The Good Stuff:
- the swingarm maintenance has transformed the rear suspension! Unseized bearings mean the back end is supple and responsive now
- the front forks and steering feel brand new thanks to fork servicing and pulling the steering apart and re-greasing everything
- the new tires are spectacular! The old Michelins still looked ok but they were badly squared off and made the bike hesitant to turn - it drops into turns like a gymnast now!
- the deep cleaning on the fuel injection system has worked a charm. It idles well and the fueling is excellent.
- the cosmetic touch-ups make the bike look much younger than it's 18 years and over 80k kms
- the new indicators suit the bike way better and work perfectly
- new horn is loud and works well
The Bad Stuff:
- I've bled the front brakes and they're tight now, but after repeatedly bleeding the rears they're still not what they were, though they do now produce some stopping power. I need to check for any leaks and bleed again.
- The speedo doesn't show speed! This has never been a problem before. I'm going to check the connection to the gauge because I was knocking it around and might have knocked it loose
- speedo step two will be to raise the front end, remove the front tire and check how I installed the speedo unit - it only goes on one way so I'm not sure how that could be wrong but if the gauge check doesn't do anything that's the next step
- The engine light is on! Though the engine feels fantastic, sounds great and the fuel injection which was problematic last year idles steady and fuels very smoothly. The simple computer in the bike sometimes needs a few runnings to clear an error after a long time unpowered (like the 99 day Canadian winter break we had this long, cold, COVID-winter)
- engine light step two if it doesn't go off by itself is to connect the TuneBoy engine management system I've got and see what errors it's throwing up.
The bike goes and works better than it did in many regards before the winter-maintenance. A couple of details and it seems ready to take on another short Canadian riding season. I'm still hoping to hit 100k the year the bike turns 20 years old (2023).
