The focus of this clinic was Matt B's fork seals. Things went very smoothly. Joel H. & John V. came over to observe & provide moral support. The only difficulty was in removing the circlips in the fork slider. However, I demonstrated that having the proper tools makes anything easy. Also in use were a lot of "home-made" tools shown below. The first was just a piece of PVC tubing. This is used to smash in the new seals. The standard size PVC is too large to fit correctly, so a slit was cut down the side, and a hose clamp is used to bring in the diameter. To "bang" in those seals a short piece of cast iron pipe is used as a hammer. A sock is place around the pipe section, so that it doesn't scratch the tubes. This works out well.

After the seals were replaced, reassembly of the various components was initiated. In torquing (with a torque wrench, of course) one of the brake bolts to specification, we heard an unwelcome 'snap.' OK, I guess we torqued that one too hard! Luckily, the bolt had enough of a protruding part to allow a vise grips, which let us easily pull out the remains. Down into the dungeon I went and pulled up a spare bolt, exactly the same as the broken one.

The rest was easy. Reassemble & ride! No leaks! A job well done by all! Remember, always use the stock seals, do not risk using the Leakproof brand ones. They leak!

Later, we all went for a ride, when we ran into a bumble bee-yellow Ducati driven by none other than former V65 owner Joe M. After some severe chop-busting on both ends, we stopped long enough to get the group photo!

 
The Men & their machines