This is not about any one individual, post, or comment within, just got something that may explain where I stand on all this.
Since I have nothing better to do at the moment, I am going to share a personal story.
In the year 2002, I owned a 1981 Honda GL1100 GoldWing Aspencade; location is not important here. Went out for a ride, used brakes at the stop light before entering the freeway on ramp.
As I merged onto the freeway bike started to slow down abruptly, going from 60 MPH to half in a matter of seconds. I looked down at my right side and saw smoke. As I did that, I also unintentionally rolled on the throttle, therefore counteracting the wheel's inevitable lock-up by forcing power to the wheel and, at the same time, stopping at a shoulder.
I got off, put the bike on the center stand, and took a deep breath.
Rotor was hot and smoking, caliper solid brick, nothing moves, I just avoided a high side, and I was scared. I let the bike cool down, and afterwards, I used a wrench to bang on a caliper until it retracted pistons and released the rotor.
I rode home using only the front brake. The next day I took a bike to the closest shop, where they rebuilt the caliper and installed new pads. At that time, I did not dare to do my service; there were things to learn that came later.
I did ask to see old parts, including pads, which were worn at the angle, the front was thinner than the back, and they were about halfway worn.
This sheds some light on why the caliper locked up, uneven wear on pads forced pistons to misalign with the bore of the caliper, and get stuck. Friction produced heat, which expanded the rotor and locked the wheel.
I was told not to let pads wear out to that point again to prevent the problem from recurring. I sold the bike shortly after and, 2 years later, bought a 1983 GL1200 GoldWing Aspencade that was a joy to ride with no issues.
I sold that one about a year later, and in 2006 or 2007, I got my 1987 GL1200 GoldWing Interstate, fewer bells and whistles, better shape, lower mileage, sweet.
One day, I am looking at rear brake pads getting worn on an angle, I was now in a double garage doing all my service, and this got me pissed, really, Honda? again?
I flushed the fluid, rebuilt the calipers on both front and rear, but now I wanted nothing to do with locked-up wheels.
I designed and machined two pistons with self-adjusting tips that follow the wear of the pads but always keep the body of the pistons aligned with the bores of a caliper, therefore preventing jamming as pads wear and pistons get more exposed.
Not long after restoring that bike to an absolute best condition, I crashed on a mountain road at night after getting caught in the daylight saving time clock change.
The truck pulled next to me in the right lane in a long curve to the left, and I glanced at it. The next thing I know, I am heading straight into it instead of following the exit from the curve.
Two cracked ribs, broken right collarbone, and 3 months later, I am back at work and giving up motorcycles for good. State Farm paid me $5000 for the bike, which I handed over to insurance
as a deductible for medical bills and a helicopter ride. No idea what happened to the bike but my guess is that somebody got hold of it eventually.
I crashed at about 40 MPH, truck was going faster. When 1200 GoldWing is tipped over, it lies at about 45-degree angle, so the only damage would have been to the crash bars, but insurance totaled it.
Fast forward, life happened, and I applied for a job at a company named "Intuitive Surgical" in Sunnyvale CA, high-profile place. They make a surgical robot called DaVinchi, thing can peel skin off of a grape to demonstrate precision and capability.
In the course of the interview, the young engineer wants to know what makes me qualified to be a machinist in their R&D shop, which produces components for this robot with zero deviation from specification, tough call for any machinist, and who am I to think I am qualified and arrogant enough to seek the position.
Question: What have you accomplished to date to convince me to hire you as our top machinist?
Well, Sir, there are samples of my work connected to highly sophisticated instruments and assemblies used in aerospace, medical, and other fields, showing elaborate processes and methods of overcoming obstacles.
Guy stares at me like a deer in the headlights, and what specifically relates to our product? He asked.
Now I am desperate for a punch line. So I told him about my brake pistons that eliminate guess work in figuring out when to change brake pads on that old Wing to prevent wheel lock up.
Surely some creative thinking will impress the guy, I thought.
This is a DIY project I did to prevent a scary experience with my other bike having the same problem. So the dumbass says to me, "Why not just change pads sooner?
At this point, I knew I could not work there, and I said, "Because pads won't tell me when they are about to throw me off the bike, and changing them once a month is stupid."
I wasn't hired because I couldn't keep my mouth shut in the face of a dumbass "superior" challenging my logic with an idiotic comment.
So the moral of the story is, don't submit to idiots even when they are in charge, or maybe specifically because they are in charge, not everything is worth pursuing by any means necessary.
All my bikes were shaft-driven to date, and only the Suzuki VX800 was brand new, produced only during 2 years in early 1990 or 1991.
So, I am not shy about doing the work or learning new tricks; it's just not the time for getting all twisted into a pretzel to fix my bike in a 5'x 9' hole in the wall before the day is over. Let's just chill and see what tomorrow brings.
I know what it means to be good at what you do, and I hope to run into someone who can take on my issue here, locally, and if not, it will be time for a new chapter.
I could rent a space for a few months just to bring this bike up to snuff, but going back to a smaller unit could be loss; I have to sum up the cost of whatever I do.
