Brake Piston Removal

So, you’re rebuilding your brakes and it’s become apparent that you’re going to have to replace those old pistons in the calipers.  If you’re like me, your bike sat for so long the pistons are stuck fast, and won’t budge.  Here’s the solution I found.

Warning!  If you follow my steps here, you will get the pistons out, but will likely ruin them in the process.

Step One

Disassemble the caliper completely and remove the brake pad so the piston is accessible. (In my picture I still need to remove the brake pad)

Step Two

Weld a large bolt to the inside of the piston

*here come the tricky steps*

Step 3

While the piston and caliper are still hot from the welding, put ice or cold water on the inside of the piston.  (The point here is to cool the piston, but NOT the caliper.  By keeping the caliper hot, it will expand and give you valuable clearance to get the piston out)

Step 4

With the piston cool, and the caliper body hot, clamp the bolt into a vice and slowly turn, pull, and work the caliper free from the piston.

Step 5

Allow the caliper to cool slowly to avoid warpage from the heat.

This process worked like a charm on my ’74 caliper.  It was nice and clean inside and should be ready for a new pistons and seals.

Here's some more pics of the same process for the other caliper:

Perfect Roads

It all started in April when my best friend, and riding mate, Curtis came to me about an opportunity to go help build a house for missionaries in Papua New Guinea. For reference, that is just north of Australia and about 6 degrees south of the equator. I knew I had the skills, but figuring out if I could be away from work for 3 weeks was a big hurdle. Curtis jokingly added that we may be able to add a little extra time in New Zealand and ride motorcycles on our way home.

As time passed, and details were coming together, the riding wasn’t top priority. With about 4 weeks until we were to leave, we got serious. Many hours were spent researching companies that would rent a motorcycle for about 8 hours for us, on a Sunday. We were striking out left and right, and then it happened. With about a week left, we found the most reasonably priced and open on a Sunday company, Paradise Motorcycle Tours. Mike, who owns the company, contacted us personally and worked with us to get things set before we left the country, since we would be without much internet access for the first two and a half weeks of our time in PNG. At first he was just going to rent us a couple bikes, and then a few days before we departed the US, he asked if he and a riding mate may come along. We both thought, “Of course, we would love to have two guys that know the area and love riding along for the ride.”

Our schedule for New Zealand was going to be tight, we would land at 11:30pm Saturday night, then lose and hour, as it was their daylight savings “spring forward”, be up by 7 am to meet up with Mike and his riding mate at the hostel we were staying in around 8am. Mike assured us before we left that he would have a great ride planned and we would still be able to get back to the airport for our flight at 7:30pm.

Fast forward to September 25th, we sent an email to Scott at Skyway Lodge Hostel and Mike with Paradise Motorcycle tours to confirm our plans. They emailed back and we were set. Scott would pick us up from the airport and in the morning Mike would come with the bikes to the hostel. Mike and Alison, who own Paradise Motorcycle Tours, came with Mike’s mate Paul just after 8am. Mike and Paul unloaded the bikes while Alison took Curtis and me through the paperwork and got us set up with riding coats, pants and helmets. The bikes were brand new BMWs. I would be riding a F650GS and Curtis would be on a R1200GS. My normal bike is a 1993 Suzuki Intruder 800 and Curtis’ is a 1995 BMW R1100R. Paul was on his own bike, a black Kawasaki Concourse and Mike was riding one of his bikes, a BMW R1200RT.

It was sunny when we got up, and was quickly turning cloudy. The temp was somewhere in the mid to upper 40s Fahrenheit, which is rather chilly when thinking about an 8 hour ride. We got set up, took a couple pictures and we were off. The plan was to have Paul lead, Curtis and me in the middle, then Mike follow. This was to help us cope with driving on the “wrong” side of the road.

We left Auckland, passed through the centre of Manukau City and headed South on State Highway 1. We then went South East on SH2 and then turned onto SH25, East across the Hauraki Plain and the long single lane bridge over the Waihou River (Firth of Thames) to Kopu, our first stop. We were going to stop at a small restaurant, but they were closed, so we had some items we could warm up and coffee from a convenience store. The weather was grey and a little rainy, but the heated grips and wonderful riding gear we were provided kept me quite warm.

This is when the fun started. Leaving Kopu, we turned inland on SH25A through the Kauaeranga Valley and over the Coromandel Forest Park Ranges where we saw our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. The roads were rarely straight and the landscape was lush greens. The sun was finally peaking through the clouds and the temps were into the mid 50s. We stopped briefly at Tairua, on the Tairua Harbour below the Maori Pa sculptured slopes of the twin peaks of Paku. The landscape was breathtaking.

We had more of the same amazing riding for about another hour when we stopped in Whitianga for lunch at a small roadside café where we got a chance to get to know each other a bit. I had a delicious burger and Coke. We found out that Paul is a kitchen installer and just loves to ride on the weekends. Mike was formerly an engineer but decided to start his own motorcycle hire company. This was due to the nearly non-existent customer service and bikes that seemed to be lower rate or even in need of repair. Mike’s philosophy was to give the best possible customer service, top rate bikes and great riding equipment for those that need to use riding pants, coats or helmets.

