Wow...I can't believe it has been almost 4000 miles since I put these on only 4 months ago on 4/18/15!! I'm at 14,300 or so as of 8/12/15.
Today, I was putting some of that reflective tape on my wheels (didn't do a very good job of it). While turning the front wheel, I was getting some grinding noise.....like the (fairly newly installed) brake pad(s) is/are rubbing. I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend ):
It may be that the "speed sensor" is dry and needs greasing. The usual sound is a squealing, but if it goes long enough without proper lube, it can make grinding sounds when the sensor housing is spinning with the wheel.
Follow the cable down the LH front fork tube. It ends in the speed sensor housing. You have to remove the front axle and drop the tire a couple inches to get the sensor out to clean and lube.
It may be that the "speed sensor" is dry and needs greasing. The usual sound is a squealing, but if it goes long enough without proper lube, it can make grinding sounds when the sensor housing is spinning with the wheel.
Follow the cable down the LH front fork tube. It ends in the speed sensor housing. You have to remove the front axle and drop the tire a couple inches to get the sensor out to clean and lube.
Well, that sucks. No chance of me taking the front axle off - that will be a trip to the dealer. Just out of curiosity, what kind of lube? I want to ask if dealer has it before I go over there, if I end up going over there.
Hopefully, it will just be installing new brake pads, at worst....and just reseating the current brake pads, at best.
I use a generic Lithium-Moly grease designed for constant velocity joints for all TMax parts that meet that condition, anything else I use a thicker general purpose grease... oh and copper grease for anything with a thread.
I never buy anything specific in the belief that it really doesn't matter that much.
I find myself cleaning my brakes every 6 months if we are having a lot of wet weather, so far I have been lucky this year and not had to do them since I purchased the scoot.
I use Yamaha's "Race Grease". It's a lithium based grease for use in wet conditions. Most of the exposed to the environment things that need to be greased on the Tmax are lubed with a lithium based grease per the SM.
Well, I went looking for this thread to see the mileage I changed my front pads. I just pulled the front brakes again at 22,000 miles. So, minus the 10,665 that I put them on at, yields 11,335 on these front pads. They may still have life on them, I have not measured them yet. But for the cost of pads, I'm just putting in new ones since I have my front wheel stuff all torn apart anyway.
I have 17,000 miles... was hoping to postpone doing the brakes until Big Wheels put up a video But bumble bee failed inspection for rear brakes.
I took them off today, and geez there is nothing left on those pads!
The front pads are getting low, but nothing like the rear.. Is that because the front braking has two rotors? I was taught to use both brakes evenly when braking, so it would make sense to me that the rear is wearing heavier with only one rotor...? Or maybe my math is a little fishy there.
Looking at the shop manual, it says you should replace the "brake pad supports", which are two small metal clips that hold the pads on the sides... I bought new pads from Motorcycle Superstore, assuming they would send the support clips with the pads, but no luck! Any idea if it's a _really_ bad idea just to use the existing support clips?
Also failed inspection for the rear tire. I had replaced the rear with at Pirelli Diablo at 6,000 miles because I had a slow leak... kind of surprised to have to replace it after another 11K. But then again I guess 10 - 15K is all you get on the tires?
The rear pad change was pretty straightforward following the shop manual.. You do have to turn the piston clockwise for it to lower far enough to fit the new pads, and you need a thin pair of pliers to fit the slot.. I had some weird tool with two pins at the end that worked well, not sure where I got that.
Big Wheels... any plans for a front brake video in the works?
Well, I went looking for this thread to see the mileage I changed my front pads. I just pulled the front brakes again at 22,000 miles. So, minus the 10,665 that I put them on at, yields 11,335 on these front pads. They may still have life on them, I have not measured them yet. But for the cost of pads, I'm just putting in new ones since I have my front wheel stuff all torn apart anyway.
FWIW, I just changed my rear tire at almost 26,000 miles. The rear brake pads I put on at 10,665 are still like new after almost 16,000 miles. I guess I should use them more
Well, I went looking for this thread to see the mileage I changed my front pads. I just pulled the front brakes again at 22,000 miles. So, minus the 10,665 that I put them on at, yields 11,335 on these front pads. They may still have life on them, I have not measured them yet. But for the cost of pads, I'm just putting in new ones since I have my front wheel stuff all torn apart anyway.
FWIW, I just changed my rear tire at almost 26,000 miles. The rear brake pads I put on at 10,665 are still like new after almost 16,000 miles. I guess I should use them more
At 35,660, changed back tire again...so basically 10,000 miles. Seems like I should have more miles than that in two years...but I guess not. No trips since 2016. Anyway - rear brakes still look great, almost no wear.
something I observed after a year of 500km a week commuting was that the T-Max wears lots of things far less than regular bikes.
