Braaap Day: The Aftermath

"atfsgeoff" (atfsgeoff) 02/04/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: None

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After one of the spills yesterday, the front brake lever felt different but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time. After I got home and put the bike away, I noticed the glaring problem.

Must have hit a rock or something which bent the brake lever like a question mark!. I have full wrap-around handguards that were installed by the previous owner, but apparently they don’t do squat to protect the levers if they’re not aligned closely with the levers.

This will not do.

Took the brake lever off as well as the handguards, and went to work with my ludicrously overbuilt ~80 year old Starrett-Athol 324-1/2 bench vise, and some cheap HF sockets.

Lever is good as new, and the handguards on both sides now align nearly perfectly with the levers to provide much better protection.

I went through the extra work of bending the guards to fit at this angle instead of just rotating the controls on the handlebars, because the controls are canted slightly down for much more comfortable wrist angle while standing and leaning forward.

On the downside, I had to reposition my auxiliary lights, and I’m not super happy about the angle (they’re only on a single-axis pivot) or them being blocked somewhat by the turn signals, but I can figure out a solution for that later as I rarely use them anyway.

Overall, very pleased with the corrections.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > atfsgeoff 02/04/2020 at 11:06

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...as I rarely use them anyway...

Consider removing them? That’s probably how I’d go.

I have a new headlight for the Vic which is an old headlight from some GM or other and I have to go pillage the connectors from the bone yard so they’ll connect.

Chuckles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/04/2020 at 11:13

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Working turn signals are required to pass state inspection here, so if you want to do any riding on streets that isn't really an option. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles 02/04/2020 at 11:15

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I meant remove the LED floods, but maybe the turn signals are what you meant you seldom used, and I wouldn’t have suggested removing those. I must have misread.

shop-teacher > atfsgeoff 02/04/2020 at 11:18

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Good work!

McMike > atfsgeoff 02/04/2020 at 11:29

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After one of the spills yesterday, the front brake lever felt different but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time.

Seems that would be the giveaway that something was wrong if you couldn’t reach it with a finger.

Wacko > Chuckles 02/04/2020 at 11:39

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How does any BMW pass then?

atfsgeoff > Chuckles 02/04/2020 at 12:17

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I was referring to rarely using the auxiliary lights; I use my turn signals all the time lol

atfsgeoff > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/04/2020 at 12:17

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I could remove them but I like the option of super extra lighting in the rare event I need to do night time off-roading.

Chuckles > atfsgeoff 02/04/2020 at 12:20

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Thanks for the clarification. I thought that you meant that you didn't use turn signals because you mostly ride offroad.

Chuckles > Wacko 02/04/2020 at 12:21

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You don't have to use them, they just have to exist.

atfsgeoff > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/04/2020 at 12:35

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Nah you were reading correctly, I use the turn signals far more often than the aux lights.

atfsgeoff > McMike 02/04/2020 at 12:38

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I could still reach it , just felt weird to my hand and I didn’t know why at the time, I was too preoccupied with picking the bike back up and riding. T he front brake still worked great and wasn’t binding the front wheel with the lever released, so I put my concern on the back burner and focused on the ride while we still had daylight.

bob and john > atfsgeoff 02/04/2020 at 12:57

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smaller, LED turn signals. 

atfsgeoff > bob and john 02/04/2020 at 13:19

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Yeah I’ll look into them. Just trying not to fall into the farkle trap too much heh

McMike > atfsgeoff 02/04/2020 at 14:37

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I was joking.

Taking “ I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time ” literally, instead of how you used the phrase would have meant it was out of reach, and it wouldn’t have been obvious.