The weather was now warmer and sunny at about 18-19 degrees Celsius, according to my motorcycle was displaying, which is around 65 Fahrenheit. Up to this point in the ride I wasn’t feeling comfortable enough to push the bike quite like I wanted to. I have been riding for over 10 years, taken 3 motorcycle tours of over 2500 miles in the US, but this was all a bit different. When we started back to the North I decided to go ahead and follow Paul to see how that went. Paul was moving quicker than Curtis and I felt comfortable riding for a little while, so I thought I would try to keep up. After another quick photo pit-stop at Coroglen Tavern, a pub that is 140 years old according to the t-shirts of the staff.

We continued inland on SH25, and this is when my ride experience changed drastically. Paul and I started pulling away after some light curves and passing cars quickly, and of course, legally and safely. By the time we reached the best riding in recent memory we had left Curtis and Mike about 2 miles behind us. We started getting into some really tight curves and were climbing steeply to the top of the hills with fantastic views over the Coromandel Peninsular and the Hauraki Gulf. Paul and I stopped off at the top to wait for Mike and Curtis and to take in the sights. From the top of the hill you could see both sides of the peninsula. View was what can only be described as breathtaking.

We took off the same as we came up the other side, Paul, me, Curtis, Mike. This side was much the same as the prior, except we were descending. This proved to be a fight between second and third gear. Some of the corners were completely blind, even with their own convex mirrors strategically placed. One corner had a speed posted at 15 kph, which you can normally look at and add at least 10 to and be comfortable on a motorcycle, but this one was legitimately sharp. Paul and I pulled ahead again and we came out at the bottom of the steep descent and turned toward the historic gold rush town of Coromandel. There was a straightaway that was wide open and I saw Paul get on his Kawasaki, and I decided to follow suit. We safely and comfortably topped out and slowed before entering town. It was a great way to cool the bikes off from the low speed cornering of the drop in elevation. Coromandel town had a population over 10,000 in the early 1900’s gold rush era. It now has a population of 1500. We walked around for about 15 minutes and refuelled. By this time we were realizing it was going to be a little tight to get back by 4:30, as originally thought.

Then headed South on SH25 with the Hauraki Gulf on our right all the way to Thames, which had a population of 30,000 and over a hundred Hotels in the Gold rush era. On our way to Thames, we got stuck behind a vehicle that decided not to utilize any of the numerous pull offs to allow faster traffic to get by. I was annoyed, but decided to take a look to my right when I could, which provided some amazing views with the sun glistening off the bay. The road followed the coast all the way to Thames with most of it being cut right along the ridges, so to our left was a wall of rock, and the right were fantastic views the whole way back to where we started around the peninsula.

Once we got back to Kopu we stopped at the café we had originally looked to stop at for a quick coffee and restroom break. We figured if we made good time, we would be able to get back to Auckland to the hostel by around 5:15pm. We would have to hurry though. We made haste and got out of Kopu quickly and started making clean passes and rushing back to the 4 lane highway. Mike and I broke away from Curtis and Paul in all the passing, but we grouped back up and made it into Auckland right at 5:15. We had to hurry to get some last pictures and finalize a few things before Scott got us run to the airport. Curtis and I agreed that as we settled in for an 11 hour flight back to LA that we had just spent the first half of our September 27th the best way at all possible. Since we were crossing back over the international dateline, we would be landing around 10am on the same day in LA and get to live September 27th again on our trek home.

If you are ever in Auckland or Christchurch and you want to rent a motorcycle, Mike will definitely take care of you at Paradise Motorcycle Tours. He gave us a ride we will remember forever. His operation is truly top notch. If I ever make it back to New Zealand, and I sure hope I get the chance, I will be getting a hold of Mike and Alison so my wife and I can both experience the spectacular riding and great customer service provided by New Zealand roads and Paradise MC Tours. They can be found on the web at www.paradisemotorcycletours.co.nz. If you need a night or few weeks lodging on the cheap, Scott is great and they are fairly close to the airport. We were really only there for a matter of 8 hours, but they really took good care of us. Airport Skyway Lodge can be found at www.skywaylodge.co.nz .

-Ryan Faircloth

Video Update

Points vs Electronic Ignition

Before the mid 80s motorcycles used points type ignition systems.  The purpose of the points was to complete the elecrical circuit at precisely the right moment to fire the spark plug and ignite the compressed fuel in the cylinder.  There was some time of mechnical link that connected the points to the cam shaft so that the contact would complete the circuit when all the valves were closed and engine was at top dead center.  More on How Points Work

XS650 Points Assembly (http://www.650motorcycles.com/XSpoints.jpg)

The system worked well and was fairly simple.  However, the contact often were fail, become corroded or need to be adjusted.  If you talk to anyone who rode bikes alot before the 80s they'll often talk about carrying a extra set of points during log rides because it was so common to have the system fail.

