Ok So I'm supposed to go see an old car/would be Hotrod to maybe buy tonight..... I stopped by my friends to see if they wanted to go....

"let's take the bikes! (Harley guys...great..)". So I half reluctantly agreed (knowing my personal bikes battery needs a charge...poor neglected bike.)

I get the thing out ( My 94 ZX11 ) and whirr whirr whirrrrrr..... almost caught but no dice..... So I push start it... fires... runs a few seconds and quits...

Get it going again... same thing....again..... same thing...

Now the guys show up ( I'm tired from running a 600 pound bike a few times..)... Put Rob on it..I push....he gets it fired and holds it running a little longer....quits on him after 50- 60 feet...

We get it running with a few more attempts..and idling up ( Wonderful kawasaki chokes....just gotta find the sweet spot to start...)

All seems good...it will be a  long enough ride to charge the battery back up til I get home and get the tender on it...(tender has been on other bikes off and on and just never made it back to the 11..)..

So I run the bike around the neighborhood.... clutch seems different...(didn't notice while I was in start mode..)... Ran down around the loop  and  I pull the clutch in to rev her a little  and Wow...still getting some power to the rear.... NOT good... This is why it kept quitting on us..

I get it back to the house...garage... Pop it up on the center stand....take  the resevoir cover off and start to bleed it...( I Must confess it's LONG overdue for this kind of maintenance...too much tinkering on the projects and I've neglected my poor bike...).....

Ok So I only have maybe a half bottle of the DOT4... I bleed it and bleed it... and bleed it some more.... Same problem... and almost out of fluid (used a syringe to suck out most of the ugly fluid...). Now I have to go get more fluid and figure out why it's not bleeding the way it should ( It is 11 years old now...might have to redo the slave cylinder...ratzlfratzl)


So - so much for the ride and now it's getting too late to go ( had a dinner time to meet..)....

Kicking myself in the ass cause I'm solely to blame...Honest when  I did the brakes the clutch was getting bled too ( brakes get done when the pads arrive..)....REALLY.

I'm such a jackass.....---maybe that should be my new Sig....

After doing some research.... (Well yes I'm still a jackass...but back to the clutch talk..).. I think I figured out why it won't bleed and work the right way...

Banjo bolts... sometimes it's damned impossible to get all the air out of those suckers  (The  orientation /angle of the resevoir etc seems to trap any air thats in there...).  

Figure I can pump the clutch lever up and crack the bolt for a split  second to let the air out ...or I can order bleeder -banjo bolts...

Also the age factor may be a definite ( yes  lax on maintenance is the main reason) contributor to the failure.... The crush washers look to be chalked up pretty good (aluminum washers)...this may have been the reason for the seemingly rapid (Yeah it's my fault.....I heard you the first time! hehehe). failure....

Anyway....I have the lever tied the the grip ( lets air in the line come up over night)... Will see if I can get some new washers and fluid tommorrow... Hopefully it'll fix it....



Ever get the feeling that you're talking to yourself?

sometimes a quick rap or 3 on the handle, like slaping the lever will jolt the bubbles outa hiding.

Yeah I was tapping onn the line and the banjo bolt when I was pumping  the clutch lever.... (as per the factory manual...).  Didn't seem to help....

finally going to break down and buy a mityvac.... should have one anyway....... Oops almost late for work...gotta go....