Just think...IF I realized BEFORE I spent "all that money" on something for my bike......something I REALLY didn't need. (you know,that "performance" thingy or whatever it is that the "other guys" were ALL getting!)

Okay...I know some are DYING to know exactly WHAT I'm talking about.I'll just say.....IF you can get by with "cleaning" something or "using a tad bit of elbow grease and patience"...you just might save yerself BOO COO bucks.Still confused?One o' those deals where ya go...."What did I get THAT for?Oh yeah,I remember now...it sounded good at the time"....nobody here ever done that,right?

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/29/2010 @ 12:50 AM *

Is this anything like "IF I had just read the manual first !"

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Blue, sounds like your talking about that Speed Cell battery. BG did not sound to happy with his either. But ya, been there done that got the T-Shirt.

Must have bought ten different kinds of scratch remover, all shit. I'm sure I will fall 4 it again. Nice bottle, must have, Da.

Yes, the Speed Cell battery I wish I hadn't done. If I had a dedicated track bike, I would put one in it for sure. Not in a 14, which has plenty enough power to pull an extra 10 pounds of battery weight.

That's the only add-on I wouldn't do again, though. I'm particularly happy with the EVO Shift Star Kit and with the Vortex rear sets... -bg

Hmmmm...I'd forgotten about the battery...ya...that was a spendy one fer sure.How about a set of brand new EBC rotors?250 a pop.Not that I'n not gonna put em on...I am...BUT...now my brakes in front are working just fine
Yep Privateer....just like that!!OOOO!That's ANOTHER "geez" topic all in itself! .

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/29/2010 @ 10:11 AM *

Yep my brakes were shuddering at 2500 miles on the bike, I thought great, the famous warped rotors, and started pricing aftermarkets. I also cleaned my rotors up good. No difference. Then I checked my stock front BT014 tire and noticed some cupping. Since my rear stocker was completely done I decided to change them both. Guess what, my front brake shudder COMPLETELY disappeared. It was the crappy stock bridgestone front tire. Bridgestones seem to be prone to cup easily in front, and the 14 has MONSTER front brakes (the best I've ever used) that put a front tire, and sometimes even pads, through hell. Keep that in mind when you automatically think you need to spend hundreds on new rotors There's a reason the 10R guys put 14 front brakes on their 10's lol.

For the 14:

1. FSM = Not really needed but bought it anyway. Frame tag says enough. (+)
2. Fuel cutter = Not really needed but to test. Now not needed. (-)
3. 2 Exhaust Systems = One was shipped new-take-off and scratched by packer. I needed the header. Found another set for half the price so I could double bung for 02 work. (+/-)
4. Bought another set of rims so I had a fresh set ready to swap and or paint, which project was more up in the air than the swap-&go. (+)
5. Signed on websites and saw the chaos of performance chasing. Found some one hit wonder was wondering why they wanted a limp set to their bike I reverted back to #1 and matched the price of the manual than the limp. (+ to the people)
6. Then the damaged OEM pipe became gutted with special legear0 you be walking home decibeless with bike attached kind of noise. Then call it a cheater side without the cables attached to the exhaust flapper as if it has one, called a muffler bearing. (+/-)
7. Starting to get the pocket-change-blues, I reflect on the crap is rack I racked up. Shelving space (Priceless)
8 To tell you are not alone. (_) <----D Oh, that looks bad! Someone is worse of than we... Can it be?

You know how long that new tire was keeping that fork flex from happening? I could feel the blanket over that oscillation and the more you wear that tire, the more that flex exposes itself in that linear slow fashion.

I don't know if that battery is more a high maintenance jobber like never pull the plug on it. My tests show the more it stays plugged in, the longer that baby lasts. I am still using the same motorola startac cell phone battery it came with. It is going south only because this is the old ladies battery that I swapped, because I stayed up on the charge and she didn't. She was unplugged more than I, but mine was plugged in almost as close as my anal testing was countering watt the pundits say about, almost-dead in use-then-charge cycle. I'm more, charge-use-charge cycle.

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Dynojet LCD--A very cool little ornament for $300. Nice but if you really want to get into it, that thing is a new career.

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Seems I do most of my "buying things it turns out I didn't need" on the dirt bike. Just bought a new front fender for the KX front end I've swapped onto my KDX, $25.00. Get it, look on the model list on the package, lo and behold, it's a KDX fender. Could have just used the one I already had and would have worked perfectly. Got several items laying around here like that.
Did figure the front brake pads (EBC HH) on the Busa would be about beat after 16,000 miles of twisties and one track day, so I bought new ones ($75.00). Then when I actually looked at the ones on the bike, they're less than half worn. Will be trading it in the spring, so I have a new set of EBC HHs here that I'll never use.
It happens.

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As far as replacement parts on the 14, I usually get anxious waiting. Tires last me 8000 miles. Still on stock chain and brake pads after 25000 miles. Weird -- I ride the 14 hard a lot. No track days but a lot harder than most do on the street in these parts. Still can't seem to ware stuff out.

