What did you do to your bike today?

[mstic2000]

Hahahaha...........where did I go today? Wlell, I had the day off from selling roofing, siding, and windows. I make about a 1k a week. It's a friking frozen tundra up here in the Great Lakes State of good ol Michigan! The roads are frozen, the fricking sun don't shine but a rats ass off a hogs ass and we all smile like a peach pit in dog ****...........That's Michiganians in the Winter. Oh I forgot to mention why........I ...........am ...........so .........pissed......off....I can't ride my 78 in this frozen tundra!!!!!


I rode my 80 special all year long in Lewisville, Tx back in 1982!

[CatatonicBug]

Installed new Black SS brake lines! Finally got a full set of all 5 lines for my LH. Very nice set from Chacal on the XJbikes.com site.

[Poprock]

Put it in the barn for the winter, canceled the insurance. Full tank of no-E premium, petcocks to OFF, drained the float bowls, trickle charger on, sitting on the center stand. Expect to be down 60 days or so. It needs the valves checked, carbs synced, a new rear tire, and a little R&R on the turn signal circuit to be road worthy when the sun starts shining again.

[Kit]

My new seat arrived today, so naturally, I put it on.



That looks so much better.

[62xs]

My 79 special project

I'm rebuilding a 79 that was a real loser but the compression is great 165 to 170 I'm going to try posting some pictures of it I hope it works.

[CatatonicBug]

Since I switched to my winter oil, I've noticed a slow leak out of the Alternator cover. I replaced the o-ring on the galley plug last year, so I figured it's time to pull the rotor and replace the crank oil seal. I had to have the rotor-pulling bolt ordered at Fastenal last weekend, and Napa had the oil seal in stock. When I opened it up, the galley plug was covered in oil! I thought that maybe it was just the low point under the cover, so that's where the oil gathered. I pulled the rotor, and it was squeaky clean behind there... I guess the galley plug just needed to be sealed again. I pulled it and cleaned it, and covered it in RTV. Reassembled the whole thing, and I'll hold onto the oil seal for future use, in case it actually DOES leak one day.

[Tropic-al]

Last few things I've done.

Since the picture taking, downloading, uploading to photobucket and getting them back here process is not easy for me, these photos show what I,ve done to the bike since last year.
First I did the fuse block swap by cutting a bigger/better base plate for it.


Then I painted the cylinder while on the motor. Lots of time taping !!!



Then I installed the SOFA, already posted in that thread.

[tinman905]

Nice work Tropic!!! Did you paint your headers or is that ceramic coating?

[Tropic-al]

That's ceramic coating done around 2007. I did the headers of the Super Trapp as they were turning dull/opaque and would not clean well. Probably due to bad carburator settings.
Now the carbs are clean, and I color tuned and synchronized them.
Not before breaking the tips of 3 of the 4 air needles. Oouch !!!

[motoman]

Had not rode or fired up either bike since 5th of Dec. A nice 50degree weekend made for some pleasant riding Sunday. The XS fired right up(both stored in the 65degree mancave) and with a couple gallons fuel still in the tank, rode for approx. an hour. Today......sunny and 21degrees.......think I'll leave the riding to the die-hards.

[cywelchjr]

I'm running a little late on reporting although I reported in other places. In the last two weeks I installed a TC SOFA unit, looks really nice and oil changes are going to be a breeze from now on, and this last week I replaced both rear bearings, finding in the process that following the instructions helps alot. It was a lot easer to get that right bearing out after removing the clip ring .

I also at the same time installed my 750 FD that's been sitting on top of my non-running 89 Camaro for the last several months. Had my extra driveshaft already prepped and the FD had been prepped, but between the bearings and the FD and then getting it all back together it ended up taking most of the day, with much of it laying on a COLD HARD concrete floor, not so comfortable when you get a little older.

Got it all together though, learning in the process that the direction that each of the spacers and such face when you put them in makes a HUGE difference in how well they fit back together.

All in all though, a good couple of working on the bike days.

