The start. I did post this on the end of my welcome thread so I've posted it here so I can continue when I've sorted my mods. Bike got here this morning, been out and I love it, so light and flickable and even nicer than my K5 to ride. I did notice the on/off nature of the throttle when crawling through traffic but it's not too intrusive. Far better than the fuelling of the earlier injected biked. Brimmed the tank from empty for £15 odds, clutch is very light after the K5, gearbox is so sweet it's effortless and very light with a bit more of a pronounced clunk when you select first at a standstill. The only thing worthy of a mention is when the clutch in being used, if it gets pulled right in to the bars there is no issue but if I just pull it in quick and snick a gear I can feel a click through the lever. Not sure what that is. I'll keep an eye on it. Bike has done 10453 miles and has Honda services at 350, 4800, 6800, 7777, 9080, 10150 (12k service) all at Honda and a oil and filter service at 10450 before it was delivered. It has a brand new chain and a pair of new Qualifier 209s on it. All in all I am a very happy chappy and I'm off up the garage now to strip it down so I can get the wheels powder coated in anthracite with the footrest hangers and shift linkage powder coated gloss black and the rear spring coated in a nice bright red. What's the opinion of the Honda faithfuls on here, including my ideas for the powder coat colours? Anthracite for the wheels ok?
Got it in the garage and made a start with the mods. Got it on my snide ABBA stand and removed the back wheel, removed the disc and drifted out the bearings ready to take off the tyres. Got the front stand bar fitted and removed the front wheel. Took off the discs and drifted out the bearings once more in preparation for tomorrow. I removed the forward footrests inc the gear shifter and linkage, and the brake gubbins as these will be powder coated too. I thought it would be a good idea to keep everything for each different bot removed so found a spare plastic screws tray and it was a handy thing as I always forget which bits go back where! Decided then to remove the pillion pegs, so took a deep breath and started removing the plastics. The curved front cover confused me for a little while until I thought I'd just put a 6mm drill bit through the inner tray to get to the last bolt in the corner. Everything else went ok until I couldn't work out how to remove the forward under tray to get to the hanger bolts. I remember reading on here about slackening off all the side rails so thought I'd try. Eventually got it done and started to reassemble the side rails. I'll hold off at that until I decide if I'm gonna get a DPM Race under tray. as I really fancy one of them. I have bolted up the side rails but never got another picky. More to follow tomorrow.
Good right up matey, got a few parts for mine to put on mine soon. Think the click you feel through the clutch level is from the slipper clutch they have std, sure someone will agree soon. Enjoy.
Not much to see today. Took my wheels down to Thunderroad in Bridgend to remove the rubber before coating. Had a quick look around when I was in there. They did have an 08 Blade there with a load of extras (R&G Bungs, wheel stripes, single cowl and carbon hugger, the rear seat plastics were cracked in half at the seat lock though (why would you put a bike on the shop floor without sorting that first!)) for £5299 and I quite fancy the Motografix white number board on the front. Not fussy on the other decals tho. Took the bits across to Tony at Perfectadent also in Bridgend and decided on the colour for the rims. It's a high gloss with loads of flake in it, it should look awesome in bright unlight. £100 plus VAT for 2 wheel. What ya reckon? Got back home and decided to start cleaning up the bike and coating everything in sight with ACF-50. Looks lovely. Also fitted my screen from Dif950 (Cheers Paul).
No probs, When do you think it will all be back together to ride again? Picking up new bike on Monday and can't wait to get out.
I'm back offshore on Thursday so I've told him he has until 19th to get everything sorted. I'm out with the family most of tomorrow and Monday so probably won't get much else done before I get away. I want to give the front and rear callipers a service too but want to fit braided lines first. I have some red rubber grease here so once I have the lines I'll pump the pistons right out, clean everything with brake cleaner and cover all surfaces with the grease before pushing back in the pistons and bleeding it all up. Enjoy the new bike Paul. What you getting?
Well been out all day with the family and this evening SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) was watching some shite she'd recorded earlier when we were out, so after reading my "Is it easy to remove the rear shock" thread, following all your advice I decided to 'have a look'. 45 min later the exhaust was off, the linkage was stripped down for regreasing (it was dry but at least it was free), and the shock out and on the floor. Cheers all. Worse part looked to be getting the exhaust clamp off as it was seriously rusty but as I was twisting off the nut the clamp snapped in half. Well looking at the state of the rear linkage as I was freeing up the needle roller bearings with a little grease I thought 'I can't stick this back in in this condition', so I decided to give it a little freshen up. First stage was brake cleaner to remove the crap and tar, next was a bit of a scuff up with 600 W&D paper, then a few mops and some polishing soap, mounted in the pillar drill, then a finish off with Solvol and a soft mop saw it looking like this. Then once fitted, looking a little like this. Hopefully my new shock should be here on Tuesday along with my Arrow GP2! Can't fecking wait!
Cracking job of cleaning up the rear linkage, it looks like new, good job, feel as if I might have to get busy on mine haha.
Cheers fella, I was surprised actually how easy it was with a pillar drill and the mops. The calico (I think?) stitched mop and the grey and brown soap did all the work, I just put some Solvol on the ali with a cloth and with minor pressure with the loose mop it was gleaming. Maybe an hours work for cleaning, re-greasing the bearings AND the polishing.
Ok then, just a quick update. Today I got my R&G under tray from one of our members and it's gonna away to get painted. I'm offshore for a couple of weeks so by the time I get back it should be done along with all my powder coating etc. My 0 mile shock has arrived and I called over my mates machine shop and used their deburring wheel to buff out the mark where it had been dragged on the floor, it just needs a quick swish over with a can of satin black rattle can when I get home, but it does look the bollix in there. I also got this delivered today, all in all I am made up with how it's coming along in such a short time. I still need to refit my rearsets as they support the exhaust, I also need to organise a graphite gasket so it is sealed on the collector. Anyone know if a standard Honda graphite wire gasket will seal the Arrow can? I also have a video I've just uploaded to youtube. First vid too for me!
Is this your only bike or do you have one that you ride aswell? Been planning on stripping mine down but I also want it available for riding
