Re: Better Brakes (and Dragon GTS)

["Jonathan Schulster" <Schulster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I should have noticed this just from the braking action or 'feedback' through the lever - you could feel it pulsing as the pad was engaged against the disc - I should have suspected immediately that something was not right.

On the Pirelli Dragon GTS front, I did about 120km on them last night and initial indications are very good - they are much grippier than the BT57, provide better feedback, better stability on overbanding, much better ride and damping properties over bumps, and better pillion comfort.
I forgot to say that when my rear BT57 tyre was removed it had a 1cm split (0.5") right across the tread - down to the steel/kevlar belts.  It would have failed catastrophically at some point soon.  The tyre shop guy, who is a good friend of our bike club and very knowledgable said he had seen this on two other BT57's and thought they were poorly made, or had poor quality assurance.  Please check your tyres carefully for splits - they are not obvious when the tyre is inflated, but when it is off the rim and you can bend it the damage was very obvious.

My friend (on a VFR 750) has the Dragon GTS (same size) - he has riden 7000km on them and the tread depth is still >4mm which suggests a life of 12,000 to 15,000km, about double that of the BT57.  The tyre comes with 6.5mm rear tread, at least 2mm more than the '57 I think.  His wear patterns were quite uniform and progressive - no signs of damage.

regards
Jonathan

>>> Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx> 24/06/99 18:13:23 >>>
At 09:22 AM 06/24/1999 +0200, Jonathan Schulster wrote:
>Yep, Eric. The right side, rear piston was sitting 2mm 'further in' that
the front piston.

Thanks for the info Jonathan,

I am hoping to have mine apart this weekend, so I'll be sure to check it.

- - Eric


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