Another inexpensive tool worth every penny

I've removed the rear wheel and tire from most of my bikes at least once. For the shaft drive Kawasaki Concours, it's an easy if somewhat cumbersome process getting the wheel back in place and everything lined up.

For my Harley-Davidsons it's a completely different problem. I can imagine it's the same for chain drive bikes, but I haven't owned one in a long time. Getting the wheel into place and the axle through is fairly easy, as a rear wheel without a gear drive attached is much lighter. But then the fun starts, getting the proper chain or belt tension and the rear wheel and axle aligned so the bike tracks properly.

What a PITA! Being cheap, I originally didn't buy an alignment tool-how hard could this be? Really hard, so I broke down and bought a simple tool.

Best $16 I've spent on a bike ever! Get the tension you need, use the tool to mark the distance on that side of the bike (yes, Harley Sportsters but the belt on the "other side"!), go to the opposite side, slide axle into alignment, tighten everything, check again, torque everything and go for a "test ride"!

Full Disclosure, I am an Amazon Associate and will receive a small percentage of sales made through the link.

Cheap motorcycle tools that are very valuable for maintenance

Do you work on your own bike? Especially the routine maintenance that gives you time checking your bike and a feeling of accomplishment when you are finished with the task?

I do, and normally enjoy it and find it a good opportunity to check things out, spend some time doing mechanical things which is quite different than my normal day, and have that confidence that while I can't repair complex parts of the bike, I can take care of routine items myself.

The frustration comes when a project should be simple, but turns out to be overly complex or messy. One great example is changing the oil on a Harley-Davidson. Everything is pretty much right there out in the open. One hallmark of the Harley twin-v design is the oil filter placement forward of the front cylinder-looks good, works like a bit of an oil cooler, and makes accessing the filter for oil changes straightforward. Put an end cap filter wrench on, rachet drive with an extension and off it spins.

That's where things go wrong. About half a turn in and oil starts leaking out from the engine case all over the lower portion of the engine. I had tried all kinds of "solutions" on multiple twins-newspaper, cut up 2-liter "coke" bottles, tin foil. All worked to some degree, but all were also messy or a lot of effort for a simple job.

Then a friend let me borrow his oil change funnel kit. Available from a variety of manufacturers, these are purpose molded funnels that solve this problem, and the primary case fill problem too. A hard plastic funnel slides under the filter, has a drain and small rubber tubing to take oil right to your drain pan. A really good set is available on Amazon here, and for full disclosure (thank you nanny state) I am an Amazon Associate and get a few pennies if you buy from that link.

This is a simple tool, many companies offer a variety of them for less than $20, and the simplicity of doing oil changes with it is very welcome. I'll feature another simple but elegantly time-saving tool soon. Thank you for reading!

Wings of Eagles CMA Meeting, Chapter Ride, and Connie Updates

Yesterday was our last monthly CMA chapter meeting for the year, as we meet on the fourth Saturday of the month.  December meeting is always very close to Christmas Day, if not on Christmas, so we only have 11 meetings each year.  We had officer elections besides the normal business, and I will serve as Chapter VP and Road Captain for 2018 again.  No problem with that, as our President is returning and he does a great job.  Plus I'm getting used to Road Captain even if I'm not the most "let's go riding just for fun" member due to commuting on the bike and also many other interests and projects always going on!

Yesterday's ride was up and around some lakes in northeast San Diego County and I planned to lead us up Palomar Mountain.  Borrowing a trick I learned from track day and racing riders, I put tape on the inner fairing and tank with the directions as I hadn't ridden this route in awhile! Sure I could have dug the tank bag out and slid directions in the map pocket.  But this was easier as I haven't used the tank bag in probably two years, plus the bottom of the map pocket is too far back to keep my head up while riding!

We had a good ride-traffic was no where as bad as I thought it would be and the few cars in front of us were at least doing close to the speed limit.  I don't ride particularly hard especially leading a group, although the three riders with me could easily have kept up 5-10 MPH faster!  Two were some of the best riders in our chapter and the third was a guest with 65 years (yes, 65 YEARS!) of riding experience.  Due to concern we might have lots of "lookie-loos" on Palomar Mountain and the usual sportbike riders going much faster, we decided not to do that small detour-why you see some lined out directions.  Will take the tape off today-I left it on just for the pictures and hopefully it won't pull the CMA Bike Blessing stickers off at the same time.

