@The Dark Shadow, I just read your whole other post describing your travails with the two shops in your area. Were I in your shoes, I'd sell the ST and either buy a new bike from a dealer with a great reputation for service, or a Miata.
You got a tremendous amount of good advice and suggestions on what to do in the last thread, but beyond the one shop that was interested in what we had to say, you resisted many of the helpful suggestions that tried to impart kowledge to you. These bikes are no longer supported by Honda. They are out of production and even the youngest of them is now around 6 years old and out of warranty. They need TLC and regular maintenance. Without passionate interest in this model and the ability to maintain it yourself, or a dedicated mechanic on your staff (like Jay Leno has) you are SOL with this bike.
I suggested the Miata because they are economical, fun to drive, have a rep for reliability like Toyotas and Hondas and are not pricey like a Porsche or Beemer*. However, you should still go new.
Guitars? Too bad you live so far away. Many years ago I stumbled on an estate sale. The deceased was a local guitar maker and I bought up his entire stock of veneers. I've used only a little bit of it on a piece of cherry furniture and I'll probably die with the stuff. I'd gladly sell the stuff to you. You can only make so many rosewood book marks......
*The 911's have a rep for reliability, the BMW's not so much.
I received the advice and have shared the wealth of information that I received with Garrie Cook (Cook's Classic Rebuilds). Do not mistake my incapacity for doing work on my bike as resistance to advice.
I WILL resist advice such as, "Only backyard mechanics should buy this motorcycle model." I WILL resist advice such as, "Buy a Miata!" (I won't even dignify that "advice" with arguments why it was a foolish thing to state.)
There were 2 diagnostic procedures shared that I will use when I bring it to Garrie next (I'll have to review the threads). Several people report EBC brake pads are fine, but several others report this as a KNOWN problem. Hence, I am ACCEPTING rather than RESISTING advice by planning to change the EBC pads to OEM pads on the back... Then I'll see about the performance, and take it to the next step as necessary.
Since the brake fluid has been changed, the brakes seem to have improved. SMC was reported as working as expected (as tested by Garrie based upon the pages upon pages of information that he gladly read and did NOT charge me time for). Sure, once the back brake pads are changed to OEM, if they are still binding, then I'll fork out my liver for a new SMC and have him change that. If the back brake is still binding, then I will assume that the SMC isn't "draining" once released, and is holding back brake hydraulic pressure as per the advice and information shared.
Let me ask you this question...
If you had a new to you ST1300 with slight brake problems, would you immediately change the SMC or would you update worn pads and bleed/refresh the fluid before making a decision to replace the SMC...??
BTW, FWIW a summary of what pi$$3s me off...
1) the 3 (perhaps 4) workers at local shop "A" who dismissed my brake issues as "normal" even when I tried to share info with them. (I have a history in this part of the world of hiring "professionals" to do tasks who botch the jobs from medium to large, and I've lost 10s of thousands out of pocket, and I've lost a hundred thousand dollars income due to crappy professionals... So this unstated sub-text overflows in some of my posts. I'm not going to apologize for being in a location where it is the butt-end of the earth with lousy quality professionals.)
2) the fact that this linked braking design seems to be so delicate that the bike, if used as normal, will likely/possibly have the SMC fail. This I attribute to the fact that designing engineers often (usually??) sit in front of a computer and design on digital media. In cases where engineering teams are integrated with repair and usage teams, results will necessarily be consistently better.
3) Useless and non-helpful comments like, "It's easy!! Just get the tools and learn how to do it!" without a knowledge of my limitations to capacity. "Guitar building is easy!! Guitarists should just build and maintain their own guitars!" is NOT a helpful comment for a guitarist who has a fret buzzing issue and just wants to play the GD guitar!
4) Non sequitur comments like, "I recommend you buy a Miata."
I can dislike the items in the above list, and I can thankfully accept and not resist people's advice, and I can reject non-sequitur comments, and I can love the st1300 at the same time.
With respect,
TDS
www.st-owners.com
