More Brakes and Quality Garage Time
I finally got the chain sorted out and squared away. I was beginning to doubt my competence. The brakes are completely apart now and soaking in Simple Green. I thought the Gixxer's brakes were a mess when I got them apart, but these are worse by a whole lot. The pistons had rust inside and were scored on the outside. The rubber was OK, but it's out now anyway. There was crud UNDER the rubber on the outer seal. I don't know how it got there, but it can't be good. The calipers were clean outside, so somebody cared, but once they were pulled apart, it was pretty obvious the inner parts hadn't been cleaned in a very, very long time. Everything was baked on and will take a good soaking and a good scrubbing to get as clean as they should be. The pins looke a bit worn, so it's only a matter of time before I replace both front calipers.
I also pulled off the old front fairing stay. It was pretty well twisted up from my one crash on this bike last year. It's going to be a challenge to find a way to mount the choke so it's easy to use, but really, once the bike is started, it doesn't matter much for the rest of the day. So it takes three hands to use the choke and start the bike. It takes about eight hands to deal with all the spacers, the chain, the brake caliper and the rear wheel. I probably should pull off the rear caliper as long as I'm doing all this, since it will get a new brake line anyway.
With the front of the bike disassembled, I cleaned the headstock which didn't look too bad. It wasn't the same kind of mess the swingarm was. Next cleaning stop will be under the airbox. Then it's time to refinish the bodywork and put it all back together. I have a goal- get it ready for the first round in April. I may or may not race, but I would sure like to be ready to race.