In with the new!

The new upgraded tires, Avon Storm ST. A dual compound sport-touring tire, that is supposed to change shape based on what area of the tire is making contact. Hopefully yielding better performance, and a longer wear.

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Out with the old!

The Shinkos will soon be on their way out! I’m not sure what kind of mileage these stupid Shinko Raven’s have, but lets say I’ve been less than pleased with their wear patterns, and performance, from day one. They were cheap, and that’s seriously about the only thing they have going for them.

The front tire has had irregular wear patterns, that I’m pretty sure were there from the manufacturer, and have actually got slightly better with mileage. When first installed, on deceleration if you realeased your hands from the bars, the whole front end of the bike would start to wobble badly. It was freaky the first time I noticed it coming down a hill at 60mph. The front has developed cracks in the rubber as well, they’ve been on the bike over since the summer of 2006, and have been quite weatherbeaten, through hot desert conditions, high humidity in the Midwest, tons of rain, and cold weather (parked outside).

The rear Shinko hasn’t done much better, showing center wear after only a couple thousand miles, now sporting a nice, wide, flat spot down the center of the tire. This isn’t a desired feature for instilling confidence in the rider on sweaping corners, where the tire can feel skiddish when the road surface hits that transition on the tire tread. As with the front, the rear shows signs of rubber deterioration, cracking, etc, and inconsistant tire wear.

Here are a few photos of the old tires:

Brake upgrades!

I finally got around to replacing my brake pads on the SV. I was over at Aurora Suzuki picking up some oil changing products, and just asked if they had the pads in stock. They did. I have to say up until the last month or so, the current pads were still doing a pretty good job, but seriously, how far can you push the bike’s original pads. That’s right, I was still riding on the originals, after aproximately 50k miles. I’m not sure how long they’re supposed to last, but I’m guess most people would have had them replaced a while back. Anyway, I had some trouble with the back caliper, the piston kept pushing out, it took a long time to get the timing right, to wedge a large flat bladed screw driver in there, push the piston in, then quickly wedge the pad assembly into the space. After doing some hard test stopping over the past 100 miles, the pads have seated nicely, and are providing some excellent stopping power.