Maintenance is done. It was time to change the fork oil, so I put in some Progressive fork springs and heavier fork oil (think I'll go back to lighter fork oil next time). After a year of riding, the tank and rear fender were getting pretty scratched up. That definitely called for. Of course, after it was put all back together, it just looked too good. So I had to put some character in it (check the pictures). Already added some more custom paint to cover up the dent. Now it is a 'hole' in the tank! (that part isn't shown in the picture).

Really I'm just happy to be back on it and riding. Thought I'd share!

 

Can't really see the paint job to well. But from what I can see, looks pretty cool.

 

so what happened, you painted the bike reinstalled everything then dented the tank on it's first ride out?

 

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. You can see the tire in the picture from the back. There's no tread in the middle (Metzler z6 rear tire). It worked fine for the first 10k miles, during the summer. Back in October I had just put on a crash bar and was heading from the back parking lot. The ground was slick with leaves and water and someone looked like they were about to pull out in front of me. I didn't break hard, but tried to slow down in case they didn't stop. Rear tire just slid out and the bike was on its side before I could think to act. Luckily myself and the crashbar caught the brunt of the damage. Same thing happened after the paint was done. Spent the weekend bolting the bike back together, got it done and went for a small test ride. It was a little icy, but not too bad. I was slowing down to turn around and again, before I know it the bike is on its side.

All I can figure is the lack of the tread on the ground when the bike is 100% upright. Rode the bike from November 9th, 2008 until November 4th, 2009. All last winter basically, through the summer and back again (32,565 miles) with no problems until that tire + water. I guess that's what insurance is for. They've paid out for the dents and some of the scratches that came with it all. And I swapped out the tire and haven't had any problems yet, with my ME-880.

 

Looks great!

 

Love the contrast between the dash & tank.
lookin good!

 

Looks Good

 

I like it!!! +1 on the tank.

 

I guess I just needed to see a better angle. Doesn't look bad at all man.