Hello and welcome to my Blog, my name is Chris, a bus driver for First Mendip based in Wells, Somerset. I am Chair and H&S rep for the depot branch of Unite the Union. Married to Fiona, we live in Midsomer Norton near Bath, with Boots the cat. My main hobby is Amateur Radio and I hold the call sign G4KVI. I am the repeater keeper for GB3UB and MB7UB. I have a fascination for the weather and all things to do with nature and science. As a Christian I worship, when shifts allow at St. Nicholas Church in Radstock. These are my observations on my life, both at work and at home.

28 Mar 2016

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.

5 Mar 2016

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.

Current local weather

Uk Power production