I suspect this is because of a few things
the CVT means I hardly touch the brakes and usually just slow down in traffic with engine braking (around town or the highway)[/*]
the CVT keeps the engine within a relatively narrow margin of REVS, meaning that there is less stress on it (from rapid RPM changes)[/*]
the belt in the CVT seems to cushion the "blows" of the engine ignitions (being sharp power detonations) making my rear tyres last longer with a rubber (belt) softened delivery.[/*]
I've had a number of bikes with similar weight and similar power, which have done similar miles on and never had as good a run out of rear tyres.
Stripping my recently purchased, second hand TMax with 6000 miles on the clock, I found the front brake pads were 80% worn.
Perhaps the previous owner, who primarily used it for commuting, used them far more than I would do.
Watching scooter owners in city traffic, where there is little opportunity of slowing just by closing the throttle, I am not surprised at the high wear rate.
Stripping my recently purchased, second hand TMax with 6000 miles on the clock, I found the front brake pads were 80% worn.
Perhaps the previous owner, who primarily used it for commuting, used them far more than I would do. Watching scooter owners in city traffic, where there is little opportunity of slowing just by closing the throttle, I am not surprised at the high wear rate.
I bought my bike used with about 1000 miles on it. It didn't take me long to wear out the front brakes, driving in city traffic. On the highway, I can just let off the throttle - but in the city, or heavy congestion commutes, which is where I do most of my riding, gotta use brakes.
Anyway....when I did my brakes the first time, it had just over 10,000 miles on it. Brakes needed replacement:
I have changed the front brakes again - but not the rears. So now I've got around 26,000 miles on my rear pads and I think they have plenty of life in them - but a lot of those 26,000 miles are long trips. At least 10,000 miles worth - probably more like 15. Looking at the picture in the link above - and going from memory of what I looked at yesterday...they're probably half gone.
I think I changed the fronts the last time I changed my front tire - which was last summer. So they should be good, but I will have a look while it is sitting in my garage.
Well there has been technology changes, but:
my XZ550 (1983model) would get no more than 10,000 on Metzler or Michelin (one of the bikes I wish I never sold)
my XJ650 (1984) used to get on average 10,000 km on touring tyres
my K100RS never got more than 12,000 on Michelin Radials
its perhaps unfair, but when used 90% on highway commuting my XJR1200 would get no more than that either
so when I got between 12,000 and 19,000Km from the tyres on my first T-Max I was quite pleased they were dual compound Michelin Pilots, but the bridgestone ones I used weren't far behind.
sadly the new bike's rims are the real achillies heel on this bike, very limited tyre choices in Australia. I occasionally wonder about putting the 14" rim back on the back and seeing how that goes (need to calculate the rolling diameter difference between the 150/70 14 and the 160/60 15 and see if it will just fit a rim on)
Interesting. The XZ550, for all its technical innovations, is usually considered an "orphan" due to its short 2 year production run, and numerous problems with the 1982 model. Good to hear that someone liked it.
Interesting. The XZ550, for all its technical innovations, is usually considered an "orphan" due to its short 2 year production run, and numerous problems with the 1982 model. Good to hear that someone liked it.
it totally is an orphan ... and the rise of "the sport bike" probably helped kill that series. It was heaps better than the Honda CX500 while being a mid-range shaft drive "general use bike"
I loved mine although like my first T-Max had a propensity to eat alternator stators via breakdown of the insulation of the coils.
Replacing front and rear pads at 41,247 miles.
Also replacing front and rear tires at 41,247 miles.
Not sure if I missed posting about changing either brakes or tires since I last posted here....I kinda think I did. I have determined I last changed the rear pads on 8/10/2018 @ 35,951 miles.
No one cares - I just post it here so I can refer back to it later if I want to.
I noticed when putting the front wheel back on, the front rotors seemed a little on the thin side. I didn't measure it yet, but I am guessing that I will end up replacing the rotors the next time I do the front brakes.
Also...you need to resume that gold "space invader" clip. I was thinking new ones came with pads, but they don't. So I had to order some and now I have to wait for them to show up. Otherwise, I could be riding my scooter right now.
They're roughly $10/each from Partzilla. I ordered four, so I have two spares. I am kind of at the point where I have concerns about getting parts in a timely fashion, so if I am ordering parts anyway, I will get extras if they're not super expensive parts.
Also...had I had it to do over again, I would NOT have changed out the pads. Comparing side by side old vs new, I think I could have easily gone to my next tire change without changing the pads.
OK...some corrections. I did not replace the rear brakes on 8/10/2018 on the TMAX. The picture I found was for my wife's car
Since owning my scooter, which has 41,247 miles on it, I have:
replaced my front tire four times[/*]
replaced my rear tire 5 times[/*]
replaced my front brakes 3 times[/*]
my rear brakes twice[/*]
In that time, I have replaced all the brake pads and both tires at the same time only once (my most recent maintenance).
I decided I did not want to rely on this forum anymore for my records - since it is so dead I figure it could go away at any time. So I went through the threads, my pictures and my order history on various websites to construct an accurate history in a spreadsheet. I'll maintain that on my computer. But for anyone who has been following along - the following is confirmed to be correct.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Yamaha Majesty Scooter Forum
94.6K posts
4.6K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to Yamaha Majesty scooter owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!