We stopped in Santa Ysabel at the Julian Pie Company for pie/ice cream as always.  Like Rosa's Cafe and Tortilla Factory in Temecula, if our bikes are near there they turn in nearly automatically.  Maybe we should sell them to Tesla for autopilot tech!  While we were hanging out and enjoying our pie and ice cream, three C14 Concours pulled in, and it was the Concours Owners Group (COG) regional and area reps out riding!  I went over and introduced myself, we chatted for a few minutes, and I got their cards.  I'll likely rejoin COG and become active on the forum again.

When I got home I moved the 86 Connie, aka Miss Swail, off the lift and rolled the 96 up there.  Between watching/pausing the Auburn-Bama game (WAR EAGLE! Beat both #1 teams this year, now to beat Georgia again!) I did an oil change as I know I've ridden the bike 3,000 miles and who knows when it was done before that.  Pretty straightforward as always although messy-going to get a SPOOFAK, maybe for my birthday as the internal filter makes a mess.  The front drain bolt also is right by a line that will probably always get oil on it too.  Still better than where the filter is on most Harleys! 

Long update but it was a full day of CMA meeting and ride, meeting some COG officers and bike maintenance.  All good, and have a great riding day!

Great Weekend Riding and Upcoming Projects

Quick report on my busy weekend, about 350 miles of riding, and some projects I have coming up on the  bikes.

Saturday I was at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show (IMS) almost all day.  After meeting my CMA chapter for breakfast, four of us rode up there on our bikes while a few others "caged" there.  Only one wrong turn as the "trying to get fired Road Captain" and we made it in plenty of time to get the Helmet and Gear check going.  Only problem was we had less space than last year and no where near enough.  We had to shut the check down for about half an hour in the mid-afternoon, re-organize the helmets and consolidate a rack or three of jackets and then re-open.  Bummer, but the other option would have been to have gear tags out of order-a true recipe for disaster!

Sunday I participated in the El Cajon Harley Owners Group (HOG) Toys for Tots run.  Great event, great guys running it with lots of volunteers and a great cause.  Fun part for me was it was a "controlled ride" meaning we stayed as a group and had police escort.  However there were more intersections than Road Captains from HOG, so I started helping out.  Fun to do that every now and then as we "quickly" rode from intersection to intersection alongside the nearly 200 bike group.  Ride ended at Del Mar Racetrack where we rode in (quietly to not spook the non-iron horses) and had our own area.  Best part?  Nearly 2300 toys for Toys for Tots, and over $8000 that will also go for toys and gifts! 

After my annual pre-Thanksgiving Dinner ride before joining family at the in-laws, I have a number of projects on the two Connies.  The restoration bike (94, aka Belle) needs an oil change and general check-up, plus I may test fit the sanded and repaired bodywork. Belle's tank was going to go on the old 86 (Miss Swail) but the petcock leaks and trying to get it off one of the mounting nuts came loose from inside the tank.  UGH.  So I'm going to see what can be done with the old parts bike tank I've had sitting around.  It's nasty but if it holds gas it may have to do to get the bike sold and I'll let the new owner decide to use some gas tank sealant on it or buy a replacement on eBay.

Could you help me out and click this link for some metric T-handle wrenches?  Testing out the Amazon Affiliate program and would like to see how a sale or two works.  Thank you!

Anyone else frustrated by California PNO rules?

Gotta DMV at the crack of early tomorrow to personally register the 1986 Connie (AKA Miss Swail) before selling her this weekend.  Since putting it on a Planned Non-Operational (PNO) when the registration expired in April, I've saved half a year's insurance but will likely "lose" that much in comparable vacation hours turned into pay for the time at the DMV.

Lesson learned with this second stint of having a PNO'd motorcycle take at least one trip, therefor one wait in line for an hour plus, to the DMV to register, I'm gong to think twice about putting a vehicle on a PNO, at least here in California!

