Time for a little

 Tallulah TLC

So, I managed to get Tallulah through her MOT, with a little hiccough when the battery went flat. Something to investigate. She was also due a mini service, you know the thing, oil & filter service, checking brakes, steering, fasteners, in fact everything you should normally do before an MOT.

Yes, I did check the critical bits, chain, lights & made sure the brakes were working, but I didn’t do everything I usually do. Don’t know why, but maybe I was concentrating more on Tabitha, at least until I sent the carbs & forks off for some attention.

So, the car was wheeled out of the garage and Tallulah was moved to the centre so I could work on her.

Thing is, one of the front callipers was still sticking, despite me attacking them with an old toothbrush and some brake cleaner. Then I realised that I’d had her for over two years and not once had I cleaned the brake callipers properly. Time to change the seals so some were ordered from Sprint Manufacturing. I already had some oil, so just the filter to order & I was ready to go.

At this point I should have guessed that Tallulah was not going to go down without a fight and that came once I’d removed the callipers. The pistons on the sticking calliper were stuck solid. My brake piston removers did not budge them and even pumping the brake lever barely moved them. Things were going to get messy.

I removed the callipers from the bike completely, which to be fair, I had to do any way. Cutting a piece of old bicycle inner tube into a protective strip, I grabbed a pair of mole grips to try to remove the pistons. By this time, I had given up all pretence of being able to remove the pistons without damaging them and was busy trying to source new replacements anyway.

It must have taken a good 20 minutes to remove the first one and a further 10 to get the second one out, and I still had another calliper to go.

I was concerned that I was going to have to buy a full refurb kit, pistons, seals, bleed nipples etc. even though I already had seal kits for both callipers and wasn’t relishing having to spend a further £75 having already spent £35 on seals. Facebook to the rescue when someone on the Tiger group suggested a trader called Olax32 and four new pistons were ordered at £39 for the four. At least that kept the spend down.

Less than a week later and both callipers had been rebuilt, the most difficult and frustrating part being fitting new dust seals, but it was done. With the aid of a vacuum bleed kit another 20 minutes was taken to bleed the brakes properly. All the while, oil was steadily dripping into an old washing up bowl so I could change the oil, an easy job which I’m sure you don’t need to know the details of.

Two weeks on and I finally got to ride her to check out the brakes, firstly a short ride of around two miles then stop to check everything was doing what it should. Placing my hand under the left side calliper, I thought I felt a little dampness and concerned that there may be some fluid leaking I gingerly rode back home so I could check things thoroughly. Maybe I went through a puddle or something as there was no sign of a leak and the calliper was dry, so a longer trip to a local pub I know that sells coffee. How was I to know that a couple of the local Triumph Owners Motorcycle Club (TOMCC) would choose this very evening to stop at the same pub for a bite to eat. Go figure, as our American cousins seem fond of saying.