In the last post I
mentioned that the front brakes were pulsing and that I took the bike to Peter
Stevens to have the discs etc checked. There was nothing wrong with lateral
run-out, the rim or the wheel bearing. So
Peter Stevens agreed to replace the rotors. That was done today and thankfully
I now have some feel from the front end while braking into a bend.
A search of Triumph
forum posts showed that the problem is not uncommon. Some guys have had their rotors replaced twice
under warranty. It’s not clear why
though. One poster reported his mechanic as saying that the rivets on the
floating discs tend to seize so you no longer have the float. I checked mine and they still flexed. Who knows.
Meantime, the rear
A better profile of tyre
was clearly called for so I headed off to Victorian Motorcycle Wreckers, now in
Heidelberg West. I was hoping for a pair
of Pilot Powers but no luck. A trashed
Kwaka of unknown model yielded a pair of near-new Dunlop D208RRs.
Equipped with
instructions from the web community of Trumpy grease monkeys, a torque wrench
and a 46mm socket, the rear wheel came off fairly readily. It’s a SSSA so a trip to Redwing brought
about the needed fitting and balancing with an offset hub, for $20.
Peter Stevens mounted
the front for free while they were doing the discs so now the old dame has some
sticky rubber at both ends.
While in the shop though
it appeared there’s a headlight wiring failure on the right side so another
trip down is called for.
Mounting up to leave
after the front end work, I found the top fork yoke sporting a sticker warning
of the need to scrub in new tyres. Fair
enough. Charlie at Turn One tells the
tale of a rider gassing his machine out of the shop with newly fitted tyres
only to lose it in front of his mates.
Then kicking a dent in the tank in frustration. Plastic tank too. And one of the Staffords reports an FJR1300
rider losing it for the same reason in Bell St.
Serious dent in the plastic of the other kind.
By the way, the Vic
Motorcycle Wreckers have a gruesome collection of Hayabusas; the model appears
to shear one or both sides of the frame at the headstock (even without having
been mono'd). Just bad welding it seems. The shear happens suddenly and you're cactus. It also appears that Yammie TRXs are prone to
frame breakages – the thickness of the steel in the tube frame being a
potential weak spot (this is for Tony’s benefit – hope you’re reading the magazine
my friend).
Other than those mods,
I’ve replaced the original disc horn with an Italian-made electrically powered
trumpet imported from the
Well that’s the latest
instalment with 27,000 km on the clock.
Ern Reeders
Feb 16, 2006