The Suzuki Van Van. There I've said it. I'm seriously considering getting a second hand 125 Suzuki Van Van to use purely are a commuter bike, which frankly is pretty much all it would be good for. Looking around at adverts you can get them from about £1200+, which may seem like a lot of money for not very much bike, but my thinking is it will be cheap as chips to run, insure and tax. It will certainly be easier than riding the Ducati into the City that for sure. It's not something that I'm going to rush into, but its certainly on my mind. So much so that I popped into the local Suzuki dealership in Finchley yesterday after work to get a brochure. To my surprise Tony, a former mechanic at North London Motorcycle was there and we had a little catch up. Tony has really helped me out in the past and I one of about three mechanics I completely trust. He's a good man and a great mechanic. For me, that trust between mechanic and rider is invaluable.
In Ducati news, on the ride home yesterday I could feel the front brakes felt really notchy when coming to a stop, which was a little concerning. I was a little apprehensive about taking the calipers off as I'd read that the Brembos use stretch bolts. After a quick reassuring chat with Artur I popped them off and had a look. It turns out, that despite changing the pads at the end of last season, one of the pads on the left caliper was pretty much down to the metal. This happened on the Ninja once before and I had originally thought it was down to a sticking piston or something. I was also worried that the crash back in June had done something to the calipers, so I'm glad it was a simple fix.
What followed was a strip and clean exercise. I was using Performance Friction pads, but only had a set of EBC pads lying around so I had to use those instead.
In Ducati news, on the ride home yesterday I could feel the front brakes felt really notchy when coming to a stop, which was a little concerning. I was a little apprehensive about taking the calipers off as I'd read that the Brembos use stretch bolts. After a quick reassuring chat with Artur I popped them off and had a look. It turns out, that despite changing the pads at the end of last season, one of the pads on the left caliper was pretty much down to the metal. This happened on the Ninja once before and I had originally thought it was down to a sticking piston or something. I was also worried that the crash back in June had done something to the calipers, so I'm glad it was a simple fix.
What followed was a strip and clean exercise. I was using Performance Friction pads, but only had a set of EBC pads lying around so I had to use those instead.
A little bit of copper slip around the outside of the pads and a little bit of fiddling and the pads popped straight in. What follows now is several trips worth of gentle braking to bed the pads in. I've used EBC pads before on previous bikes and even on my car and have pretty much always been happy with them. I will be interested to see how they compare in terms of wear and feel to the performance friction and brembo pads that I've used in the past.
I've got a nice ride planned for tomorrow as I head off to Poole to spend the weekend with the lovely Sarah. The last time I had a long ride thou, I had to get the train back. If lighting strikes twice I may just have to see it as a sign.
I've got a nice ride planned for tomorrow as I head off to Poole to spend the weekend with the lovely Sarah. The last time I had a long ride thou, I had to get the train back. If lighting strikes twice I may just have to see it as a sign.
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