Restoration of a 70,000 km R15: How did I fix the brakes and suspension?

Once most of the mechanical issues were resolved, it was time to look at the cosmetic side of things.

BHPian that_sedate_guy He recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Chapter 5 – Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

I parked the bike in the garage and did a thorough evaluation of the chassis, fairings and all surrounding parts. There was an extra fairing produced to cover some of the headlights and make the face more aggressive. However, this made the motorcycle look slightly smaller and thus had to be deleted from the final look.

Most, but not all, of the plating was worn away here and there, with deep gouges in some parts. The paint was quite intact but had to be completely removed due to scratches and damaged areas. Additionally, many parts were grey, including the fuel tank. This didn’t sit well with me as the RTO documentation specified white. So I decided to paint the entire motorcycle pure white and then label it red.

So it was obvious that the motorcycle needed to be completely repainted. But before this could be done, there were many other parts that needed attention.

First of all, given the condition of the motorcycle engine, it made sense to look at the fuel system. I removed the fuel tank and my suspicions were correct. The filter of the fuel pump inside the fuel tank was completely clogged and was dark brown in color, although it should have been white. This was something to clean up for another day.

Continuing, I remembered that there was quite a lot of stones and other damage on the metal surface of the radiator. This means that the same stones are put into the front suspension, chassis, etc. It meant there was a high probability of attack. So I started disassembling the entire chassis to clear my doubts. The handlebar and switch came off and then I set about removing the triple clamp.

Removing the triple clamp meant I had to remove the wheels first. The front wheel endured quite a struggle before the lug nut came loose. This was due to the bike being used continuously in less than ideal conditions for long periods of time. Once the front wheel was removed the shock absorbers were removed, finally gaining access to the triple clamp which was quickly removed.

The shock absorber mounts were good but there were numerous deep scratches and deep wear marks in certain areas of the inner rods. This was a sign of bent rods that needed replacing. Replacements were very expensive so we bought a set of manageable quality forks from a second-hand market until the budget allowed for a new set of forks. However the housings were not compatible and so we replaced the rods ourselves having found it incredibly difficult to get them repaired as no shop had the necessary tools for R15 fork rods. Many garages and mechanics then had the rods repaired, fresh oil filled and the bearings cleaned.

Disassembly accelerated

The enclosures had a black coating that was peeling off in most places, so I used a strong paint remover to remove all the paint and dirt from the enclosures and scrubbed them thoroughly with steel wool. It was then dry wiped before being thoroughly cleaned again with paint thinner. I then masked off the seal and rod areas with tape and spray painted the fork housings with metallic gold paint. I changed the color to complement the new paint scheme I had in mind.

After the triple clamp was removed, it was understood that the vehicle had an accident at least once. The cone set was completely damaged, the bearing housing was cracked and all the bearing balls were crushed and distorted. It may not be possible to see the damage in the picture here, but some of the hardened steel balls even showed signs of stress fracture!

The front part of the motorcycle either carelessly fell into potholes left and right, or the bike had an accident. In both cases there was no choice but to replace the entire set.

I noted this disaster and then proceeded to tear the bike apart further. I removed the headlight assembly and then proceeded to remove the wiring harness.

It was easy to remove the seat belt as the wire restraints were quite old. As scary as it was to remove the wires, I knew it had to be done because I was trying to clean the frame, maintain rusty areas, etc. While I was making it, I couldn’t afford to keep all the expensive electronics in the frame.

I took photos of the confusing wiring to save myself the trouble of looking at complicated wiring diagrams during reassembly.

This is what a motorcycle’s guts look like when it’s laid low.

At this point Mr. P joined me and we set to work removing the accessory holders and the key electrical component holder.

We then set out to remove the foot pegs, the rear fender and finally the entire swingarm.

Once the disassembly was complete I quickly started cleaning the cone set bearing. The balls were damaged and there were serious dent marks in the bearing housings. The lower bearing housing couldn’t be saved, but that wasn’t a cause for concern because everything had to be replaced anyway. Even if I bought a new one, I only cleaned the ball cages since the cages were not part of the cone set.

The triple clamp body was then cleaned with diesel to remove all of the old oil which solidified into a thick mixture. The pieces were then wiped clean and set aside.

Triple clamp cleaning

By the way, I found that the crank access cover was too damaged to be reused, and this particular part turned out to be extremely difficult to obtain because no stores had it. We bought it from an old parts dealer, but regardless, it provided great convenience.

We then turned our attention to the front brake caliper. The pistons were seized and locked too tightly to be pulled out with caliper pliers. Following a trick from a YouTube video, I inserted small wrench slots into the piston and used the Allen wrench to turn the piston and remove it. Despite using such high leverage with the Allen wrench, it was extremely difficult to remove the piston as the seals were completely damaged.

Removing the piston caliper

The dust seals on the caliper had been corroded by salt water; This was to be expected, given that the bike was written in Chennai and was likely to be exposed to seaside weather.

Even after the seals were removed, the inside of the caliper was full of oil mixed with dirt and rubber bits.

The rear caliper was also in the same situation, after removing that piston, I replaced the piston seals. The rear caliper dust seal, on the other hand, was equal if not worse in terms of usability of the crank access cover. But since the old one wasn’t actually damaged or corroded, I settled for the old seal.

I disassembled the caliper set and the rear master cylinder piece by piece. I didn’t bother servicing the front because it was in good shape and had no leaks.

Every part was rusted, everything was seized and small parts were shattered during disassembly.

The split pins on the small studs turned into dust as they were pulled out and had to be pushed out. Instead I made a split pin from high tempered steel wire.

All parts were cleaned with diesel, sanded and dried.

It’s quite surprising to see how many parts actually go into a motorcycle. We’ve only laid out the rear master cylinder assembly here, and yet so many parts come together to make it work.

And all those spare parts give us a clean, maintained rear master cylinder.

Once most of the mechanical issues were resolved, it was time to look at the cosmetic side of things. As I mentioned above, the entire bike needed paint and I was already too far along in the build to skip aesthetics, so I figured I’d go all in. To figure out the volume I needed, I drew a line and did the calculations, or eyeball. With a rough estimate in mind, I went ahead and ordered spray paint online. By the way, I also bought cleaners and paint stripping fluid to remove old paint.

It was just time to wait and prepare until the paint arrived. All this and the painting process will be explained in the next section. Everyone stay tuned! Until next time.

To read BHP comments for more insight and information.