Please share your thoughts and experience with PNO in the comments.

Sold the Honda CB750F Project Bike Parts

Three years ago I traded a 12-string guitar and a custom cigar box guitar I made to a friend for his project CB750 parts.  I was going to make a rigid bobber or streamlined, Exile Cycles style trike but life and other projects plus restarting my financial services business resulted in zero work on it.

Well, I decided since I wasn't going to be able to build a bike for at least another year, I should sell these parts and maybe later build a bike with other "donor-cycles".  Craigslist ad got  a few responses, and I sold the bike for what I was asking plus delivery money to someone fairly close by.

Hope he enjoys it and gets his CB750 back in the wind soon!

A Couple of Quick Updates

Working on the bikes, prepping the 1986 Connie for sale plus checking what might be my options with the 1974 Honda CB750.  Odds are I'm going to sell it too-while I'd love to build a bobber or trike with it, the time and funds to do that right aren't going to be available for atleast 6 months and maybe more like two years.

Riding the 1994 Connie prior to a massive service on it (all fluids, test mount bodywork and prep for paint) and the Harley, so I'm still in the wind.

Quick Update on the 1994 Kawasaki Concours Restoration Project

I'm going to keep this short, but have to admit to owning the 1994 Connie for three years now!  I'm nowhere near as far along on the restoration as I thought I would be.  Fortunately my 86 had kept running well, so my plan to retire it at 100k was able to be pushed back.  Now my plan is to get at least 100K more miles on it than the 94 has before the registration expires at the end of April.

By then I should have all the bodywork on the 94 ready to be repainted, and take it off it's PNO as soon as DMV sends me the paperwork, but effective in July when it's due to minimize fees.  Since I also have a Harley, I will have a legal bike to ride while "swapping" Connie parts and awaiting the new registration for the 1994.

I tried starting it this weekend, but what little gas it has is stale.  It fired on starting fluid but didn't run.  I'll probably get a gallon of fuel and see what I can do to get it running, but I sure don't want to pull the carbs any earlier than I have to!  What a PITA it is getting Connie carbs in and out!

Two Bike Projects Done, a somber ride, and the car saga ends (hopefully)

This morning right when it got over 50 degrees I started painting the mufflers off my 1986 Kawasaki Concours.  I applied five coats over nearly two hours with only one run-which for me is pretty good with rattle cans. I used Rust-O-Leum Engine Enamel, which covered well and is good up to 500 degrees, hopefully enough for exhaust "cans".  If not, I'll clean up any blisters when I have them off in two or three months to move the rear wheel and new tire over to the restoration project 1994.  My goal is to get "Miss Swail" 100,000 miles over "Belle" while finishing the restoration and then retire Miss Swail at 116,000 plus miles.  Maybe a new owner will keep her on the road instead of parting her out, but there are lots of seals and rubber parts that are showing their age.

I also rode Gospel Flyer, the Harley Street Glide I inherited from my "big brother" Glen to Miramar National Cemetary for a funeral.  A Marine Sergeant was laid to rest today, and there had been a slightly "hoaxy" post about him not having much family.  Well, this got refuted, but it also energized the veteran community and there was a huge turnout.  Lots of bikes besides a large group of family and friends.  I also paid respect to Glen, another Navy buddy and a fellow EOD tech who was KIA on Oct 20, 2016.  All are in the same general area of the cemetary-Glen and my co-worker are five columns apart in their columbarium.  It was a tough time but a good use of part of my day.

The car is finally out of the shop.  Radiator replaced, lots of hoses for multiple fluids replaced, and the motor mount installed.  Definitely can feel it respond better with a solid front engine mount and fresh, full transmission fluid.  All work that needed to be done, some of which should have been done a while ago.  Even for a "rainy or too cold day" car!

New Rear Tire For the Kawasaki Concours

The rear wheel and tire I put on the 86 Connie from the 94 had gotten smooth on the middle like most of my tires, so it was time for a new rear tire.  This will be the last one before this bike gets to be 100k more miles than the 94 and retired.

So Friday night I put the bike up on its centerstand, but this time I decided to pull the mufflers just to see how much easier that makes this process.  It's a big difference, and more on the second project that started .

