Day -35: Refurbing the ride
As fun as it is to ride and write, truth be told there are weeks and months of preparation leading up to the 2019 Prefrontal Tour. March was spent researching and acquiring lightweight and compact camping equipment and finishing off the wish list of upgrades for the motorcycle. April is turning out to be the month for performing all of the necessary tasks to wake the bike from its winter slumber, finish the standard maintenance items, and put on some of those upgrades that Santa brought.
The bike was uncovered just before April Fool's day, with two feet of snow still in the driveway. It was wheeled over to the "maintenance bay", but I resisted the temptation of starting it. Too much snow and mud in the driveway, too much salt on the roads, and it wasn't even above freezing yet. As much as I wanted to test the "Cursed Reverse" (and that tiny little orange fuse), I left it alone for the time being. Discretion being the better part of valor. I ticked off the easy boxes - oil level, coolant, headlight and driving light alignment, tire tread wear and inflation. All good. Not being able to contain myself, I put the Rivco side stand pad on, just so I could feel like I was making progress.
Fast forward to last week. The first order of business was flushing the brake system - the front brake lever was "grabby" last year and only moved in discrete, jerky "steps", which made stopping and low speed maneuvers difficult and might have contributed to my get off. I spent three hours in bodily positions a Twister champion would be proud of, and ended up with about a pint of orange, sediment-filled liquid, and one still-grabby brake lever. What the fluid? The last step in the video instructions for flushing the brake system was "lubricating the lever", a simple three-minute job that was, in the end, really all I needed to do to get my brake lever working properly. But, the brake fluid has to be flushed every two years anyway, and by the look of the old stuff I was overdue.
Once that job was done, it was time for the test drive, and I fired up the bike so it could recalibrate the ECU while I re-familiarized myself with all of the gear. Fully outfitted and with a warm bike I hit the road for a quick 15 mile circuit to the store and back. Brakes, check. Grin, check.
Today it was time to get to the big ticket items, and at one point the bike was more disassembled than put together, with the seat, upper shelter, and even the gas tank laying about the shop, each accompanied with a plastic bag full of its respective fasteners.
I took the opportunity to refill the hydraulic actuator on the rear shock preload adjustment, and with all of that Tupperware off the bike I was finally able to reach the high beam headlights and replace the halogens with LEDs to match the rest of the bike, but it was still a knuckle-scarring experience. I re-routed a pinched gas vent line, corrected several other errors the dealership made when hurriedly putting the bike back together during the 2018 Prefrontal Tour, and after seven hours of labor when I had the bike put back together and was starting to contemplate another test ride, it started raining... Well played 2019. Well played.
Given the time tomorrow, it'll be an opportunity to install the handlebar risers to get the grips up and back about 1 1/2 inches, and that should allow for longer rides leaning into the backrest without having to stretch my arms forward just that little bit to reach the grips.
Shortly after that, I'll experiment with camera placement - Santa brought an "action camera" in the form of a GoPro knock-off, and a company promotion led to a second camera shortly afterwards. But neither of them is powered by the bike, and I'm not feeling in the mood to swap batteries every two hours when I'm on the road, so time will tell whether the 2019 Prefrontal Tour includes video or not. Overall it feels good to be making progress toward a goal, but that holds no candle to making progress toward a destination. Onward and upward, dear readers.
The bike was uncovered just before April Fool's day, with two feet of snow still in the driveway. It was wheeled over to the "maintenance bay", but I resisted the temptation of starting it. Too much snow and mud in the driveway, too much salt on the roads, and it wasn't even above freezing yet. As much as I wanted to test the "Cursed Reverse" (and that tiny little orange fuse), I left it alone for the time being. Discretion being the better part of valor. I ticked off the easy boxes - oil level, coolant, headlight and driving light alignment, tire tread wear and inflation. All good. Not being able to contain myself, I put the Rivco side stand pad on, just so I could feel like I was making progress.
Fast forward to last week. The first order of business was flushing the brake system - the front brake lever was "grabby" last year and only moved in discrete, jerky "steps", which made stopping and low speed maneuvers difficult and might have contributed to my get off. I spent three hours in bodily positions a Twister champion would be proud of, and ended up with about a pint of orange, sediment-filled liquid, and one still-grabby brake lever. What the fluid? The last step in the video instructions for flushing the brake system was "lubricating the lever", a simple three-minute job that was, in the end, really all I needed to do to get my brake lever working properly. But, the brake fluid has to be flushed every two years anyway, and by the look of the old stuff I was overdue.
Once that job was done, it was time for the test drive, and I fired up the bike so it could recalibrate the ECU while I re-familiarized myself with all of the gear. Fully outfitted and with a warm bike I hit the road for a quick 15 mile circuit to the store and back. Brakes, check. Grin, check.Today it was time to get to the big ticket items, and at one point the bike was more disassembled than put together, with the seat, upper shelter, and even the gas tank laying about the shop, each accompanied with a plastic bag full of its respective fasteners.
I took the opportunity to refill the hydraulic actuator on the rear shock preload adjustment, and with all of that Tupperware off the bike I was finally able to reach the high beam headlights and replace the halogens with LEDs to match the rest of the bike, but it was still a knuckle-scarring experience. I re-routed a pinched gas vent line, corrected several other errors the dealership made when hurriedly putting the bike back together during the 2018 Prefrontal Tour, and after seven hours of labor when I had the bike put back together and was starting to contemplate another test ride, it started raining... Well played 2019. Well played.
Given the time tomorrow, it'll be an opportunity to install the handlebar risers to get the grips up and back about 1 1/2 inches, and that should allow for longer rides leaning into the backrest without having to stretch my arms forward just that little bit to reach the grips.
Shortly after that, I'll experiment with camera placement - Santa brought an "action camera" in the form of a GoPro knock-off, and a company promotion led to a second camera shortly afterwards. But neither of them is powered by the bike, and I'm not feeling in the mood to swap batteries every two hours when I'm on the road, so time will tell whether the 2019 Prefrontal Tour includes video or not. Overall it feels good to be making progress toward a goal, but that holds no candle to making progress toward a destination. Onward and upward, dear readers.
