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.

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. 

3 Ride Review: HJC CL-Max II Modular Helmet

I recently bought an HJC CL-Max II Modular Helmet from BikeBandit.  As you may know if you've been a longtime reader, I am an affiliate marketer for BikeBandit.  I like their wide selection, good prices, free shipping for orders over $99, and as a (mostly) local company, fast fulfillment of most orders for my friends and me here in San Diego county.  Why "mostly"?  Well some warehouses aren't in San Diego, and some parts have to be backordered and may be drop shipped from other places/manufacturers.

OK, on to what I'm going to start calling "3 Ride Reviews".  These will be reviews of new parts, modifications and accessories after just a few rides.  Not just one ride-as either excitement over a new toy or unfamiliarity could shape the review, but also not long-term, having lived with it reviews either.  I've found three or so rides are generally enough to highlight whether the purchase was a good one, future modifications needed, and pros and cons of the part.  So my first "3 Ride Review" will be on the HJC CL-Max II helmet.

This was my first modular helmet, so I went and tried a number of models and brands on.  Some shops had lower priced helmets, especially the Cycle Gear house brand Bilt.  Prices went up from there, with the HJC being on the lower end and the usual suspects being the more costly.  I tried on a Shoei helmet that really felt good, but at nearly 4x the price of the HJC and over 5x the price of the Bilt I felt it wasn't time for that expensive a helmet.  Maybe if I was doing the Iron Butt Rally this summer!  I settled on the HJC and while I often support my local shops, I also needed some maintenance parts for the Connie-too old a bike to normally have the parts at dealerships, so they would have to order them too.

The helmet and parts showed up fairly quickly-not as fast as usual for BikeBandit, but still within about a week.  I have ridden in the helmet a few times, both during the day and at night.  Here's the pros and cons.

Pro's
Value for price.  While the Bilt is less expensive and more expensive helmets are definitely made to higher standards the price point of the HJC, especially from BikeBandit or if their price is matched ($134.99 with free shipping) is a good to great price for a modern, well-made helmet.

The modular faceshield allows easy access with a chin bar-so the pluses of a half or three-quarter helmet with full face protection.

Reasonably light-This helmet feels much better on my head than previous full-face helmets (a lower priced 707 and other cheapies) and about like my 3/4 Bilt helmet.

Consistent construction-All the parts seem to be of high-quality and no one part stands out as a place HJC cut corners to knock a few dollars off the price or make a few more bucks.

Con's
Differing wind noise/buffeting-Some of this is an "attack angle" and windshield height issue.  After the first ride with lots of varying wind noise I experimented with both angle of the helmet on my head and my head in the wind and got much less noise.  When I focused on a more upright, chin up position the wind noise is definitely lower.  That said, there is still a moderate amount of wind noise where the face shield and helmet meet.

The cheek pad foam feels comfortable but kind of cheap.  This is the biggest difference other than likely the wind noise I could find between this helmet and the much higher priced Shoei.  Also due to the size of my head (big, square headed freak here) the cheek pads are pretty tight.  BTW what everyone seems to say about HJC helmets being sized .5 to 1 size too small is right-I ordered an XL and it's still kind of tight.  Of course, it will compress to match my big 'ol melon over the next few weeks so it's best to start tight.

I would definitely buy another HJC helmet based on 3 rides and anticipate this being my main helmet.  I may rig a bluetooth system to it-it has a pre-molded mounting area but this wasn't a purchase point for me.  If you have done this and can add a comment I would appreciate it!

Ride there!
Bur

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? :-)

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.

The "joy" of old bikes

Keeping nearly 30 year old bikes on the road takes a mix of ingenuity, patience, spare parts, and sometimes frustration.

I moved parts back over to the 86 Connie last night to get it ready to take to the pros at Poway Motorcycle the local independent shop that works on older bikes.  One of the guys there used to ride the Ninja 1000s Connies were made out of, helped pioneer stick coils and is a flat out wizard.  So I got everything together, turned the key, cracked the throttle and NOTHING.  Grrrr.  Check everything, tighten battery terminals (but idiot lights and running lights were already bright).  Try again.  NOTHING.  Hmm, old battery with fresh distilled water in it, but just in case....get battery out of running C10, switch them out, try three.  NOTHING.  Bike is in neutral, but just in case, let's pull in the clutch lever this time.  Slow turning over sounds, no fuel pickup.  OK, different problem but had it before-carb bowls likely dried out while the bike sat for a month.  Pull everything out of air box, few squirts of starting fluid.  Bangy bangy motorcycle noises.

