Harley Davidson O-ring Footpegs

Not a long post this morning, but I was just out in the garage doing some quick motorcycle maintenance and checks before riding in to work.  I replaced two O-rings on my footpegs, which are stock H-D O-ring pegs, but I think they are actually passenger pegs.

Well, just to document this and if others need replacement O-rings, they are standard #17 ones you can get packages of at any home repair place like Home Depot (the other HD), Lowe's etc.  I have gotten in the habit of keeping a box in the drawers on my workbench as they dry out and crack.

Hope that helps!

Is it a high mileage bike, or not?

90,000 miles on a 1986 Kawasaki Concours

A few days ago my Concours (aka the Connie or Miss Swail) rolled over 90,000 miles.  This is the farthest I've personally taken a motorcycle and actually higher than over half the cars and trucks I've owned.  So I'm pretty confident this will be my first 100K motorcycle and I hope to get another picture like this one in 10,000 miles. 

But on yesterday's Christmas Eve ride, I started thinking about it.  Since the bike is a 1986, it's almost 28 years old, depending on construction date and motorcycle model year release dates.  Dividing 90,000 by 28 leads to just over 3,000 miles a year (hey, this is a motorcycle riding and motorcycle maintenance blog, not Khan Academy!).  I know I haven't ridden this bike exclusively while I've owned it, and it sat for two of those years, but 3,000 miles a year is nothing.  Especially here in Southern California where we ride year 'round (hmm, OK 364 per Aerostitch!) that's really only a few months of riding.

So I'm thinking the bike is "old" and some of the issues are caused by age (gaskets/seals drying out, lines soft, seat wearing out) more than the mileage.  On the Concours forum there are both C10s and now C14s with well over 100,000 miles and I think a few C10s have gone over 200K!  I'm looking to get at least to 100K and then evaluate picking up a newer C10 with the upgraded front end but the same reliable power plant.

Merry Christmas to all!

Getting the ignition switch/key issue on my Connie sorted out

About a week and a half ago, I lost the only key I had for my Connie, and while riding to boot!

Yes, I know I should have made an extra key, but like a lot of things it kept sliding back on the to-do list.  So here I was, no key and the bike miles from home.  Fortunately we have a trailer we share among the folks in Southern California CMA and a friend could go get it and help me out.

While I was looking around the switch area for a key code or serial number, I realized I could get the ignition tumbler out!  Since I was headed out soon on a business trip, I took it with me and had a locksmith match a replacement key to the tumblers.  Of course, he gave me a hard time about only having one key (or losing one key!) and made a second one.

I got it home and re-installed everything, as you can see in this video:

The problem I now have is that the key works fine on getting the bike running but won't open the gas tank and remove the seat.  One cut may be off, or the ignition tumblers are more work than the others.  I'm headed to a local locksmith to see what they can do before destroying my fuel filler lock.

I'll post an update either in the comments or in a new post later.

Long Beach International Motorcycle Show (IMS)

Got to the Long Beach IMS tonight a little late due to some issues with the bike and then traffic, but it was great to be here.

First, lots of my CMA brothers and sisters were here, and it's always good to see folks from the non-San Diego chapters.  I'm sure I'll see many more of them tomorrow as well.

Since it was fairly slow at both the gear check and our booth, so I got to walk around the show.  Lots of manufacturers-all the major makes and some smaller ones like Hyosung and the electric bike company.  There were also some vintage bike displays-both domestic and the Japanese vintage bike group.  A few celebrities tonight with many more tomorrow.  There were also many vendors-some multi-accessory shops but also some specific booths like custom ear pieces and lots of helmet and glove vendors.

Overall about as big as the show has been in the past few years.  The show reached it's smallest I've ever seen it about 4 years ago and has steadily grown back to almost the full hall, but not quite there.

If you can make it this weekend, I'd encourage you to come out-the show runs through December 8th here in Long Beach and then moves to other shows early in 2014.

BikeBandit CyberMonday sale and free shipping offer

Great deals all over the BikeBandit website, and free shipping if you spend over $49!  That's over half less than the amount normally-I think it's $99 in purchases for free shipping normally.

So click on one of the BikeBandit links (I'm an affiliate marketer with them, as I like their customer service and they're a local company here in San Diego) and get Christmas presents for your family, your friends and your bike!

Movember/blog post every day/busy travel month ends with neither a bang nor a whimper

It's almost 11PM on November 30th.  So November ends, meaning three things are past:

1.  "Mo"vember, where Mo Bros grow mustaches in support of men's health.  I participated this year for the first time.
2. NaBloPoMo is ending, where you post a blog entry every day.  Counting tonight's post, I think I only missed two days, but I am too tired to count them up from two blogs.  Some posts are pretty lame-maybe three sentences, but I did reach a few milestones.  I also got 300-400 v@mp!re hits (fellow bloggers will know what I mean, and I don't want to spell it in case their crawlers picks it up).  I did decide to start a third blog reviving some writing I did a few years ago but saved it for later.
3.  A month where I spent three weeks (save two days after the first trip) on the road for work.  This really cut into my riding, but for the days I was home I averaged 30 miles per day, which is more than usual.  I also got some major preventative maintenance done to both bikes yesterday (which was Friday's and yesterday's NaBloPoMo posts!)

So tomorrow AM, I shave off the Mo, ride the Sportster to the San Diego Toy Run and start accumulating mileage for December.  Good night, blogosphere.

Marathon Motorcycle Maintenance Session completed

Instead of participating in the Black Friday craziness, I was able to get some overdue maintenance work done on both the Harley-Davidson Sportster and the Kawasaki Concours.

The Sportster simply got an oil change, which is pretty straightforward.  Since it's a 1999 Sportster, draining the oil is done by removing a hose that runs to a plug that is part of the frame.  Yes, this struck me as odd the first time I changed the oil, but now I can get to it, loosen the hose clamp and get the oil draining in about two minutes.  I've never learned why they did this, as most other Harley's have drain plugs or a fitting on the oil tank or engine to drain the oil.  I didn't clean the K&N air filter like I normally do every oil change as it's been cool and rainy today and I wasn't sure it would dry.

I had a slew of projects to do on the Kawasaki Concours, which I prepped for by removing the main fairing last night.  I planned on changing the radiator coolant and adjusting the steering head bearing, but I realized it would also be good to change the oil as it was time for that too.  I had one more Connie filter and what I thought would be enough 20w50 oil.  Well, each piece of motorcycle maintenance on the Connie ran into some issues.  First, the tube connecting the bottom of the radiator to the water pump on my Connie doesn't have a drain plug-I don't know what year they added this.   I pulled the hose off the water pump inlet pipe, which worked but also sprayed fluild everywhere.  The rest of this project was uneventful.  Unfortunately my spanner wrench isn't the right size for the bearing nut and it wouldn't stay engaged and turn the nut the 1/8th a turn I needed.  So I tightened everything back up, and know what wrench I'm buying as a stocking stuffer for my own stocking!  The oil change went without a hitch-internal oil filters are a mess, so I'm definitely going for a SPOOFAK on my next Connie.  I was about 1/2 quart short on oil so I'm picking some up tomorrow then finishing re-installing all the trim pieces and inner fairings and taking the bike out for a test ride.

So all in all a productive day with small frustrations-like having to zip-tie the right rear fairing bracket back together as I plan a permanent fix.  Ah the joy of having old bikes!

Preparing for motorcycle maintenance projects turned into another project

Tonight I began removing parts from the Connie for some overdue motorcycle maintenance.  I need to adjust the steering head bearings, change the radiator fluid and do an oil change.  I'm holding off getting a SPOOFAK, but have everything else I need.

I started removing parts, getting the seat and tank off easily and then starting on the fairing.  First, the service manual I have (Clymer's I think) mixes the steps for the 1986-1993 models and the 1994-2006 models.  I probably didn't need to remove the windscreen for example.  Oh well.  The biggest issue was when I finally got ready to loosen the main fairing bracket mounting bolts only to find the right back bracket is cracked off.  No actual mounting being accomplished by that part!  It has already cracked and was way over welded during a previous repair.  This leaves me very few options.  I may just have to jury-rig something to get the bike back together.

I'll update the blog tomorrow with the status of these maintenance items and maybe even shoot a YouTube video for my channed.

Forgot my own mantra: Start simple when troubleshooting

Two days ago I took the Concours/Connie out for my first ride on it in two weeks.  I had traveled for work all but about 8 hours since Veterans Day, and had ridden the Harley-Davidson Sportster Sunday.  So Monday morning I knew the Connie would be hard to start,  but it was really slow to start and idle.  I had remembered I was running the fuel low for a set of motorcycle maintenance tasks that require pulling the tank, but I didn't realize how low it was.  This condition was augmented by two weeks of evaporation out of said nearly empty tank.

