I wonder whether I can get another 17 years out of these.

Another 17 years?

Of course you can...don't ride your bike!

Jeez, that was easy. 

blaKey wrote:Another 17 years?

Of course you can...don't ride your bike!

Jeez, that was easy. 

That's a good thing about this forum - you can always rely on some wisdom appearing. 

Bill

I thought I could ride, but not stop.

ainsjac wrote:I thought I could ride, but not stop.

More wisdom.  

Bill

ainsjac wrote:I thought I could ride, but not stop.

On an island as big as yours, you don't need to stop...just keep going round until you get home.

Still on original tyres too?

Lost count of how many tyres, but the front pads have had a few changes. This is the 83 basic we are talking about.

Are they Galfer's green compound? They're meant to be the most basic of their offerings. You must just be downshifting.

I'd scrape off whats left of the pad material and keep the metal tabs, they are going to come in handy one day. they are. 

There were green spots on the back of the pads.... does that mean Galfers?

ainsjac wrote:There were green spots on the back of the pads.... does that mean Galfers?

More probably moss......

Some people are so unkind. I believe that the green came from the leaves and wood bark I had used prior to the pads.

Nothin wrong with green........

"Still on original tyres too?"

Olaf - I can't read a post of yours without thinking "Damn - I need to remember to check the age of my tyres and not just the remaining tread depth".

You certainly managed to get that important concept to stick in my mind. I suppose it helps that I've had the theory backed up in practice by having witnessed the effects of tyre over heating due to age / load / speed / ambient temperature, and that was since you sensitized me to the issue.

Thanks Mate

rawdonball wrote:"Still on original tyres too?"

Olaf - I can't read a post of yours without thinking "Damn - I need to remember to check the age of my tyres and not just the remaining tread depth".

You certainly managed to get that important concept to stick in my mind. I suppose it helps that I've had the theory backed up in practice by having witnessed the effects of tyre over heating due to age / load / speed / ambient temperature, and that was since you sensitized me to the issue.

Thanks Mate

I was being tongue in cheek.

I have never forgotten two brown trouser moments on the LT, in once due to a Lasertec front tyre [never Lasertec ever again] and the other discovered to be a rather elderly tyre. That was my intro to BT45 on advice from others here so what goes round comes round.

Anytime I see anyones bike I look for the date codes. Quite amazed at how often I find 10 year old tyres and wrong way round tyres.

I was impressed last October when I got new tyres and the guy in the tyre shop went to trouble to make sure the front wheel went back same way so the right disc and pads were back together.

Its not generally an issue for me as my tyres don't even last a year.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:
Anytime I see anyones bike I look for the date codes. Quite amazed at how often I find 10 year old tyres and wrong way round tyres.

My best was a friend's Honda XL250S which a bike service shop had put a square profile sidecar tyre on the back of! That was when it was still road registered. 

I was doing a couple of minor service things on it for him, but I couldn't give it back to him like that so I put a new knobby on it. (It's only used on the farm these days.) As he's a good friend, I was happy to pay for it, but he insisted on reimbursing me.

Bill

ainsjac wrote:Some people are so unkind. I believe that the green came from the leaves and wood bark I had used prior to the pads.

Hmmm, the sweet smell of burning eucalyptus - and the blue haze is one way to hide the smokey exhaust on start up too!

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:I was impressed last October when I got new tyres and the guy in the tyre shop went to trouble to make sure the front wheel went back same way so the right disc and pads were back together.

That's one advantage of ABS - the front wheel has to go on the right way around or it ain't gonna work...

My replacement pads are SBS ceramic as these were the only ones I could get quickly from my local bike shop. The owner had the pads in a box which contained pads for "old bikes" and was delighted to find a new home for them. What are people's thoughts on the new pads?

Personally, I avoid using any pads that say metallic, sintered, or ceramic.  Right now, all my bikes have the cheapest Carbon/Kevlar pads I can find.  My attitude is that discs are too expensive to have hard pads grinding them away every time I stop. 

When I switched from the sintered pads that came with my bike, outside of some squeal on low speed stops I noticed no change in braking performance.