Eccles' front brake improvement 2023

[Sidecar Bob]

Today I got out the vacuum pump and bled Eccles' front brake. When I closed the bleeder and squeezed the lever it felt like there was still air in the system. I was about to hook the pump back up when I got wondering if it was because of my modified lever so I popped the original back in and the brake feels fine. Turns out the original lever pushes the piston a few mm at rest and my lever doesn't. I tried adding a screw to the part of the lever that pushes the piston but it was starting to make the brake drag while the lever was still hitting the grip before the brake locked.
It looks like I'll have to use the original lever after all and I'll just have to adjust the hand guard's location to suit.

[Sidecar Bob]

Here's a pic I took so I don't have to remember how to hook up the vacuum pump (or figure it out again) next time

29 - Setup for bleeding.JPG (124.85 KiB) Viewed 2145 times

And here's a closeup of that odd oblong eye bolt

30 - Oblong eye bolt.jpg (165.83 KiB) Viewed 2145 times

I moved the battery to Eccles this afternoon so I could drive it to pick up the mail. Everything seemed to work OK. I was hoping to give the brake a bit more of a test but it started raining half way there and so I wasn't inclined to apply the brake any harder than necessary.
My initial impression is pretty much as expected. It doesn't feel nearly as aggressive as the old setup but I attribute that mostly to the smaller master cylinder providing more lever travel between rest and locked. I think I'm going to have much better control when slowing on slippery roads than I've had in a long time.

When I got back I drained the oil and the new oil & filter are on the table waiting. Now I have to finish going through the pre-season list and I can start getting Mr.H ready to hibernate.

I'll update this again after I've driven with it for a while.

[Sidecar Bob]

A couple more details:
When I was test riding the speedometer read very high (400-500 Km/h when I felt like about 40). With the magnet glued into a recess in the disc it only protruded a mm or so more than the rivets so I think the hall sensor was picking up the heads of the rivets. I tried adjusting the sensor but the re was only a tiny difference between reading high and reading zero with intermittent readings about right.
In the end I decided it would probably be better if I put the magnet in an aluminum holder so that it will be out of direct contact with the disc and also raised as high above the disc as will clear the caliper bracket. I still can't drill all the way through the disc because of the design of the carrier so when I turned the magnet holder from aluminum I made a fairly large a boss on the back and enlarged the hole in the disc so I epoxy the holder into it.
The next time out I could tell the speedo was working better than it had been before I was off the driveway so I headed off to look for the speed radar sign (they move it between the 4 main roads into town). When I drove past it my speedo said 51 Km/h and it said 50. I'll take that.

31 - Speedo magnet holder.jpg (113.42 KiB) Viewed 1901 times

Since Eccles is my cold weather vehicle decent hand protection is a must so I installed a set of Ural/Dnepr hand guards years ago, attached to the clutch perch and the master cylinder. Once I was reasonably sure of the new master cylinder I needed to re-install the right hand guard. I won't go into all the details here but it looks like this.

01 - Right guard on new master cylinder.jpg (108.88 KiB) Viewed 1901 times

02 - Hand guards Oct 2023.jpg (124.23 KiB) Viewed 1901 times

With both machines in the garage at the same time comparisons are natural; Mr.H's hand guards have less coverage (but perfectly adequate for when it is driven) but they have supports attached to the ends of the handlebars and I decided it would be a good idea if the ones on Eccles did too.
Eccles' grips are shorter so and the guards are longer so attaching the supports directly to the bars wouldn't work. I initially thought about anchoring them to the ends of those blue handlebar end plugs but they're a bit short for that and with the taper the ends are pretty small. But I had a piece of 3/4" aluminum long enough to make new straight bar ends about 5mm longer than the blue ones and some longer bolts so.

03 - Hand guard supports parts.jpg (146.67 KiB) Viewed 1901 times

04 - Supports installed.jpg (139.27 KiB) Viewed 1901 times

I haven't gone far on it yet but I've gotten used to the way the brake feels and I like it so far. I guess I won't really know how successful this was until I've driven it all winter

[Sidecar Bob]

I was at yet another medical appointment in a town half an hour way this afternoon. It was a couple of degrees above freezing and snowing enough to limit visibility to about 1Km. There was enough on the roads that I felt comfortable at about 75 Km/h because when I let it creep closer to 80 the front tire started to skate, and this on roads posted 80Km/h where I am often passed while doing 90 when they are dry.
On the way home I got thinking about the new tires and front brake. Now that I've been out in real winter weather a few times it's about time I reported on them:
About all I can say about the brake is that it has been a long time since I was actually confident that I could use the front brake on roads like that without it locking and sending me sliding into the oncoming lane. That alone was worth the effort. I haven't needed to hit the caliper with the deadblow to release them before rolling it out of the garage yet either but it is too early to say whether I've solved that yet.

The tires will need more evaluation but I like them so far. The rear seems to have noticeably better grip than the K270s that I've sworn by for many years. Either the snow is less slippery this year, they've been treating the roads differently or it is simply harder to make the Golden Boy break loose and spin. I think I've only managed 1 or 2 of those low speed power slides I enjoy so far (compared to nearly every time I pull away from the stop sign at our corner most years) and I've only felt it slide on slippery roads a couple of times too.
I've felt the front slide more often than I remember the Kendas doing but it hasn't been anything alarming and I don't think it means it has less grip but rather that the rear's grip is good enough that the front lets go first.
In the past I've always been able to dial the speed up to where the rear end started to slide around, back off a couple of Km/h and cruise at that speed, no matter which of the various outfits I've had over the decades and which tires were on it. This is the first time I've felt how much grip I had at the front first and I think I like it but I won't pass judgment until after I've experienced black ice on them.