So first the bike doesn't want to start, which I chalk up to an older and cold battery.  Then it starts smoking a bit, which scares me, as the oil leaks have gotten a bit worse lately.  Well, the bike isn't making much power +a bit extra smoke, so now I'm getting paranoid.  This is exactly how the old custom Harley with a Rev-Tech motor went south on me.  When the bike won't get over 3K RPM, I pull into a parking lot with lots of oil on the lower end and the header pipes.  I shut the bike down and put it on the kickstand and make a few phone calls rescheduling some appointments.  At the end of the call, there isn't a huge pool of oil, so I decide to try to fire the bike back up.  It starts and runs pretty well-which should have clued me in.

I make it about 2 miles when it starts cutting out again.  Pre-occupied with what could be going on in the engine I miss what is truly going on, and you are liking thinking.  I push it into a gas station parking lot....and buy 2 gallons of gas.  Runs pretty well and today I filled up with fresh gas.  Yep, bike runs fine-still has the oil leaks, needs some maintenance, but went over 89,500 miles on the odometer with no signs of the engine having true issues.  Yep, needlessly paniced when putting the bike on reserve would have solved the problem.

Live and learn, and never forget your own frailty.

Let's go racing-WERA schedule posted!

WERA has posted their updates schedule and there are big changes to the WERA-WEST "rotation".  Many more races at Auto Club Speedway and while the season kicks off and ends at Las Vegas as it has most recently, there isn't a true winter race at ACS.  The first Fontana round is in April.  There will be trackdays and racer schools associated with most these race weekends I'm pretty sure.

Looks good to race CVMA then go right into WERA-West competition and then back.  CVMA schedule linked in my post on that series' schedule.

Finally riding tomorrow

I've been traveling most the past 3 weeks, with only a day and a half home one weekend and hours home the other.  But tomorrow I ride!

I'm probably going to take the Harley-Davidson Sportster out, as the rides will likely be short, and the Concours is due for some motorcycle maintenance.  The Sporty is too-oil change and air filter service, but nothing that can't wait a few days.

Hope you are getting some riding in if you don't live too far north!

FInally going to be able to ride, wait, wrench a little

Finally finishing up three weeks mostly on the road for work, but it's been all airplane and rental cars.  Only one or two days home long enough to go riding in the whole time.  One of the trips was to Anchorage AK, so no way did I want to ride while up there in the ice and snow!  But it's time to get home to family and then the bikes.

Both need a little work, ok the Connie need a lot of work if I don't want to ride it around leaking from a number of places.  Age and more mileage has caught up with some seals I'm afraid, and both bikes are due for oil changes.  I may buy a SPOOFAK for the Connie, a conversion kit that allows a spin-on filter, but I have one more internal filter at the house if I decide to use a regular one this time.  The Sportster needs the oil changed and the K&N filter serviced.  Hopefully that will get rid of a deceleration pop that has developed lately as well.  I'm thinking I'll do one oil change Sunday afternoon and the other one night early this week.  I'll update everyone on how they go, and the rides I get in Saturday and Sunday.

For those of you with riding seasons

I'm on the road for work this week (again) but may be starting to realize how folks who actually have riding seasons get tormented by the weather "persons".  I'm in northern Tennessee/southern Kentucky this weekend and the forecast was supposed to be cold and wet this week.  Well, they were partially right-Nashville got about 1 inch of rain yesterday, but today has been dry and about 60.  Not perfect riding weather, as I'm sure it will cool off a bit tonight and the sun will likely set pretty early too.  However, definitely a riding day, as evidenced by the many bikes I saw parked on base and riders on the way in this morning.

So how do you decided to winterize your bike in a place like this?  Do you wait a week or two too long, or risk winterizing the first available weekend then having to wonder if re-doing it worth a day or two of riging?  I know I'd likely wait until the last minute, both to ride and because I'm a bit lazy!  Then I'd probably say, "Forget it." and just run the bike occassionally and never winterize.

So what do you do?

Smoky Mountain Knife Works-Shameless plug with an enticement (Free gift with purchase until 11/18)

OK fellow bikers, here's the deal:

I'm an affiliate marketer for a few companies I feel offer good products at fair prices that would be of interested to readers of my blogs.  I endorse the companies and add links to their websites to my blog pages.  You, my loyal reader(s), (yes possibly just one!) see an ad that interests you, clicks on the banner ad, and can shop at a business that interests you.  In return, I get a small commission based on the purchases you make per the agreement in effect with that particular company.

One of those companies is Smoky Mountain Knife Works and SOG Knives.  Every biker needs at least one knife, and most of us own many more.  Smokey Mountain Knife Works is currently running an offer that if you spend at least $75 you get a free stocking stuffer gift with your purchase.  All you have to do is click the ad at the bottom of the page, enter code "PIC13".  For at least $75 in purchases, you get a Winchester folding knife.  Spend over $100 and you get a combination set of a Colt knife and survival bracelet.  At $125, you get a Colt X-1 Tactical Tomahawk.

Pretty cool deal, but this offer only lasts until 11/18/13 so shop now!

Concours motorcycle maintenance project grew by three, so it got postponed

This weekend I was going to take the front fairing off the Connie, pull the gas tank, and adjust the steering head bearing.  Well as I started looking at it, I realized everything short of doing the radiator coolant change would have to be done (getting all the mutual obstructions out of the way, etc.) and an oil change too since we had wrestled Miss Swail (get it?) up on the centerstand.

So I look around the garage inventoring fluids, filters and then check how much time this would take compared to what other commitments I had before traveling for work again.  Hmmm.

I'm never a fan of leaving a bike disassembled, so I have decided to make this a Thanksgiving week project.  The Sportster is running fine, and I have some holiday hours to burn.  Anyone up for some mechanical fellowship in a few weeks?

First new Harley model in nearly fifteen years, and it's a 500cc/750cc cruiser too!

Recently I was wondering how much longer Harley was going to wait before doing something new in the middleweight cruiser line.  The Sportster has been around as an 883/1200cc engined bike for almost thirty years, with the biggest change coming in 2004 with the introduction of the rubber-mount engine.



Press Release photo that is on most every website I visited researching this post.

 

Imagine my surprise when I found out tonight that Harley-Davidson showed off a completely new cruiser at a show this week.  It's call the Street and will come in two displacements: 500 and 750cc.  Everything seems to be identical on the Sport except for the bore to the engine, which is the same way the Sportster has an 883 and 1200 model.  But this isn't a smaller engine in a Sportster frame-this is very much a different bike.  Most obviously is the fact that the Street uses a new engine Harley calls the Revolution X.  This engine is based on the V-Rod engine, has a 60 degree/wider "V" than earlier H-D engines, and can be mounted higher in the frame.  A large radiator and cowling covers the entire front of the frame as well.  From the few pictures I've seen, it looks like this bike has more rake angle than a Sportster, but that may not be true as I haven't actually seen what the rake is.

Fans of Harley-Davidsons will probably like this bike unless they are passionate about a true Harley being a Big Twin only or only being air-cooled.  It hits the Harley styling cues, and has steel bodywork instead of lighter aluminum or plastic.  It has a low aggressive stance, and the 2-into-1 pipes look a great deal like the Thunderheaders I have on my Sportster.  However, Harley detractors will also have a field day.  First this is a heavy motorcycle for 500cc displacement-nearly 500 pounds.  This is a mixed blessing-substantial feel is a benefit (you know what I'm talking about if you've ever ridden a Honda Rebel or 125cc Vulcan!).  On the other hand, "not being able to get out of it's own way" is a harsh but true statement about some cruisers that just don't make enough HP.  Claimed HP in the 750cc engine is around 54, which is similar to what my 80 pound heavier Sportster makes.  This kind of power and the six-speed gear box will be sufficient for most riding and the occasional run into realistic highway speeds.  Harley-Davidson doesn't seem to be marketing this bike for the highway distance rider anyway.

Price may be an issue as the 500 is reported to be priced at $6700 and the 750 at $7500.  This is slightly higher per cc than the current crop and the 750 will be competing with the Yamaha Bolt (as does the Sportster) at that price point and the Bolt is a 950cc bike.  And the "buying the Harley name" premium is likely only of marginal benefit for the young, urban rider/commuter Harley has aimed this bike toward.  Of course, if 5 or 10 years down the road that buyer has some discretionary cash and wants a Dyna, V-Rod, or other larger Harley, I'm sure the dealers will be happy! 

I'm pretty sure our large dealerships here in San Diego will get Street 500/750s pretty early in production, and maybe the bike will be at the International Motorcycle Show (IMS) in Long Beach CA in a few weeks.  I'll update this post or put up another one when I see one.

