Why bring a prototype technology to an #edtech conference?

I’m just wrapping up this conference in Toronto and it’s another week before we’re back at it in class.  This is a small conference where you get to meet and talk to many of the participants.  By the end of the three days you’re familiar with a lot of faces, which doesn’t happen at the bigger events.

I was invited to demonstrate virtual reality research my students and I have done in class over the past year.  Bringing all the kit involved in setting up multiple VR sets is like bringing all you’d need to project a movie… in 1930.  These are the heaviest, most awkward VR sets people will ever experience and it took a car load of tech to set up two headsets.


This ‘state of the art’ technology that is a pain to set up and far from perfect might seem like an odd choice to bring to a teacher technology focused conference.  Where everyone else is showing off cloud based software tools or simple electronics, I’m here with this astonishingly complex and expensive technology that clearly isn’t for everyone, but that’s why I brought it.


If you’d have shown up at an education technology conference in 2008 with a touch screen tablet that could run apps, create digital media and replace 80% of the work you do on a desktop computer, you’d have looked a bit mad.  Everyone there would wonder why you’re showing off this stuff from Star Trek since it’ll never be used in a classroom.  Eighteen months later Apple would produce the first ipad and everyone’s mind would change.


When I first tried the latest evolution in virtual reality last spring I was surprised at how accessible it had become.  From bespoke systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars we suddenly saw Oculus and then HTC Vive appear with thousand dollar headsets that would run on a decent desktop computer.  It’s not often you see an evolutionary leap that drastic and effective in computer technology (think ipad levels of advancement over a PDA).  The prices have since dropped again to under $600.

Bringing VR as it is now (big, awkward, complex) to an educational conference on technology was an opportunity to show people where we’ll be in the next five years.  Heavy, hot, wired and expensive VR sets with lots of setup and complication won’t be how many people first experience VR, but it’s important for educators to be ahead of mass adoption and think about how media is evolving so that we’re able to effectively harness it when that ipad moment happens.


VR is evolving so rapidly that it has reached a kind of critical mass with research and development support.  Money that used to go elsewhere is being focused on VR development which is further accelerating an already hot technology sector.  This means you’ll be using VR in your classroom a lot sooner than you think.  Wouldn’t it be something if teachers knew something about it before that happens?

I had a lot of people walk up to the station and ask me what company I’m with, even though this was a Minds on Media event and that means it’s run by teachers for teachers.  There is a lot of subtext in the question.  The assumption that I had to be some kind of engineer with a VR company comes from a place where teachers assume they aren’t experts on tech, but many are and we should make a point of recognizing those skills as they are a key to improving technical fluency in Ontario education.  The other assumption became apparent when people asked me how I could possibly have put this together in an Ontario classroom.


I’m lucky there.  My school board makes a point of exploring emerging technologies with the Specialist High Skills Major program.  Without that support my expertise as a former IT technician is wasted, but with that support we have an example of an Ontario classroom exploring the leading edge of emerging technologies.  The first thing we did after figuring out how to get VR working (and this was a team effort with myself, our board IT department and my senior computer engineering students) was to begin building and setting up VR sets for other schools.  This capacity building led to one of my students returning to his elementary school as a coop student and assisting them with their VR research which in turn led us to becoming an ICT SHSM program for the first time.  There is a virtuous circle when we enable the technical skills of Ontario teachers and use it to actively engage with evolving educational technology rather than waiting for it to surprise us.

I tend to shy away from turn-key digital substitutions of existing class work.  If it is relying on computers and networks you’ve introduced so much complication into something that achieves the same learning goal more simply that I don’t bother.  If a poster making session in class would do it, why bother going digital?  But there are moments with technology where it offers you something so profoundly different from what you could do in an analog classroom that it begs you to use it.  VR did that for us with an opportunity to build digital 3d models and design software for VRspace.


Running Tiltbrush for art teachers from elementary to senior high school always prompted the same result.  Artists get excited by a new medium and this is that.  If you’ve never sculpted with light before, you can in VR.  Using something as immersive and tactile as VR is much better than explaining it.  After explaining VR many asked me what the point of it was.  After trying VR most of them were lit up by it, suddenly imagining all the possibilities, and that’s what I was there for.  I’m not selling you on a platform, or a company, or a carefully designed analog replacement, I’m offering you a glimpse into the future.  If you left full of excitement at the possibilities, and pretty much everyone did, then my job was done.


VR offers 3d, immersive interaction with a digital world we’ve only been able to peer through a 2d monitor at before.  This will change everything, again.

