New lines, new seals, new fittings, will it ever end?

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Venhill Power Plus brake lines and stainless steel banjo boltsWell this little job just got a whole lot more involved and costly! The idea of having lovely clean and refreshed  calipers made me think about the old banjo bolts (M10x1) and bleed screws (M8x1.25) … OK, so new stainless ones were ordered from Racebolt, that’s fine. Then it got me thinking about the old tarnished hydraulic hose ends … sigh … OK, so new hoses as well then! 

I went for the ‘Powerhose Plus’ range of hoses and fittings from Venhill down in Surry. I chose ‘carbon’ grey (smoked translucent sheath that shows the hose weave below) with all fittings in stainless steel. I really like these hoses because the end fittings can be rotated – thereby reducing twist in the hose and allowing the hose to sit naturally. This is something I hate with other swaged hoses. With that type, I have nearly always had to induce an amount of twist in the hose to get one banjo to fit the caliper or reservoir. Fair to say, I like neat hoses (and wires!) and I have a smattering of OCD about me when it comes to symmetry … both left and right hoses will HAVE to mirror each other!

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid front brake hose lengthsThe standard hose assembly is  a single hose from the reservoir to a T-piece just below the lower fork clamp, from there a single hose down to each caliper. To replicate this was actually more expensive than using two individual lines from the brake master cylinder. So that’s what I went with – A double banjo bolt at the reservoir and two lines to the calipers using 2 x 45º banjos at the reservoir and 2 x straight banjos at the calipers. For the Rally-Raid the Venhill right hand line (as sat on the bike) is 950mm long and the left hand line is 1,100mm, these will need to be slightly shorter for the standard Caponord. The important point is that the lines plus fittings have to be long enough so that no part of the line, banjo-to-banjo is under tension when the forks are fully extended.

The lines came with three hose support grommets each, and I ended up removing one as it was not needed. Both lines use one grommet located within the existing support grommet that fits in the plastic tray below the headstock, the second is used within the P-clip bracket on the mudguard fixing screws, so two per line (see pics below). The third I used to help buffer the left hand line up at the handlebars … hopefully I’ll get around to designing and printing a 3D bracket to make this support look more ‘factory’ and finally the third support on the right hand line was removed.

So with the lines sorted it was time for the calipers. The left one was removed, stripped and cleaned with Gtechniq W6 Iron and general fallout remover … a rather pungent and powerful liquid that does what it says – strips off 95% of the dirt in one go. Use in a well ventilated place with gloves and goggles, this is nasty stuff! After that, the pistons/seals were stripped out and everything zapped in the ultrasonic bath for a couple of 20 minute cycles until totally clean. Once dry, everything was put back together with new seals, O’ring and bolts (2x 40mm, 1x 35mm). Once everything was back together it was time to bolt the caliper back to the fork leg (50Nm) and have a nice warm brew before starting all over again with the right one.

Conclusion

In all fairness, I couldn’t get over how good the old seals were after 115K+ miles and almost 20 years. The pistons and springs cleaned up beautifully and looked almost new and the anodising inside the bores was hardly marked – totally amaze-balls when I think how badly some Japanese calipers fair after only a couple of winters. I honestly think it is all down to the coating on the pistons and the anodising of the casing that make the difference. As for the cleaning process … I got there in the end! Brake calipers are probably the worst thing to clean on any bike and unfortunately there is no getting away from good old elbow grease … well that and a really aggressive cleaner made for the job! The ultrasonic bath put the icing on the cake, but in all honesty wasn’t strictly necessary, but did remove a little more dirt and added  extra sparkle.

Below is a selection of pics showing hoses and before/after shots of the calipers along with a couple of shots that highlight the kind of crap the Capo put up with for 10 years on a certain Italian road …

Time for a bath …

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Brembo P34 (4 pad) seal kitSeems like brakes have become one of the hot winter topics of late, both on the AF1 forum and in the Moto-A household. The Caponord’s Brembo P34 (4 pad) calipers are getting a little sluggish and starting to drag the pads on the front disks. I’ve cleaned and exercised the pistons but they still feel the same. To be fair the seals are probably somewhere around 20 years old and have every right to feel stiff these days!