Update:  No Street models at the International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, and the largest dealership here in San Diego mentioned they likely won't get any until March 2014.  Why the long delay I don't know.


Chuckwalla Valley Raceway 2014 Motorcycle Racing Schedule is out!

Just saw this last night:

2014 races for the 2013-2014 season:

January 25-26
February 22-23
March 15-16
April 19-20

Lots of good racing, and a Trackdaz Friday track day before each one for trackday riders and newbies to attend the racer school.

Of course, CMA will be out there helping out, hanging out, blessing bikes and holding a sunrise chapel service.

I'll post the WERA-West schedule and a link to the full national schedule this weekend.

1,000,002 piece toolkit! Limited time only!

Good evening!  I'm sure that title caught your eye.  A 1 million and 2 piece tool kit?  Wow, really?  How do you do that?

Well, if it was like most toolkit ads I see, Here's what you would get:

1 phillips head screwdriver
1 flat head screwdriver
200,000 wire connectors/terminals
200,000 assorted bolts
200,000 assorted nuts
200,000 assorted washers
200,000 assorted zipties

Sure I'm being facetious, but isn't that about what happens?  You see an ad for a 265 piece toolkit, and 170 pieces (or more) are terminals/wire nuts and screwdriver bits at best.  Don't get me wrong-driver bits in a great assortment (flat-head, phillips, torx, allen) all come in handy, but don't count a 20 pack of standard phillips bits as par tof a toolkit to inflate the total impress me.

This is a pet peeve, but just wanted to share it-what's the largest "tool"kit you've seen and how bad was this problem?

Quick post-oil leak on the Concours progressing

Since getting my Connie running again about 6 months ago, I've been riding it more than my Sportster, especially considering the Sporty was off the road for awhile as I re-painted it and repaired the front shocks.  Well, what I was afraid would happen to a nearly 30 year old bike that had sat for two years and then is back in service being ridden nearly daily and about 1000 miles a month has happened.

Oil leaks!

OK, some leaks are to be expected, as many seals are the originals.  But they seem to be getting worse and possibly "un-livable with" as I keep using this bike.  The amount of oil on the drip pan overnight is getting a bit scary, and the residue on the lower left side of the engine comes back the first ride after washing the bike.

Time to go on the COG forum and do some research.  Let's hope it's not the bevel gear housing gasket, as that is a major project that basically requires disassembling the rear half of the bike!

Great article on Lane-Sharing/Lane-Splitting/Filtering

Lane-sharing, a legal practice here in California, is a topic much like oil and tires.  Ask a group of riders or drivers, and the conversation quickly gets passionate and emotional.  Most riders have lane-split at least once, and many practice it daily.  I'll admit to lane-splitting often, especially at stoplights.  And here goes the arguments-while some think that's "cutting in line", I do it because far too many friends have been hit from behind at stoplights and stopsigns-with results ranging from totaled bikes to nearly totaled bodies.  Thankful for the power of prayer and good surgeons, nurses and therapists, but that's a whole 'nother post!

So today I'd like to link to what is one of the best, non-emotional and fair-handed treatments of lane-sharing I've read.  It was written by a rider named Andy over at www.Twoslow.com and I've gotten his permission to cite it here.  Two Slow is a group of riding friends up the road in Orange County and if all of them have the attitude Andy has, I hope to ride with them someday or seen them at the IMS in Long Beach.

Ride safe, and be courteous to one another out there!  As Andy points out, we have enough things in our lives causing real stress to get worked up about a bike lane-splitting by or a car "blocking" us for ten seconds!

It's "Movember" so let's grow those mustaches

It's Movember!  For the first time, I'm participating in growing a mustache to raise money and awareness for men's health issues.

Why, you are likely asking, knowing of my failed facial hair attempts in the past.  Well, my friend and a CMA Chapter President Ed "Hoggy" Herrmann is fighting advanced prostrate cancer, one of the men's diseases Movember is against.  Oh, yeah, Ed also was a major league catcher for a few years and was an All-Star selection.  He's one of the toughest guys I've ever met, so talking up men's health awareness while growing a cheesy mustache is only a small thing to do to support him.  If you look at some of the photos from his playing days, or his days riding with us, you'll see he grows awesome mustaches and beards, and actually had a pretty killer fro when he played too!

So check out "our" team (hey, if you join it's "our") and throw some support Hoggy's way!  http://us.movember.com/team/1306625

Gear Review: Grease Monkey General Purpose High Performance Work Gloves

Last week I was removing the fork tubes on my 1999 Harley-Davidson Sportster to replace the oil seals and just do general motorcycle maintenance on the front end.  I didn't have any mechanic's work gloves, so while at the other HD (Home Depot) buying some wood for another project I picked up a pair of Grease Monkey General Purpose High Performance Work Gloves.  They aren't very expensive-I paid less than $15, and the large pair fit my hands well.  This is always a concern, as these gloves are meant to be used holding tools and parts.  A previous pair I owned (I don't remember the brand) were too long for my fingers and soon were used for non-mechanical work which quickly tore them up.  Not the problem with these gloves-nice fit, decent construction so I added them to the cart.

Getting home, I used them for the removal of the front tire, brake piston, fork brace, turn indicators and then the fork tubes.  While the front end of the bike wasn't too dirty, there was some road grime and brake dust and of course fork oil (reason #1 for this project!) involved.  Having gloves on saved on clean-up time, and I was happy with the dexterity the Grease Monkey gloves provided.

Re-assembly was also done with the gloves and some of the challenges may have been as much my unfamiliarity with working in gloves as these specific pair.  Some of the smaller bolts, like on the turn indicators, I took one glove off and worked Michael Jackson style.  Also I had to grease the front axle and opted to use an ungloved hand vice a rag to apply and spread the grease.  But cleaining up was much easier.

So far they seem to be well made and will likely hold up well to the amount of mechanical work I do.  I'd be interested to hear how long any of these type gloves hold up under daily use if a professional or avid hobbyist would care to comment.  I'll also ask when I visit the auto-hobby shop or some mechanic friends.

Ride safe and enjoy wrenching and customizing bikes!

Lots of riding, not much else to say

Finishing a high mileage month, including 5 or 6 days on the road for work.  I've put over a thousand miles on the Connie, including a 300+ mile overnight trip last weekend with some good twisty CA 2-lane highways thrown in, and a few hundred on the Sporty now that the rattle can paint job and other motorcycle maintenance are done.

But don't have any tales of customizing gone awry, specific bike news or anything like that.  Maybe more later this week.

Another bike for sale: 2006 Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster-almost no miles-$4500

While I was picking up my fork tubes from my independent custom shop, the owner showed me a nearly new 2006 Sportster they are selling.

The Goods:
4000 miles on it (what da?  that's a few months riding out of 7 years!)
Custom mini-apes
Flawless paint
Buying from a certified H-D mechanic, so I'm sure it will get a once over if you ask

The Bads:
Bone stock other than bars 883, so it's got the smaller motor
Unknown if mileage was all at once and it's been sitting (shop may know)
Price at higher end, but again super-low miles.

No pic, but if you google 2006 Sportster and see a black one, that's about what you're looking at for this bike if you add 10" ape hangers.

PM or comment if interested.

That paint job didn't last long....not that it's anything fancy/rattle can

Today I took the front fork tubes off the Sportster to have the oil seals replaced.  I left the bike on my jack lift.  A number of years ago I had a Yamaha V-Star fall off this lift while I had the wheels off for new tires and some motorcycle maintenance.  Enough gas spilled in that case to ruin a paint job.

Well, my father-in-law was working in our backyard this afternoon and came back into the garage and found the Sportster partially on it's side.  He uprighted it and tied it in place.  Should I have tied it down? Probably, but the bike wasn't moving around after I pulled the fork tubes.  I had covered the gas tank to keep from chipping my brand new rattle can paint job although the two minor blemishes in the paint were already bugging me too.  When I took that off, I noticed a small area had been exposed to gasoline while the bike was on it's side and that paint was already bubbling up.  Too late to do much about it.

Guess that area and the small blemish from a pet hair are going to make me pull the tank back off, re-sand it and apply more paint.  I've got some leftover cans, so the only issue is having a day free when it is warm enough for the paint to set up.

Update:  Still deciding how and when to fix this.  While it's noticeable, it's also sort of in keeping with the theme of the bike.  So I'll just keep riding both the bikes and decide later.  Gonna be busy for the next few weeks with work anyway.

