The VFR has been ferried off to Mark Chittenden for him to sort out the exhaust downpipes and their dodgy angles, the KTM is going in for its MoT next week and will be coming down to France in the van with me and Wilko the cat, so that only leaves the Falco...
Ah yes, the Falco. The last time I posted up about it, it was November 2021 and we were only on page 6 of this little soap opera. Since that time I've had no less than 3 sets of bars made up in my quest for the right dimension, hacked a perfectly good top fairing and new (!) screen about to enable bars to work without fingers hitting fairings and stuff, made up longer clutch and brake lines, found that both clutch slave cylinders I have are faulty, bought two sets of throttle cables (the first set - for a Tuono - were impossible to get to work), and done an awful lot of waiting.
I had to wait 5 weeks to get the (Mk III) set of bars back from the anodisers, and I'm still waiting for the paint guy to get started on my top fairing. The race season has started and everyone goes to the back of the queue, apparently. But the bars were finally delivered on Tuesday, so Wednesday saw me trial fitting them and hoping and praying that everything would fit, even if only slightly.
I'm still highly ambivalent on the looks (OK, I think it looks a Bit Shit), but I'm hoping the comfort aspect will make up for it. Here are some pics from various angles of the bars with all controls and switchgear fitted. First of all, the front view:
Everything will need tidying (particularly switchgear cables), but I'm very pleased with the new (straight exit) throttle cables, custom made by Venhill. The throttle action is perfect at all bar positions with no tightness or binding. My brake hose making skills are at least adequate as the brakes bled quickly and easily with no leaks. Perhaps the bars will look better when there's a top fairing to partially hide them (he said hopefully). Next, the side view:
- DSCF3098.JPG (486.27 KiB) Viewed 402 times
When it came to bleeding the clutch, things didn't go so smoothly. I was adding fluid to the (tiny) reservoir and bleeding from the nipple thoughtfully provided by Brembo on the master cylinder's highest point, but not getting any clutch action. I decided to bleed from the slave cylinder end, which was then I noticed a small puddle of brake fluid on the floor. On closer inspection, fluid was oozing out of the small bleed hole on the back of the aftermarket slave cylinder. Bugger. My other slave cylinder has had one of its o-rings renewed but hasn't been tested for leaks. Guess that's next on the list. And now the (almost) rider's eye view:
- DSCF3101.JPG (511.17 KiB) Viewed 402 times
So at least some progress has been made. But it's very unlikely that the Falco will be ready before I go to France, which means it probably won't be on the road before June at the earliest. Oh well...
