Hello from SW WA

[Itdepends]

Hi all,
       A short note to introduce myself. I live in SW Western Australia (Eaton) and have been riding shaft drive bikes since I graduated from 250cc. I have just picked up a second hand ST1300 that is getting the once over in the garage before being put to good use. My current ride is a 1991 ST1100 which will be put out to pasture this year. It still runs well but it needs a few bits and bobs replaced which gave me enough of an excuse to upgrade. I expect I'll strip it down for sh%#s and giggles- and to salvage whatever bits are compatible with the 1300 (the valve shims spring to mind).

I must say that after taking the new 1300 for a test ride I was staggered by the difference in the braking capacity- I wasn't prepared for how sensitive the lever was and just about nailed the dash with my helmet the first time.

I'd appreciate any feedback on what you do on the first service of a bike with an unknown service history (dealers stamps only). So far I've been pleasantly surprised by the condition of the fluids but haven't got to the ones I expect to be the worst (brake and fork).

My plans so far
Oil + filter (gawd I miss the easy accessibility of the ST1100 oil filter already)
Final drive oil
Air filter (ordered this from Wemoto- but hope they can cancel it- I didn't check the bike first and was pleasantly to find a K&N filter installed)
Brake + Crutch fluid
Fork oil
Upgraded headlights to automotive H4 while the fairings are off
Coolant
New iridium plugs (old standard plugs looked pretty good)

Cheers all.

Daniel

[Mitch]

Hi Daniel and a Warm Welcome from Lakelands   
               

[alans1100]

Hi Daniel,

Welcome aboard.

1300 brakes are the same as the later 96 and newer 1100A models minus the traction control so three pots each calliper and combined brakes.

[Itdepends]

Compared to my 91 1100 which could do with new front rotors (on of the bobs that needs replacing)- the difference was very noticeable- even with the braided brake lines on the 1100- there was no comparison.

Thanks for the welcome- good to meet you Mitch and Alan.

[Kev Murphy]

Welcome, Daniel. Plenty of info available here from many members. May just take a short while to collect some replies from members, as they recover from the weekend.

[StinkyPete]

Hi Daniel and welcome to OzSTOC from SA.      If you don't have one already, you can download a ST1300 Workshop Manual from here....   http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=407.msg112436#new

[Wild Rose]

Welcome Daniel to OzSTOC from Toowoomba in Queensland 
Enjoy your new ST1300  Enjoy the Forum 
 

[Shiney]

G'day Itdepends, welcome to the forum

I'm sure you'll love the ST1300
What year model is it?

[ppopeye]

Hi Daniel. You will enjoy the forum, RTE's and general camaraderie and information'

[johnnyYTED]

 
G'day itdepends Daniel,  I recently had the ST1300 experience and was surprised by the difference to my 98 ST1100.. I didnt have the helmet meets bars though. Enjoy the forum mate and the wealth of info and mateship will will also find here.. 

[Gadget]

G'day Daniel and welcome.

Cheers,
Gary

sent using another of Gadget's gadgets.

[Itdepends]

@StinkyPete
Thanks for the link to the workshop manual- I'd already ordered a Haynes manual but having the workshop manual (working with a hardcopy is nice- even with the grease stains)- but the workshop manual is a real bonus.

@Shiney
The ST1300 is a 2002 model- so I'm moving from the start of the ST1100's (I'm pretty sure 91 was the first year they came to oz)- to the start of the ST1300 line.

The "new" bike has only done 40,000km, the brake fluid was done last night (took me a bit longer than normal- new system plus a few more bleed points than I'm used to) and was in reasonable nick. A bit more gunk in the clutch reservoir than I would like and both the front brake and clutch diaphragms showed quite a bit of water present.

Taking a break from it tonight and will probably pull the rear tyre to clean and regrease the splines tomorrow night and leave the coolant change/forks till the weekend.

[tj189]

welcome Daniel, enjoy your time here on the forum 

[Gadget]

Daniel,

There is a thread here somewhere about the pitfalls of bleeding the brakes, requiring a special pressure or vacuum bleeder, because of the peculiarities of the combined braking system. There is also a special order in which to bleed fronts and backs as well.

Cheers,
Gary

sent using another of Gadget's gadgets.

[Itdepends]

Thanks Gary- I found the guide before I started and it helped but I still feel that one of the bleeders on the front that was supposed to bleed from the rear reservoir bled from the front instead. Or was that one on the rear that bled from the rear instead of the front? Something like that.

Got a bit of enthusiasm up tonight - only have fork oil and coolant to go and have ordered a replacement fender as one of the mounting points (where the reflector goes) was broken. Unfortunately too late home from work tonight to try either of the fluid changes so thought I'd pull off the rear tyre to clean and regrease the splines, change o-rings etc.

Damn glad I did- the flange bearings have visible rust on the inner race and there was minor corrosion/wear on the axle at that point. Searching online it seems like these bearings are a common failure point but easy enough to change out. Wonder if the better half is up for doing me a favor tomorrow and picking some up for me.

[Wombat]

Welcome from Gosnells. I know it is a long haul but there are many get togethers in Perth and surrounds. Keep an eye out on the West Aus site.
A lunch in Bunbury may be on the cards sometime. 

 

[Itdepends]

Cheers Wombat- I'll have a look- so far I haven't been doing much browsing on the forum- the bike has been keeping me busy. At the risk of this turning into a mini blog- a few more items of interest this week.

I got the better half to pick up 4 new flange bearings (so I'd have a spare set) and replaced them last night- however I thought I'd done something wrong in the install as the new set were very tight. Hmm- perhaps I'd damaged them- they did cock a bit on the way in. So out they came and the spare set went in- same problem. The bearings would spin but very tight- and notchy as it slowed down. Long story short- after taking them out and putting them in (one at a time, swap the order etc) I found that it was the inner bearing of the pair that would always bind up- it would be fine as it started to go in but in the second half of the drive to the bearing seat it would bind up.

A bit of searching online pointed towards a few people that had similar issues and it was traced back to the bearing socket being manufactured with a small taper when it should be parallel. After a bit of searching around I was able to find a local machine shop (Bunbury Precision Engineering- thanks guys) who were willing to have a go at it late on a Friday. 30 minutes after dropping it off it was ready to go and they'd pressed in the old bearings as a test fit which spun beautifully. Took it home and knocked them out and put in a new pair I'd picked up while in town and bob's your uncle- the bearings are now free spinning. So for those that are experiencing premature failure of drive flange bearings - and particularly if it's the inboard bearing- check how free wheeling the new bearings are before installing. The only way to really do this is to drive the bearings in and install the spacer insert after the bearings are in.

Now this isn't ideal because reversing the installation order means the easiest path is to drive the spacer into the bearings from the rear- which transfers the stress through the bearings to the outer race on installation- however I've found the spacer installs relatively easily- and it's a better option than having another premature flange bearing failure from the same issue.

In other news I've changed the coolant over from the green stuff that was in there to Penrite long life blue. Apparently it's good for 7 years and 450,000km (if you believe that) which theoretically means I may never have to change the coolant again (as I'll put a minimum of 20K on the bike a year). A lot of flushing was required to remove the old coolant, the radiator really needs a low point drain as the lower hose isn't at the bottom of the tank.

Cheerio,

Daniel