Curing Kawasaki Concours Buzz: The Never-ending Quest

The Kawasaki Concours C10 models are notorious for buzzing at freeway speeds.  Seems like a perfect combination of de-tuning the Ninja 1000 engine, hard mounting both the engine and the exhaust to the frame, and setting up the powerband so that modern freeway speeds (with a 30 year old engine design) all conspire to put your hands to sleep in about 30 minutes.  Add in California rain grooves, and I'm lucky to make it that long!

All kinds of suggestions exist on the interwebs and the Concours Owners' Group (COG) forum, magazine and tech tips.  One of the weirder ones to me as an untrained mechanic is removing the bolts mounting the exhaust to the frame underneath the footpegs.  To be honest, the buzz is so bad in my hands I hadn't paid attention to my feet until I read that.  Next trip on the superslab, yep, now obsessing about foot buzz too!  So I get out my t-handle wrench (great purchase btw) and the right side bolt comes right off.  The heat shield on the exhause is even bent down for ease of access.  So I move over to the left side.  Of course, the problems now start multiplying.

First-nasty oil leak and grime makes doing anything on that side of the bike messy.
Second-look at the heat shield, no radiusing/indentation.  Well let's just try to get the bolt out.
Third-two turns in and the wrench is hitting the heat shield.  Switch to a different socket, no better.  Could a box end wrench fit?  Maybe, but would only turn 1/4 turn at a time and then the bolt would hit the heat shield.

So thank you yet again engineers who don't work on the bikes.  Turn T-wrench around to the 8MM side and remove heat shield and boom the bolt is out.  Then the fun of realigning the heat shield clamp (that has 88.75K miles of road grime and oil leak on it) and attaching front heat shield bolt.  2 minutes to remove exhaust bolt, 30+ minutes wrestling with heat shield removal and re-installation.  GRRRRR.

Heading out on a dinner run to test out the buzz reduction!  Have a great ride-

Dumb story to tell on myself

I'm about to pull the forks off my Sportster and take them to an indy mechanic to replace the oil seals as I just don't have the time and inclination to replace them.  I probably could do the job and enjoy doing it if I had more time and a bit more organization in Millie's Garage by now but don't so throwing the "Yuppie RUB toolkit" down on the counter (i.e. a charge card) and getting the work done.

Well, the stupid comes into play as I've been concerned on getting the fork legs back on the bike in the right sides.  So I've been thinking I should use a grease pencil and put a small L and R on the backside of the bottom tubes, right?  Or maybe right where they slide out of the clamps.  So I walk out to the bike to check out what will have to be removed (fork brace, brake piston, relocated turn signals) and spot the big base sticker that has always been on the left fork leg.  Always on the left side of every bike I've ever owned.

Yeah, it's good to be tough if your stupid.

"Mo" Vember-anyone up to doing this? Any experience/opinions of the charity?

Ok, this is barely a motorcycling or motorcycle maintenance related post, as it deals with men's health issues and the Movember fund-raising site and organization.  A few friends I ride with suffer from prostrate cancer (one very seriously) so I am thinking of participating in the Movember fundraiser this year.

Basically guys start November (now called Movember) clean shaven and grow a mustache for the month.  You can sign up as a member or team, and money raised goes to support men's health issues, primarily prostrate and testicular cancer and men's depression.  I know a few friends have done this in the past-and for those who don't normally sport a 'stache the idea is it opens conversations to raise awareness and funds.

Anyone have experience with the organization behind this group?  They post general financials on the website and appear to be legitimate if not very well-known?  Anyone have a team looking for members?

How far did you ride?

Today's post's title is a common question among motorcyclists, but it has many different meanings.

It could be "How far did you ride to get to this event?"  Did you come from across town, across the state or even farther?  It could be how far did you ride on an average day commuting-just a few miles on a small motorcycle to save wear and tear on your car, or was it a 100 mile one-way commute like some friends of mine have done here in Southern California!

It could be "How far did you ride on your summer trip?"  Was it a cross-country vacation?  Was it a multi-state or maybe even multi-country tour?  Often these trips will be 3,000 miles or more.  For one friend, "How far did you ride?" was the question after we found out he had participated in the Iron Butt Rally and had ridden over 11,000 miles-stopping for bike service and new tires while on the trip!

But today, it's "How far did you ride?" in your lifetime?  Do you actually track your lifetime miles as part of your motorcycle log/maintenance log?  I do, and last weekend I went over 75,000 miles so far as a motorcyclists.

Feel free to add your mileage to date in the comments.

Got to admit-I didn't ride today!

A few weeks ago I saw the poster Aerostitch sells that has numbers over cities for how many riding days they have in an average year.  Somehow San Diego has 364 riding days a year.

Well, I wondered about that.  What one day a year can we not ride?  Sure it gets a bit cold in parts of the county, but I've been on New Year's Day rides and a friend's 50th birthday ride in January, ridden to CMA events in January and February, and done poker runs in March and early April.  On the opposite extreme, I've ridden from San Diego to Victorville and back in early September-usually some of the warmest weeks of the year.  So what day do we not ride?

Well, today is it for me!  Seriously overcast when I woke up with light sprinkles-meaning painted marks were super slick since we haven't had a good rain in months.  Forecast was for it to actually get cooler during the day, and rain more and harder.  They were right-I guess our weather-girls and -guys are hired for more than looks!

All that said, I did see a couple of riders commuting home when I was, so I guess it still counts as a riding day!

Second video from Sportster rattle can paint job posted to YouTube

I just posted the second video to YouTube I shot while painting the Harley-Davidson Sportster fenders.  In it I show the prep work on the rear fender that I did, plus the supplies on how to make your own paint booth out of an old easy-up/pop-up cabana!

J.C. Whitney cargo box on a Kawasaki Concours

     On the Kawasaki Concours Facebook page there is an ongoing discussion regarding different top boxes, mounting hardware and technique.  This is similar to a thread on one of the Connie forums a few years ago when I was customizing my Connie (ok, starting to customize-I never finish tinkering, and the Connie Forum guys are infamous for continual “farkling” of our bikes!)  At that time, J.C. Whitney was having a big sale on their top boxes, so I took the plunge and ordered from them for the first time in years.

      There were lots of different ideas on mounting the boxes, everything from the Kawasaki factory luggage rack/backrest for the Concours to making your own metal rails to the most unique-using a cutting board as a base!  Well, I didn’t have a factory rack, I hadn’t started working metal at that time so off to the stores I went looking for cutting boards.  Wally World had some that were the right size (yes, I carried the J.C. Whitney baseplate in with me…) but they were either white or blue.  I’ve got the fastest color Concours, red, and thought these boards would look bad on the bike.  Yeah, it would be covered from the top by the box, but would stick out being those other colors.  So off to the store where everyone wears red, the store is red, and yes, I mean Target.  Sure enough, they had a display of cutting boards and had a red one.  So I grab it, pay something like 8 bucks and have my base.

      I get back to Millie’s Garage and start figuring out the best layout of the cutting board, base and bike.  Definitely doing the “measure twice, cut once” process and researched the project on the forum all over again.  Finally ready to cut, so I take a jigsaw, load up a new blade and cut down the cutting board.  Of course my wife and Father-in-Law look at me like I’m nuts, but this isn’t new to them.  I then sand it down, drill some mounting holes to mount the board to the bike where the small luggage rack was (the one that is pretty useless) and bolt it to the sub-frame and tail section.  I then mount the topbox rack to the cutting board.  Once all the bolts are in and tightened I go to mount the top box.  Clearance is an issue and it is a very tight fit.  The locking latch won’t fully engage, so I take the top box off and file the mating surfaces slightly.  Now it latches and is still tight/locked in place.  Off we go for a test ride.  Success!  Custom farkle and cheap storage solution mission accomplished.

      Bottom line is the top box makes this bike an awesome commuting machine!  Since the hard side luggage are one of the hardest pieces to replace, I only run them when I have to carry more than the topbox can hold.  I keep the J.C. Whitney box installed all the time.  I mounted it almost three years ago and it’s holding up well.  The drawbacks are I’m not sure it would work well for a passenger, as I don’t carry one.  It also bounces around a bit due to the flexible nature of the cutting board.  That is a little disconcerting at first.  If I either start hauling a passenger or mount one of these boxes on another Connie, I’d look to get the factory rack or make supports out of aluminum.

A bit of humor-6 truths about riding a motorcycle from Cracked

Heading out the door soon for the Final Option MC monthly pancake breakfast, then back up to church.  I'll post something motorcycle maintenance or customizing later today or tonight, but for now, here's a funny list that's also very accurate about immutable motorcycling truths.  It's from the Cracked website, so language and innuendo is a little coarse, but probably only PG-13.  Enjoy and hope you are riding and being taught from the Word today!

http://www.cracked.com/article_19217_6-things-nobody-tells-you-about-owning-motorcycle.html

I'm a "motorcycle multi-media maven"-yeah right!

