Black Owl Update. . .

[Jake D]

BUMP OLD THREAD:  

I should have updated this a long time ago.  Just occurred to me to do so.  

So the oil presure problem I had was fixed by the new oil pump months ago.  Not sure what the deal was.  But at any rate, the GS has a totally (and I mean just about freakin' totally) rebuilt motor!  

I don't really want to put it up for the winter time, but now maybe I'll get around to all those mods putting on my Wileyco, etc. and new paint, powder coat wheels, etc.

[Destro]

Glad to see it is running, where do you ride?  Rode mine Sunday morning to church, brrr.  Supposed to be 65 tomorrow, may put up with the 40's in the morning for the lovely afternoon ride and hopefully light traffic on 435.
My mod list is to hopefully add some progressives in the front and I got a SV shock or GSXR-600 shock for the rear (matters how much work it will take!!)
If you need a hand, let me know as I am always in the mood to take apart another bike.  Just got a budddy's first bike up and running... a Ninja 250! You think our carbs are difficult, we started a fund to buy him a K&N filter to get rid of the ginormous airbox that extends half of the frame!  :x

[Jake D]

I may get a ride today.  I'm going to stay off the highways this weekend.  Too crazy.

Like yesterday, I was in my car and a tire blew off a semi on I-70 between 291 and Lee's Summit road.  The tire tread landed right in front of me and I hit it.  I broke the front lip of my facia and the rear too.  So glad I wasn't on the bike.

I let you know when there is a good day to ride and maybe we can cruise up 210 to Lexington or something.  Or head up to Weston.

[RVertigo]

Ah...  Nothing like break-in on an old bike.

Watch out for those road aligators... They're deadly!

[Jake D]

Yeah, that road gator put a six inch rip in the air dam on the front and popped the rear one out of place.  So pissed.  My car is brand new!

Yeah, breaking in a 16 year old bike is a treat.

Any theories on the "Run it like Hell for about 40 minutes, drain the oil, and viola" theory of break in?

[RVertigo]

From everything I've read.........

Break-in has more to do with the warm-up cool down process than anything else...  Light wear in the beginning is supposed to provide additional longevity...

But, I talked to a guy with a Triumph Triple that had his bike broken in for him...  Apparently, the stealer put it on a dyno and ran a "break-in" program on it.    I know another guy that the Triumph stealer told him to ride it like normal and not worry about break-in.  Doesn't sound right to me...  But, whatever...  They're the ones that have to stand by the bike.

[Jake D]

BUMP, OLD THREAD WARNING:

This weekend it was nice enough to ride.  I am still stuck in a Missouri winter and therefore I am still involved in the breaking in of a 16 year old bike.

It got a little carried away and I hit 8,000 rpm a couple of times.  Oh well.  My bad.  Just a couple times, I swear.

I'm just stoked the oil pressure was up and the motor seems to be 100%!

So nice.

Anyway, I put the SV650 rear shock on the GS on Saturday.  I love it.  The bike seems so much bigger now.  It sits up a lot higher, like an inch at least.  It rides better, IMO, based on the test rides. The problem is the center stand is pretty much out of the qestion.  I have a 130/90 serires tire on the back.  I'm hoping that when I get a new and "shorter" rear tire that I'll be able to use the center stand without putting it on a board first.

Changing the shock was harder than I thought it would be.  I'm missing a pretty good sized chunk of skin from a knuckle.  It bolts right in but it was pretty hard because it is so much longer that the oily little stocker.  

I took off the tank, plastics, inner fender, and air box to access the shock.  The new one has to be dropped in from directly above.  The you have to figure out a way to compress it to get it into the mounts.  I did this by bolting the bottom mount to the linkage then using a long screwdriver to compress this shock and slide the top bolt in.  Not easy to figure out, but once we figured it out (me and my dad) it was a snap.

I also need to have my side stand extended in the Pablo method as the bike leans pretty far over now on the side stand.

The shock is off an '01 SV.

Good mod!!