I rode it today...1811cc divided by 480cc = 3.7, I am having at least 2.5 the fun I had on a 500 with 119 ft-lbs @3,000 rpm??

2018 Indian Chieftain Classic

Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on July 01, 2018, 06:01:49 PM
I rode it today...1811cc divided by 480cc = 3.7, I am having at least 2.5 the fun I had on a 500 with 119 ft-lbs @3,000 rpm??

2018 Indian Chieftain Classic

so clean. It even has a radio antenna? Good speaker system on it?

Painted my battery tray a week back.
It was basically 100% rust. I think the acid in the battery does it and it had started to contaminate the frame beneath it so I had bought a new one on ebay that looked clean.
It was very clean but unfortunately I learned the different years have different battery trays. Oops. So I decided to strip the paint and rust and re-paint it.
Here's why I didn't originally:
The brand we have in Europe comparable to Aircraft Paint Remover is called Nitromors but EU regulations forced them to remove the ingredient that strips the paint so it's not even useful for brushing your teeth.
However, thankfully I found some of the old stock in the back of cupboard.
Paint came off nice and easy. Then I sanded as much rust as I could and slathered two coats of that milky looking anti-rust paint on it. It turns dark purple and then black.
Then I sprayed a zinc undercoat and finally black.
Hopefully I did enough so the rust doesn't come back now that I no longer have the wet battery.
Unfortunately I only have after pics.





cut some new foam bumpers as the old ones were destroyed in the water when I tried to clean them. Not a great job but they'll do.



That's the Katana 06 shock in there.

Here's a pic of the phone pouch I use. I had to clip in to the mirror stem as there is no space on the handlebar, hence why I wanted to put on risers and place a bar in the middle for attaching stuff.



Looks massive in that pic but it's not that big



This is as clean as my bike gets. You can see the frame needs a paint job and the engine case has a lot of scrapes and bruises. Might leave that job for next summer.
I have it all stripped down a I sent my carb off for cleaning five weeks back. Can't believe it's taking this long but I guess it's one man in his shed doing it and he has a queue.
While I'm waiting, I changed the monoshock to a Katana one, replaced the bearings in the rear wheel, stuck on a new rear disc and gave the whole bike a clean.



Here she is with her clothes on





I cannot put her on the centre stand on that slope with the new shock. On flat ground, there is no clearance but you can use it, just not spin the wheel.
That's unfortunate. I might buy the R6 shock in the future as I think it's shorter and you do get rear wheel clearance.

I still have the stock front springs in the front shocks but I want to change them soon.
I remember reading someone advise someone else on a thread about the katana not to replace the rear shock until the front springs have been replaced.
Does anyone know why? Is it dangerous not to?

My own personal experience with upgrading the rear shock before the front springs is, it made the front end of my bike feel really... idk how to describe it... squirrelly lol. It felt that way when I had the R6 shock installed and especially when I switched to the SV shock.

I'm at work right now and so I can't see the pics you've posted (old work computers) but I'm really looking forward to seeing them when I get home later!!!

I know what you mean about the center stand not being usable the same way as before when raising the tail of the bike. I made a little wooden platform to slide under the center stand so the rear wheel will be off the ground again. Works great!

Quote from: ShowBizWolf on July 04, 2018, 03:37:05 PM
My own personal experience with upgrading the rear shock before the front springs is, it made the front end of my bike feel really... idk how to describe it... squirrelly lol. It felt that way when I had the R6 shock installed and especially when I switched to the SV shock.

I'm at work right now and so I can't see the pics you've posted (old work computers) but I'm really looking forward to seeing them when I get home later!!!

I know what you mean about the center stand not being usable the same way as before when raising the tail of the bike. I made a little wooden platform to slide under the center stand so the rear wheel will be off the ground again. Works great!

yeah, I ended up using a flagstone from the garden for the same purpose, disturbed an ant nest underneath it, interesting seeing them all freak out when the roof of their home was lifted off.
I put it back though so they should be happy now.
Do you know if the R6 shock gives your rear wheel clearance on the centre stand?

IIRC, when I had just the R6 shock on my bike (no raising links), the center stand worked just fine to raise the rear wheel off the ground.