Ok, here it is, my first motorcycle maintenance YouTube clip!  I re-established my YouTube account last night and uploaded a couple of test clips.  This morning I downloaded the footage I shot when rattle can painting the Harley-Davidson Sportster.  This clip is the intro and set-up on how I'm going to do the project.

I'll post the rest of the videos later, but happy it works! 

Random musings-deferred motrocycle maintenance and Adsense

Between some other tasks for this weekend, the non-arrival of my Harley Davidson Chrome Cash, and Santa Anna winds, I'm not getting the Sportster tank re-repainted anytime soon.  I've got to figure out why the speedometer on the truck still isn't working-it's likely the speedometer drive gear for a 350 auto transmission, but there are multiple gears available.  I wanted to only take it apart once with the spare in hand, but don't want to not get the right one the first time.  A local salvage yard has them, but their price isn't any better than eBay mailed to my door for a new one.  Considering these gear drives are plastic, new in a few days may be a better option than used tomorrow.  Update-took most the parts off, and the "guts" are pretty worn out or gone.  May be having to get another part that is about $90 to get the speedo working.  Can you say "GPS" or iPhone speedometer?

Speedometer parts from a 1975 Chevy 350 Transmission

Enough about truck maintenance since this isn't a Chevy Stepside blog, it's a motorcycle, motorcycling and motorcycle maintenance blog.  It's also a commercial blog, not that I make much money from the affiliate marketing ads and AdSense ads you see scattered on the page.  First, I don't really spend a lot of effort "optimizing the page" although I have messed around a little with SEO, test posts with key words, and other little things.  And yes, I make about enough per month to buy a cup of coffee!  What is really odd is occasionally AdSense credits my account with $.01, one cent, uno centavo (is that even Spanish?) without there being a "click" that day.  I've researched this and can't find how I'm making a penny.  Not that I'm complaining, but its weird.  I understand that different ads have different pay structure but the penny just flat out has me perplexed.  If anyone knows, please let me know how I'm making one penny with AdSense!  We could partner and start a tremendous social networking blog, "Become Rich Using AdSense-One Penny At A Time!"  Yeah, that wouldn't even make $.01.

Rattle can paint job update: One freaking hair in the paint job

A couple of nights ago I added two more coats to the Sportster gas tank to cover the one thin area and ensure even coats.  It's been a little windy here and while I tried to anchor the "red neck paint booth" sides better than last time when I painted the fenders, it wasn't good enough!

One stray hair managed to find it's way onto the paint, and it's right on top the gas tank about 3 inches below the cap.  Not a good spot to "distress" and I would fixate on it every time I rode.

So I'm going to sand the area gently and hop I can smooth out the edges, then back in the booth for a couple more coats.

The good news is I still don't have my Chrome Cash I was going to use for Harley-Davidson Sportster fork seals  for some upcoming motorcycle maintenance and the rubber grommets for the tank, so I have a few more days to get the tank painted and ready to go back on.

Update: Sportster tank rattle can paint job

Checked out the rattle can paint job on my Harley Davidson Sportster fuel tank and overall the coats look good.  Only problem is one area isn't dark enough and some primer shows through.  While I may distress this paint job, this isn't in the area I was considering doing that to, so I've got to shoot another couple of coats tomorrow.

I have about 1.5 cans of the semi-gloss left so it's no big deal other than time and clean-up.  Still don't have the bushing for the mounting tabs either so this didn't set back re-assembly and riding the Sportster.

Rattle can painting complete-now we wait

Had just enough time around a friend coming over to pick up a motorcycle jacket, supper and sunset to get the Sportster tank painted.  I've been sanding it off and on for about 2 weeks and have it close enough for how this paint job is intended to look.  I'm using semi-gloss black paint with no top clear coat, so some texture and marks are actually desired.  I may even "distress" a few spots.

So I grabbed the newer primer and two old cans of semi-gloss and one new one, the tack rag, and set back up the "redneck paint booth".  This is the last hurrah for the easy-up-years of sun damage since we never take it down have taken their toll.  Taped up the tank, rubbed it down, and shook the cans.  Three coats of primer from the can and the old white flames were pretty much gone.  Quick supper and out I went for the black paint.  First can-nothing.  Second can-specks although shook like it had maybe a third left, but it's pretty old.  Toss that one aside and go to the new can.  Now we're talking.  One small run on the underside of the tank near the vent nipple, so that's not getting sanded out.   Three pretty good coats and time to clean up.

I'll let it set up overnight and check it out in the bright sunlight tomorrow afternoon.  If there is nothing too bad, I'll let it continue to set.  Two of the rubber grommets were shot, so I won't be getting the tank back on immediately anyway.  I need fork seals as well, so I'm hoping my Chrome Cash gets here soon and I can pick all that up.

I'll try to figure out how to merge the videos I shot and post my first YouTube video when I get the bike back together.

The world-famous Kawasaki Concours C10 fuel gauge resistor fix

One problem with the older Kawasaki Concours (AKA C10 model, for 1000cc engines) is the fuel gauge.  When full, the needle goes past F, which isn't too big a deal.  But as you ride the bike, after about 2-2.5 gallons are gone the needle drops halfway across the gauge.  NOT GOOD as this is a 7.5 gallon tank.  Then you ride another 80-100 miles and it drops to near empty, making you think you are about to go on reserve.  The problem is you have only used about 4.5 gallons-so you still have 100+ miles on the tank.  The needle now stays down near E as you burn off the remaining gas knowing the gauge is wrong.

Well, one of the great things about the Concours C10 is that over the nearly 30 years the bike has been on the road and the 20 year production run, lots of Concours Owners Group (COG) members have found fixes to one or another of the bike's issues.  One even has a business called Shoodaben Engineering (get it?) and like most on the board he's a great guy that probably gives away more knowledge than he makes on parts and mods.  Well in the case of the fuel gauge there are two fixes-the harder of the two involves messing with the actual sending unit in the tank.  No thanks.

The easier of the two is putting a 220 ohm resistor in the wiring from the fuel level sending unit to the gauge.  The easiest way to do that is on the pigtail from the tank to the wiring harness, where there is a blade connector easily available if you slightly lift the tank.  A clear step by step "how-to" is here and its what I used so I'll spare you a worse write-up by yours truly.  I even used the yellow zip-tie as you can see in the picture.  The second photo is a picture zoomed in on the pigtail-my work isn't as clean as in the instruction post, but it works fine.  BTW this picture was taken when I had the tank off the bike for another project-you can do the fuel gauge resistor mod with the tank bolts removed and the tank propped up like in the post. 

I was able to give some of the remaining resistors away on the COG Forum, as the whole pack probably cost 2 bucks (if that) and would have soon gotten lost or damaged in my garage.  I rate this project as a 2 out of 5 for difficulty as you have to remove the seat and the tank bolts at a minimum (removing the right side cover may help if your pigtail has dropped down).  For a California bike, any time you mess with the tank bolts you've got to clear out the hoses, adding to what would otherwise be a simply project.  Since you don't have to remove the pins in the pigtail connectors, even a non-electrician can do this mod.  I hate doing electrics but found this to be do-able.

If anyone reading this post has a Ninja 900 or Ninja 1000 from the 80s, I'd like to hear if their gas gauge has the same issue and if this fixes it for the sportier sister (as saying she was "faster" would be impolite!).

 

Today's example of over-engineering-Harley-Davidson Sportster edition

Look at that wiring harness!  I've removed the tank from my Sportster to finish the rattle can paint job.  The picture is along the backbone of the bike.  While I have relocated the coil, so some wiring is re-routed back instead of forward to the original coil mount under the tank, look at that monstrous amount of wiring for what is a pretty basic bike!  No Gucci electronics like cruise, radio, accessory power-just the basics according to DoT, CARB, and H-D.  But that is 2 wiring looms both of which are about 1 inch in diameter.  How much is needed for ignition, turn signals and a brake light?  Really.

Everything "beneath" the rail (in the picture) is all wiring.  I'm going to see if I can tuck more of it up out of sight, but previous attempts failed and I don't want to mess with the frame and route it internally.  If I was better at wiring and what electricity is required where, I would take everything off, buy an older wiring harness and start over, but that is beyond my ability to manage trons and the magic blue smoke.  Guess I'm living with this excessive wiring eyesore.  Yuck.

Will finish sanding the tank tonight and shoot paint sometime over the next few days.  I'm awaiting chrome cash certificates for the fork seals, so I probably will get the tank back on and keep running the bike using the "bandana on the forks" trick to keep from wearing too much more fork oil.  Good thing it smells pretty much like veggie oil!

