Fork seals replaced.

Finally got round to changing the fork seal on the CBF. A job I was not looking forward to, so spent a far amount of time planing for it and that seems to have paid off. The job is fairly straightforward. I removed all the fairing which made access easier and also prepared for the coolant change. Once the forks were off it was the case of separating the fork to gain access to the seal. The fluid that came out was a dark contaminated mess! One problem I had not planned for was the water pipe I had planned to use as a seal driver was not 2inch but 40mm, so didn't fit. I had to resort to using the old seal and hammer to drive the new seal in. I did use some tape to protect the fork tube. Once the new fluid was in and the fork reassembled it was just the case of refitting. At this stage I changed the coolant which seemed ok when drained another straightforward job, just took a while the bleed the system. I also had to change both tyres to Pirelli as the rear had a puncture and the front was a little low. Anyway road test has shown the bike handling a lot better and the forks seem to be retaining their fluid.

Brake fluid change

Good weather on Friday, so decided to change the brake fluid on the CBF. Turned out easier than I thought. Used the bleed nipple to pump out the old fluid until the reservoir was empty than filled up with new. Then bled the brakes to ensure new brake fluid was through the system. Now have nice brakes. Was going to change the fork seals, which I thought I had fixed but are still leaking. These will have to wait for another long weekend. I also decided to leave the coolant until I did the forks as it will mean only having to remove the fairing once.

Leaking forks.

Been using the bike a lot over the last few weeks, and performing well with fuel consumption around 60 mpg. It also has been starting, something my GS had issues with. Anyway waiting at lights yesterday looked down the forks and saw the dreaded sight of fluid. On my return home a more detailed look showed it had been leaking for some time but fortunately , even though it had run down towards the brake caliper it had not mad it on to the disc. I did panic a little and assumed it was going to be a visit to a dealer for replacement seals. However, after a look around it seemed the problem was common and could be solved simply by cleaning the seals to remove any dirt that would prevent a solid seal being maintained. This made sense given the amount of salt that has been put on the roads recently. I came across a thing called Seal Mate. This deemed to work and there are many videos showing how it works. I didn't want to wait so made one up from an old milk container. It was then a simple case of removing the dust seals, I then found it seemed a previous owner had had problems and just put a piece of cloth under the seal. I did worry a little but pressed on and cleaned round the seal. After pumping the forks a few time to resit the seals the tubes are now dry. Hopefully they will stay that way for a while.