Dozens of links and lots of information on how to get started in VR in your classroom, check it out!


from Blogger http://ift.tt/2xo2LB5
via IFTTT

2018 Tundra Swan Migrations

A dull and snowy day, lots of white on white, and using the Nikon p610, which isn’t the most low light friendly camera in the world (though it does have ungodly reach).

Then two of these flew by and the flock launched…

We came back through a couple of hours later and the big flock was gone, but this couple and an odd duck were enjoying the winter-runoff pond in the middle of the farmer’s field.

from Blogger http://ift.tt/2FyDSKH
via IFTTT

Motorcycle Purchases on Kijiji

A Good Kijiji Week

Last week a pair of Alpinestar boots popped up on Kijiji that happened to be just my size.  The Alpinestars I have are totally next level, so the chance to own a second pair for the price of tax on a new pair was impossible to ignore.

A ride over to Kitchener on an idyllic Sunday morning and I’m the proud owner of my second pair of Alpinestars, this time for twenty five bucks.  Only used for a season, and in fantastic shape, they’re waterproof and much better for wet/cold weather than the summer boots I currently have.

***  Kijiji Part 2

I love riding with a purpose.  Today I went to Guelph and then Orangeville to check out two dual sport bikes.  I’m looking for something as different as possible from the Concours, so a light-weight off-road focused enduro machine fits the bill.

The first bike is a 2007 Kawasaki KLX-250.  250ccs is on the small side, but this is a very light bike.  At 298lbs, it’s 374(!)lbs lighter than the Concours.  It barely makes any noise, felt spritely and has a radically different riding position.  No windscreens, very open and a tall riding stance.  It’s been immaculately cared for by the original owner and comes with all the right farkles.  You couldn’t ask for a nicer machine and it’s much newer than I thought I could afford.  If I’m worried about the power, there are always options to buff up the bike.

It’s a bonus when you hit it off with the owner and end up having a good chat.  He is an experienced trails rider who offered up all sorts of good advice about where and how to do it.  As he said, this is the ideal bike to learn on.  I may eventually want a more powerful bike, but as a starter this one is as good as it gets.

After a ride over to the Forks of the Credit, and a quality coffee atHigher Ground, I rode the Forks for the first time on the Concours (which always feels lighter than it is in a Millennium Falcon kind of way), and then headed up to Orangeville.

The XT350 looked like the ideal bike.  Air cooled, super light weight, with a medium displacement, but this one was a poor example.  It looked like it had led a life that alternated between abuse and neglect.  Not only was it filthy, but it looked like it was going to rust through in some expensive places.  It didn’t start and after a dozen or so kicks, when it finally did fire up it sounded like a tractor.  It couldn’t have been more different to the only marginally more expensive, lower kilometer, six year newer, much loved, whisper quiet KLX.  I’ll trade a few cc’s for a bike that won’t strand me deep in the woods any day.I emailed the owner of the KLX standing on the street as the XT owner tried to get it started again and told him I’m all in.  It’s nice when the right thing falls into your lap just when you need it, and in my case that always seems to be a Kawasaki.  The KLX will be my third Kawi (though my first green one).  I can’t wait to get to know it.

2018 Thoughts from The Road: I Just Don’t Get It

I’m in the middle of a cross Canada drive (alas, no bike).  It looks something like this:

Over the past couple of weeks on the road I’ve come across some strange choices that people make that I just don’t get.


On the Trans Canada towards Sault Ste Marie early in the trip we came across a CanAM Spyder towing a trailer.  This five wheeled conveyance (which was holding up traffic) manages to combine awkwardness, discomfort and a lack of efficiency all in one baffling package.


I’m a big fan of biking, but there comes a point where, if you’re unable to leave your shit behind and travel light, a bike isn’t what you should be taking.  Any convertible on the market probably gets equivalent or better mileage, carries more and takes you further in more comfort.  With two front wheels it’s not like you’re missing leaning into any corners anyway, which is why so many of us hang it out there in the first place.


It looks like Spyders get low thirty miles per gallon on average.  Towing a trailer probably knocks that well down into the twenties, similar to a Mustang Convertible!


