Delray
Well-known member
NOTES ON CALIPER REMOVAL ....
DUH moment for me. Just remove the front brake pad pin and get the pads out of the way. There is plenty of room to slide the caliper off the wheel. I was glad to have them off to pull the caliper pins out of their rubber sleeves. The sleeves had ZERO grease inside. Not a dab. The chamber was barren. It was a famine of grease the likes of which the Pharoahs of scooters had not seen in their lifetimes.
With new grease and pads, the front brakes were way more responsive. I get the impression the previous owner just rode and rode and rode and ... didn't do jack for maintenance. He changed the oil regularly. But the air filter and brake fluid were the dirtiest I've seen. The battery died days after I got the bike home. Guess it's a positive testimony about the BMW C 650 GT ... even when you ignore it, it just keeps rolling. "Roller" is the German word for scooter, btw ... Der Roller ... Ich habe einen BMW Roller.
Not sure about the rear caliper. It doesn't slide out of the wheel when the brake pads are dropped. Looks like the rear wheel has to come off and that would provide total access to the caliper. Luckily, this is the easiest rear wheel to remove I've ever seen on a bike.
Meanwhile, for lubricating the rear rubber sleeves, I did a bit of jerryrigging ... held up the lip of the rubber sleeve with tweezers and pushed dabs of SylGlide inside the sleeve, patiently working in the lubricant until the pin moved freely. Also noticed an improvement in rear brake response but it wasn't as dramatic as the front.
UPDATE ON REAR CALIPER: Taking off the rear wheel is easy. Remove five T-45 hex bolts and slide the wheel out of the way. The service manual says remove the muffler ("silencer") but that's not necessary; plenty of room by sliding the wheel toward the muffler. Remove the brake pad pin, the brake pads and caliper bolts and the caliper is free. Like the front rubber sleeves, my rear didn't have a touch of grease inside. I inserted generous portions of SylGlide in each sleeve and the caliper pins moved easily again. While I was down there I noticed my parking brake pads are wisps of their former selves, so I'll order those and replace.
By the way, with all this work, I haven't met a Torx bolt that didn't fit the six bits I bought to work on this bike ... T-25, T-27, T-30 (most common; also need a T-handle screwdriver version of T-30, which is required to unscrew one particular bolt in the CVT case for a belt change), T-45 (rear axle bolts), T-50 and T-55.
DUH moment for me. Just remove the front brake pad pin and get the pads out of the way. There is plenty of room to slide the caliper off the wheel. I was glad to have them off to pull the caliper pins out of their rubber sleeves. The sleeves had ZERO grease inside. Not a dab. The chamber was barren. It was a famine of grease the likes of which the Pharoahs of scooters had not seen in their lifetimes.
With new grease and pads, the front brakes were way more responsive. I get the impression the previous owner just rode and rode and rode and ... didn't do jack for maintenance. He changed the oil regularly. But the air filter and brake fluid were the dirtiest I've seen. The battery died days after I got the bike home. Guess it's a positive testimony about the BMW C 650 GT ... even when you ignore it, it just keeps rolling. "Roller" is the German word for scooter, btw ... Der Roller ... Ich habe einen BMW Roller.
Not sure about the rear caliper. It doesn't slide out of the wheel when the brake pads are dropped. Looks like the rear wheel has to come off and that would provide total access to the caliper. Luckily, this is the easiest rear wheel to remove I've ever seen on a bike.
Meanwhile, for lubricating the rear rubber sleeves, I did a bit of jerryrigging ... held up the lip of the rubber sleeve with tweezers and pushed dabs of SylGlide inside the sleeve, patiently working in the lubricant until the pin moved freely. Also noticed an improvement in rear brake response but it wasn't as dramatic as the front.
UPDATE ON REAR CALIPER: Taking off the rear wheel is easy. Remove five T-45 hex bolts and slide the wheel out of the way. The service manual says remove the muffler ("silencer") but that's not necessary; plenty of room by sliding the wheel toward the muffler. Remove the brake pad pin, the brake pads and caliper bolts and the caliper is free. Like the front rubber sleeves, my rear didn't have a touch of grease inside. I inserted generous portions of SylGlide in each sleeve and the caliper pins moved easily again. While I was down there I noticed my parking brake pads are wisps of their former selves, so I'll order those and replace.
By the way, with all this work, I haven't met a Torx bolt that didn't fit the six bits I bought to work on this bike ... T-25, T-27, T-30 (most common; also need a T-handle screwdriver version of T-30, which is required to unscrew one particular bolt in the CVT case for a belt change), T-45 (rear axle bolts), T-50 and T-55.
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