One project done but more keep piling up

Yesterday I got the front wheel and new tire back from Poway Motorcycle and mounted them on the Concours.  This motorcycle maintenance project is not that hard, and all of it except the actual mounting of the wheel to the bike/lining up the axle is easily done by one person.  Actually it's probably best done by one person, but lining up the axle and getting it through forks, collar, wheel, speedo drive and other fork took some doing.  But I've got a brand new tire from BikeBandit on the bike.  This one will probably take me through to 100K.


Yesterday and today the new front tire and inner tube for my friend's 2004 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200C arrived, so we're going to pull that front wheel off the bike, run it to Poway Motorcycles to have the new tire put on (with a tube ready to go, just in case) and then remount it.  Should be a straightforward project, but one interesting difference is the star-headed bolts holding the brake caliper on the bike.  Not sure I have a wrench or socket that fits those.


I also still need to bleed the front brakes on the 1994 Connie, then re-mount the front fairing stay, accessories and front fairing to optest the bike.  One at a time....

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!

Update on my "low mileage bike"

Back near the end of December I rolled my 1986 Kawasaki Concours over 90,000 miles.  I wrote about it in this post where I compared the total mileage to how many miles per year that actually averages out to.  Well, due to way too much work travel, I just today noticed the Connie has 91,200 miles on it-less than 400 miles more per month.  Yes, I'm still trying to make this my first 100,000 mile motorcycle but at this rate it's going to take another 2 years!

At least I've now put 10,000 miles on the bike, and worn out the front tire that came on the bike when I bought it.  I was afraid the tire was going to dry rot, since I let this bike sit for nearly 2.5 years while remodeling our house, traveling and deploying for work, and riding my other bike.  But now the Connie is my main ride, as I think this is probably the most versatile bike I've ever owned.  I already have bought my next Concours, another low mileage bike.  The next one is a 20 year old C10 with less than 15,000 miles on it-less than 750 a year.  It's getting a full restoration while I ride the 1986.

If you'd like, comment with your bike, and how many miles you have on it-let's see some real high mileage bikes on here!