If you wanted to be more efficient, a Miata gets far better mileage than the Sypder, and the roof goes up, and it carries more.  Amazingly they are pretty much priced the same (not counting the trailer which you wouldn’t need anyway).  You wouldn’t be holding up traffic in a convertible either, or having to wear all the gear…

There comes a time when riding a motorcycle doesn’t make sense.  It’s when you’re riding an awkward three wheeler with a trailer attached with half a mile of traffic behind you.



from Blogger https://ift.tt/2OvY5kf
via IFTTT

A Long Ride Home

Last week I was in Edmonton at the Skills Canada National Competition.  We were there for IT & Networking, but they have everything from metal work and carpentry to 3d modelling and fashion on hand.  One of the competitions I was drawn back to again and again was motive power where competitors were working on everything from outboard motors to a variety of motorbikes.

They had Kawasaki KX450s up on a block as well as some lovely Yamaha MT09s.  Both Yamaha and Kawasaki were sponsors at Skills Canada – which kinda makes you wonder where that Canadian manufacturer CanAm went, but then judging by the long faces of Team Quebec throughout the competition, perhaps they too find the idea of participating in a Canadian event to be bothersome.  How every other province and territory, many of them strongly represented by Canadians from all over the world as well as a strong contingent of aboriginal tradespeople, could be so positive about Skills Canada while Team Quebec looked like they were at the dentist the whole time was both baffling and frustrating.

Competitors in the motive power competition were diagnosing faults and doing maintenance under the watchful eyes of multiple judges.  This (of course) got me daydreaming of alternate ways of getting back to Ontario after the competition that didn’t involve air travel.  Though I can’t complain as I got bumped up to bulkhead behind first class and spent the entire flight back with Sherry Holmes.

We wrapped up Skills Canada on Wednesday, June 6th just after lunch in Edmonton.  From there it’s just over thirty-three hundred kilometres home.

The MT09 isn’t exactly designed for long distance trips, but if I could manage doing three tanks of gas (the MT does about 190kms/to a tank) a day I’d be averaging close to 600kms daily.  That means a six day blitz across most of North America and around the Great Lakes to get home on eighteen tanks of fuel.


The only thing I’d need for the bike is a tail bag for essentials and then I’d be off.  It’s Canada in June, so the clothing options would have to be pretty dynamic as I’d be likely to see everything from 40°C heat to possible snow.  As it happens, Aerostich is just over half way back in Deluth, Minnesota, and they have a Roadcrafter suit that happens to match the MT09’s funky paint scheme pretty well.  It would only take a slight modification to the trip to pass through there.  If I’m looking for something that’ll get me through the madness that is Canadian weather, the Roadcrafter’s the thing.  The trick would be to get across The Prairies without freezing or overheating before enjoying the final fifteen hundred kilometres in and around The Great Lakes in a made to fit super-suit.  It’d make for a formidable before and after comparison.

Edmonton was packed with motorcycle shops.  We saw everything from Indian/KTM to Ducati and the usual Hawg shops.  There is a lot of disposable income in Edmonton.  The MT09’s grey with high-vis paintwork is right on trend with a lot of Japanese helmets at the moment.  I’d have a fine choice of matching Shoei or Arai lids to choose from.

Funny how just seeing a bike after days spent on planes and buses gets me dreaming about riding again, even if it’s a six day slog over a quick three hour flight.  I suspect that most motorcyclists have this perverse nature about them.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2HzGaFG
via IFTTT

Weights and Measures

I’m always mindful of how heavy a motorcycle is, but there is a lot of static in the way. Between the splits Canadians do between the metric and imperial systems and the games played by motorcycle manufacturers, I’m often left second guessing what I think I know.

I’ve owned everything from feather weight KLX250s (278lbs/126kgs) to light weight Ninja 650s (393lbs/178kgs), heavy weights like the Concours (‎671lbs/305kgs) and middle weights like my current Tiger (474lbs/215kgs), but even those statistics are suspect because manufacturer’s will share a dry weight (no fluids) if it’s a bike that is bragging on its lightness and a wet weight (ready to ride with fuel) if it doesn’t matter so much or the bike has a tiny tank and lousy range.  There is no consistency at all in this other than the marketing angles being played.  I have no idea if those numbers published on the bikes I’ve owned above are even equivalent.  Are they wet weight?  Dry weight?  Something else?
 
To try and get my head on straight I’ve gone looking for some stats, and found montesa_vr‘s work on ADVrider.com (great site!  Check out their epic ride reports if you like to get lost in a long distance adventure).  
 
