[PontiacJack]

The 1st one is a picture of my toasted rear pads.


Whatcha think?

 

[knightslugger]

very clean! i like it! good job!

 

[MrSciTrek]

My son is visiting from San Diego & before family came over for Thanksgiving pie we removed the stock exhaust pipes, drilled out the pop-rivets to the rear caps (previous owner drilled holes in them to make it louder), stuffed it with coarse steel wool & put on the replacement caps.

Sounds much better & quieter. Yay!!
Cheers to a site friend in Indiana (Nick!) who sent the caps to me! Bart

 

[PontiacJack]

very clean! i like it! good job!

Thanks... I actually like the rear fender so no eliminator kits for me, this seemed to be the happy medium.

 

[PontiacJack]

My son is visiting from San Diego & before family came over for Thanksgiving pie we removed the stock exhaust pipes, drilled out the pop-rivets to the rear caps (previous owner drilled holes in them to make it louder), stuffed it with coarse steel wool & put on the replacement caps.

Sounds much better & quieter. Yay!!
Cheers to a site friend in Indiana who sent the caps to me! Bart

It's the unoffical EX500 Holiday!

 

[Guest]

I like those signal lights, look like a nice medium between the giant stock lights and those tiny invisible LED lights I see other's with. What brand are they?

Did you take any other photo's during the brake job? Feel free to do a write up for the site. Many people, like myself, would appreciate seeing how to do this work. Not that I guess you should mess with your brakes if you have no idea what you're doing - but I will be anyways

 

[PontiacJack]

Yeah I was thinking of kinda documenting the brake job but it was my 1st motorcycle brake job so I decided to concentrate on the job instead and taking mental sidetracks to take photos at the right time and so forth... I could definatly write something up next time around though.

Gee the brand? Uhm I tossed the box. It was a universal doohingy I got at cycle gear. An English company actually. I'll see what I can dig up when I make it home... Yes I'm working the friday after thanksgiving... oooo the hangover.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Pontiac. I'm sure I can google the brand, but I'm feeling lazy today and those look nice

I'm going to be picking up a service manual for the bike this winter because I'm looking to change my brake pads myself (I want to learn stuff, not just pay for people to do it), so any write up, etc, would be interesting to read.

 

[PontiacJack]

Right on dood... Honestly better you do it than a greaser... One you learn, and two the job ain't done until its right, cuz its your bike !!! ;D I've had only problems with dealers and their so called technicians.

 

[Guest]

So wait - what's the mileage on your EX? I just put 2 and 2 together, and noticed you're on a 2006 - you must have put on quite a bit to toast a rear brake pad that fast?

 

[PontiacJack]

11,000 miles 1st year and not to mention the roomate crashed it and it was in the shop for a month and change. Plus I hadn't taken MSF untill recently, which ment I was using it quite a bit. I was told by a cycle gear guy that the rear pads should go for 15 plus (casual rider? racer? I dunno...)

 

[Guest]

Ah, makes sense. My rear pads are at 30,000kms, which is why I plan to change them. Figure since pads aren't expensive, I'll do the fronts too (they've got about 20k on them.)

 

[PontiacJack]

Yeah I was thinking the same but I opted not to do the fronts as well... I dunno why not. Ugh.

 

[PontiacJack]

Ah, makes sense. My rear pads are at 30,000kms, which is why I plan to change them. Figure since pads aren't expensive, I'll do the fronts too (they've got about 20k on them.)

Are the rear brakes squeeking or scratching?

 

[Guest]

Nope, my brakes are running fine - replacing them more for piece of mind, to gain experience in mechanics, and because I'd rather fix them over winter when I'm not riding, than lose a few days during my riding season to track down new pads and fix 'em!

 

[PontiacJack]

... WORD ... Sometimes finding OEM maintance parts fo rthe EX500 are CRAZY difficult I couldn't believe how long it took me to find a shop that had a Rear tire 130/70-17 in stock.... The pads took three stores.

 

[CerialPhreak]

Definatly interested in those signals, let me know when you find them.

 

[kevlarian]

What exhaust are you running on your green machine? Did you remove the lower fairing because you wanted to, or becuase the exhaust forced you to? How loud is the exhaust?

Let me know!
Thanks!

 

[PontiacJack]

Vance & Hines... I bought it "used" (100 miles) from a former co-worker who didn't like the sound (got a good deal $150) I had them hanging around the house for months until I decided to get them installed. Took it to the dealer signed the papers and that was that. At the time I had already removed the chin fairing so I don't know if it would fit or not I'll give it a try and let you know.

Honestly though because my green machine is almost a pure commuter (90/10) I kind of miss my old pipes. I didn't have to worry about scratching them etc...

EDIT:[/color]

They are just loud enough  On the commute back home, my dad says he can hear me coming up way before he can see me. (good thing) and I have split lanes between 5-0 without a problem, never had them mention the pipes being TOO loud during any of my uhmmm roadside conversations if you will. And well... trust me there are WAY louder bikes out there. So if you concerned about being too loud these won't be. I can put up a sound clip if your interested?

 

[Guest]

I wish I could find a good exhaust deal like that. After my buddy dumped my bike (like a week after getting it) my stock exhaust got scratched to hell and now looks like crap. I'd like to upgrade to a V&H or something similar, but don't have several hundred bucks to dump into it.