I took off my DL-650 hand guards, removed the clutch and brake levers, cleaned the hinges greased em up, performed the 'clutch mantra'. Pulled the front calipers, cleaned EVERYTHING with soapy water and a toothbrush, pulled the caliper slides off, cleaned, polished, and re-greased. Put it all back together, and ended it with a brake bleed.

adjusted pre-load up because I've gained a little weight...


Been at least 2 years since I did that and man I didn't realize how stiff my clutch was getting!

 

Took it to get some whiskey and dinner yesterday. I happened to not have my ear plugs in, and noticed that after putting the engine back together my valves whirr quite loudly until the heads are hot (yes, I adjusted them while it was apart). It reminded me of a tree full of Cicadas.

 

I started commuting with my SV again. Feels great to be back on the saddle again.

 

Discovered the joys of Plasti Dip. First tyy. Can peel and replace to do it better.

Before.


After.

 

Is that like a grippy coating? Spray on?

I've never seen that stuff before, I had to look it up.

 

Where did you get your plastic?

 

Local Ace Hardware was my source for a spray can of Flex Blue.


Amazon also carries it for those hard to find colors. ;D

 

Snubbed it for the FJR. My lunch box was too bulgy for the Givi side-cases.

 

Washed gear. It was well over due(helmet pads and gloves).

 

Sunday - Oil/filter change and chain cleaning.

 

I celebrated Ride to Work day by riding my SV to work. Then I stared out the window looking at the beautiful weather and not getting any work done.

 

Me too, only now I'm looking at a cloud of smoke billowing above one of my favorite riding areas from a couple new brush fires. :'(

 

Sold her :'(

 

Bikeless, or do you have a new bike to show?

 

Sorry for your loss.

 

Performed a major service on my Suzi2 last weekend and got her out for a good ride out north this past weekend

ahh feels good to be out on the rocketship again

 

Sold my track SV. I never thought I would be able to part with it but nobody wanted to buy my Tuono and I couldn't bear to cut the price any more. But a cheap bike can always be sold. Now I'm down to just two bikes for the first time in 5 years. Until it sold Saturday I was probably the only person on this board whose ideal number of motorcycles was n-1 instead of n+1. Now it'll be easier to enjoy the two that I have left a little more.

 

Put my turd on the dyno today and it put less hp out than stock after putting a power commander and full yosh exhaust. I think air temp and humidity had a lot to do with it. It's running pretty rich on the top end but the hp has a nice even curve to it. I'll have to go into the fuel map and lean it up a bit. Was pretty disappointed today. Got a short vid on instagram of it on the dyno. Kippcoatings is my user name. Sounds pretty good though.

 

Oooo I like those colors!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Subtle, aren't they.

 

I gave the frame a good cleaning.

 

Broke it... apparently. Went to leave work and got no power after turning the key.:facepalm: Jiggling the key got power to the gauges a couple of times, but it failed each time I hit the starter. I hope the green connector is just loose, I inspected it, cleaned it, and applied dielectric grease this winter. And it's been running an eastern beaver relay harness for years. This is going to be a fun weekend. :angry7:

 

Check the green ignition plug.

 

I added some stuff to my post just now. In short yes, this is the first place I'll look after checking the battery. A righteous pain in the neck to get to though!

 

The green plug was okay, but the battery wasn't.

After 7 years of faithful service the original battery had given up the ghost and tested at 10.1 volts this morning. I jumped it to the battery in the FJR and it came immediately to life. So now the new one is done charging and about to get dropped into place.

I had been planning on getting a new battery this year, it just forced my hand before I did it on my own.

 

Atleast it was an easy (and relatively inexpensive) fix.

 

Bled the brake lines. Brake feels much nicer. Flushed the radiator. Making a mess on the drive way with the coolant.

 

7 years out of a motorcycle battery???
That's awesome!

 

Yup, a little over actually. And it's even had the lights left on once or twice too.

In other news: I went up to the Franklin-Lake Toxaway area of North Carolina today. And I think I've got my fuel consumption fixed. Yay! But my coolant temps were all over the place. Boo!

Didn't see any leaks or smell it boiling off. Yay (maybe)! But I have to take the whole thing back apart to check the coolant level. Boo!

 

Met up with a felllow member from here
and went for a ride. Got some killer BBQ
in Durham, NC!