I took that exhaustive list of street legal dual sports and dumped them into a spreadsheet, sorting them by comma separated values.  Then I added in some handy metric/imperial connections and stats on weight of a tank of fuel, so you can see them all in one place.one gallon of gasoline weighs 6.2 lbs.
One litre is equal to 0.264172 gallons (US liquid).
So, 1 litre = 1.6378664 lbs.
1lb = 0.453592 kgs
1 litre of gasoline = 0.7429237021194 kgs
Here’s the spreadsheet:


 
It ain’t heavy, it’s my Tiger. It’s obviously lighter than
the Concours I rode before it, but much heavier than
the Ninja before that. I just wish the stats were
consistent and comparable. 

The Tiger 955i is listed as a 215kg dry weight.  With a full tank of gasoline it’s loaded up with almost 18kgs of fuel, putting it at about 233kg, yet it’s listed as a 257kg wet weight.  So, that must be 18kgs of fuel and 24kgs of oil and coolant?  That seems like an awful lot of oil and coolant (and brake fluid? and what, fork oil?  How asinine does dry weight get?).  At 566lbs, my old Tiger would be 7th in the current crop of heavy weight adventure bikes.  I don’t think it’s exceptionally heavy for what it is, but it’s hard to tell with the smoke and mirrors.

Dry weight is virtually meaningless, I’m astonished that it’s even given as a statistic.  When would you ever need to know what a bike weighs without any fluids in it?  I couldn’t run, so it’s an academic statistic verging on pointless.  I also get montesa_vr’s point that bikes shouldn’t be punished on weight comparisons for being able to carry a reasonable amount of fuel.  Putting a peanut sized tank on a bike so you can brag about the weight seems disingenuous.

At least a wet weight comparison offers up a bike that is actually operational.  A wet weight with an empty tank seems like the obvious standard if you don’t want to punish long distance capable machines, but no one seems to do it.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2FhT9L8
via IFTTT

Dakar 2020

Dakar 2020 has just gotten underway in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.  Red Bull TV has a good (and free to view) daily recap of the event here:
https://www.redbull.com/ca-en/events/dakar-rally-saudi-arabia-2020

You can keep up with events on the Dakar website too: https://www.dakar.com/en

 

In case you have no idea what the Dakar Rally is about, there is a good primer and historical explanation of the event as it heads into its 42 year:



Some photos from dakar.com from the first day of the rally:

 

 

 



What a thing!

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2ZQSgoH
via IFTTT

The Motorcycle Industry is in Real Trouble

Google ‘biker’ and you get a lot of pictures of old white guys.
Good luck selling them bikes in 20 years.

The other day a fellow rider on twitter shared a link to this article on how the motorcycle industry is in real trouble.  Among the litany of problems was the hyper conservative nature of the industry and its habitual focus on old white guys.  The biker image is a bastion of pre-Twenty First Century prejudices; women (unless they’re pillions and dressed like dolls) and non-white riders need not apply.  Groups like Bikers for Trump continue to find a comfortable place to operate within these old-school prejudices.  I’d suggest that an industry that wants to cling to this dying sense of privilege deserves to be in big trouble.

Of a less cut and dried nature (unless you’re clinging to colonial, white guy privilege) was the piece about how young people aren’t riding motorcycles or even driving cars as much any more.  I’d argue this is a larger and more difficult problem to solve.  I struggle daily with getting young people to engage with and master real world technical problems (it’s my day job).  I wasn’t at all surprised to see this as a conclusion from the research:

“…many millennial consumers were “bubble-wrapped for safety in their youth” or raised by overprotective parents who discouraged risk-taking”

A few years ago I suggested we start a motorcycle club at our school.  Some of our students go out and get their licenses and begin to ride and others dirt bike ride, so there would be interest.  We could use the experience and expertise of our teacher-riders to help students more safely and effectively take to two wheels.  The skills learned in maintaining and repairing motorcycles in our shop would mean safer vehicles for our students to use and an increase in technical skill.  They all sounds like good ideas, right?  It was nixed immediately: a hard no.  We run rugby teams and downhill ski race teams and go camping in bear country, but riding a motorcycle?  Way too dangerous.  I suggested that was exactly why we should do it, but still a hard no.

We need to bring back the kind of inclusive advertising
that worked for Honda so well over forty years ago.

There is, no doubt, a danger halo around motorcycling that is a big part of its mystique, but the operation of a motorcycle isn’t dangerous in and of itself.  Many riders like to play to this mystique, making it seem more edgy because that’s the image they want to convey, but it isn’t helping the sport.  That focus is also used to hyper masculinize the image of a motorcycle rider and plays to the conservatism that plagues the industry.  


