Winterizing

I was a good boy this winter and finally winterized my bike. For me that means running the gas out of the carburetor and keeping the battery charged. I've been bad at this in the past but turning a new leaf this year. I look forward to a rockin' ridin' spring.

Chilly

I am discovering how quickly it gets cold up North. I will need to add my jacket liner soon for rides home from rehearsal at 10:30pm. Brrrr. In St. George I wouldn't need to do that until probably November.

Workin'

I have ridden to work several times this week. Excellent coolness in the morning. It's great to be on the road again.

Fixed Up

I'm living in the Salt Lake area now and my bike had sat for quite a while due to a few reasons, mainly I was concerned about the 11 year age and if it needed any overhaul. I was particularly concerned with the tires, as they had some cracking on the side. I also had some leaks (I thought an oil leak) and my rattling tank after I replaced the petcock assembly myself.

So I took it down to Nexus Powersports which was recommended to me. These guys were great, down to earth and honest. The owner (?) Blake told me that my tires were fine, as the cracking was minor and I had tubes so I could still base the life off the treads which are nice and deep. He found right away that my "oil leak" was not oil but an old gasoline leak. I imagine it came from my petcock attempt. Anyway, he said the bike was in great shape and just needed an oil change, a chain adjustment, and a few other minor things. They even fixed the annoying rattle of my fuel tank. The whole deal cost me just $73!

So I'm back in action and have ridden to work for the first this year. It feels great to have the wind on my face again. I want to find some rides near here, but it's a lot more metropolitan than St. George and I don't like going on the freeway. I'm not sure what my options are... I'll have to research.

Back in the Saddle

Finally after much waiting and puzzling, my bike is back in action. I drove it to work last Friday for the first time this year. Stephen and I determined the fuel leak was probably in the petcock valve assembly, so I ordered one new online. I was going to try to save some money and get one off of ebay or something, but there are so many different kinds that I decided I didn't want to risk it and just ordered it new ($100, ouch). The parts took about two weeks to arrive, which seemed long but whatever. With a little headache I was able to install it and it seems to have fixed the problem. There is still a very small leak (like a half-drop is hanging off the valve in the morning), but I think it's due to the hose. It was pretty hardened and not very supple when I re-attached it, and I will probably try to replace it soon.

Then the battery... it was dead. Even after trying to charge it, it just wouldn't work. So basically I killed a new battery by leaving it hooked in for six months. Makes sense. But I bought a trickle-charger, so hopefully I will be fine for the next storage period. I bought a new battery, charged it, and installed. The bike kicked up to life for the first time in forever! It was a glorious moment.

I had a hard time reinstalling the seat for some reason. I wonder if it's a custom seat, because the seat fastener holes don't quite align with the frame bolt holes. I could get one side in, but for the life of me can't seem to torque the other side into alignment. I now know why the allen-wrench bolt heads were almost stripped (from the last owner trying to get them in). So for now my seat is only half-screwed in. Seems fine though...

Next up is new tires. I'd like to get these taken care of before I go on any major ride. I think I'll take it down to Stephen Wade Powersports and have them install a new rear tire along with my spare front tire that I got from the previous owner. Maybe I'll have them give the bike a once-over: brakes, hoses, etc. Then I'll be ready to rumble.

Dead Battery

Ugh, a week ago we had beautiful weather and figured it was time to finally get my bike in action. I tried to start it up and... dead. I realized I have forgotten to unhook the battery for storage. So I tried to charge it for several hours on trickle and nothing. I think my charger might be broken on that setting (works great for high Amp setting like my truck battery). I am going to try out Stephen's charger to see if I can get this thing going. It's a brand new battery... it shouldn't be dead-dead.

Fuel Leak

I've had a fuel leak the last few weeks and haven't gotten it fixed yet. So no updates and no rides until I do.