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Any real reason you don't just wrap ratchet straps around the handlebars and the rear wheel like a normal person?
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Nov 30, 2012 15:41
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| # ? May 17, 2024 16:37 |
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Safety Dance posted:Any real reason you don't just wrap ratchet straps around the handlebars and the rear wheel like a normal person? Because I like weird gimmicky poo poo I guess. May just go with straps so I can haul the race bike on it too.
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Nov 30, 2012 15:59
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Buy a canyon dancer for like 20 bucks and stop worrying about it.
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Nov 30, 2012 17:13
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Ratchet straps suck balls - use proper buckle style straps and you'll have no problem. Just get a decent set from your local dealer or online.
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Nov 30, 2012 17:43
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That's pretty backwards... Ratchets combined with the canyon dancer means your bike will not move. Buckle style straps don't hold that tightly and are harder to cinch down. I've also seen even decent ones let go. Ratchets (when you put them together right so that there are several loops of strap on the mechanism) won't slip and are much easier to fine tune as far as how tight you have the bike strapped.
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Nov 30, 2012 17:45
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JP Money posted:That's pretty backwards... Ratchets combined with the canyon dancer means your bike will not move. Buckle style straps don't hold that tightly and are harder to cinch down. I've also seen even decent ones let go. Ratchets (when you put them together right so that there are several loops of strap on the mechanism) won't slip and are much easier to fine tune as far as how tight you have the bike strapped. Yeah, this. Although I'm too lazy to buy a canyon dancer so I just loop the straps around the triples. Haven't had an issue yet.
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Nov 30, 2012 18:12
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Z3n posted:Yeah, this. Although I'm too lazy to buy a canyon dancer so I just loop the straps around the triples. Haven't had an issue yet. This is how I've been doing it the last three years and will likely end up doing it. Only concern is having the very close to the side of the bike instead of a foot or two away like they would be on a trailer or back of truck.
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Nov 30, 2012 19:12
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I haven't ever had any trouble with a couple ratchet straps around the handlebar connected to the tie-down cleats in the box... 3 fit if they're small.
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Nov 30, 2012 19:32
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Z3n posted:Yeah, this. Although I'm too lazy to buy a canyon dancer so I just loop the straps around the triples. Haven't had an issue yet. A CD pulled the throttle side grip up the clip-on on my old 'blade. This made it stick on, which was a bit of a pain, resulting in a fair amount of struggling to unstick it. Ratchet straps around the triples for sure. And everywhere else in case one comes loose somehow.
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Nov 30, 2012 21:14
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The newer, better design has the cups that go over the bar ends, rather than the cloth straps that can wreck grips/tubes.
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Nov 30, 2012 21:18
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I need to replace the front brake pads on my '07 FZ6. I'm just looking for something close to stock and not crazy expensive. What's a good brand to go with?
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Dec 1, 2012 19:20
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Socratse posted:I need to replace the front brake pads on my '07 FZ6. I'm just looking for something close to stock and not crazy expensive. What's a good brand to go with? Go on bikebandit or something and see what they have. I've had good luck using HBC as a all weather commuting pad.
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Dec 1, 2012 19:34
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Socratse posted:I need to replace the front brake pads on my '07 FZ6. I'm just looking for something close to stock and not crazy expensive. What's a good brand to go with? Speedaddict has EBC stuff listed on their site now...discount code in the OP of the marketplace thread. Their HH pads are a bit more aggressive, the non hh pads are more street oriented, although I run the HH pads for street use.
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Dec 1, 2012 22:49
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Okay, here is a video of the play in my rotor buttons.  https://vimeo.com/54681972
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Dec 1, 2012 23:00
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BlackMK4 posted:Okay, here is a video of the play in my rotor buttons. Every time you shake the rotor, you also shake the camera, so it's not really clear how much play there really is...
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Dec 1, 2012 23:28
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Yeah if you can set the camera down and move the rotor thatll make it clearer.
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Dec 1, 2012 23:33
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Derp. Hang on.
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Dec 1, 2012 23:37
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https://vimeo.com/54683933
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Dec 1, 2012 23:46
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I hope that's normal, I just checked mine and its the same.
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Dec 1, 2012 23:53
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The one on the left side is significantly tighter. I can hear it when rolling the bike around at low speed - the sound doesn't bother me in the least, I just want to make sure it's not going to be the end of me if it were to be about to come apart.
BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Dec 2, 2012 |
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Dec 1, 2012 23:55
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Yeah that looks about normal.
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Dec 2, 2012 02:35
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Your floating rotors...are floating. Nothing to be worried about. Some bikes rotors make some sound and have more play than others.
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Dec 2, 2012 04:03
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But they are semi floaters.  Ah well, just thought it was weird. I'll try spraying the buttons out with brake cleaner to try and quiet them down. BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Dec 2, 2012 |
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Dec 2, 2012 08:55
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I'd like to know more about linked brakes. Can you convert most bikes' brake systems to linked ones? More importantly, can you do it to a gs500?
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Dec 2, 2012 18:13
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M42 posted:I'd like to know more about linked brakes. Can you convert most bikes' brake systems to linked ones? More importantly, can you do it to a gs500? I'm not sure about all of them but newer Honda VTX one's that I've worked on have kind of a separated piston caliper on the front. Where the front brake lever operates one set of pistons and the foot brake is tied to another (and to the rear caliper). But it's all inside one caliper housing (with 2 spots to bleed). So basically it's just to force the die-hard foot brake users into using some front brake, while staying away from the layer dan lever.
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Dec 2, 2012 19:00
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M42 posted:I'd like to know more about linked brakes. Can you convert most bikes' brake systems to linked ones? More importantly, can you do it to a gs500?
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Dec 3, 2012 06:21
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It's actually not because I want all my stops to be super extra safe, it's because I have a joint issue in my right hand that makes extended smooth use of the front brake really difficult. And it's only gonna get worse as I get older, so... 
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Dec 3, 2012 06:54
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With engine braking and a bit of awareness and forethought you might be surprised how little you'll use your brakes in regular city riding. That could require a bit more finesse with the clutch hand though.
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Dec 3, 2012 07:47
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Nothing wrong with using your rear brake. Again, takes more foresight and planning and isn't safe during emergencies but for just day to day travel you can get away with it. If you can use a lot of rear brake and short amounts of the front you're good to go. No need for some crazy retrofit ABS solution or anything. They do make setups for disabled folks though to put the front brake down at the pegs instead of on the bars that you might want to look into in the future.
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Dec 3, 2012 08:01
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nsaP posted:With engine braking and a bit of awareness and forethought you might be surprised how little you'll use your brakes in regular city riding. That could require a bit more finesse with the clutch hand though. Yeah, this part of motorcycling definitely surprised me. In 4th gear or lower, I find that I can pretty drat quickly decelerate by 15-20mph without using the brake and without downshifting, just by smoothly closing the throttle. I can even ride down the steepest streets in San Francisco at a reasonable speed without dragging the brakes just by putting it in 1 or 2. Guess it's just part of having a generally lightweight vehicle. I sometimes have to remind myself to feather the brake lever a little bit when engine-braking, though, to warn any following cars.
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Dec 3, 2012 09:39
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nsaP posted:With engine braking and a bit of awareness and forethought you might be surprised how little you'll use your brakes in regular city riding. That could require a bit more finesse with the clutch hand though. When I started riding I'd get a little overzealous with engine braking and had the rear wheel lock up once in a while. I had to keep reminding myself that engine braking was essentially rear-wheel braking. That and I wasn't amazing at rev matching.
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Dec 3, 2012 14:11
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What's with the rear brake hating in CA? It makes things; a) quicker to stop b) smoother And as long as you're not lead footed it's pretty drat easy to use, even under emergency braking if you spend some time practicing it. I find blipping the throttle a bit on downshifts makes it really easy to rev match at higher speeds and haven't really found it that hard to get used to, to be completely honest, but I've been pretty overzealous with my engine braking a fair bit since I started riding. I'd say about 70% of my braking is engine braking (I tap the brake lever to just before it engages a few times to let people know I'm slowing down though).
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Dec 3, 2012 14:35
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It's awkward as gently caress to get to for me so I just don't even bother.
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Dec 3, 2012 15:14
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On the cruiser (C50) I'm riding now it's kind of hard to keep the back wheel turning with the rear brake applied. I almost ended up in the side of an SUV Saturday that pulled out in front of me, happily my MSF course training took over. The back did skid some, but I was able to modulate it and swerve around w/out layin' er down. The single disk front brake is just not that great (if I squeeze too hard it starts chattering,) and it's easy to put too much pressure on the back because it's a giant car-like pedal.
