Back home...

That was an excellent four days at the HUBBUK event. Met some great people and got plenty of tips about the ST and overlanding. Bike went well on the way home and the dirty look quite suits it!

Great day with the TRF!

Wow, that was some ride. Think it may have been a bit more than mild off roading when we had to lift the ST out of the rut so I can ride on top and not get the engine stuck between the sides of the rut. Well at least I didn't need to use the side stand!
The ST is looking a bit dirty now, but at least it proves it has been on a mini adventure down less travelled roads/tracks!
A big thanks to Matthew, Mark & Paul of the TRF for getting us all through the day.

Out with the TRF...

Blimey, only the second day of riding this bike and I have agreed to go out with the local TRF at the HUBBUK event for some mild off roading. Well this will be a test for the bike...

Arrived OK...

Well I have arrived at Donnington for the HUBBUK 2014 event OK. Couple of minor issues with the bike on its first real journey since getting it back on the road. The trip counter gets to 9.9miles and then goes no further although the odometer still counts the miles OK, and it wouldn't tick over, but apart from that the journey was good and I am so glad I took the back roads route. Got the tent setup OK so I am now set for a fantastic fours days with other like minded people.

Oh' bugger...

Bugger, bugger, bugger, the latch to hold the left pannier to the frame has just broke. With just over 6 hours until I set off to the HUBBUK event I have no time to do a repair. So a ratchet strap is my temporary repair, doesn't look pretty but it will do the job, hopefully!

Last minute jobs...

Well tomorrow I am heading off on the R80ST to the HUBBUK event, but as usual, things have not gone to plan and I find myself fitting two new lower throttle cables. Then after a test ride I decided to adjust the carbs again and that then meant I had to balance them for the third time.
Another job was installing the tank bag modifying the tank cover from a Ducati Monster that I had laying around in the garage.
Next thing is to load the bike up with my camping gear etc.

Modified side stand...

Well I have been struggling with both the side stand and centre stand on the ST so time to work out how I can modify them to make it all a bit easier.
With the side stand being mounted on the left engine bar, it is a long way forward, so my short legs cannot extend it out before I get off the bike. Coupled with the fact it automatically retracts when no weight is on it I find that I have to get off the bike before deploying it. So after a prototype bracket which proved the theory but failed because it was not strong enough, I came up with a suitable solution. Pictures to follow.
Now the centre stand on the BMW twins in the early 80's seem to be notoriously bad and many people struggle with them. I then learnt that BMW came up with a modified stand to help the situation but these are now no longer available.
However, I have been shown the correct method of using the centre stand and although still not as easy as many motorcycles, it has made a difference so I will settle with that.

MOT day...

Well today the ST went in for an MOT and as expected, it passed! just got to get the road tax now and I will be ready to ride :-)

Front brake woes...

OK, I cannot put it off any longer; it is time to assemble the front brake system. For some reason, this has been one of those jobs that I kept putting off; preferring to polish or paint other bits, but it has to be done now. I started by honing out the master cylinder bore then cleaning it all up and re-assembling with a new piston/seal kit before mounting it back on the handlebar right lever assembly. I then cleaned and re-assembled the front brake calliper using the original seals as there didn’t look anything wrong with them and there was no corrosion or parts seized. The original problem of the front brake seizing on was just the brake lever pivot that had seized. As this had an aftermarket braided hose on it I looked carefully at both ends, the calliper end seemed fine with a convex ended male fitting to go into the calliper which had a concave female inlet, as expected. But upon checking the MC end of the brake hose, I noticed that the MC again had a concave female outlet but the end of the male fitting was also concaved. This just confused me as my previous experiences with brake hydraulics said that this was wrong. However, that is how it came off so that is how I will put it back together as it all worked OK before. I then filled the reservoir with brake fluid ready to bleed the front brake system. Unfortunately, whatever I tried, nothing was working, I couldn’t even bleed the master cylinder on its own using a bleed nipple in the end. So I took it all apart again and double checked everything, put it back together and it was still the same. Re-fitted the original piston/seal assembly in the MC but still could not bleed the brake. Could it be that brake hose issue that I was concerned about? After much Googling and checking with other ST owners, I was re-assured that this was the normal setup so I ruled that out. Time was running out now and this needed to be done within the next week to stand any chance of getting it ready for the HUBBUK event. So without further delay, I ordered a brand new, complete master cylinder which came within a couple of days and once it was installed the front brake system was bled without any problems. Go figure that!