It’s always a relief when someone subverts that tired, old stereotype

Enjoy having your assumptions subverted, it’s good for you.


Apart from the prejudices and mythology around motorcycling, we also have a new generation of people who aren’t taking up the sport, but then they aren’t taking up vehicle operation in general.

“For 16- through 44-year-olds, there was a continuous decrease in the percentage of
persons with a driver’s license for the years examined. For example, the
percentages for 20- to 24-year-olds in 1983, 2008, 2011, and 2014 were 91.8%,
82.0%, 79.7%, and 76.7%, respectively.”


There are a lot of social reasons for this to be happening.  More of us live in cities than ever before and driving in cities is misery.  Many jurisdictions don’t acknowledge the advantages of riding a bike in an urban environment either, making riding an even dimmer proposition than driving.  The independence afforded by vehicle operation that used to define coming of age as a teen has become increasingly expensive even as wealth has been concentrated in a smaller and smaller class of people; fewer rich get richer while more poor get poorer.  With money slipping out of the hands of a vanishing middle class, the idea of buying into the independence of operating your own vehicle becomes increasingly impossible for many youngsters, especially with systemic economic discrimination like insurance forcing them off the road.


There is a final piece to this perfect storm diminishing the motorcycle industry that I haven’t seen as much about.  Last night I watched Kingsmen: The Golden Circle, and like every other film I’ve seen in the past few years, it’s a few moments of acting tied together by ludicrous computer generated imaging.  When I was young I stumbled upon a Bruce Lee marathon late one night and got really fired up about it.  Watching Bruce do his thing was inspiring.  I’d make the argument that a generation brought up on fake, computer generated action wouldn’t feel that kind of inspiration to get out in the world and do things like do kung fu or ride a motorbike.


Marketing is happy to pick up this idea of showing you cars doing things they can’t actually do because you’re buying an idea.  How the car makes you feel is what makes it valuable, not what you can actually do with it.  Whether it’s Nissan pretending their cars are in Star Wars or Chevy pretending their cars are skateboards, the marketing and special effects departments are more than happy to sell you on an idea rather than engineering.  I won’t even get into Kia selling you on a car that will drive for you because you’d rather be daydreaming.


In this digital dream-time we’re all immersed in, you can you see why something as unforgiving and physically challenging as motorcycling might be one of the first casualties.  It’s going to be a long time if ever before we see accident avoidance on something as elemental as a motorbike.  For all those young drivers who expect their car to drive for them when they can’t be bothered to pay attention, this moves motorcycles even further away from the realm of possibility.  Coupled with the danger mythology many riders are guilty of promoting, it’s little wonder that motorcycles increasingly seem like something from another time and place.


Forgetting the old white guy thing for a minute (it’s going to go away on its own anyway), how can the industry get people back on motorcycles again?  The obvious first step is to make your advertising plausible and inclusive.  Don’t digitally animate anything.  Show riders of all types enjoying the elemental freedom of riding.  This doesn’t need to include jumping canyons or putting knees down; the joy of riding is a simple, accessible pleasure.  Show people commuting, going out on a date and otherwise living their lives.  Minimize the costuming, especially the pirate thing, emphasize how effective modern safety gear is.  Honda had this figured out decades ago and it prompted a renaissance in riding.  There is no reason why we couldn’t do it again.


Build bikes that appeal to all sorts of riders.  Smaller, easier to handle bikes for beginners that push technology to create something so efficient that it makes snooty hybrid car drivers look like diesel pigs.  A 100mpg bike is an immediate possibility.  A hybrid touring bike that gets mega mileage but can still move two up easily?  An all electric bike?    These things should be moved on aggressively. 


When coupled with a campaign to emphasize how efficient bikes can be at moving people around, especially in cities, it would play to the urbanization of our population instead of against it.  Motorized bikes are capable of moving people more effectively and efficiently than just about any other form of transportation, if we let them.  Why do you think crowded developing cities are so full of two wheelers?  Pressuring governments to recognize this and encourage two wheeling instead of vilifying it would be a great step forward.  Can you imagine how many people would flock to a motorcycle industry couched in marketing around environmentalism and the elemental thrill of riding as an escape from the digital miasma?  Escape the Matrix indeed.

Governments ignore a lot of research that clearly
demonstrate how efficient motorcycling can be,
especially in an urban environment.