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Dec 3, 2012 15:37
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thylacine posted:On the cruiser (C50) I'm riding now it's kind of hard to keep the back wheel turning with the rear brake applied. I almost ended up in the side of an SUV Saturday that pulled out in front of me, happily my MSF course training took over. The back did skid some, but I was able to modulate it and swerve around w/out layin' er down. The single disk front brake is just not that great (if I squeeze too hard it starts chattering,) and it's easy to put too much pressure on the back because it's a giant car-like pedal. If you gained about a hundred pounds, I bet it would be just right.
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Dec 3, 2012 15:47
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M42 posted:It's actually not because I want all my stops to be super extra safe, it's because I have a joint issue in my right hand that makes extended smooth use of the front brake really difficult. And it's only gonna get worse as I get older, so...
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Dec 3, 2012 16:18
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thylacine posted:On the cruiser (C50) I'm riding now it's kind of hard to keep the back wheel turning with the rear brake applied. I almost ended up in the side of an SUV Saturday that pulled out in front of me, happily my MSF course training took over. The back did skid some, but I was able to modulate it and swerve around w/out layin' er down. The single disk front brake is just not that great (if I squeeze too hard it starts chattering,) and it's easy to put too much pressure on the back because it's a giant car-like pedal. I've kicked the crap out of that bike recently and never got any chatter out of the front like that. The rear is a little easy to lean on due to the big fuckoff pedal but it's fine after a little getting used to. You may want to inspect/clean your calipers and pads, because this doesn't sound at all like what I've experienced on the same bike. The one I've been on is an 05, but I don't think there's significant difference between the Boulevard years. Do you downshift when braking to help out? That might be a difference too. Safety Dance posted:If you gained about a hundred pounds, I bet it would be just right. I'm 215 so this might also be the difference lol Halo_4am fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Dec 3, 2012 |
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Dec 3, 2012 16:34
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M42 posted:It's actually not because I want all my stops to be super extra safe, it's because I have a joint issue in my right hand that makes extended smooth use of the front brake really difficult. And it's only gonna get worse as I get older, so... If it's likely to be degenerative or just to get more arthritic with time, a Honda-CBS-style linked brake system won't do the job. It not only complicates the brake plumbing, but the pedal (with the 3-pot Nissins anyway) only activates 1 piston on 1 front caliper. So you could probably pull the entire brake system from an old CBS-equipped pre-ABS Honda (Blackbird should be in this spec, can't remember what other bikes used CBS), have mounting brackets machined up for the calipers and use them on a GS, but it wouldn't ultimately help. Plus, you could sell the GS and just buy the Honda and save a lot of hassle. Ultimately, if there is a significant impairment, the safest thing will be to re-plumb the system so that the pedal operates the front and the lever the back. Custom hoses and hose clips are easy - biggest issue would seem to be getting suitable master cylinder ratios, as you need a pedal type m/c to work a lot of piston area. You would hope there would be something suitable from an aftermarket supplier. Plus, there are lots of cruisers with huge rear discs, so there may even be a suitable stock m/c you could locate from a breaker's yard or on e-bay.
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Dec 3, 2012 16:49
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M42 posted:It's actually not because I want all my stops to be super extra safe, it's because I have a joint issue in my right hand that makes extended smooth use of the front brake really difficult. And it's only gonna get worse as I get older, so... If it's only under extended or heavy use, there are a number of things that could be done. The 2 easy solutions that come to mind for me are: 1. Aftermarket brake cylinder that increases or decreases lever travel based off of what is comfortable for you. 2. Second brake, stunter style, on the clutch side. The more difficult option is some kind of control swap, or a thumb brake, or some other configuration. Also, if your only experience is on the MSF bikes, I wouldn't take the amount of effort/etc that they require to work as the only available option. Most modern bikes have very light lever action that provides a lot of braking power, so it's quite possible that it'll just be more important for you to keep pads, fluid, and your calipers in good shape and you'll be just fine 
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Dec 3, 2012 19:07
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Shimrod posted:What's with the rear brake hating in CA? It makes things; As a rider of an old bike with weak brakes where you need to apply both simultaneously to stop with any haste, I both appreciate how useful the rear brake can be, and understand how much more force the front can apply under a heavy deceleration. Best not to focus on one or the other, but just get used to using and modulating both simultaneously. I couldn't handle it at the MSF, always forgot about the foot brake, but somehow I just started doing it.
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Dec 3, 2012 19:29
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