Improving Your Motorcycle's Brakes... Cheaply.

As the lever fades...
With a few miles, or years, under its belt, most bikes start to feel a little bit lacking when it comes to the feel at the lever. And I, for one, am not keen on riding bikes where the lever almost touches the bars. Now, if money is no option, there are plenty of easy fixes:

• New discs and pads
• Braided brake lines
• Rebuild the calipers with new seals, maybe pistons if damaged
• Brembo adjustable master cylinder 

But this gets expensive, and changing parts could be masking an actual problem — something that could be easily fixed. So what if you could improve your standard brakes where things have deteriorated over time? Well read on...

Changing Fork Seals — 2011 - 2013 Honda CBR600RR

One at a time...
So I was going for the approach here of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Only the RH fork seal is leaking on the little CBR, but it's long overdue (just like tutorials on this blog). Well, no more! I haven't been riding as much because of it. I seriously needed a kick up the arse.

Oil Filters — Part Deux.

Where are we at?
OK, so I've changed the oil twice since doing the original oil and filter change when I first got the bike. For those that remember, the filter fitted had no manufacturer's markings on it and, when I cut it up, found it to be absolute crap. 

I fitted a genuine Honda one, and since then just dropped the oil a couple of times to try and get everything running clean inside again. Today I put another flush in the engine and changed it all again. And this, my very bored friends, is how it went down.

2011 CBR600RR
Really like this bike, the paint, the shape, its agility... it's awesome. But someone decided it was a good idea to hide the oil filler cap behind that black fairing panel. Doesn't make sense that to top up the engine oil, or check the filler cap for tightness (as they do before you enter the racetrack), you have to remove part of the fairing.

Oil Filter Review — The True Cost!

Be afraid!
How do you really know what you're getting when you screw on a new oil filter? That little canister has a big job to do considering it's trying to protect your several thousand dollar engine. 
For those lucky enough to have a cartridge-style filter, most of these questions won't apply. You can see every part of the new filter element, you can eyeball all the components on the engine. You can clean out the housing to your own impeccable tolerances. You fit it into the engine using the original manufacturer's components. Boom, you're done.

But what about the spin-ons?

• Does the material filter out all the nasties? And to what micron?
• Does the anti-drain back valve (rubber washer) really stop the oil flowing back into the sump?
• Does the bypass valve open at the specified pressure for your bike?
• Is the filter element sealed correctly within the canister? Hmm...

The news.

Take a look around the net and read about filter reviews, the good, the bad and the downright ugly. I've been a mechanic for a long time and screwed on thousands of filters. And as long as they screw on, happy days. You get the odd leaker, or bad thread, and that's to be expected with a mass-produced unit.

But it's all fit and forget. You never look inside one, and don't know if it's done its job. In a garage, it's all completed in minutes. You don't look at the oil that comes out, couldn't care less about the old filter and send the vehicle on its way for another 20,000 thousand miles (or less, as the case maybe). And that's the harsh reality. You're relying on the fact that the filter is a quality component.

But when an engine fails, can you prove it was the filters fault?

2011 CBR600RR Review — I've Turned.

You meet the nicest people... on a Honda.
The last Honda I owned was a '91 CBR1000FL, she'd done a few miles, had a few cracks in the fairing but that old beauty took me round Europe, in comfort, with no worries at all. The old timing tensioner mod was the only real engine work it ever received. I traded it on a new Hayabusa in 2000, and stuck with Suzukis ever since.

I've owned the GSXR1000 K6 for seven years now and it's been absolutely superb. No real issues, just general wear and tear, and it's still as quick as ever. But my last stint at the track on a Gixer 750 made me realise how much extra weight I was fighting with, not to mention the power I could never really get down (I'm a wuss). It was time to trade. 

Pain.
A quick road test on a 5,000km only (honest guv), 2013 model GSXR750 with squared-off tyres at Team Moto soon put me off — for the price they wanted anyway. No history or books whatsoever, it was in desperate need of some tyres with a round profile, but they weren't interested in putting any on. The whole experience was disappointing to be fair, and I walked away... until I tried a 2011 CBR600RR Tri-colour, and within fifty yards of the dealership I was in love! Holy F*#k this thing is nimble, light, smooth with a gear shift I could barely feel. Want... now.

A process started, which could only be described as painful. In vehicle salesmanship, as with any type of sales, there should be a bit of effort from the people who are trying so hard to get that, well, sale. They should go that extra mile, make you feel like it's an easy process, put your mind at ease. Not at Team Moto it would seem, going through ten hours of labour would be easier. But it's done now and hopefully remains a distant memory.

Enter the CBR600RR.