Well, it wasn't that good.  This morning I come back from some early morning Bible Study and meetings to run the bike to the shop.  Bike barely wants to run, even after more starting fluid.  So I spray in some carb cleaner too and it still wants to cough and die.  Repeat.  Repeat again.  Alternate starting fluid and carb cleaner, finally get bike to respond to throttle.  Still won't start with clutch lever out, so that switch is likely dead and I'll be looking for a scavenged one in my parts pile tonight.

Good thing some mechanical therapy and frustration is a good change of pace from my normal work frustration, or this would drive me nuts!

And so it begins-new to me CB750 project bike in the storage shed

A friend and his wife recently let me know he had a project bike for a chopper build.  Unfortunately he won't be riding anymore, as I met them after he was in a very bad motorcycle wreck.  He is being medically retired from the Marines and didn't want to move the bike back across the country and offered it to me.  Not wanting to take advantage of his misfortune, I offered to trade for it instead of just picking it up.  Saturday I took a Fender 12-string guitar and one of my custom cigar box guitars to their house and picked up the bike parts he had.  He threw in some Harley take-off parts, mainly some pipes and heat guards, but I left the quick release parts for Harleys as they could sell those quickly.

What he had was a torn down Honda CB750.  While many of the smaller parts were left at their long-term home by the military movers, the main parts are all there.  Tight 1976 single overhead cam engine, frame, front forks with wheel and tire, rear tire and sprocket and a few other pieces!  Since the rear swingarm and shock weren't included, the first order of business will be either replacing that or getting a weld on hardtail to make it a "roller".

So the bottom line is I own a cruiser again after a month or so of not having one but it's in parts in my storage shed.  The plan is to finish restoring the 1994 Connie while riding Miss Swail, my 1986 Connie while planning what the first version of the CB 750 will be and accumulating parts.  Next winter I'll assemble the chopper at least to a street legal and running bike, then sort out what to make it into.  Initially I'm planning on my standard black rattle can paint job, wrapped pipes and no frills.

I'm guessing it will cost me about another $1000 to get to that point, meaning I'll still be under $1500 since the 12-string was a Craigslist find and the cigar box guitar was probably only $50 in parts or less to make.

Let's get choppin'!

Phooey-not riding today

Another beautiful Saturday here in San Diego, but I've got lots to do, and almost none of it is motorcycle maintenance!  Cleaning out garage slowly but surely, replacing the strings on a 12-string guitar I'm trading for a chopper project bike (more on that if it happens!) and other similiar projects.

Not fun, but has to be done.  Later.

Kawasaki Concours C10 Highway Peg Installation complete

Recently I found a near neighbor selling a collection of parts and motorcycle maintenance supplies for 1986 to 2006 Kawasaki Concours on Craigslist.  Not only were there some maintenance supplies I know I would use, the item that really interested me were a set of Kevin Baker Highway Pegs.  These are considered the "best" highway pegs for Connies and are the only ones Murphy of Murph's Kits sells.  It is likely these pegs came from Murph's once upon a time, and I first wanted to see about buying just them.  Well, the seller really wanted to sell everything locally, and no one was more local than me.  I posted the parts list up on the COG Forum and starting getting enough interest to swing the deal.

So yesterday the seller and I agreed on a final price, I went over with cash in hand, and went home with lots of parts.  After packaging up a few of the orders, I took a closer look at how to mount the highway pegs per some advice on the Connie Forum linked above.  The lower radiator mounting bolts go through the engine into the bracket and are where the supports for the highway pegs go.  These are significant bolts with 14mm heads and likely haven't been removed from my bike until last night.  NOTE: Be careful breaking these bolts free!  Have a friend hold the bike or otherwise support it or you might become a "CDA" member.  Once these bolts are out, the highway peg mounting post screws into their place.  I used an adjustable wrench but a large box-end wrench would work too.  A small extension arm then mounts in place with what I seem to remember is a 19mm bolt and two "teeth" washers.  Finally the footpegs attach to the other hole in the extension arm.  Once everything was in place I tightened both the bolts passing through the extension arm with about a 45 degree angle forward and down in the arm.