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I have a complete parts car sitting in my shop, right now, that I didn't end up using a single nut, bolt,or even light bulb from to complete my last project. So now the parts car IS the project! F*CK!

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how the hell do you get 8000 miles out of your tires???? you aren't riding as hard as you think you are if you get miles like that out of them!

* Last updated by: Jeff01ss on 11/1/2010 @ 4:02 PM *

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Ya...didn't want to say anything...you know...but I'm curious about that 8,000 mile thing myself!Just how DO you get that many miles?Out of a front...ya..I can see that.But the REAR?OMG.I'm lucky if I pull out 4500 to a rear.Usually less.And that aint on el cheapo tires either!Nor burnouts,or sliding(that I know of anyway).

* Last updated by: blue07 on 11/1/2010 @ 4:18 PM *

I can't get more than 5000 miles on a FRONT. Even on a Pilot Road 2.
Here's 5000 miles on a set of BT-021s..

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HBilly,

Wear is our wear pattern? I see the one for the center. And the slides are wear? Lucky, lucky boyskis.

Deep grooves say = Eat it-Eat-it-Scrubit bit bite bit.

Slick says = I have more of a tendency to fall off the edge, if I were kind of higher on the tread height to release more bite.

Look me in the eye. Used front, fairly new rear is my setup you see here?

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Keep that in mind when you automatically think you need to spend hundreds on new rotors There's a reason the 10R guys put 14 front brakes on their 10's lol.

Same brakes on the kawi 6R. Don't grab a hand full on your first ride. Makes the 14 look silly in comparison. Sweeet.

HBilly,

Wear is our wear pattern? I see the one for the center. And the slides are wear? Lucky, lucky boyskis.

Deep grooves say = Eat it-Eat-it-Scrubit bit bite bit.

Slick says = I have more of a tendency to fall off the edge, if I were kind of higher on the tread height to release more bite.

Look me in the eye. Used front, fairly new rear is my setup you see here?
.......................................................................................................................

LOL, kinda scratching my head trying to decipher that.
But if I read the last line correctly.. No, put them both on at the same time. Actually 1100 miles of the 5000 on them were slab going to and from the "Hurricane Race" MotoGP at Indianapolis. That was an early pair of BT-021s that had issues with the front. One trip in particular down into Arkansas on a very hot day did most of the damage to the front. They were very "heavy" feeling too. Feedback was alright, just made the steering heavy and slow like they were half flat, even with 37/39 PSI in them. Just a bad set of tires. Road 2s are pretty well toasted at 5000 miles, but nothing like those were.

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IF you want live dangerously, see Billy!

yOu are more brave than me, sir. My front would be looking like the rear if both were new. Are we PP'inn wit me or are those some soft fronts and hard rear pilots?

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Those are Bridgestone BT-021s. The first run of them produced some junk fronts. A lot of people had this happen, I was just one of several on the Busa forum posting the same wear patterns. Normally both my tires do wear pretty equally, but that one went from a fair amount of tread left to like that in a couple of rides.
I do know how to use a front tire though. A BT-016 after a track day..

And the matching rear..

* Last updated by: HillbillyTom on 11/1/2010 @ 7:04 PM *

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Damn! Very interesting! Way to ride! Nice...

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Bad, you're right about the tire causing the "brake wobble". You tried to help me when it started happening to my bike around 1,800 miles but I was too skeptical. I actually couldn't see any cupping so it made no sense to me that the tire could cause it. My bike shuddered at approx' 70 and went away once I slowed to about 55.
I started shopping for rotors and was kinda pissed about the whole thing. Luckily I waited long enough to wear out the tires and tried the Road Pilot 2's. Shudder gone. Man, was I relieved. I still wonder if it will come back again even with different tires. I hope not. One thing for sure is to watch the tire pressure. I don't know if low pressure promotes cupping but it's easy to let time pass and you have low pressure before you know it. I run about 39/40 psi in the Pilots. Seems like I just checked 'em a few weeks ago but I'm probably off on that. Just decided to air 'em up last night and damn...down to 32 each. Gotta check' em all the time.
Now, off topic I know but can someone explain why the rear brake is soooo weak on this bike or should I make a new topic?

Whattaya mean..."weak"?LOL!She'll lock up right pronto if ya make er.Otherwise....use as a speed control switch....very nice.Good for settin the chassis right as well.

Now, off topic I know but can someone explain why the rear brake is soooo weak on this bike

It's plenty strong. Rear brakes are designed as a (very) limited use tool. On occasions it can be used to settle the chassis mid corner as your rolling the power on. Can be used as a wheelie control devise coming out of a turn, or when going over a sharp hill under hard throttle. Otherwise, it makes a good parking brake at stop lights, or as an actual brake in parking lots at 4mph.
Focus on your FRONT brakes for stopping, forget about the rear. Front brake is where 95% of your stopping force is at. The harder your on the front, the quicker you stop, and the less your rear brake can do, as the rear wheel will be almost off the ground.
18,000+ miles on my Busa, and the OEM rear brake pads are barely 1/4 worn. Almost time for the second set of EBC HH fronts.

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