Could you give us the pucker factor on that one?

I've done those back tire skids on other bikes wouldn't want to on the Roadie

GNR10 wrote:
Could you give us the pucker factor on that one?

I've done those back tire skids on other bikes wouldn't want to on the RoadieSince you asked... On this one... scale of 1-10, this was maybe a 2 or 3. I just rode it out. Would have been higher if the guy pulled out in front of me and was cut off by traffic or something.

Ask me about the pucker factor of last Friday if you want a real story. It invloves waggling @ highway speed and a complely oblivious whore and quite frankly is the closest I ever want to come to ever having an accident ever.

Oh heck, I'll share it anyhow since I'm here. There's not a lot to tell... riding home from Syracuse, I'm about 70 miles into my ride. Clear day. Open road, save 2 cars in the right lane I'm coming up on. i mean theres literally only those two cars for as far as I can see. I'm doing about 75. I go past the trailing car, and as I come up alongside the lead car, the girl decides that right then would be the best time for her to test out what driving in the left lane feels like. That is clearly her intention because there's no on in front of her for miles. I dump a gear, crack my throttle (louder than my horn and typically makes people take note and move back over) and go to add in the rear. She not only doesn't take note and move back over, but continues unimpeded into my lane, and now I have quite a few CC's of adrenaline going through me. I tap the rear, and get the same effect I had to day. Fish wobble. I certainly can control it and I do, but I'm so hopped up from this clearly homicidal bitch, that it focuses me on the fishtail and makes it seem a whole lot worse. Well, I cleared her bumper, but it couldn't have been by more than an inch. The guy in the car now next to me is as incredulous as me. He's either a rider or knows one cause he's all batshit crazy with hand gestures. So, I pull around her on the right, because I'm really pissed off.... get past her so she has a clear view of me off the front right corner of her car and flip her off.... she is so engrossed in converstaion with her friend in the car that she doesn't even see that!! So then I was up on the throttle putting as much space as I could between her and me.

That was a full on 10 pucker. Yes siree bob, it was.

Jonathan wrote:
GNR10 wrote:
Could you give us the pucker factor on that one?

I've done those back tire skids on other bikes wouldn't want to on the RoadieSince you asked... On this one... scale of 1-10, this was maybe a 2 or 3. I just rode it out. Would have been higher if the guy pulled out in front of me and was cut off by traffic or something.

Ask me about the pucker factor of last Friday if you want a real story. It invloves waggling @ highway speed and a complely oblivious whore and quite frankly is the closest I ever want to come to ever having an accident ever.

Oh heck, I'll share it anyhow since I'm here. There's not a lot to tell... riding home from Syracuse, I'm about 70 miles into my ride. Clear day. Open road, save 2 cars in the right lane I'm coming up on. i mean theres literally only those two cars for as far as I can see. I'm doing about 75. I go past the trailing car, and as I come up alongside the lead car, the girl decides that right then would be the best time for her to test out what driving in the left lane feels like. That is clearly her intention because there's no on in front of her for miles. I dump a gear, crack my throttle (louder than my horn and typically makes people take note and move back over) and go to add in the rear. She not only doesn't take note and move back over, but continues unimpeded into my lane, and now I have quite a few CC's of adrenaline going through me. I tap the rear, and get the same effect I had to day. Fish wobble. I certainly can control it and I do, but I'm so hopped up from this clearly homicidal bitch, that it focuses me on the fishtail and makes it seem a whole lot worse. Well, I cleared her bumper, but it couldn't have been by more than an inch. The guy in the car now next to me is as incredulous as me. He's either a rider or knows one cause he's all batshit crazy with hand gestures. So, I pull around her on the right, because I'm really pissed off.... get past her so she has a clear view of me off the front right corner of her car and flip her off.... she is so engrossed in converstaion with her friend in the car that she doesn't even see that!! So then I was up on the throttle putting as much space as I could between her and me.

That was a full on 10 pucker. Yes siree bob, it was.

Yep, I would have filled my right hand with baby powder and dialed 1-800-SMACK-A-HO

jd750ace wrote:
get used to laying into the front brake HARD for straight line stops

But not TOO hard. The front wheel will lock on these bikes and then things tend to get all painful. Life is all about moderation.


Jonathan I was in the exact same situation as you not too long ago. Except insert Indian guy instead of homicidal bitch. When making it back around him, I got the finger from him! (!!!!??) It took two 10 second counts to decide that chasing him down and "working out our differences" would be a bad career and life move. But man was it justified.

I agree RJ, not TOO hard, but if you never feel it lock, you never know just how far you can squeeze it. Just 2 pennies worth.

Jonathan, I usually bleed my brakes the old-fashioned way, with a lever squeezer and me on the bleed screws. I know people will chime in about Mighty Vacs and speed bleeders shortly, but here's what I do:

Front as an example, and extrapolate to the rear (that is not a filthy thing SKWEARPeg!)

I level the bike out, and put a towel over the tank, front fender, and the steering set, because this can get nasty sometimes. I remove the master cylinder cover, the plastic ditty, and the rubber boot. I wipe them all down with a dry cloth, lint free if possible. If not, I usually blow them off with my air nozzle. I save my old socks with all the holes in them (it takes some time to train your "launderer" not to throw them away) and use them (clean) to soak up all that hangover piss colored fluid up out of the resivior bowl. I clean the bottom of the resivior and the sight glass with a Q-tip. You can use fresh fluid as a solvent on the q-tips for anything stubborn. Next, I fill the resivior (mostly full) with fresh fluid and begin the pumping up and opening the bleed screw cycle. The first couple of times you do it, you can see dirty fluid cycling back up to the resevior. I do this cycle 3 times, until the fluid is nearly gone each time. Fill part-way and check levr travel and feel. It is possible to develop air in the lines if your fluid is dirty enough to boil, so if your lever is not solid, you may have to burp the banjo fittings to get all the air out and get a good firm lever/pedal. Once you are happy with the feel, service to the full mark and restore the cap. BTW, if you start to change pads, soak all the fluid in the res. before pushing a piston back, to avoid overflow.
Hope you get it bled out and it returns to normal. Should be all it needs, unless you have flakes of hose coming off internally, but that's not likely (yet) on a Road Star, even with lots of miles on it.

Can you guys really lock up the front wheel on clean, dry, smooth pavement?

I gotta upgrade my brakes....

You're trying to do a lot with that kind of weight and a single disc fireman. May not be enough friction surface available, plus your larger rolling diameter is more leverage against the pads than the stock setup. What are you running for a caliper and pads?

that rubber piece in the master cylinder expands as the brake pads wear since the brake fluid level lowers in the brake reservoir. When you flush out the old fluid, collapse that rubber piece so you can fill the brake fluid to the proper level. Its one of those things that's hard to explain in writing, when you have it in hand, you'll have a DUH! moment.

It'll look right when it IS right, is what my dad says!

Running a 6 piston YZF caliper, and embarrassingly, I have no idea what pads are in there. What ever it had when I bought it from the salvage yard...