Kawasaki Z250

Today master club mechanic Mr Phil Howells extracted the remains of the broken bolt from the engine’s left inlet. He used used an extractor and the hole I had so centrally drilled down the remains of the bolt. Whilst on a roll and in extracting mood Phil set about drilling out and extracting a front mudguard bolt that had also broken off flush. The two Phils then set about stripping the front forks down. Now this bike like many Japanese bikes has a cap fitted above the fork spring that is secured in with a plain wire circlip, fitted into a groove inside the top of the fork stanchion. In order to remove the circlip with the aid of a small screwdriver or two, the cap has to be pushed down against the force of the spring. Here’s a little tip from one who knows. The fork stanchion needs to be securely held. The easiest way to do this is to leave it secured in the top yoke. If it is out of the bike, place it in the well padded jaws of a vice. It is a job that can be done single handed pressing down on the cap with one hand using a drift, then prying the clip out with a screwdriver held in the other hand. However team work goes a long way towards making the task quick and easy. Another tip from one who knows. Try and remember to loosen the bolt at the bottom of the fork slider (The one that prevents the slider and stanchion from separating) before pulling the circlip out and releasing the tension on the fork spring. More often than not the rod that bolt screws into, will start to spin round if there is no tension on it! One last thing to be careful of:- Remember the cap is under tension when you take the circlip out and can occasionally fly across the room!