One challenge is the left side mounting post has to clear both the engine case and the radiator hose, so it may take a few more minutes to get into place than the right side.  Also, I ride this bike without lower and mid-fairings, so no removal or trim work was required.  Standard 86 side fairing will require trimming/cutting and some 87-06 fairings may require a small amount as well.

So far I have a few short rides and like the pegs, although another inch or so on the extension (assuming it would still be rigid enough) would likely benefit most riders.  I'm 5'10" with a 32 inch inseam and consider myself an average size guy.  If I have the arch of my foot on the peg my knees are still fairly bent.  By resting my upper heels on the peg my legs are straight.  Still I'm quite happy with them and look forward to my upcoiming road trip to test them out.

Finally found the oil leak on my Kawasaki Concours C10

For the past few months a progressively worsening oil leak has developed on "Miss Swail", the older of my two Connies and the main rider of my bikes.  Oil was getting everywhere on the lower left side of the bike and occasionally dripping on the exhaust tubes (which smells great!).  With oil and oily residue/grit all over the lower end, the culprit for the leak could have been anything.  The bike ran as strong as ever, and the slight coolant leak from my change highlighted in this YouTube video has seemed to stop with some re-tightening of hose clamps.  So off I went to the Concours forum and got out my Clymer manual and a bunch of rags.

Working out to in, and botttom to top, I cleaned lots of road grime off the pegs, the shifter level, the driveshaft and the kickstand, which had served as a "gutter" when the leak was particularly bad and the bike sat a bit too long.  As I wiped areas down, I checked for grit and grime and brown fresher oil.  While not fool-proof troubleshooting, it normally helps to isolate the leak to an area instead of "somewhere in here" while waving hand at the lower left side of the bike!  Fortunately the area around the bevel gear housing was only gritty, saving me a major tear-down that requires removing the rear wheel, the driveshaft and the swing-arm.  More wiping and using rags on small but long screwdrivers showed the leak coming from behind or around the water pump.  I cleaned the whole area particularly well and then let the bike sit overnight.  It hadn't run in nearly three days, so it was cool and no wind driven oil would show up.

The next afternoon a small puddle of oil was back on the drip tray, right under the exhaust just below the water pump and shifter shaft.  Since the shifter shaft has to come off to work on the water pump, this is where I'll focus on the first attempt to fix the leak.  It only seems to be leaking about a oil bottle capful of oil a day, and that when the bike has sat.  I went for a 15 mile or so ride this morning and will see how it leaks as it cools.

I'll also post some pictures and video of the seal repairs when I complete them, but that is likely not for a few weeks due to work travel.

Kawasaki Concours Projects weekend-started last night

After finally getting it titled and registered in my name, it's time to get the 1994 Concours on the road and get serious about finding and fixing the leaks on Miss Swail.  I actually got started on the projects last night, as I had some time and renewed desire to get the new front brake system on the 1994 bled.  Well it's still not wanting to completely bleed, so I moved on to re-installing the main fairing stay, main fairing and speedometer.

Here's a helpful hint for Connie owners that do alot of work on the front of their bike and often find themselves working alone:  If you take the main fairing off the stay and then the stay off the bike, you can do it by yourself much more easily than rigging a way to hold all the weight together.  I learned this sorting out the broken main fairing stay on Miss Swail.  So I ran up to Home Depot (the other H D) to get some replacement fasteners as some were missing or beat up.  I quickly mounted the main fairing stay (BTW the fairing to frame bolts are 8x1.25 and probably 20mm long, but I forget and am not in my shop).  Then it came time to mount the fairing.  Here it does get a little tricky with only one person, but I've found getting 1 of the 6x1.0 nuts on the two post "tabs" on each side will hold it in place while you insert the bolts on each side of the fairing, route wiring, and then add and tighten the other two nuts.  One thing I didn't do and I wish I had was I didn't wipe down the wiring harness with a moist rag to clean it up-between the blown brake caliper and dust it's a pretty big mess.  If it comes back off I'm definitely doing that.

