blanchard grinding.

[TomB]

I "turned" mine on my workshop lathe at home, you need tungsten carbide tipped tools as the stainless is pretty hard, and they can "sing" or chatter if speeds/feeds are wrong.

[DiverRay]

Cleaning a brace of carbs for my '79. All parts went through the H.F. ultrasonic cleaner, Pinesol for the solution. Nice part is the heater in the unit. Heat solution as it's working, and almost ALL of the 25 years of gunk came off! This set of carbs had been on a bike that was parked outside for 25 years, AFTER loosing to a game of chicken with a Kawi....
Drinking and riding just don't mix...

[mikubuilder]

Bought set of Dyna-coils DC 1-1, and Techa-fit stainless brake lines for my F...now just wait for a heat wave so my fingers won't freeze to the frame when I work on that bike

[jetmechmarty]

I decided to address my poor fuel economy issue while I replace tires and do a complete service check. Anyway, I raised my floats about 1 mm. I'm trying to sync it and #2 has a vacuum leak. I tried to sync to it like a dummy. Now to pull the carbies for the 3rd or 4th time and reset the bench synch. All were perfect, but #2. The intake manifolds are only 3 or 4 years old. I hope I don't have to replace them. I only have a very few days of crappy weather to get this done. I know. Get busy. My lovely bride is preparing our lunch. I hope it's just a bad clamp.

This is when depending upon an old bike is a drag. I can't run over to the dealer and buy a part off the shelf, but then again, they probably don't have everything for a new bike either.

[alaskey2]

Bought set of Dyna-coils DC 1-1, and Techa-fit stainless brake lines for my F...now just wait for a heat wave so my fingers won't freeze to the frame when I work on that bike

I have the exact same situation.

[jetmechmarty]

The culprit! I replaced the clamp on #2 and they all synced up fine.

Hopefully, the floats are now where they need to be and sooty plugs no more. If I have to keep messing with it, I'll probably break it again. Oh, I'm sure my dirty air filter wasn't doing me any favors.

[Orange4]

Is it a thing to use some sealant between the boots and the head? I did on mine because I could see that connection being a problem for vacuum leaks as well.

[Orange4]

I "turned" mine on my workshop lathe at home, you need tungsten carbide tipped tools as the stainless is pretty hard, and they can "sing" or chatter if speeds/feeds are wrong.

Stainless does like to work harden if your tools are not sharp or your feed rate wrong. I'm sure the myth was started by guys who just don't want the hassle and said "it cant be done" instead of "I don't want to bother"

[jetmechmarty]

Is it a thing to use some sealant between the boots and the head? I did on mine because I could see that connection being a problem for vacuum leaks as well.

I don't think it's necessary if the boots aren't cracked and you use round clamps.

[MPittma100]

Rotor Resurfacing

Thanks. There's a a lot of elbow grease in those. Rear one will be much faster now that I have the technique down.

I'm looking for a place that will turn the rotors before I lock it all together finally. I did repack them but didn't clean them. The grease looked pretty clean to start with.

I cheaped out and got the cad plated spokes. Will probably regret that but it's not going to be a wet weather bike so they should stay pretty corrosion free. Next time I'll spring for stainless because who likes to polish spokes?

I use a guy located not far from me (Marietta, GA) that has resurfaced a couple of rotors. He is a retired aircraft machinist and works out of his home shop. He does use the grinding stone (Blanchard) method and does really good work.

One of my (rear) rotors was warped beyond (safe) machining tolerances. He had a used one in stock. He resurfaced it and drilled a hole pattern to match the EBC rotors on the front. When finished machining, he paints the center. Rotor looked brand new, had a nice drilled pattern, and was true.

I did not know about him prior to purchasing the front EBC rotors. If I had, I could have saved a lot of money having him do the drilled patterns, truing, and painting to the fronts. Only advantage of the EBCs over the OEM rotors is weight.

EBC rotors for the 11s are around $200 each. He charged me $147 for his rotor and machine work. Drilling a pattern and resurfacing a good usable rotor off of your bike would be less. He has several hole patterns to chose from.

[Orange4]

I don't think it's necessary if the boots aren't cracked and you use round clamps.

Wow, that clamp was mashed!

I'm talking about between the head and boot. I don't trust any intake flange with only two attachment points.