Re: Tires, forks, brakes, Oh my!

[Mick <bmwmick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:46 PM 4/20/2006 -0400, Matt Warren wrote:
>Lads,
>
>Getting my 97 RT back in shape for the season...
>
>Front tire is worn. It's a Battlax BT54. Advice on replacement? I'm mostly
>commuting these days and otherwise am not an aggressive a rider. Mileage
>counts.

Metzeler ME-880 either the radial or bias ply version work well.


>Top of the left fork appears to be leaking. Oily crud has accumulated. From
>my look of the BMW and Haynes books, there's nothing but an o-ring at the
>bleeder. Is it just a matter of replacing that o-ring?

You might just need to disassemble it and clean the crud off.


>And as a side question, didn't really figure on how/why these fork tubes
>were full of oil. If the telelever strut is doing all the suspension work
>and the sliders are just along for the ride (with no typical valving
>inside), why filled with oil?

To lubricate the sliders.


>And, with instructions saying to bleed them in a no-load position, how is it
>they move at all? I'd think we'd be dealing with a chamber full of oil. If
>liquid is not elastic how do they compress at all? In short, what am I
>missing here.

Have you bled most of the air out of them?  That might fix you leak.


>Finally, Brake fluid. DOT 4 is the spec. Any opinions on synthetic vs
>non-synthetic?

Synthetic is fine.  I've used Valvoline Syntec on all my bikes that specify
DOT4.  Do NOT try using silicone DOT5.
All brake fluid is synthetic if you think about it.  : ))


Mick
Tucson

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