Battery is dead from sitting since February, so I left it on the trickle charger last night and will re-install it, the main fuse (stolen for Miss Swail when I blew that one....) and move the good fuel tank over.  I'll try to fire it up and test ride it, soft front brakes and all, tomorrow afternoon.  Fortunately I live on a quiet street and have a parking lot right around the corner for testing, or I'd really sort the front brakes out first.  Due to the damage when the front left caliper blew, it may take a bit more work to get them right.  I'll post more as the work progresses, and as I hunt the leak on Miss Swail.

You win some, you lose some

Last night kind of late I got started on two motorcycle maintenance projects on the Kawasaki Concours.  I needed the time in the garage, but was taking care of other things throughout the day and early evening.  So later than I planned I started the first project, which was pulling the front wheel and tire off of the 1986 Connie.  As usual, I had to get help getting the bike onto the centerstand, something I've only been able to do once or twice by myself.  I used a floor jack under the front of the engine to shift and keep the weight to the rear and then gathered the assorted tools to take the wheel off.  It's actually quite simple-6 mm allen key for the axle clamps, 10 mm allen key for the brake caliper bolts (on the older C10s-the newer one is a 12 mm head on the bolt), and a 12 mm allen key for the axle.  The speedometer simply unscrews and that's it.  So in no time at all I had the wheel off and ready to go to Poway Motorcycles today to have the new tire mounted and balanced.

So with a few extra minutes I attempted to bleed the replacement brake set on the new-to-me 1994 Concours.  This maintenance project took the rest of my time, and unfortunately the brake lever is just as spongey now as before I started messing with it.  This is the brake system I mounted back a little while ago (as I posted here) so it's obviously not a priority project!  I could make the excuse that bleeding brakes by yourself is hard (it is) but I've done it before.  So it's time to go through the whole system tightening banjo bolts and trying again.  Still a ways from taking the new bike on a test ride, but that's ok.  Well, sort of!

Kawasaki Concours C10 Front Brake System change-out

I've started restoring the 1994 Kawasaki Concours C10.  One issue that was apparent right off the bat was the front brakes were clamped to the rotors.  Shortly after buying the bike I pulled the left front caliper and found out that the seals were blown and one pad was worn down to nothing.  As I researched rebuild kits and read how to do it, I also searched the Concours forum for tips and tricks.  I also checked "The Emporium" where folks list bikes and parts for sale or needed.  Lo and behold, a member had a full brake set-up for sale for not much more than one rebuild kit!  By full, I mean FULL, from lever to pretty good brake pads!  So I ordered them and had him throw in some other parts including a matching clutch lever and master cylinder.  Time to schedule a major motorcycle maintenance project....

Unfortunately the parts came while I was on the road for work for what seemed like forever.  No bike riding, no motorcycle projects-these trips even went over weekends.  Finally at home last Saturday, I decided to ride my other C10 (Miss Swail) and put off the Connie repairs until tonight.  I was able to get some time this evening, so I put on some coffee, put the iPod in the speakers on shuffle and got to work.  I shot some video so I'll also make a YouTube video.  The old set-up came off very easily.  While the fasteners were dirty or worn, none of them were too hard to get out.  Things were still pretty messy, which is to be expected when doing maintenance on older and semi-neglected bikes.  The right side brake pads weren't too badly worn so hopefully the rotors are ok.  I checked out the replacement set-up, got the bolts from the old set I would need and went to work re-installing the set.  The right side brake calipers didn't want to cooperate and took most my time, but over-all everything went right back on pretty well.  I might pull them off and clean them up some more, but right now they are a big improvement cosmetically.  I still need to bleed the brakes fully, but the fluid in them looks brand new, another encouraging sign.

Here's the tools and parts you'll need if doing this job (and I'd bet 1980/1990s Ninja as well):

8, 10, and 12 mm wrenches (I have a three headed t-wrench that works great, but you'll still need box end wrenches for bleeder valves)
5mm allen key (for handlebar clamp)
phillips head screw driver for brake reservoir cover
DOT 4 brake fluid
rags

I didn't have to remove any lines or banjo bolts.  It took a little finagling to get the reservoir and lever past the throttle cables, but that was much easier than either disconnecting a brake line or the cables.

