What did you do to your bike today?

I had painted the engine a week ago. Painted the engine cooling fins a few days ago. Got the repainted and polished floorboards and controls back on today. Need to check the rear caliper as I think it’s dragging. Coming together.

Got off my butt and decided to do a cooling system flush and refill, it’s been 3 1/2 years since I did it last. Took some short cuts, but did a thorough job flushing it twice with distilled water, this time around I removed the lower radiator hose to get that last little bit out of the low point.

Continuing On With The Maintenance: Changed oil & filter with my usual Mobil 1 10w40 motorcycle oil & Wix oil filter. Last oil change was done a little over a year ago with a run of 5,100 miles. Cleaned external crankcase breather filter, Replaced worn rear brake pads and re-greased caliper slide pins. I thought I would add a pic of my oil filler cap, I wire it for piece of mind, as it’s just to easy for someone to access, like when out of town and doing an overnight-er @ the Bates Motel 😧. Also, Hoping to get one more long distance trip out of this Michelin Commander 2 rear tire, which currently has around 16k miles on it. Next on the agenda is to give the bike a good cleaning

Today Stella ('08 Road Star) got a new rear Michelin Commander II tire. By the tread depth I still think the one I took off (another Commander II) had a few thousand left in it. But I'm planning a trip next month to Texas to attend the 2023 Texas meet and greet and ride around the countryside with @lesblank and @AlanRides. I'm guessing I'll put on 3K on that trip so I didn't feel pushing to get all the goody out of the old tire was wise. I'll hang on to the old tire should I or someone I know need it for emergency purposes.

On another site I participate in, the topic of changing one's own tires came up. I grew up in small town Iowa and worked in a service station as a teen, and then a part time second job in my 20's so I am well versed in working on tires. I've done much of my own repair on car/truck/implement tires over the years as well since we have the tools at my dad's shop. But I hadn't had a need for motorcycle tires until recently. So here is a pic of my new tire prior to mounting. On the floor I have a large slide hammer type device to break the bead. Not as easy as a lever activated one but it just happen to come with a bunch of other tools I'd picked up at auction. So you use what you have. Then the spoons. One I believe is from an old Model T type leaf spring. The rubber ended mallet is one we had back when the folks owned the service station. This tire was easier to do since it was on a cast wheel. The '03 Road Star (Black Betty) I picked up off this forum has spokes so they have tubes and are tricky to mount and dismount without damage. A pinched tube can ruin your day.

After the tire was installed I put on a set of Freedom Performance true duals. I've lusted after them for many years. I came across a deal (steal really) that I couldn't pass up. Unfortunately it was late in the day and I forgot to take pics of that. I have a few more things to button up on it before my journey. This will be by far the longest trip I've taken on the bike and I'm looking forward to it. It's been a long winter and I'm in need of wind therapy.

Got my new (to me) Corbin seat installed. Will take some better photos in the sun light

Did my first brake caliper rebuild.


It actually wasn’t as hard as I assumed. This is from the '03 Road Star I got off this forum. The rear caliper was stuck and causing the brake to not release. I wouldn't be surprise if this wasn't 20 year old brake fluid. I've changed many calipers on cars over the years. But with those I'd just go to my local auto parts store and get a rebuilt caliper and install it and then return the core. Not quite the same on the bike (or at least I didn't know where to buy a rebuilt). Looking at online parts places a new caliper was way north of $500.

I did a quick search of how to rebuild a caliper (I felt comfortable that I knew exactly how they worked and what was inside) and seemed straight forward. Well it would have been just as the video had it come apart easily. Since the pistons were pretty stuck I buggered them up trying to pull them out with pliers. So instead of just a seal kit I had to buy one with new pistons as well.

On another forum I'm also active on I asked suggestions. Most replied to use an air compressor to push the pistons out. But getting a good seal to keep the pressure and also not having them become projectiles wasn't going to be an easy task. I had someone suggest a grease gun (which I have several for different purposes). Come to find out, the bleeder valve is just like a grease zerk in size and it will clamp on (I had to unscrew the gun tip apart to get it to release however). That gave me a good slow controlled push of the pistons. It also required a few C-clamps to control them so one didn't push out and loose all leverage. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking and didn't take any pictures.

Cleaning up the gun grease was not fun but wasn't hard. I soaked it in a bath of Simple Green which I like to clean parts, then a little brake cleaner and compressed air to get it ready for seals. Before I did seals there was internal corrosion so I ran a wheel cylinder hone in it and also used a pick tool to clean the seal grooves.

I'm happy with how it all went back together. I considered painting it first but it wasn't scratched bad and it's going to be on the rear hidden under a bag.

Anyway, I learned a few new tricks along the way and thought I'd share for those who've never done this.