New Bridgestone SC's

When I bought my current TMax back in Novemeber last year I looked at manufacture date and it was 2008, the TMax is a 2009 so they were 7 years old. The previous TMax I had did have newish Bridgestone TH's and the one before that had SC's before she was written off. The 7 year old TH's felt a little odd and I was tempted to just buy a new set.

However after about 6500 miles, mostly commuting in decent weather and lost of summer twisty fun, the tyres were feeling vague and twitchy especially in the wet. On close inspection before my MOT last week I though I would likely get an advisory on both tyres, which I did. The front had patchy flat spots and looked a little deformed. The rear was well worn but both still legal.

Now having changed, the dymanics of the TMax and how well it corners are all in place, the SC's are an amazing tyre. You point it in the direction you want and they stick to that line like glue, unwavering. Precision and control and high and cornering is done with ease. I only went about 30 miles so far to try and scrub them in for my commute next week but the ride is just sublime. Unluckly it started raining but they still felt solidly in contact with the road.

I have really missed decent handling over the past year, it was ok for most of those 6500 miles but I will never let tyres get that bad again.


Next job is that as of Wednesday I am off for two weeks so she'll get stripped naked, cleaned and recoated in Yamaha's Version of ACF-50 which was cheaper by about £10 from my dealer.

I bought one of these for them...



Should make working on the front end much easier. It lifts the Silverwing nicely as well as the PCX. The wide platform spreads the load so no nasty creaking sounds from the plastics and it's small enough to fit on the platform of my bench.



Now I can get on with front wheel bearing checks and front brake checks.
Cookie

Taxed the maxsym and sorned the Tmax so i can sort out the fueling glitch and speedo has stopped working

Fitted RAM brake reservoir mount for my GPS and a backrest on the topbox of my Silverwing. Reset top screen on the Givi windscreen and checked tyre pressures. Hope to recce Honda Owners Club meet venue in Brixworth tomorrow.

New rear tyre fitted at 25,000 miles
That's the fifth one, getting plenty practice getting the wheel out, only takes about 30 minutes now.
Checked rear pads, have about 2.5-3mm on them.

Finally got around to doing my fork oil seal.

To remove it I used a double ended sump plug set to hold the damper rod while I unscrewed to bottom to remove the chrome tube of the damper.

The seal was then accessible by popping off the dust cap and circlip, and then simply removed by bolting a nut+bolt with plumbing PTFE to seal the bottom, filling it with water to the brim, popping in the chrome tube and brimming that - then screwing on the top of the chrome tube - forming a hydraulic lock.

Then you need a slow even pressure to force the seal out, a hammer won't do it. I used a hydraulic car strut compressor but you could probably just put a bit of wood on top and sit on it, then when you get water leaving the seal area it's free - pull out the chrome and the seal is safely out. Don't use a screwdriver to lever it out.

Then check the chrome tube for high spots - I used 1200 grit followed by Autosol polish to make sure it was all seal friendly - then refilled with 10W fork oil (107cc for the SYM GTS300 Voyager) once it was all nicely dried and put back together.

Job done for £19 + £5 fork oil - thanks to Makina Parts for the seal - genuine SYM part fitted perfectly.

New rear tyre, £50 delivered (www.tyreleader.co.uk) for my 650 Burgman. Got a mate at a tyre place to put it on the rim for nowt

Just took the burger for a 10 mile run now it's stopped raining

nice one Phil - more than I've managed!

Filled the C90 up with fuel. Running on fumes to full up - £3.40
Nice n cheap but wish it had a bigger tank sometimes!