Tool Review: Harbor Freight Lift Table

I'm still working on the rattle can paint job and will post an update in the next few days on that project.  But to keep from going too long without a post, here's my update on the Harbor Freight Lift Table I have owned for about three years.  Like many Harbor Freight products, by watching their website, flyers and ads I was able to get a pretty good deal on it-I think about 50% of it's normal list price.  While a solid piece of equipment, the normal list price seems high compared to other table lifts that are a few hundred dollars (or more) expensive but also higher quality.  That said, at the current web price of $429.99 (as of 9/24) I think it's a satisfactory lift and if you can get it even cheaper, there is more money for improvements or other tools.

There is the picture of the lift (from the Harbor Freight website-my lift looks the same, well with some stickers, fluids, dirt, a bit of damage but more on that as we go!).  Don't be freaked out by the ramp hanging off the back-it comes off easily, and most times when I raise mine I take it off.  It's fairly sturdy, as is the table itself.  I have put both a Kawasaki Concours and a Concours parts bike on the lift without any concerns.  I haven't gotten to the 1000 pound advertised capability, but the Connie is about 2/3s that weight.

Goods:

Price for the home mechanic
Assembly is straightforward and mainly the installation of the chock parts and the wheels to the frame
Durable construction-Again, for the home mechanic, most components will outlast me
Two heights for locking bar to be passed through legs and lock lift in-both get the bike up at decent heights to work on seated or standing

Bads:
Front chock isn't very secure.   Either tie down the bike EVERY TIME or replace the chock (more later)
Mounting hardware for wheels and chock low quality-I snapped one bolt during installation without much torque whatsoever
Cylinder leaks, but could be from not using lift for almost 2 years while remodeling house/garage
While lock bar is substantial, two heights are sometimes too limiting

I have used this lift for various projects and also use it as an adjustable height workbench at times.  Over-all I am pleased with it with the major warning that the front wheel chock should be replaced.  One of the local independent shops uses this lift as their back-up lift (with a power lift being their go-to lift) and have mounted a wheel chock that almost doubles the value of the lift table.  Another option I am considering is mounting a Cycle Gear Trackside Wheel chock in place of the chock on the lift.

With that caveat, I'd recommend this to someone looking to get a lift table for periodic use, especially on lighter bikes.

2006 Harley-Davidson Softail Heritage Classic for sale-$10,000 (San Diego County CA)

OK folks, another bike for sale by a friend of mine: (his write-up, although I can personally vouch for 90% of this, only exceptions are work he did before we started riding together)
Harley Davidson Softail Heritage Classic, 57,500 miles
Red-Black Original Harley Paint Scheme,
88 CI engine (balanced),

Custom (Red) Screaming-Eagle Spark Plug Wires
Thunderheader 2 into 1 header pipes, flat black (the best sounding pipes out there, in my humble opinion!)
MoFlo High-Flow Air Cleaner
Replacement Saddlebags (the right ones for this year and model), Leather, Studded
Always run Mobil 1 V-Twin Synthetic oil
PowerCommander with custom map (Tweaked the map to get rid of decel backfiring which is common with the Thunderheader muffler)
Custom Corbin seat (buddy type, 2-passenger, one piece)
Sissy Bar by Harley (permanent fixed mount)
18 inch 80-spoke rear wheel (Michelin Tire) with about 2,000 miles, 1/3 worn
Standard 16-inch 40 spoke front wheel (Dunlop H-D Tire)
Kevlar compound brake pads, over 50% front and rear; both discs completely serviceable, no grooves
Cigar Lighter Fixture run to handlebars
"Mini-Apes", below the shoulder, kicked back about 5 inches.

This bike runs perfectly, paint is 8/10 and I am willing to get a professional painter to touch it up if you wish.
Removable H-D Windshield, 7/10 condition; battery 4 months old and is a Cycle Gear lifetime warranty.

This bike is a real runner, starts every time and no issues at all with any of the running gear. It is better than average for this year bike, lots of chrome on this model, and although it has miles, it has been meticulously maintained and I have 95% of the maintenance records with miles. Oil changed every 4,000 miles with Mobil 1 V-Twin Synthetic, filter changed every time with H-D Chrome filter, Spark Plugs new, All wiring 100%, all bulbs work, all controls work 100%. Just changed trans and primary oil with H-D standard Trans Oil. No fork leaks; I will change the fork oil before I sell it (it's due.) Shop Manual by Clymer and H-D Parts manual

Desert Season coming up and racing season is getting busy!

Good morning faithful reader(s)!

We've finally gotten a break from the streak of consistently hot days (90 plus and high humidity) so all the desert riders are getting excited about the upcoming season.  While the "official" start is Halloween weekend (I don't know who gets to set that, but it's the accepted first weekend) I know folks are already sneaking out for day rides, short trips, and even some longer trips to other off-road areas to get some riding in.  Two friends are up in Utah this week enjoying some great off-road riding!

Also, all the sportbike tracks are in full force. WERA-West has already made their fall stop at Auto Club Speedway (AKA Fontana), there was racing at Button Willow last weekend, and Chuckwalla starts their 2013-2014 season this weekend out at their track.

Lots going on on top of all the bike nights, rallies, fun runs and fundraisers, so if you aren't riding, you aren't trying-or you have one of those pesky "JOB" things!

BOLO: Stolen Bike-Los Angeles CA

I wish my second post for today was something encouraging about all the good racing in Southern California in September, but its not.  Here's one racer that won't be able to go unless his bike is found and the thieve brought to justice:

From FB: "Stolen Race bike. Pittman Wallace's SV650 was stolen from my driveway today while I was at the shop. Share the picture and pass the word. 2000 Sv, total loss ignition, flat slides, distinctive paint."

Chop what you got and run what you brung!

Over the last few days I've seen two unique custom bikes.  The first was a Yamaha V-Max.  I'm always interested in talking to owners of V-Maxes as it is probably the only factory turbo cruiser and a rare enough bike in stock trim.  So when I saw one pull in to the Mira Mesa Bike Night (MMBN) last Thursday, I walked over as the rider got off.

Well, this was anything other than a stock V-Max!  First noticeable change was an LED light kit installed along the main "backbone" and under the tank.  There were also former polished parts that the owner had bead blasted which gave them an almost powder-coated appearance that fits this model bike well.  The custom touches weren't all cosmetic though.  The owner mentioned that the bike had required lots of maintenance and repair to get running properly, so while he had everything apart he removed the valve that kept the turbo-boost from kicking in at low RPMs.  Basically, he said, it comes on as soon as the throttle opens everything up and doesn't stop.  He shared his other ideas and plans for the bike with me, and I plan on having a camera in the future to get some pictures as it is a sharp bike.

Then on Saturday I'm waiting to turn right as traffic passes.  Here comes what looks like a standard Honda but it doesn't sound quite right.  As the bike rolls by, I notice the rider is a petite woman and the bike seems to have straight pipes.  When I can turn, I head the same way the rider was going as that is the way home.  After two lights I have a chance to lane split up to the red light (both safer, and to see what mods have actually been done to the bike).  Sure enough, it's got straight pipes, and the bike looks like a bobbed Honda Nighthawk.  OK, that's cool, both the 650 and 750 in-line fours are solid motors and back in the first custom motorcycle craze this engine was one of the three customizers used.  (Do you know the answer to the other two makes?  Answer at the end of the post!)  So I pull up and realize not only does this bike have a custom exhaust, it also has upgraded rear shocks.  Not sure which brand they are, but they are blue with an external reservoir and definitely would keep this bike hugging the road.  The rider/owner seemed to be a young woman and maybe weighs 90 pounds.  So I'm sitting at the light on my Connie-we're about a half a ton of fun compared to this chopped Nighthawk and tiny rider.  So I'm thinking we're going to launch out from the traffic, but since I pulled up to her, I'll wait and ride in the number 2 stagger.

Well, she eases the clutch out, and while smooth, pulls out fairly slowly.  What?   She's not riding like a nervous or new rider, but this repeats at the next two lights.  Now I'm really puzzled, but a slight hint is shown when we reach the first light with cars stopped.  This rider barely slows down and easily pulls through the stopped cars to the red light.  My guess is she may race/drag or dirt race, and as small as she is may have to keep from standing this bike up (unless wanting to!).  Unfortunately I'll have to ask another time as we went opposite ways at the next red light.  Very well done custom touches to this bike as well.

OK, in the 70s it wasn't only Harleys that were customized.  Honda 750 engines, Triumphs and Harley Pan- and Shovel-heads were all popular bikes to chop/customize.  Custom frames were made for all three engines, unlike the recent craze where almost all frames and parts were for American v-twins.

Does it count as motorcycle maintenace if....

You work on your truck at a motorcycle dealership?