Also, when I recently measured the shocks and updated the wiki, I found that the R6's center-eye to center-eye distance is 292mm... which is only 2mm more than the stock shock's measurement.

Quote from: ShowBizWolf on July 04, 2018, 04:50:25 PM
IIRC, when I had just the R6 shock on my bike (no raising links), the center stand worked just fine to raise the rear wheel off the ground.

Also, when I recently measured the shocks and updated the wiki, I found that the R6's center-eye to center-eye distance is 292mm... which is only 2mm more than the stock shock's measurement.

You made me remember that I forgot to say that I got a free set of titanium (I'm guessing because they're so light) dogbones with the shock linkage with three sets of holes.
You think I could use them to get some clearance?

I'm still at work so this reply is without seeing the picture but...

...dogbones that are shorter than stock GS dogbones will raise the tail of the bike and make the center stand not lift the bike enough to get the rear wheel off the ground. Shorter/raising links will require grinding metal off the swingarm to make clearance between the swingarm and the R6 shock's spring.

...dogbones that are longer than stock GS dogbones will lower the tail of the bike. I have never tried lowering links so I cannot confirm that the holes would all line up and they could be installed with the R6 shock (or the SV shock for that matter). I would imagine the center stand would still work to get the rear wheel off the ground but I'd bet it'd require more lift and force to get it up on the stand.

I am going home soon... gotta see these pics lol!

EDIT: I'm home now and I see the pics! Our bikes have the same color scheme going on
Do you know which holes in those links are for stock height? I'd imagine the bottom ones (the ones the bolt is going through) are stock and the ones above them are for lowering the bike. I'm no expert but I've never seen adjustable links like that for raising the bike... only for lowering. I'm guessing that lowering the bike would indeed allow for more clearance between the shock and swingarm but again, I have no experience with lowering the GS.

I love what you've done with the battery box. I did the same to mine. Toner, if you haven't already, you should certainly make a project thread! 

Quote from: ShowBizWolf on July 04, 2018, 08:14:10 PM
I'm still at work so this reply is without seeing the picture but...

...dogbones that are shorter than stock GS dogbones will raise the tail of the bike and make the center stand not lift the bike enough to get the rear wheel off the ground. Shorter/raising links will require grinding metal off the swingarm to make clearance between the swingarm and the R6 shock's spring.

...dogbones that are longer than stock GS dogbones will lower the tail of the bike. I have never tried lowering links so I cannot confirm that the holes would all line up and they could be installed with the R6 shock (or the SV shock for that matter). I would imagine the center stand would still work to get the rear wheel off the ground but I'd bet it'd require more lift and force to get it up on the stand.

I am going home soon... gotta see these pics lol!

EDIT: I'm home now and I see the pics! Our bikes have the same color scheme going on
Do you know which holes in those links are for stock height? I'd imagine the bottom ones (the ones the bolt is going through) are stock and the ones above them are for lowering the bike. I'm no expert but I've never seen adjustable links like that for raising the bike... only for lowering. I'm guessing that lowering the bike would indeed allow for more clearance between the shock and swingarm but again, I have no experience with lowering the GS.

I love what you've done with the battery box. I did the same to mine. Toner, if you haven't already, you should certainly make a project thread! 

Thanks for telling me that. I would have never figured the longer bones would lower the tail.
As for a project thread, I'll do one if I ever get around to painting the frame and possibly the tank/side panels and doing few other things like bar-end mirrors etc.
I'd love to get it looking half as good as yours.

Not today, but over the past couple of days:

- replaced fuel lines with new tygon lines. Wow what a difference. The old ones were rock hard vinyl.
- pulled the carbs and rejetted/etc. to get rid of a stumble and poor mpg:
-- jetted down from 127.5 to 125
-- swap from aftermarket needles of unknown origin to stock needles with no shims

MPG improved by about (at least) 10, stumble is gone, bike rides like a brand new bike.

I also tried to fit some cheap aluminum ebay "GSXR Rear footpegs" which absolutely don't fit and wouldn't be made to work without a lot of work. Fortunately they were only $6. Time to look for plan ... um.. well maybe I'm up to about E.