Ontario offers thousands in incentives for people driving environmentally questionable hybrids.  What would happen if you got thousands back in incentives for buying a motorcycle that gets better mileage than a Prius?  There are a lot of them – my fourteen year old 955cc Tiger gets better mileage than the Toyota green flag waving hybrid and was way less damaging to manufacture.  Can you imagine how many more people would ride these environmentally minimalist machines in cities if they could lane split and move quickly to where they needed to be, reducing traffic and improving the flow for everyone?


Why not do one better and apply those incentives to emphasizing the power and importance of the rider?  Instead of advertising about how your car will drive for you because you’re too much of a drip to do it yourself, maybe motorcycling could emphasize the importance of the rider and include them in any upgrade.  How about training being automatically included when you buy a bike?  This would immediately result in lower accident rates and better insurance costs.  If you’re a beginner you get the training as a part of the purchase because you are immediately recognized as a vital part of the riding equation.  If you’re already experienced then an advanced riding course in the area of your choice (off-road, track, road) is included to continue your advancement in pursuit of mastery.  Motorcycle training courses blossom and grow and sales are encouraged.  How about industry and government formerly recognize the importance of the rider and collaborating to make riding the life-long learning opportunity that it should be; motorcycles become paradigms of skill, self-discovery and mastery.

Shows like Ride with Norman Reedus are gender and race
inclusive and celebratory of motorcycle culture in its many
forms.  We should be encouraging more shows like it.

De-snootying motorcycle culture, especially where it’s at its snootiest (North America) isn’t something to wonder about, it’s a marketing imperative.  Anyone out in the wind, even if they aren’t on a cruiser, is a part of the culture.  Scooters and three wheelers aren’t for losers, they’re a part of the sport that needs to be embraced and included.  Three wheels mean older riders and those less physically able can still enjoy being out in the wind, how is that a bad thing?  Next time someone gives you a wave from a trike, don’t be a jerk, wave back.


If the current motorcycling industry is unwilling to embrace the Twenty-First Century maybe they should be in real trouble.  There are always smaller concerns in the shadows waiting to step in and make changes where the established, conservative powers are not.  Business as usual is clearly not working.  Hopefully the industry that feeds our hobby will realize that and stop coddling Twentieth Century prejudices.  A brave new world of opportunities awaits them if they do.

LINKS

No easy ride: Motorcycle industry is in deep trouble and needs help fast, panel agrees
http://ift.tt/2j1CNNT

The Decline of the Driver’s License
Fewer people of all ages are getting them, and it’s not quite clear why.
http://ift.tt/2mcL7Lp

from Blogger http://ift.tt/2ou0Ni7
via IFTTT

Sourcing Parts and Kawasaki Master Brake Cylinders

The rear brake light I ordered on Amazon in December decided to show up today.   I’m going to pass it on to Jeff’s BMW cafe racer project and I think I’m done with four month delivery times from Amazon.  Time to source my parts elsewhere I think.  I’m curious to see how soon the rear brake light I got instead from eBay takes.  I have a feeling it’s going to make the Amazon Marketplace delivery times look sketchy.


Meanwhile, a coolant overflow tank and master brake cylinder kit arrived for the Concours in a timely fashion from Fortnine.  I wish they’d start stocking customization pieces like those all in one LED lighting systems.


The tank looks like it’ll fit nicely on the battery case.  It isn’t as big as the stock one, but the stock one isn’t that big anyway.  I’ve routed the coolant overflow tube and it fits nicely down the spine of the bike.  Where it’s placed means the overflow pipe can stick out the side and not dump in the path of the rear tire.


The master brake cylinder kit took a bit of work to get into.  Getting it off the bike was easy enough, but getting the compression ring out took some fiddling.  I’ve replaced the rubbers on the cylinder and I’m ready to put it back together again, but the kit came with 2 copper rings that don’t seem to be on the original, so I’m going to figure out where they go before I reassemble.

Brake handle and electronic switch removal was straightforward.  The only tricky bit was the snap ring that holds in the master cylinder.  Compressing the cylinder while getting a pair of compression pliers in there
to squeeze the ring into the groove on the cylinder is swear worthy.

The old outer gasket was in pieces before I even started pulling it out.  Rubbers don’t typically last 24 years.
Fancy people pay for that kinda patina – mine comes virtue of the bike being 23 years old and Canadian.

The old gaskets and spring on the cylinder

New gaskets and springs ready to install – as soon as I figure out where the copper rings go.

I don’t see copper rings on there anywhere.  I’m still not sure why the
All Balls Racing master cylinder kit has them, but have them it does.

from Blogger http://ift.tt/2lNIeQk
via IFTTT