I took the truck today, a 1975 Chevy stepside, to our Bike Blessing event at San Diego Harley-Davidson.  About 2 miles from the shop, the exhaust noise changed noticeable, but the truck still made power and I didn't see any smoke.  That's a good sign, right?  So I pull into the dealership, set up our booth, and get to performing bike blessings as groups from the California H.O.G. Rally pull in.

A little later I get a break, so I go over to the truck to make sure nothing is falling off or there isn't a new big puddle underneath it.  Turns out two out of the three bolts holding one of the exhaust flanges  have backed out and gone away somewhere other than on my truck.  No problem right?  Call a friend who was coming by, have him bring ramps and tools, and move one bolt from the other exhaust flange to have two and two until I can get a replacement.  Oops, one of those bolts is missing it's nut!

The good news is I'm at a Harley dealership, and they have fasteners.  I get a replacement nut, slide under the truck (now up on ramps) and put the exhaust back together.  With two bolts holding each side, truck made it home and I'll replace the bolts and add another nut on each bolt to lock them in place this weekend.

Not the project I planned to do, but I can sand the Sportster gas tank later in the day tomorrow and hopefully paint it next week.

Until then, have a great weekend riding!

Custom Kawasaki Concours Windshield project

If you aren't familiar with the Kawasaki Concours "C10" model made from 1986 until 2006, it was one of the original sport-touring bikes.  In 1985, Kawasaki punched out their Ninja 900 (AKA the Top Gun bike) and made it one of the first production liter sport-bikes.  At the same time, they fitted the basic Ninja 1000 frame and engine with a shaft drive, hard bags, a slightly mellower cam, and a barn-door fairing.  While the fairing works for a sport-touring bike, the windshield is huge!  I've seen Harley dressers and Gold Wings with smaller windscreens!  It also has an early attempt at a lip that doesn't work terribly well for most riders.  I sit right in the windflow from the lip, so it really was a problem.

When I got the Concours parts bike a few years ago, the windshield on that bike was completely clouded due to age and exposure.  I salvaged it, and started researching what I could do with it.  Many other Connie owners have cut windshields down or made their own, and I've always liked the blacked out windshield look on both sportbikes and Harleys.  So I though, what is the big risk-the windshield is junk as it is.

Done cutting the top portion and lip off the Concours winshield

The first step was to figure out how much to cut off the windshield.  Here the adage, "Measure twice, cut once" was applicable, as too tall could be re-cut, but too short and I'd be back using the huge windshield or have to cut it and not go back stock.  I tried a few heights by putting masking tape at the edge of where I would cut, and decided on 14 inches from base of the screen at the fairing to top.  Since I can't draw a straight line I enlisted my mother-in-law to mimic the existing top curve.  Then it was time to have fun with power tools.  A jigsaw with a multi-purpose blade was in the saw and seemed to work on a test cut-I think it had 10TPI but could have had 12.  I then sanded this edge and shaped it a little more with 150 grit sandpaper.  You can see in the photo above how much was taken off-about 5 inches and the offending lip.

Since I still had the improvised paint booth up from the rattle can paint job, I hung the windshield up by two mounting holes and proceeded to spray it with some old Krylon black plastic paint.  How old I have no idea, but it covered the plastic.  Unfortunately I got a little heavy handed the first go-round so I had to let it set up, then wetsanded the windscreen with 800 grit paper to get the runs out, and then added a few more coats.  Solid black-which is ok as I look way over it and anything I could see throught the windscreen would be milli-seconds from hitting the bike anyway.  I'd better have dealt wtih it by then!  Also the mounting holes in the new-old windshield were smaller than the bolts to the old-old windshield, so I filed them out.  I could have used a drill as well but wanted to file them.

The next step was to remove the old windscreen but many of  the bolts were seized as they possibly had never been removed.  So I sprayed them with break-free and called it a night.  The next morning they all came loose without too much drama.  Note:  a 13mm box end wrench would have been helpful.  My tool kit and the Kawasaki factory tool kit doesn't have a 13mm wrench so I used a socket where it would fit and pliers were it didn't.  The top two bolts on either side also hold on the inner fairings and the top bolt is fastened by a 14mm flange nut-don't ask me why, I don't know.  Well, I discovered two new problems when removing all these parts.  The joy of riding old bikes!  First the top right mounting hole on the main fairing is damaged and the cracked parts long gone.  9 out of 10 bolts will mount solidly and since this bolt also goes through the right inner fairing it should be ok.  Also the right mirror was missing two nuts on it's mounting bolts, but I caught it before it started wobbling.

All that was then left was lining up the new windshield to the fairing (it actually holds the fairing under tension) and mounting the bolts.  This was relatively drama free and when the new fairing was in place I re-installed the inner fairings and the little grille piece that sits between the instrument cluster and the fairing covering the horns.  I'm pretty happy with it and have ridden just over 100 miles with the new windshield installed.  Let me get a couple more rides and I'll publish a ride report/review and any more tips I may have forgotten.

This weekend's BikeBandit sale: Casual Clothing Clearance with free shipping

I'll post more on my latest motorcycle maintenance projects and upcoming rides shortly, but wanted to get the word out there that BikeBandit is having a big sale on casual clothing this weekend.  Its a clearance sale, so its only good until the items are gone, but discounts of up to 75% off on hoodies, shorts, shoes and t-shirts/shop wear.

As always, orders over $99 get free shipping too!

If you follow the links on this page, I get a small commission as an affiliate marketer.  It's not much, but for the sake of full disclosure wanted to ensure you know.

Have a great weekend, ride plans/reports to follow.

Rattle can paint job on Harley-Davidson Sportster fenders complete (with pictures)

Earlier posts covered the sanding and prep work. Saturday I built an improvised paint booth out of a beat-up easy up we've had. Using plastic sheeting for walls I semi-enclosed the easy up and then hung the rear fender from the roof supports. One problem was the weight of the fender and the strength of the easy up-if I was going to do this long-term I'd reinforce the cross beams.

I then got the cans of primer and primed the fender. I used both filler primer and regular metal primer out of two older rattle cans. Here's a picture after the coats of primer. One issue is the filler primer was running out of paint and ended up orange peel like in appearance. I touched it up with some wet grit sandpaper but not enough.  I then started painting it with the semi-gloss rattle can paint.  I could quickly tell the primer was going to leave a textured look and some sanding marks (actually the smoother areas) would be left on it.  As I laid the coats on, I knew I would have to make a choice when done-sand it again and repaint, or see how it looks on the bike.  I let it set up for about 2.5 hours and then moved it to a plastic storage shed we have to let it finish "curing".

 

I then hung up the front fender and two trim pieces I'm making for the Connie and painted them as well.  The problem was definitely the emptying can of filler primer, as the front fender came out much smoother.  I did hit one area a little hard and have a small run there, but not too bad and since I don't always run the front fender I left it for now.

Monday morning I got started mounting the rear fender by assembling all the parts and ensuring I had all the fasteners and tools to tighten them.  One challenge is the sissy bar bolts are mismatched from side to side and even Harley-Davidson used different size bolts (both 1/2 and 9/16th for example).  I took a break to help my father-in-law with a project and also take care of some other work.  I also polished the chrome fender bracket covers well-they even had some overspray from some "in bike touch-up work" I had done and that buffed out too.  When I got back to the bike, the rear fender actually went back on pretty well.  Two spacers/fender grommets fell out and I tried reinstalling the turn signals without them but they don't tighten up enough, so I found them even if beat up and reinstalled them too.  I'm pretty happy with the look, and for about 3 hours of prep time, just over an hour of painting and about 2.5 hours of reinstalling the rear fender, lights and sissy bar, it's not too bad a project.  I shot some video clips and I'll try to figure out how to merge them and post to youtube but for now a picture will have to suffice.  Time to run the gas out of the tank, take it off, prep it and paint it to match!

 

I know, I know, I owe (posts that is)

Update 1: the rattle can paint job on the Harley-Davidson Sportster fenders is complete, with pictures, video and comments/lessons learned.  However I messed up my earlier draft post and won't try again tonight.  I promise to close out that project post thread tomorrow.

Update 2:  On ride to finally run the Sportster again, test all the signals and fastener tightness, I confirmed the left fork tube is seeping.  Did the thin card/piece of film or negative (is that even available enough anymore to recommend as a trick?) around the fork seal trick this AM and going to ride it again tomorrow to see if it worked.  If not, expect a "rebuilding Harley Davidson Sportster forks" thread soon.

Update 3:  Connie is now leaking more oil than the Sportster.  Still runs like a scalded cat, but debating chasing the leak or just wiping it down a lot as I chase the 100,000 mile mark for the next year.  Thoughts?

Good night, all!

