But that wasn't the issue. I had the brake lines installed at the same workshop. When the mechanic was installing the brake lines, I was not there all the time to check on what he was doing, that was a fault on my part. ALWAYS look at what your mechanic does to your bike, that is rule number 1 for every servicing done in Singapore. Why wasn't I there to check on the mechanic? Because Yi Yang was at Juzz Wheels, and it was the first time I saw his CBR600RR. So Yi Yang, you have a part to play in my negligence haha!
Okay, so I rode off with the new brake lines and did not inspect anything. First thing I noticed was that the brake lever was very stiff, but I attributed that to the good quality steel braided brake lines and high performance EBC HH brake pads. That's the second fault. NEVER assume, if anything is amiss, stop and check! Especially if you're riding a motorcycle. A faulty car will only leave you stranded, a faulty motorcycle could cause you your life.
Thank god I did not crash in the coming 1 month until I discovered what was wrong, I guess my lucky stars were working very hard. Big thank you to all the angels looking after me!
1 month later, which was last Saturday, I brought my R6 to HKL at Alexandra Village to install the Akrapovic slip-on. While the mechanic was working on my exhaust, he noticed that my brake caliper's bleed screw was missing. I don't have a photo of my bleed screw, but this is how one looks like.
Technically, if the bleed screw is missing, and you depress the brake lever, brake fluid should gush out of your brake caliper. But that wasn't the case for me. The mechanic who installed my Hel brake lines should have noticed this while bleeding the front brake system, and it should have sounded the alarm bells. But either he does not understand how brake systems work or he chose to keep it from me. In either case, I am never going back to that workshop for servicing again.
Back to HKL. Because they were about to close for the day, I was advised to leave my bike with them but I declined. Stupid move but I couldn't stand the thought of having to travel on Singapore's public transport.
I was still paranoid so I made my way to Unique Motorsports at Toh Guan, they close at 8pm. I arrived at 7pm and was only attended to at 7.30pm. When I told the mechanic my problem, he got mad at me for not noticing it earlier. *Shrugs* But then, it was also too late to do any troubleshooting and I left the place after buying a new bleed screw to cover up the hole. That little thing cost me SGD$35, ouch!
I took the day off yesterday and went back to HKL first thing in the morning. The mechanic removed the brake line of the brake caliper in question and we discovered this.
The photos show both ends of the brake line. Notice that in the left photo, there is a hole for brake fluid to flow through the brake line. In the right photo, there is no such hole! Which explains why no brake fluid was flowing out of the bleed hole. This is a very rare manufacturer defect, but nonetheless, the mechanic who installed them should have noticed it when he was bleeding my brake lines! So, the whole time, my front brakes were only engaging one front brake caliper instead of 2. How could I have not realised that for 1 month!?
Being the perfectionist me, I decided not to use Hel brake lines and asked HKL to install a set of Venhill brake lines, 2 front and 1 rear. Total cost including RBF600 Motul brake fluid was $240+$50=SGD$290. On top of that, since I was already spending so much money, I also got them to set up my suspension, that cost me an additional SGD$40. I left HKL as a very satisfied customer.
This is becoming a really long post but there are a few things that should have been done to prevent this from happening.
1. I should have checked on the mechanic when he was working on my bike.
2. I should have noticed the stiffness in my brake lever and went back to the mechanic.
3. I should have checked the parts that were touched during the servicing to make sure that every single screw, nut, bolt was back in their place.
I will be posting my outings with Yi Yang and Rafie soon. Until then, ride safe!
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