Replaced the exhaust gaskets and flange studs to get rid of that squirrel in my engine.

 

Took a cruise with the wife on back, cracked 25,000 miles on the way back. Bought the bike in '12 with about 4700 miles.

 

Tweaked the compression & rebound and added a quarter turn on the preload. Also threw in a pair of Phillips extreme silvers star bulbs or whatever their called. Brought the bars back about a half inch and put the brake pedal up one hole. What hole you ask?? Lol

 

I need to do some rear end work on the bike but the chain is FILTHY and I wanted to clean it before tearing everything apart.

Messy proposition, so I picked up a KettenMax chain cleaner tool from Amazon. Got it today. Will try it out tomorrow.

I also got some Du-Pont Teflon chain lube because the PJ1 Blue I was using is WTF messy. Slings everywhere and is as tacky (dirt magnet) as f'k.

With the cleaner tool, fluid sprays the chain from top and bottom. Brushes remove the crud. Filth drains out the bottom into a container.

 

Cool
I bought one of those three sided red handled chain brushes it works but I'm looking for cleaner in bulk. What's going into your bottle? I used Belrey but went through a whole can for one cleaning! Need something o-ring friendly. There's got to be a more practical and cheaper way. I do like their lube though.

 

I have an RK "WX" chain and they recommend a "mineral based" cleaner, so I'm going to use mineral spirits. They specifically say NOT to use kerosene.

 

Thanks! That's what I needed to know. 👍🏼

 

Added a set of low Z bars, internally wired. I will never do another set.

 

I think I would have lost my mind trying to internally wire a set of those bars.

Edit: Today all I did was compress the rear shock springs fully with the new spanner tool. Doing that exposed a scruffy spot on the chrome so you know I just had to polish that out.

Filled the fork tubes with fresh fork oil measuring 150mm from the top of fork tube. Installed the fork tubes in the triple trees. Removed caps, inserted new heavy duty progressive springs and washers. I then set up the tools for cutting PVC spacers. Going to cut the PVC spacers later while I wait for the Motion Pro Fork Cap Socket to arrive. I think the fork cap socket will do a much better job at installing those fork caps than a crescent wrench.

Edit #2: I cut the spacers, making sure to get all the filings off the PVC after cutting them, put them in the fork tubes and installed the caps. The caps went on easily. Still have to torque them to specs as per the manual.

Started polishing the lower fork tubes.



I installed the front brake caliper and torqued the mounting bolts to spec, then installed a chrome insert just to dress it up a little.

 

Joined the forum and ordered a bunch of parts