nanikore

Thanks both for the replies. Going to see how much new ones cost, but that refurb tip isn't bad, and I have a few bits of suitable sandpaper about the place.

Hello all, Quick question. Does anyone have the spec/size for the sealing washer which goes on the coolant drain bolt? I could've sworn I wrote it down last time but apparently not, and I can't see it in my Haynes manual either 😅. Thanks in advance. (Going with Wako's Heat Block Plus here since we're already up to 33C/91.5F and humudity)

Managed to watch the whole video finally and yes, the subtitles seem to be a pretty decent summary. When he introduces the toothbrush ~3:30 he does specify that it's soft (yawarakai) bristle - and I'm pretty sure I've owned that brand (for teeth purposes). On the other side, the subtitles say to wait ten minutes, but he doesn't actually say that, but to wait some time until the dirt is loosening, before spraying again. He does say not to use hard (bristle) items (kataimono) and gives an example of wire brushes per the subtitles, noting that they can scratch (kizu) the seals and worst cases the seals can be broken/cut by hard bristles. Useless trivia: the tray he uses says Daidou Kougyou on it, which is DID's company name.

As far as cleaners, I've tried a load of different ones over the years from dedicated brand ones (e.g. Yamalube, Wako, Motul) to WD-40/Kure5-56 to kerosene, but never found one (yet) which blew me away. Kerosene wins on the price / performance, but last weekend I was using the last of some Yamalube cleaner and 'dry' lubricant (as it's called here) as they were on offer - worked fine and weren't insanely priced. Same for 'lubricants' too - tried oil variants, drier wax ones and each seems to have pros and cons, but not found one yet to rule them all. As for rags... been using some paper based ones the local DIY shop sell which work well, and the odd old t-shirt. I'd never thought to wash one though, as I'd be imaging residue in the machine. Have you seen any issues from that? For brushes, I used fairly soft brushes bought in bulk from the local bike supplies shop, though I did try the 3 way brushes, and whilst they save a bit of time, I'm not massively convinced about them as they gunk up quite quickly I find. Oddly when I was buying some bits this weekend the shop had a big bucket of them on sale, and I was asking if the bristles were too harsh for O/X ring, and the staff said they were fine (to be expected I suppose). I'd be very interested if there was some evidence that they could harm the seals.

This has to be a factor for sure, and I've been trying to see if I'm riding right handers differently somehow.

FWIW, I've seen this wear style here on both sets of tyres on my 2016 Tracer - the right hand side of the tyre wears a little more - especially on the front - and since I'm in Japan I'm riding on the left, and especially in the hills and mountains, the camber of the road can be more than normal to help run water off. Other riders here have also commented on it. I'm pretty good with tyre pressue, but I might look at my suspension settings again. Been a year or so since I last set it up from scratch.

Are we all talking about the OEM D222? My new Road5s don't show any uneven wear at all. Or was my front wheel /suspension slightly off initially? Hmm. Braking is such a nebulous topic, so many variables, but I would say I vary, depending on road n corner from front bias to 50/50 . The latter is the advice of local police and instructors, I think due to the preference for the often steep n narrow mountain passes which have interesting and slow hairpins (with one side often saying hello to an abyss.) As an aside, podcast Front End Chatter have been debating this subject of late: http://frontendchatter.com/

On the OP topic; when I swapped the OEM tyres off (D222s?) I noticed more wear on the right side of the front tyre (from rider's POV). I'm lucky enough to live near great twisties, and rather than favouring right handers, I was wondering if I'm more wary of right corners, so brake more, compress that front end down (I had a bad habit of front bias braking for a bit when I got the Tracer - since addressed) and so wear it more.

Just outside of Tokyo, Japan, right next to thousands of Km of epic twisties... (Not seeing a map )