[subike]

I have been busy too over the past mth.
After trying to steam a persistant oil leak from my 80STD,
I decided to pull the mtr and get somebody with more experiance to check it out, I took it to an engine man and are getting the top end overhauled. New barrel gaskets, seals, a valve grind, decarb, just the usuall top end major service. I think it is a good idea as this is the first major work done on the engine since new , and 378k miles......
So there was and empty frame sitting in the garage...its now stripped. Removed everything,
I have taken all the bright work to the polishers to have it all polished, only needing the headlight horns recromed.
The brake calipers and master cylinders will be rebuilt, the frame due to go for sandblasting and painting next week,
The tank I will send off to my painter to refurbish, three very small dents to remove on one side of the tank only, and he will be able to colour match the tank needing only to painty the repairs.
So the wiring loom is on the wall, all cleaned up, plugs all descunged ,
All the bolts screws etc are off to be acid bathed and zink coated.
Now I need to find one part, a left side signal lamp mounting horn to suit an english assembled 80STD with retangular signal lamps. If anyone has one hidden in a box in the shed I could be interested.
So in about 3 mths I will have a most enjoyable day reassembling a clean 80STD that hopfully will look as good as the day she rolled out of a Birminham bike shop in England

[cywelchjr]

Well, got the correct replacement brake pads from the ebay seller I ordered them from. They were really quick sending me replacement pads, and said to just keep the wrong ones. Took about 2 days for them to get the right ones to me. So, I changed the pads, and got everything back together and took it for a short test run.

While out for the ride, I found that it can curb hop pretty well. Pulled into a parking lot for a local chinese restaurant that has closed with the intent of seeing if there was a sign, and forgot about the section of sidewalk that extended out into the parking lot right in my way. Went right up over the curb and sidewalk and down the other side, and other than the shock of it, it just felt like a really big bump. Of course I checked things out when I got it home, and everything is fine.

Then I steeled myself to braving the weather for a significant test ride to verify everything was working properly (and bed the brake pads in as well). So I put on my mesh jacket, and braved the 75 deg weather (had to wear sunglasses too ) Did 61 miles non-stop, back winding roads and highways (winding roads outbound and highways coming back).

Then tonight I remembered I forgot the air filter, so I pulled it out, cleaned it up and re-oiled it (it's a uni-filter) and get everything back together.

Now I just need to find the one single airbox bolt that is missing. Are they the same or are the two forward and the two back ones the same length or are they different. I think they may be different, and I'm missing one of the ones that come up in the area where you usually drill the airbox, I'm wondering if it might be something I can pick up a replacement for locally?

SOFA unit is still working fine, and this was the first sustained ride I've done with it and the 750 FD. The highway I came back on is uncontrolled entrances and exits, so I had to push it a good bit getting on. It went really well, no problems with accelleration and it was WAY nice running 70+ well below 5k RPMs. Ran good and smooth the whole way, and the winding portions didn't give me any trouble either even with the higher gearing.

(and for those inclined to comment that it's an "of course" I don't think many areas have the hilly and mountainous tight winding and switchback roads we have here in Ca.) I can understand 2phases concerns, there are roads I have ridden that would be a chore, needing to pull from idle or below coming out of a tight switchback going up or down hill (not too worried about the downhill ones, but the uphill ones I too have concerns about oill pressure under load at 1100 RPM). I use a good quality of oil of course, and change it regularly, so I should be fine, but it is a concern, just not enough to make me consider going back (I like the 2-3 MPG increase I'm already seeing).

[foreda]

Yesterday

I took all my bikes for a ride yesterday. Temperature about 68 and not a cloud in the sky. Nice!!! I noticed that my FZ1 really likes the cool temps.. Just a little hard on the throttle and here comes the wheelie!

[CatatonicBug]

Are they the same or are the two forward and the two back ones the same length or are they different. I think they may be different, and I'm missing one of the ones that come up in the area where you usually drill the airbox, I'm wondering if it might be something I can pick up a replacement for locally?

The front bolts are longer than the rear ones. I've never seen bolts like those in a hardware store, as they are threaded on one end, and the head is a Wing-nut.