Pexi's Moto Guzzi Weblog

New brake pads

5000 first kilometers had not been too hard for the original break pads, they still had almost full 1 mm to go before reaching the thickness limit of 2 mm of the friction material. Nevertheless I changed them, front and rear. Partly because I just wanted to get familiar with the braking system, and partly because the liquid level had went close to the minimum and in my experience that is a sign that the time for the pad changing has arrived. I also wanted to see if the change would have any effect on the front-rear braking balance. The front brake is not inefficient, on the contrary, it has a good, progressive and intuitively controllable bite. But. I've locked the rear wheel in couple of occasions, so I thought that maybe I could cheaply compensate my own flaws by making the rear brake more sloppy.

The new pads are of brand Semc-Brembo and they look somewhat different from the originals. The front pads were labeled "Route" and the rear ones "scooter" (brilliant?). The same pads fit also for earlier Ducati Monster 600/750/900 and Aprilia 1000 Futura. The rear pads labeled "scooter" are also fit for Ducati 748, 996R. Fast scooters they are.

The change operation was easy enough. The front pads can be changed without removing the caliber, so it's a five minute job. The rear ones require removal of the caliber and unless you have access to a bike-lift or a similar professional tool, you need to have the capabilities of a dedicated yogi. Failing that, you can work lying on the garage floor and risk falling in sleep while working.

Now, after a few hundred kilometers, which should be a decent break-in period for the new pads, the brakes feel all the same. The rear brake must still be applied really carefully when making a forceful stop. Must be something to do with the laws of physics, weight transfer etc. I need to start training for stoppies with Breva.

Day of Mistral

Back from business. I was traveling in Finland during the week and to my great pleasure the weather had changed here during that time - it's warm again. Lucky me. We had 18°C (64°F) today on coast, 16°C (61°F) inland. The sun was incredibly bright, so bright that my eyes hurt after the northern darkness. Unfortunately, the brightness was due to the stormy Mistral wind, which made riding today more than a bit unsteady. Almost scary actually. The Mistral even caused one of the first forest fires of 2005. The photo below shows one of the Canadair aeroplanes dropping it's water cargo into the fire. Then again, due to the easy riding, I got one of my best mpg figures today: 4.7 l/100km (60.5 mpg), 159.6 km with 7.44 litres of fuel. Not bad.

 

Other photos from today' s ride:

Tire wear

The front tire is developing a strange "saw-edge" pattern and I'm wondering why is that. I don't know the correct English term for the phenomenon, but I think that you can figure out what I mean by looking at the pictures below - the first one shows it probably most clearly. Is it normal? Or due to too low/high tire pressure? Any advice from more experienced riders or tire experts?

Riding again

Finally the weather has warmed up a bit and the snow has disappeared even from the shady corners! I commuted to work with Breva yesterday and rode nearly 200 km today. Feels like being alive again. Yesterday was a really nice day, lots of sunshine and some 15 °C, today much colder and kind of foggy, no sun at all. Nevertheless, I broke the 5000 km barrier today, and got 5.9 l/100 km (47.8 mpg) consumption, which is my worst record. Don't know why, but I seem to be riding more aggressively and at higher rpm these days, maybe I just hate cold days?

I played with the white balance settings of the camera and tried to capture the mood of today's weather. What do you think? It was a blue day.

Top-case full of wine

I must have invented the best possible usage for the top-box! It might be an ugly accessory for a Guzzi, but look at that: where else would you fit 6 bottles of Bordeaux?

The photo is B&W because I took the picture in the evening after the sunset, using the infrared nightshot feature of my Sony V1.