I haven't used a 27mm socket for this project, which is the right one for the crown nut.  I got everything apart and dropped the wheel and new tire off at Poway Motorcycles, my usual shop for remounting tires.  They did their usual quick and effective work.  I picked up the wheel but I also ran by Harbor Freight and picked up a 27mm socket.  What's the point of doing a project if you don't get to buy a new tool?

Everything lined back up pretty well-easier than usual to get the axle back through.  Having the socket instead of improvising a way to hold the crown nut and tighten the axle was much easier, and getting the nut tightened up and a cotter pin through the axle.

With the muffler "cans" off I decided to sand them down and try repainting them.  Even though I plan on selling the 86 as a parts bike/first Connie for someone else, the cans will look better and I'll get the experience with high heat paint.  So last night I sanded them to prep for paint.  Today is a bit cool and overcast, so I'll paint them tomorrow. 

Quick post-upcoming maintenance and first rain ride for 2017

I'm sure my one or two readers are wondering why two almost completely unrelated items make up the title.

Well, tonight the rain came early, so I was caught about 5 miles from home in steadily worsening rain.  Fortunately, we've had a bunch of rain lately, so it wasn't very slick.  Fortunate-because my rear tire is worn down along the center from all the commuting and freeway miles I do.  So this weekend I am pulling the rear wheel and having the rear tire that showed up today (and got rained on, how ironic!) put on.  Last rear tire change for Miss Swail, too.

30-year old Kawasaki emblem "goo" finally met it's match

My everyday ride is a 1986 Kawasaki Concours, one of three I have owned.  One was a parts bike, and one is the 1994 Concours I'm slowly restoring.  Well, both the other Connies have bad gas tanks-the parts bike tank was an internally, faded paint mess, and the 94s has rusted through from sitting too long.  It's been repaired, but also isn't in as good a shape as the 86 tank.

So I'm going to re-use the 86s tank for the restoration but need to repaint it.  I popped the Kawasaki emblems off a few weeks ago, but big black blobs of adhesive were left behind.  Nothing that should have worked got this stuff off.  Even after thirty years no solvent I dared use dented the blobs.

I asked my Father-in-Law if he had a heat gun, but he didn't.  So what did they get me for Christmas among other things?  Yep, a heat gun!  (side note:  You know you're getting old when a heat gun excites you more than possibly getting a Red Rider BB Gun.)  So tonight after dinner I went out to the garage, grabbed a plastic putty knife and fired up the heat gun.  Once softened a little the adhesive "goo" came off.  I slightly melted the putty knife, but no big loss-it was one I found laying around and not sure when we got it.

I've already got another project or two in mind for the heat gun, so it will likely be put to good use.  Time to prep a few more pieces of old bodywork and pick a color for the Connie-bouncing between a dark blue, a deeper red than stock, or white and black. 

Quick Post-Update on Connie Projects

Being TWO (Two Wheels Only) for seven months now and not traveling for work anymore has meant lots of miles but also lots of wear and tear on the Connies.  Here's a quick update on projects, maybe I can post more specifics on what I did and why in future posts.

1986 Connie

Rolled it over 100,000 miles
Cracked the Main Fairing Bracket (again)
Stripped main fairing off and removed bracket for neighbor to re-weld (again)
Changed Front Tire
Changed Oil
Had a pinhole radiator hose leak (see 1994 Connie projects...)
Removed and re-installed hard bags and antlers

1994 Connie

Used as transportation bike for almost 1,000 miles/good shakedown
Had a friend repair tank leak
Killed two fuel filters in four days using said tank due to rust inside it/replaced fuel filter three times (lol-but wasn't funny limping a starving for fuel bike home twice in four days, including some roadside networking with a Sheriff Deputy!)
Relocated 1986 tank and bodywork and spare bodywork to make 1994 all red
Moved/removed antlers and hard bags for commuting use, then back to 1986
Re-bleed front brakes but still too soft.  Replaced pads but still not gripping right
Drained radiator fluid and scavenged down pipe and hose for use on 1986
Documented brake and fork repairs needed prior to returning to full-time use

So I've been using 2.5 Connies to keep one on the road.  Tomorrow I celebrate 7 months of not owning a truck or car for me and only occasionally using a family members or friends!