So I ordered a seal set from Powerhouse in the UK for £66 (both calipers). They seem to get excellent reviews and I have to say the kit is comprehensive – even containing a little bag of Brembo grease! Of course one thing led to another and thoughts of how best to clean up the calipers resulted in another fine purchase – a 6l ultrasonic cleaning bath! Now that just leaves me watching YouTube videos and experimenting with various cleaning solutions to find the one most suitable for the brakes, luckily I have a stash of old ones kicking around that are perfect for experimentation. 

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Digital Ultrasonic cleaning bathWhen health, weather and motivation are all in alignment over the festive period I’ll make sure the camera battery is charged and do my best to document the little adventure for posterity on the website. It will also be a great opportunity to try out the new torque wrench that I don’t know I’m getting for Christmas ….. 😀 

Way too close for comfort …..

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid - Brembo 07BB05-SA brake padsYes, I put my hand up; I screwed up on this one! I’m normally pretty good at keeping on top of the Capo maintenance, but this time I let the brake pad checks slip by while doing a full service a few weeks ago. So the other day I decided to drop the front calipers (Brembo P4/34 triple-bridge), took one look at the pads, swallowed … and squeaked a silent ‘bugger!’  Thankfully I could engage smug-mode as I already had a new set of pads (front & rear) hidden away in the parts-pantry after stocking up on all sorts of Capo-consumables at the back end of last year. The new pads are 7.5mm thick; with approx. 4.5mm of material ……. the best of the old ones was about 1mm on its tippy-toes. 😯 Way too close for comfort, so I took myself around the back of the barn and gave myself a jolly good talking too! 😳

Anyway that’s another job out of the way. Total mileage on the old pads worked out at 18,150, not too shabby really. And the rear? Doing fine, thanks for asking …. although by the time it’s pads are ready for a change, my guess is the disk will be as well. It measures a hairs width over the 4.5mm limit, so time to look for a replacement I think.

Clutch master cylinder seal

12mm sealUPDATED MAY 2019

A nice bit of news has come my way regarding the Caponord clutch master cylinder. If you’re ever thinking of finding a repair kit for it ……. good luck. No one has so far. But a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Eddie in the Netherlands, who being a rather determined chap, wouldn’t accept no for an answer. So he set about hunting through 12mm Brembo kits used by various manufacturers to try and find a suitable seal.

Well the bottom line is that after finding, fitting and testing a kit for several hundred killometers, he’s found a solution ……… from the KTM EXC125 – 520 range, part number 50313061000 and priced at £17.28 in the UK.

KTM 50313061000 repair kitNow this may seem very expensive for a kit you will only use the seal from, but when compared against the cost of a new master cylinder or a second hand one from EBay of suspect quality, it makes the cost a little easier to swallow.

I have to wonder at the logic of producing various 12mm seals that would only be used in a few thousand units, compared to making one seal that will be incorporated into many kits throughout the years. If you spend a little time online and look at decent photos of various 12mm kits from old-timers like the Ducati Pantah to modern KTM’s the seal looks awfully familiar. Of course, getting your hands on one and trying it is the only difinitive proof. And an expensive hobby!

So I’d like to thank Eddie for contacting me and sharing this valuable information, I owe you a beer!

UPDATE MAY 2019

It looks like Wemoto (UK) are stocking a kit for the Capo. Well at least they list one! I haven’t bought one yet, but good friend Beasthonda from the AF1 forum has and I had a look at it last week. The main piston looks to be a little shorter, only a millimeter or so, and that may not even be an issue when the pin is adjusted to suit. Anyway I’ll update again when the kit is fitted and hopefully working.