For my project I did not want to mess with all the work it takes to adjust and maintain a points ignition system.  Luckily, a new electronic system is now available that works wonderfully.


the Pamco Ignition System is a drop in replacement for the old points on a Yamaha XS650.  This system replaces the original points with a small hall effect sensor.  This, coupled with a high output coil make for a very robust and almost foolproof system.

The Pamco System

I completed the conversion on my bike in one relaxed evening in the garage.  The instructions that come with the kit are easy to follow and customer service is excellent if you run into any trouble.

One word of warning, you can wreck a coil and the sensor if you do not have the proper fuse installed.  I skipped this step and it cost me dearly.

Wiring Diagrams

Wiring is often the bane of a motorcycle project.  A rats nest of multicolored threads pouring out of small box tucked under the seat.  Here's a few links for diagrams to make it a bit easier.

Stock Wiring 1970 - 1982

Chopper Wiring

Especially when working with older bikes don't go cheap, get a new wiring harness.  It's worth the money in time you'll save not having mess around corroded terminals and cracked shorted wires.

Off the Topic Vol. 1 - Protect yourself and your family

On occasion I will put up a post about something unrelated to my motorcycle project.  Not trying to muck up the site with stuff that my readers aren't interested in, but I feel duty bound from time to time to bring some awareness to a topic or subject.  I'll endeavor to keep this to a minium.

For this edition of "Off the Topic" I wanted to address the issue of self defense.

I believe every law-abiding man in our American society is called to be prepared to defend himself, his family, and the innocent around him.  I do not believe it is the job of the police to protect us, we must take responsibility for our own actions and saftey.  I think this especially applies to married men with young children.  Their is no excuse for leaving the safety of your family up to the resonse time of your local law enforcement officer.

For that reason I encourage every mature, law-abiding citizen to consider gun ownership and training.  The 2nd amendment is not about hunting, its about the right for free citizens to protect themselves from criminals and tyrants.

I want to emphasize the training portion of my last statement.  A gun will do you no good, and possibly harm, if you do not know how to use it, both in terms of safe handling and effective shooting.  I highly recommend everyone who purchases a gun to take a course from a qualified professional to learn the skills necessary to provide for their defense and the defense of their loved ones.

For those in central Iowa I recommend the CAPS course as a place to start.  I've taken it myself and was pleased with the information.  The instructor is a former Iowa State Patrol officer and has many years experience.

For those who want to take a bigger step, Front Site Firearms Training Institute offers the most comprehensive training in self defense I've found.  You can follow the link above or read more about Front Sight below:

Front Sight in Financial Times

Front Sight Blog

Ignatius Piazza in Washington Post

Ignatius Piazza in Las Vegas Mercury

Ignatius Piazza in Las Vegas Review Journal

Ignatius Piazza in Times Democrat

Front Sight in Black Belt Magazine

Engine mods

There's two main schools of thought on modifying an engine especially when it comes to old bike..  I don't subscribe to either.  I'll break down the two schools and tell you where I stand

School 1:  Keep it original

These are the guys that figure the original engineers knew best and it's best not to mess with their design.  These guys will work very hard to get everything back to the way it was when the bike was first made.  Any changes to the motor setup are fairly minimal and usually hidden.

The big advantage here is reliability.  Most often, making a bunch a changes to a motor to get more performance means sacrificing some reliability.  By keeping things stock, the motor is keep within its intended operating range and as such can be expected to last longer.

The downside is, if it was an underwhelming motor to begin with, it will be an underwhelming motor still.

School 2: Throw the catalog at it

These guys will put literally hundreds or thousands of dollars into a motor cramming into it every conceivable option available.  Bored, stroked, ported, high compression piston, custom carbs, if they can get it they'll stuff it done.

If they're lucky, and they know what their doing, they MIGHT get a good running motor out of the deal.  It takes ALOT of time and patience because everything has to be balanced, tuned, adjusted to get the motor running properly.  This can be costly and difficult to do, but it can make for an impressive end product.

For me, if I really wanted a big powerful engine why was I even messing with an XS650?  If I'm going to spend all that money to try and get big bike performance out of my little 650, I should just go buy a newer, bigger motor.  On the other hand, a stocker just didn't get me very excited.  So I made up chose to split the difference.

For my XS650 project, I ended up with the following modifications:

• Engined bored from 650cc to 680cc - doing this meant I could get a bit more performance without putting in new sleeves, MikesXS sells 6th over pistons that drop right in
• Aftermarket exhaust - nothing fancy, just some decent peashooters that look the part of a cafe bike
• Pod air filters - these dropped right in and did not require alot of tinkering with the carbs

The end result is a motor that looks cool, will run strong and better than stock, but was not so crazy to put together that I need hours and hours of tinkering to get it right.  I also kept the costs pretty reasonable along the way.