It's Time to Prime! Rattle Can Paint Job update

Grabbed the front fender off the back workbench and gave it a quick sanding with 320 wet as it's nowhere near as beat up as the rear was.  I checked the rear fender and it's pretty smooth.  I got one more fastener off that I was pretty sure would come loose and spot sanded that area.

I then grabbed the blue masking tape and covered the wiring harness I couldn't get off and masked the flap on the bottom of the Sportster rear fender.  While I could just let some overspray get on it, that would look bad and I'm not sure the paint will adhere to plastic that old and road grimed.

Tomorrow I rig my "redneck paint booth" and start painting.  Depending on how early I get started and if I stop to re-sand much I may get it painted tomorrow.  If not I'll probably finish up Sunday.  I'll shoot some pictures and try to make a video too.

SOLD-A Ducati 1098 for sale at MMBN 08/29/13

Tonight was another installment of the weekly Mira Mesa Bike Night (aka MMBN) and the first one I could make in a long time.  I got there about 6:30 and there weren't very many bikes yet.  It's been really hot and muggy in San Diego lately so that might have kept things slow as well as a hot rod show also in Mira Mesa attracting some attention.

Despite the heat I had to get my Starbucks!

And yes, I balanced the cup on the tank of Miss Swail, my 1986 Kawasaki Concours.  Concours are also called "Connies" so you might figure out the nickname....

So I started walking around and talking to riders as they rode in, since I was like the 5th or 6th bike there.  A few spaces down was a clean Ducati, so I walk over.  Lo and behold, there is a for sale sign on it and Chris, the owner, standing nearby.  We start talking and he fills me in on the details.  It's a 2007 1098 with upgrades including a full Termignani exhaust.  The bike only has 11,000 miles on it since he has a number of bikes.  It is the Ducati red and looks practically brand new.  He is asking $9,500 and ok'd me posting a bike, so here it is.

I've got his digits, so if you are interested, leave a comment and I'll help you get linked up with him.

Later in the night more folks showed up-old friends and new.  Probably counting all the bikes that came and went (some rides left at 8, some later) there were likely 75 or so bikes there.  Pretty chill event-patches, independents, all makes including a classic BMW and Harleys.  Hope to see more folks out there in coming weeks.

We interrupt that project to complete this project

One of the "joys" of owning classic/vintage/old motorcycles and customizing them as well is that it seems the projects are never done.

Right in the midst of the rattle can painting project I was able to pick up a 12 volt outlet at Cycle Gear at half-price during a bike night.  Well, the new-to-me left inner fairing for the Connie started singing a syren song, and the old cracked one looked like it was about to give up the ghost.  A few hours of dremel tool shaping to get the larger new 12v plug in, a mounting hole widened, and some wiring routing and the fairing was in the Connie.  It also has a RAM ball mount, so now I need to get some accessories for that to mount either my GPS or the iPod.

The 12 volt outlet is pretty straightforward.  It's hardwired from the plug to two ring terminals.  It comes with a mounting bracket if you choose to mount it on your handlerbars, but I didn't use that.  There isn't a fuse along the wire, so if that is a big concern, you would have to add one.  I ran the wires directly to the battery.  Some folks recommend wiring the outlet to a switched circuit, so if you opt for that you would simply cut the ring terminals off and wire it in that way.

Back to prepping the fender for priming tonight!

Today only-Dirt Deals at BikeBandit

I've got some motorcycle maintenance updates to post, but wanted to do a quick post regarding the e-mail I just got from BikeBandit.  Today they are having a blow-out on dirt gear-up to 47% off, and the usual free shipping on orders over $99!

Just in time for your pre-season purchases.

Please remember I am an affiliate marketer, and if you click through my site I get a small cut of each sale.  Some of those funds go to support Run for the Son, a CMA fundraiser that is important to me.  So you get a good deal, and we do good together!

Motorcycle Maintenance Foibles

Update:  Well, Foible #3 isn't true.  While sitting in a different chair in my garage/man cave this morning on a conference call I saw where I had stashed the lay-down license plate bracket.  Whew.  Hopefully tonight I will have some time to mask off the fender and get ready to paint.

Yes, foibles, because the other "f-word" wouldn't do as a post title.  But if you are wondering, it's not "follies" (although that would work) and normally ends in "-up".

Felt like listing a few motorcycle maintenace foibles for you, my one or two readers, so I don't start coming across like I've got this all figured out and am some kind of top-knotch mechanic.  I'm probably not much better than a low average mechanic-I usually have to read the shop manual twice, google or youtube videos, ask friends and still mess stuff up.  Here's three recent examples:

1)  As chronicled in this blog post, while working on a friend's bike I was prepared to wrestle loose his brake rotor bolts.  So I inserted allen driver, started applying pressure, and immediately stripped the bolt.  Quite how it happened we couldn't figure out, but it looked like some road grit was in the bottom of the bolt hole and caused the "key" not to seat fully.  Should have checked them all.

2) While trying to remove the radiator cover and oil cooler cover on my Connie to clean them up and re-paint them black, I try all kinds of phillips screw drivers working around the fairing and forks.  Instead of finding the right one to both fit the size of the screw head and reach in, I angle a screwdriver that sort of fits the pattern.  Yep, another stripped fastener since it's likely been on there since 1986.  So an easy maintenace action will now take over an hour when I get to it.  On a better note, oil cooler cover came off and is now freshly painted black!

3) As my prep work on the Sportster fenders continues (update 2 here) I added two more parts I have taken off the rear fender to the bag of parts.  Looking at the parts I notice the lay-down license plate mount isn't in the main bag.  So I look for the bag it is in.  I recently repositioned my work bench about 18 inches and didn't completely unload it before moving, but did move some items.  Of course, guess which parts may have been lost?  Replacement is $29.99 at the Harley dealership, gonna check Bike Bandit but also request some of my Chrome Cash just in case....

Yep, my bikes would be fine except for the nut that works on them in the garage!

Update 2: Sportster rattle can paint job: Prep Day Two

Spent another hour or so last night spot sanding and feathering the rear fender with 325 grit sandpaper and occasionally coarser grit sandpaper to get some specific spots sanded out and then feathered.

I finished up by wet sanding with more 325 grit paper and then checking everything out.  I think it's time to mask off the few trim pieces and fasteners I didn't remove and spray a primer check coat.  Then lightly sand anything that shows me, and lightly sand the front fender and spray a check coat on it.  The front fender is in better shape.  While I know that doesn't make sense at first, I've run this bike around without the front fender (more custom motorcycle look) most spring/summers, which out here in San Diego is most the year!

Hope to have the check coat on at least the rear fender by tonight and will update as the custom rattle can paint job progresses.

Ride report: Cycle Gear San Marcos Bike Night and light show on the long way home

I'll get back to motorcycle maintenance posts this weekend but wanted to post a ride report about the bike night I went to, parts on sale and then the good ride home afterwards.

The fourth Thursday of each month the San Marcos Cycle Gear hosts a bike night and our local Christian Motorcyclists Association (CMA) chapter and I either set-up our booth or at least show up and shop, look at the "ride-in bike show" and generally hang-out.  Last night we had 5 CMA'ers and 1 family member show up, as well as a smattering of independent riders and a few sportbike clubs.  There was an interesting assortment of bikes-one classic Kawasaki Concours (hmm, wonder who's bike that was?  hee hee), some Harley's, some custom motorcycles and even two dirt bikes for sale that made the trip in the back of a pick-up!  One of the customs was a chopped Honda UJM that was clean, and another was a stretched Hayabusa with more chrome than all the bikes I've owned put together.  Sweet bike, but man I bet it's a hassle keeping it looking that good!

As usual Cycle Gear had door prizes up to a $50 gift card, but I didn't win any.  Oh well, can't win every month.  They also had the normal large amount of their products on 50% off sale, and one part I really needed-a 12 volt (aka cigarette lighter) outlet with wiring!  The replacement left inner fairing for my Connie had one in it, but no wiring, so for a whopping $9.95 I got a new plug, mounting accessories, and a wiring harness.  Will make that project much quicker when done sanding and painting the Sportster parts.

Near the end of the Bike Night we saw a cool looking cloud forming out to the east.  As the sun set, heat lighting started jumping across the cloud, and as I headed through Escondido to Ramona, the light show got better and better.  I could watch it pretty well, as I never cleared enough traffic to push my speed, and also I haven't ridden CA 78 after dark before.  I'm still slow in the twisties, so between traffic and nightfall I opted to go easily and enjoy the rare Southern California lightening.  Once I got to Ramona, a quick (well for a Connie gas tank, added 5.5 gallons!) stop for gas and then down 67 to Poway and the Poway Grade.

More riding this weekend, and probably sanding the Sportster fenders too.