Lee 2002

My local tire shop absolutely refused via phone call to repair a nearly new PR4 with a center-of-tread puncture several years ago. I wanted him to do it because they had repaired several car tires for me over the years with zero issues using a combination patch/plug. I took the tire off the wheel and went over anyway. The owner said, "I told you we won't do motorcycle tires." I replied, "This tire has less than 1,000 miles on it. It is getting repaired whether you do it or I do it. I would rather a professional do it." I continued, "Let's make this a cash transaction with no receipt and I was never here." In a huff, he said OK and repaired the tire while walking me through the steps. After he was done he refused my cash and reinforced, "You were never here." I put another 9,000 miles on that tire with zero issues. I should really buy a box of Xtra Seal combis, a reamer, burnisher, solvent and cement but they would probably go stale before I needed another.

It is hard not to when you have a crowd like this watching your every move..... You would have thought I birthed a baby the way the crowd gathered when that thing was extracted. Great observations on Grum's part. There was a reason I clocked those stators the way I did. There is a lot of information about the 6th gen stator situation in that photo... and every 6th gen roasted stator photo I've ever seen.

I wish you well on your endeavor. I'm feeling lucky. Cageless and I must have got the last factory 2002 spec stators left in the world. I'm not sure I would go through all this to upgrade to a physically larger stator and flywheel if it were me. I would just rewind the OEM and ride on. I got 55,000 miles out of mine and it only gave up the ghost on a desperately hot ride across the wastelands of Nebraska. Cageless' stator (L), my stator (R)

Why? This is me replacing the stator on my 2002 with a couple of hand wrenches in the parking lot of a hotel in South Dakota last summer.

I just keep my insurance policies paid up. While I've never had to use them, they seem pretty foolproof.

If it has went missing, you'll know.

Yes that is the bolt that goes missing. The other half that you don't see <F-25> shows up on the shock mount diagram. It is an Acorn Nut (#13) that screws on to long-ass-bolt (#9) that comes through the frame and gets clamped by (#18). #14 is the sidestand pivot nut. Lock wire is the only reliable way I could get mine to stay put. Just cross drill the bolt and corner drill the nut. Both red and blue Loctite degraded over time from heat and I would lose the bolt. (twice until I drilled and lockwired) In this photo, mine is a hex head as I lost my bolt (third time including the original) 400 miles from home and a small town hardware store was my only option to get the right thread in the length I needed. Installed with borrowed tools, got home, drilled, wired, still there to this day.

Pg 1-13 of the service manual

[stepping into shithole] Man.... I know I'm going to regret sticking my toe in this shit hole...... RC51 - have a very similar flapper in their air box. It is interesting to note that I never saw a race-prepped RC51 with an active flapper (including Honda supported teams). However street-going RC51's sold by Mother Honda that were subject to EPA regulations did come with an active flapper. I don't think anyone has ever found the "smoking memo" signed by Soichiro, but the common consensus is that the flapper exists solely to satisfy an EPA noise regulation that are done at a certain RPM that is determined by an equivalent speed determined by gearing, or something like that. Many posters here and on the RC51 sites have modded the flapper and I don't recall anyone posting any evidence that the mod resulted in any repeatable changes in performance. It has been years since I've read any of these discussions, so I'm going off memory. Google "Motorcycle Flapper Mod" and you'll have a week's worth of reading on the subject across about 5 product lines and thirty motorcycle forums. I personally buy into the noise control thought (and my calibrated Mk 20 eardrum confirmed intake howl). Consider this.... The marketing teams would have "variable intake" on every piece of literature if it even resulted in 1 hp or 1 lb/ft benefit.... never saw a pamphlet that mentioned it. I've also never saw a dyno curve that showed any difference between before/after either. I thought this discussion ended at least fifteen years ago. Go figure? [stepping out of shithole/]

The Veypor <not Vapor> units had a spark sensor and a rear wheel sensor. They automatically calculated what gear you were in by the pulse ratio differential between the motor and wheel. A slipping clutch would confuse the unit --- other than that it never missed. I played with one for a while but never really used it long term. The programmable shift light was handy and the super accurate independent speedo was awesome. It could calculate real-time HP and torque during acceleration (using 3 axis G-sensors and user supplied weight values). (I found it more fun to see how high of braking forces I could generate) It was more accurate than seat-of-pants, but not good enough for publication in a magazine. With a bit of fiddling, over time, you could get pretty accurate real time MPG and range calculations. Fun to play with, but nothing I would spend money on.

I had the great pleasure of hosting Anik Mankar when he visited the USA from Mumbai, India. I was able to arrange a group ride, with him on my VFR and me on a Ninja I borrowed from my boss. That visit formed a friendship that endures to this day. I am envious of your opportunity to visit your friend at his home. VFRD -- making the World a smaller place.

I've never seen pistons lubed with grease. I'm interested in understanding your reason for doing this.

You know there is also the possibility that your master cylinder is not releasing or the pistons are not retracting. But I'm going to stick with the pins not floating. I think you would feel your brakes dragging in the other two situations. Does the wheel spin freely when the brakes are not applied?

I will be interested to hear what you find. Hopefully you find a definitive, easily fixed defect.

No, not normal. Brakes are all about converting kinetic energy to heat. The fact that each caliper only has one pad worn would indicate you're generating only half the heat you should (probably less than that in reality). The fact that only the piston side is worn means your caliper is not floating properly. You do not have full braking capacity. While the calipers may well float in your hand or mounted while you check them. They are most likely binding while under load. This could be due to worn pins, worn bush surfaces in the carrier or caliper, corrosion, lack of lubrication, or something I can't think of. With the caliper/carrier combination dismounted you should ensure that there is no movement permitted other than axial to the pins. (You should not be able to twist, flex, rotate, cant or cock the caliper to the carrier at all.) It should only slide on the pins, no other movement permitted. Pins should be of a constant diameter over the full length of the bearing surface (measure with a micrometer). I suspect once you get it apart you'll find waisted or notched or bent (not parallel) pins about 1/3 the way up their length and some corrosion. If it was me I would order 14, 15, 16, & 17 to start with. You might find you'll need the caliper and the carrier too; hopefully not. You've got an old bike and sometimes things wear out.... especially if they haven't had proper care over their life. Pins and boots should be cleaned and lubed with every pad change. (Lee's rule, not Mother Honda. But I ride in all weather and over the course of a set of pads I'll find a significant amount of grease has washed out of the boots)