aermacchi

one of the first thing's i noticed when loading the aermacchi onto chalky's trailer was the fact that it didn't have a front brake, back in the loveless shed, bike up on the bench and stripping it down to component part's it was still bugging me, i reckoned the pistons were seized in the caliper, always the best bet with a bike that has been standing so long, i removed all the brake components and still thought the pistons in the caliper were the source of the problem, i connected everything back up, filled the master cylinder with fresh fluid and proceeded to bleed the brake, the pistons were moving freely, so why no brake?, i turned my attention to the master cylinder, whilst pumping the lever, i noticed that the piston dust rubber boot had a slight split in it, carefully stripping the master cylinder of it's components revealed the problem, thirty years stood in a damp shed with a split dust cover had donald ducked the piston, stripping it down revealed the damage caused by the exposure to the internals, mostly mild steel, easy to corrode,these are race parts, no need to build in any corrosion protection, you aren't going to be riding one of these to work on the daily commute, i'm just hoping you can still get everything to rebuild the brakes, they are lightweight aluminium race part's, keep your fingers crossed.......