Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

OK, so I overhauled the front master cylinder and fitted the braided stainless hoses about 3 weeks ago. All was OK, until Friday, when the brakes just didn't seem to want to work very well. When I squeezed the lever, it felt like a combination of sponginess and sticky pistons within the calipers.

So after taking one of the calipers off yesterday, it's pretty apparent that the seals have gone. The pistons themselves look OK, fortunately.

I now have 2 options open to me:

1. I buy new seals, split the calipers and fit them. Having priced the seals up, it's going to cost about £80 in all for geniune Yamaha (ouch).

2. There's a set of blue spots of ebay which I'm quite tempted by, providing they're in good nick. I've PM'd the seller asking about the condition, but I'd quite like your knowledgable opinions on these too, if you don't mind. Do these look OK to you guys, or do they look a bit rough and should I leave well alone? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-R1-Front-B ... dZViewItem

I would definetly save the cash for some Blue spots.

They look okay to me, but you can't see the really important bits, ask the seller to email you some other pics of the seals and pistons. They are from a 1999 bike so there never gonna be perfect.

Cheers for the advice.

The seller has PM'd me back, and I've put a bid in for the calipers. Fingers crossed! With any luck I'll be back on the road soon AND I'll be able to stop!

Whatever state there in you will still stop better, Good Luck

hi dee,

i just got some blue spots off ebay with the fasteners, unions & even pads for £75 inc postage. they were from a breakers called blacks bike salvage and they get LOTS of R6/R1 to break - often low miles. give them a call & see what they have. the number is 01704 897551. i'm more than happy with the condition of the ones they sent me fitted them in about an hour, everything bolts straight on including the unions, etc. soooo much better than the sumi's which i had to strip every 4 months and service

Dee wrote:
1. I buy new seals, split the calipers and fit them. Having priced the seals up, it's going to cost about £80 in all for geniune Yamaha (ouch).

£80??? For seals??? That can't be right! They are less than 2,000 yen per side over here. And you don't need to split the calipers to install them.

Cheers for the pointer, pinball wizard. My auction finishes tomorrow, so if I'm unsuccessful, I may well give them a go. It's not as if posting anything to the Isle of Man costs any more than posting within mainland UK, so this could well be a viable option.

Max - you could have knocked me over with a feather when I was given the price! You're right, it seems way too expensive, doesn't it? The local Yamaha dealer I spoke to didn't have the part on their books there, so had to fax Yamaha UK. The details he got back was that each seal kit cost £20.26. I thought that sounded OK until I was told that I would need 2 kits for each caliper....

I gave them my thanks and told 'em I'd come back if I decided to take out a mortgage for bike parts....!

Dee,

From the calculations I just made off the Yamaha parts list here, it's around £18 for the whole set (both calipers, 16 seal rings total). I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure that's correct and your dealer doesn't know how to read his parts list...

If you end up wanting to rebuild, and can't get them there, it wouldn't cost much for me to just stick them in an envelope and post them. Let me know.

Will do, Max. Thanks very much!

Dee, did you send me a PM? Somebody did, but it didn't come through...

Hi Max,

Nope, not me!

Have won the blue spots off ebay. Yay! Just waiting for them to arrive and I may just get back on the road in time for the crappy weather!

Dee wrote:Have won the blue spots off ebay. Yay! Just waiting for them to arrive and I may just get back on the road in time for the crappy weather!

well done dee!
the blue spots are a much better bet than serviced sumis

It's not that i want to be a smartass, but the blue (and gold) spots are also made by Sumitomo

Which is even funnier when you consider Yamaha owns Brembo.

I've just got the calipers through this morning.

They look OK, but need a MAJOR cleanup -they've definitely been stored for a number of years, as I can see at least one dead spider nestled away!

I think I know what I'm going to be filling my evenings with this week...!