Goal is to get main fairing re-installed, move my non-leaking tank from the other Concours, bleed the brakes and do a road test.  Oh yeah, also need to change Miss Swail's front tire, so plenty of motorcycle maintenance projects still to do!

Too long on the road-but not riding

I am finally near the end of nearly four straight weeks on the road for work.  The one day I was home not only did it rain but I had much more important business than riding or wrenching on motorcycles to take care of, including visiting some dear friends having a medical emergency/distressing news and spending some time with my family.

Which means as soon as I get home I have some deferred motorcycle maintenance to get done, and some riding to do!  The projects I know I have to do are:

Replace a Kawasaki Concours front tire
Remove/Replace other Kawasaki Concours front brake system
Bleed and adjust both Connie's clutch fluid (may just change both out)
Clean the K&N air filter on the Harley Sportster
Sort out linking tank on "new" Connie or migrate tank from bike to bike for test ride

Speaking of test ride, I need to ride too!  March 11th and so far ZERO miles ridden.  Blah.

New motorcycle maintenance videos coming soon

I just found two motorcycle maintenance videos on my tablet.  A few months ago I removed the front forks from my 1999 Harley-Davidson Sportser, took them to an independent shop and had the seals replaced.  I re-installed them, tightened everything up, and front fork is good as new.  I did the work back in October of 2013 and shot two short videos of the removal.  I even blogged a little bit about the fork seal replacement project, but never posted the videos to YouTube.  Since my YouTube channel is taking on a definite motorcycle maintenance theme, with both Sportster maintenance and Kawasaki Concours maintenance videos making up the majority of the uploads, I'll add these two videos as well.  Both are fairly short-one isn't even a minute long.

I don't go step-by-step into how to remove your front forks, but show enough that someone with basic skills and either the shop manual or a Clymer manual should be all over the job.  It was very easy-I was able to do the front fork removal project quickly on my floor lift but left the fork seal replacement to an independent shop I have used in the past.  He's a real pro and between not wanting to hassle with the forks at that time and give him some business it was a no brainer to take the forks and new seals to him.  He was able to squeeze the project in between some major work he had on the lifts.  The fork seals were really boogered up-if not the originals they were pretty close to that age.

In the second video I also disclose the true goal of any motorcycle maintenance project.  How's that for a teaser?  Hopefully my WiFi will speed up today and I can get them uploaded as both are 50MB and a 9MB e-mail attachment is in limbo.

Ride far!

BikeBandit "Best of/Worst of the Season" Sale going on NOW!

In what might be a first that I've noticed, BikeBandit is having not on a "Best of" sale, but also having a "Worst of the Season Sale"!  Some of the items are downright scary-the 3-ring binder is pretty expensive-but I haven't bought fancy school supplies in a long time.

So here's the deal:  I'm an affiliate marketer with BikeBandit via Commission Junction, so if you click one of the links on this page, I'll get a commission based on your purchase.  You can take advantage of the BikeBandit sale (and as always, free shipping for orders over $99) whether you want some motorcycle gear, accessories, or motorcycle maintenance tools, parts or supplies.

We both win!  You don't even have to buy me a Ben Spies Bobblehead as a thank you!

Quick post and preview of upcoming attractions

Just a quick note to keep posting.  Had a good "mileage run" ride today to start testing and prepping for an IronButt ride later this year.  Was able to get a 50 mile up and back run on I-15 in just under 50 minutes, including some in-town riding.  So factoring in gas and food stops equating to the in-town legs, this is doable once I get in long-distance riding shape.  I'm guessing core strength, optimally fitted gear, and a few chiropractor visits are in order.

Ok, coming attractions:

Feature articles on riders-both some guys and some female riders pushing the boundaries back.  This is both to give props to these ladies-one a racer, one a group organizer, and one a MSF instructor (hopefully) as they are using their skills and personalities to make riding better for all of us.

Also, I'm going to migrate a devotional I used to send out via e-mail to it's own blog.  Some of you may have received it in the past.  It's called "Thursday Thoughts" and today may be the first post.  If not I'll debut it next Thursday.

Some new maintenance videos on YouTube like this old one:

 

 

 

The Connie needs a new front tire from BikeBandit pretty soon, and the Sportster needs some motorcycle maintenance and repair.

 

OK, got to go, so ride safe, look out for and love one another.



 

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!

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!