I love the opportunity to learn new things. Getting back on a bike after a 35-year hiatus has turned out to be just such an opportunity. And that bike turned out to be a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja EX250, a far cry from the Hodaka 100 that I had set up for desert racing back in the late '60s. (Yeah, I am that old.)

But I am never one to leave well enough alone, especially mechanical things. The Ninjette is no exclusion. So far I have put right the things that the young man who previously owned the bike had changed in an attempt to increase performance. The bike runs better and stronger now with the stock exhaust and airbox in place again.

I have made the first improvement to the bike -- new brakes. I have put a new rotor on the front with Vesrah pads, stainlesss-steel brake lines, and changed the brake fluid using a high-wet-boiling point synthetic DOT-4 brake fluid.

The rear brake rotor was in good shape so it just got new stock pads but it also got...