2020 Moto Trip - Getting Things Done and Overcoming Snags

Here we are, just under two weeks away from leaving for the trip.  Fast forward to this time in 14 days, we’ll be waking our sleepy little heads in Burwell, NE and beginning the long trek to Chaska, MN.  It’s a good thing I like to be decently ahead of the game and not procrastinate maintenance too much.  A few days ago I got the new tire for the rear, ordered all of the things needed for a pre-trip oil change, reset the service light on the bike and checked the diagnostics (all good thankfully); but of course, I found myself facing another problem.  After putting the new rear tire back on the bike I discovered an old issue had re-reared it’s ugly head.

For some reason my back brake decided to begin dragging again out of the blue.  Not a ton but enough to heat the rotor up pretty much instantly.  I thought I’d fixed the problem some months ago by cleaning the grime off of all of the exterior parts on the caliper, which seemed to have worked, but I guess not long term.  So I put the new wheel and tire back on the bike, spun it around the block less than a mile, pulled back into the garage, and of course that rotor was almost too hot to touch.  Not good.

So I called Old Al to get his opinion as well as a few local dealerships to see what they thought.  I also reached out to my Twitter friends and although it could be any number of things, the masses are leaning toward the caliper piston likely being corroded and the caliper generally needing a bath and new seals.  Makes sense given the symptoms, so okay sweet that should be pretty easy.  Except naturally the dealership doesn’t have those caliper seals in stock because why would you have a set or two on hand?  That would be insanity having less than $100 in small commonly needed parts in inventory taking up space on the shelf.  *EYEROLL*  Fine, give me the rush shipping, it’s worth the $5 gamble to see if they come in by Friday since of course the dealership is closed on Monday like all moto dealers, but they also don’t accept packages on Saturday.  *HARDER EYEROLL*

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Lots to do in a short amount of time but come hell or high water we’ll be on the road August 12!