Keep the knees in the breeze friends!

A small speedbump on the way to 100,000 miles on the Concours

The saga of keeping my 1986 Kawasaki Concours on the road for 100,000 miles keeps adding chapters, detours and speedbumps.  After a summer not riding as much as I would have liked due to work-related travel and starting a new business, plus some electrical issues the bike is back on the road.  She's running pretty strong with some minor issues related to rubber and gaskets showing their age more and more.   Yesterday I realized the trips I had planned for the next two days would easily take the odometer over 97,000 miles-only 3,000 to go!

Until.

Four miles into my ride to lunch at the start of a proposed 55 mile commuting day the speedometer drops to zero as I accelerate onto the freeway.  I'm already in fifth and about to click into sixth, tachometer happily bouncing away (it's done that the whole time I've owned the bike once I hit 4200 RPM) but nothing on the speedo.  Even worse, the mileage is stuck at 96920.4 miles.  Oh no!  This has happened a few times before but often resolved by tapping the face of the dash or going over a bump.

TAP TAP TAP.  Nothing.

Run over some "zots dots".  Nothing.

Find a set of small manhole covers slightly recessed from the roadway once off the freeway.  Bumpity bumpity bump.  Nothing.

OK, quick diagnosis is either a broken cable (likely, happened to the previous Ninja 900) or dead speedometer (ugh).  Yep a dead speedometer would also mean a dead odometer and need for a replacement with who knows what mileage showing.

I got home kind of late last night and decided to troubleshoot this morning.  Unscrew fitting from drive gear on front wheel, pull on cable, and knotched end piece and about two inches of cable come right out in my hand.  Whew.  Quick look at 1994 Connie to see how many parts have to come off to get cable (answer-1, the dash since no side fairings or inner fairing are currently on it).  Out come the tools, off comes the inner fairings and the dash from the 86, "steal" the cable from the 94, reverse steps, go riding.

Speedometer/odometer work fine and I rode about 60 miles today.  So odometer shows 96980 miles on it.  Due to known overstated speed, I'll let the 50 or so miles I rode after the cable broke yesterday slide-not parking this bike right at 100,000 miles anyway.

Wonder if BikeBandit or my local shop sells just the inner cable?  Probably almost as much as a replacement on eBay or the Connie forum.

Winter Riding in California and the Start of BikeBandit sales

Yep, it's that time of year again.  Winter riding.  After suffering through the hot dry summers out here that last until late October-it's routinely 85 plus degrees on Halloween, it's "winter".  Or at least the calendar says so.

So your intrepid blogger soldiers on-riding year round and dealing with the brutal hardship of winter riding.  Getting on the bike before sun-up requires layers upon layers of clothing, no exposed skin and extra time to ensure the cold battery starts up the nearly 30 year old 1986 Kawasaki Concours, AKA Connie AKA C10 AKA Miss Swail.  Off I ride into the brightening sunlight, cold air finding every bit of exposed flesh and tearing through my jeans.  Hey, it's probably below 50!  C'mon this is brutal.

Then it gets even worse as the sun gets up and by mid-morning it's warming up through the sixties.  Now what do I do with all these layers?  Fortunately I'm running the sidebags on the Connie so they both fill up with gear and extra clothes.  I'll probably make it home before sunset, so I'll probably ride home in my long sleeve shirt and leave the jacket rolled up in a side bag.  Yep, it's tough riding in the winter!

All sarcasm aside, it is pretty odd reading about folks taking their "last ride for the winter" and elaborate winterizing procedures.  The forums light up with arguments about putting the tires on plywood, cardboard or how often to roll the bike a quarter wheel diameter.  Battery in or out?  Oil change before AND after storage, or just before?  All the while I'm thinking "Just ride it" but then I watch Buffalo get 7 feet of snow (YIKES!) and realize how good I've got it.

