Recent content by rbernie

Update: The breather was fine, and replacing the seal was pretty trivial. I wanted to check the breather because the bike's seen some pretty crappy conditions over its lifetime and I've seen more than one clogged breather from too much road grime and water crossings. But it was pretty...

My final drive is weeping diff oil from the axle / cush drive and also misting oil around the gasket that holds the two halves of the drive housing together. If it was just weeping from the cush drive area, I'd assume that it's a simple oil seal replacement - the bike's a 2013 with 45K miles on...

Back when Geico was buying speed guns for cops as a corporate policy, I swore to never use them. In 40 years of insured driving - I never have. I currently have Dairyland, and they've been super - cheaper than Progressive by more than 25%, and their claim service was without pressure or issue.

I very much liked the Michelin PR4s for street use; they stuck really well both wet and dry, and I got decent mileage from them (better than the stock BW or the original Tourances, and equal to the Tourance Next). I just put on a set of Metzeler Roadtec 01s; I don't have enough miles on them...

I detested the stock pads for not having a good bite; they were replaced within a thousand miles of taking delivery of the bike. I switched both ends to the EBC HH but didn't cotton to the EBC HH for the rear; it also didn't have enough bite for my taste and I replaced it almost immediately...

At 38K miles of road use (commuting and touring) on the sets, the rear (organic) pads were down to 1mm of pad depth and fronts (HH) were both asymmetrically worn with 3mm on one pad and 1mm on the other. The rotors measured within spec and not grooved, so there's that. The pads have been...

I've run a plugged rear tire (Tourance Next) for at least 5K now, including a 2K mile road trip. In my case, I both plugged the hole with a snot string and used an inner patch to provide a redundant air seal.

This is my commuter bike and is ridden 45 miles a day, five days a week, so I've not used a Battery Tender on it in, well, forever. Connections are all clean and tight. Nobody in NoTexas seems to get more than 3-4 years from their auto batteries, and I've been told that the heat is just tough...

I did that a while back (was a feature of the USB charging plug for the accessory outlet) and I consistently saw 14.2VDC at steady cruise. I've actually chickened out of buying a less expensive YTX14S equivalent battery due to the poor life of the Yuasa; I didn't want to find out that the off...

<rant mode> I cannot seem to get more than 30-32 months from a battery. The bike is ridden year round in NoTexas - it seldom sits for more than a week and is usually run on the freeway at least 20 minutes each time that it's started. I'm using the Yuasa YTZ14S. I do not have any electrical...

I will never try to patch any tire that has damage to the sidewall or the edge of the tread where it meets the sidewall. I am currently running a rear tire that picked up a nail during my commute. To repair it, I pulled the tire and patched it both with a string plug through the hole and an...

I really did not like the A40's at all; turn-in was inconsistent, rear grip was relatively poor under braking, and they were not confidence inspiring at all. They gave me no better mileage than I got from the PR4 Trails, but with worse manners, so I'll probably not try them again. I'm 210lb...

As follow-up: I went with the Bridgestone A40s, simply because they were what I could find in stock. I had planned on using the Michelin PR4 rear / PR4 Trail front combo but they were out of stock everywhere in late May. I almost went with the Mitas but decided that I wanted a strictly road...

'Nuther vote for the cheap Amazon route: https://www.amazon.com/Car-Charger-Smartphone-Temperature-Fahrenheit/dp/B00SWGWILI/ref=sr_1_5?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1493749172

Simple question - has ANYONE had them leak when they're filled up and strapped/fastened down flat on their side (like they would be when pillion rack mounted)? I'd been reading comments posted on other forums where there seems to be a 50/50 split between those that had leaks and those that...