Next up? new springs for the fork, handlebar risers, and a new rear tire. And repaint the ruined paint on the frame from fuel spillage.

This is starting to turn into a pretty nice motorcycle.

Changed the oil and filter. Checked the battery charging, checked the tyres, front doesn't seem to want to stay at 33psi, back seems alright though.

Nothing too bad in the old oil, its only done 700 odd miles but I think a fair bit of crap got into it when I had the head and barrel off so wanted that out sooner rather than later. Valves are a bit chatty so i'll look at them tomorrow or Saturday with it cold. need to check the head nuts too. oil had gotten quite dark in < 1000 miles. didn't smell petrolly though.

I always forget this thread exists.


Anyways:

Front brake pads
Rear brake pads
Brake fluid flush
Clutch fluid flush
Oil change
Chain *adjustment* (still in spec, been almost 2000 miles, I love RK)
Chain clean/lube
Wash/detail

Bike looks good, bike feels good, I feel good...  Well, actually, I feel tired and sore after a day spent in the heat fighting with a brake that wouldn't bleed and doing everything else, but now that the bike is buttoned up and feels amazing I am highly satisfied.

Quote from: Toner on July 04, 2018, 02:25:54 PM
so clean. It even has a radio antenna? Good speaker system on it?

Sorry for the delay...It has a 100 Watt system, but no dead air behind the speakers or real cabinets to speak of..so the bass sounds like somebody thumping the side of a cardboard box, that's OK...nobody wants to hear my Dio or Robin Trower, so I keep it on the down low anyway 

Struggled to find where the damn ticking sound is coming from. It's really hard to pinpoint it but I'm hoping it's just valves. I'm not entirely sure if the PO ever did a valve adjustment

Quote from: mrdrprof on July 21, 2018, 04:27:35 PM
Struggled to find where the damn ticking sound is coming from. It's really hard to pinpoint it but I'm hoping it's just valves. I'm not entirely sure if the PO ever did a valve adjustment

FYI, it's probably not valves. If the PO never did a valve adjustment then they are probably too tight which means they never fully close and the "lifter" noise you would normally hear isn't there at all.

IDK what ticking you are talking about but my GS kind of sounds like a high performance lawn mower mixed with a sewing machine and a coke can full of gravel and it's running right.


What did I do for my GS today? Well I just ordered a set of new springs for the fork, it's about time, even my cut-down stock springs still bottom when I go over a bump like a curb-cut while braking. With any luck they get in sometime this week and I can change them. And I got a little dual-hook kind of hanger from Home Depot to try and mount on the rear of the frame on the left side below the seat to give me two helmet hooks. Putting the stock helmet lock under the seat is not really what I'd call usable, and of course if I have a passenger with me then there's really nowhere to put a second helmet when the bike is parked. I'll figure out how to mount that thing today.

It's probably too hot to ride today. Probably will be even more too-hot tomorrow and the rest of the week. It's a good time to work on the bike. I may experiment with repainting the frame with the engine in the bike, at least the big fat bar that runs under the tank, perhaps a contrasting color to the rest of the gloss-black frame. This thing is constantly damaged by fuel spill when you remove the tank, so it needs to be repainted. Gonna try some engine paint since it seems to be far more gas resistant, and if there's one thing a week full of 108-degree days is good for, it's drying paint.

Just picked up my bike, I had the forks rebuilt with progressive springs I got cheap. There's no way I could have done the job in an hour and a half, so I don't really mind paying them and supporting a local independent shop.

Even more satisfying: it rides like a completely different bike. Night and day. I can't wait to really put it through the paces.

I just got a new set of springs today from Sonic Springs, and I swapped them just an hour ago. It's catching!

IMG_20180808_184545 by jones_fli, on Flickr

R6 shock swap, new front pads and rotor, new chain and sprockets, loosened the over-torqued head stem bearings

Quote from: mr72 on July 26, 2018, 01:49:47 PM
I just got a new set of springs today from Sonic Springs, and I swapped them just an hour ago. It's catching!

That's the next job I want to do when I get the cash.
Anyone know of similar springs you can buy in Europe?