So do you need more layers of gear, motorcycling maintenance supplies like I do because you're  riding more due to time off, or winterizing oils and tools?  No matter what, it's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales time, and BikeBandit.com is having all kinds of sales starting today.  So click on a banner, get anywhere from a 36-90% discount, and get what you need delivered to your door!  No need to brave the snow and ice, or crazy commuters-have the parts sent to you.  I wonder if they sell tire stud kits? :-)

Riding again-fairing bracket welds worked great!

Got the 1986 Kawasaki Concours back together yesterday morning before church.  It was pretty straight foward although tabs my neighbor welded between the supports were a bit of an obstruction for the speedometer.  Tightening the bolts down pulled the brackets together tightly enough not to be an issue.  Also everything had to be squared back up, and all the years of various repairs and work-arounds had to be sorted out.  Some are no longer needed while others needed adjustments-like brute force to line up the windshield, the main fairing and the inner fairings!

I rode around some yesterday-no real "ride" but so far it's a big improvement.  Lots of the bouncing and shaking is gone, and the signs of rubbing and chafing I saw during this project were likely caused by the fairing bracket failures.  3621 miles to 100,000!

Update on Kawasaki Concours Main Fairing Bracket Re-welding

I got my Kawasaki Concours main fairing back from my neighbor, and as usual he did a much better job than I anticipated and looks great.  Not only did he repair the cracks in the tubing, he cleaned up the old repairs and made triangular pieces to reinforce the corners.  He also repainted that area a nice gloss black-covering up the faded and scratched paint and some rust.

While its not really late time wise, I just flew in from the East Coast and three hours "ahead" still.  I'll maybe re-install it tomorrow morning, especially if I wake up long before I need to be at church.

I'll also get some photos of the great work Mark did!

Quick update-1994 Connie Restoration

It's been a while since I updated the progress on the 94 Connie restoration.  I've got the bodywork sorted out on which pieces from all the body panels are going back on the bike but still need to do more sanding and coating light scratches with resin.  I also need to patch one turn signal "cut-out" where most of them on Kawasaki Concours main fairings break.  There are some YouTube videos on how to do this so I'm going to try.  The drive train is solid from the small amount of riding I've done and the front brakes are working if not great.  I'll likely replace the old front brake pads and re-bleed before putting the bike in daily use.

Other than that I'm pretty happy with this bike and look forward to riding it for years to come.

Kawasaki Concours Main Fairing Bracket Re-welding Time

While putting the left inner fairing piece back on my 1986 Kawasaki Concours last week, I noticed what looked like a crack in the main fairing bracket.  Sure enough, right beyond an area already re-welded/repaired once before (at least) a new crack had developed and the bar was completely "cut".  On the other side of the re-welded joint another crack was about 50% through the bar there too.  So Saturday I took the inner fairings off the bike, removed the mirrors, disconnected all the wiring to the headlight and turn signals and then removed the main fairing.  While the shop manual says to remove the main fairing and main fairing bracket as one piece, I've found it's easier to remove the main fairing separately.  This is especially true if you are doing motorcycle maintenance projects that require them to be separated anyway.  I also removed the speedometer from the bracket while it was still attached to the bike to get it out of the way of the welding work.  Once this was done it was pretty easy to get the bracket off the bike and delivered to my friend.

He's a good welder, having done the tab on my old Sportster.  He also has made his own bicycle frame before, so working with tubing won't be an issue.  Hopefully he'll be able to get it done this weekend and I can re-mount everything.  If not, I'll move some parts back over to the 1994 restoration project but this will slow my climb toward 100,000 miles on Miss Swail, the 1986 Concours.

Today's riding and wrenching

This morning I did one of my usual loops just to get a ride in.  I'll post more when it's not so late, but it was a good ride.  I enjoy this 40 or so mile loop when I get a chance to ride it either as part of a longer ride or for a quick hour or so break.

I also removed the main fairing and main fairing bracket from the Connie for some repairs.  The bracket has a couple of cracks in it and needs welding back together.  This area has obviously had some work beforehand.  My neighbor is going to clean it up and see what he can do.  I routinely remove the main fairing from the bracket and then remove the bracket if needed and made a short video on how I do that.  I probably won't post it for a week or so however as it needs some editing and I'll be away from the computer I do that with for a little while.