I use the term switchgear here to cover all the controls mounted on the handlebars- including the levers and the switches. On my bike all the switches were present and worked but they were in aesthetically poor condition. Furthermore the levers had a lot of play and the choke and accelerator where sticky. The front brake system worked when I rode the bike home but I’m sure the master cylinder had never been rebuilt.
I had never taken these levers apart before and there are a lot of small pieces so I took a lot of photos on the way in and kept everything organised in zip bags. When I had all the pieces apart I started cleaning up the grease and metal parts. Particularly worth noting are a few small parts in the choke assembly- a small detent ball bearing and also a loose metal race that the ball rolls in. Both are very easily lost during disassembly. You can also see the quality of the grease in the choke and accelerator assembly!
Clean up was pretty tedious- i used a lot of WD40 and q-tips to get into all the nooks and crannies. Of note- the clutch lever end was badly scraped- either from a wall or from being dropped. Some time with a fine sand paper was able to achieve a much better (but not perfect) rounded finish. When it was all spotlessly clean the parts were rubbed with isopropyl alcohol and threads and brake cylinders etc carefully masked off. Then the parts were painted with Rustoleum etch primer and semi gloss enamel. They came out pretty good!
The plastic switch housings were cleaned and then refurbished with Forever black. The brake master cylinder piston assembly was removed and replaced with a kit containing new seals. When ordering the kit it is important to specify the diameter of the master cylinder which is stamped on the underside- mine was 15mm. Unfortunately I had ordered the kit prior to disassembly and I discovered that the cylinder itself was badly scored so I ended up replacing the whole thing. Other parts which were replaced were the white nylon bush in the clutch lever, the o-ring and the various wave washers.
Plenty of fresh grease was used during reassembly. A few other new pieces such as a new choke cover plate, new mirrors and new grips and she looked as good as new!
