Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Part 3 - Putting it back together again

It's a slow process putting all this back together again. Even with a prolific number of photos and copious notes here on the blog I'm finding this a fiddly and frustrating process. My current plan is to get everything plugged in, top up the radiator and run it to make sure it's back together right before buttoning it up (there are a f(@# ton of  buttons).

The latest fun has been plugging the plethora of plugs over the valve cover back in.

I've got a couple of plugs (21) left after connecting everything else. The question now becomes: are oxygen sensor plugs not used on a 2010 Canadian market bike? 

Got the plugs in, except for those two top left of the rat's nest.

Here's a close-up. That white one has me baffled but perhaps it's the front cam sensor.

Tomorrow (assuming the late March ice storm we have in store doesn't throw us back to the stone age), I'll check for oxygen sensors on the exhaust, and if not there I'll know that one of those plugs is probably unused.

The ice storm was persistent but mainly pretty - no hydro lines down around here.

Other things to check are the front cam sensor (7-R on the diagram) which was very difficult to reinstall with a new o-ring. That plug is probably dangling down the front and needs to find a mate on top of the motor (looks like it's plumbed in under the front plastic guard). If that's my missing plug and the other one is an unused oxygen sensor then I'm about there.

After that gets settled I'll do one last look around for anything I might have missed before topping up the radiator and seeing if this thing'll run. If does I'll reroute the wires properly and should have it back to a point where I can start reinstalling all the fairings - which is a whole separate pain in the @$$, but at least one I've done before.

Then things get philosophical. Work has picked up and I don't have the patience or headspace to spend hours each weekend keeping these old bikes in motion. The temptation is to get $10k (CAD) between them and then buy something that can go when I need it to without so much TLC. 

I can save the wrench turning for when I retire. I enjoy working on them but trying to do a job this complex when I'm having to leave it for weeks on end while travelling makes a difficult job more so. Had I the time and space to do this daily when I wasn't juggling a demanding job, it'd have been an entirely different experience.

I'm loving the travel opportunities and my work is something I enjoy, but the deep bike maintenance doesn't fit with it at this point.

Haliburton was magical...

Flying out to the maritimes is never a bad thing...

...but those weeks away mean I'm coming back to an incredibly complicated job sometimes 20 days after I last touched it.

I've never made enough to be sentimental about vehicles and keep everything (I'd rather put those resources toward travel anyway). Time to simplify the bike stable to let me focus on riding when I can squeeze it in. I'll save the time suck that is older bike ownership for when I have more time to suck.

Kawasaki Concours C14 1400GTR Valve Check Part 2.1 - checking clearances

 I put together a page with the details I've gleaned from COG's documentation and the shop manual to keep track of my measurements. I've got two sets of feeler guages because I'm suspicious like that and always want a second opinion. It's particularly important in this case because having to go back in there again if a mistake is made isn't (at all) what I want to do.

With cylinder one top dead centre (TDC) and the cams both pointing out to offer access for the guages, I had a go at number one cylinder yesterday.

Cams up and out on cylinder one (left side of motor) - it took me a few turns of the engine to get it lined up right and start getting good measurements. It doesn't hurt to do this two or three times so you're sure the came is at maximum gap and you're getting good numbers.

This cover on the lower right side of the engine is removed with 8mm bolts. It's a 17mm M8 that you throw a big rachet on and turn the engine. Direction of travel is noted on the timing wheel as are marks for TDC for cylinders 1 and 4. You can do half the valves with C1 TDC and the other half with C4 TDC.

Cam timing cover came off with minimal fuss and just a drop of oil.

My suspicion of cheaply made tools causes me to have backups. In this case the tappered ones are metric first and offer a finer degree between fits.

I'll do the rest today. As many said it would be, Cylinder one appears tight. Exhaust valves should have between 0.19-0.24mm of clearance. I can just get a 0.18 in there and the 0.203 wouldn't fit in either cylinder one or two's exhaust valves.

Ran the propane heater for 20 minutes before getting started. Made for a much more comfrotable experience.

Keeping things in order - the valve cover bolts numbered and in their 'custom' holder.
 

With the forray into 'vintage' motorcycles last year my sockets were muddied with imperial and whitworth bits. They've been relegated to a lower drawer. I think I'm sticking with metric bikes for the forseable future. If I take another dive into vintage it'll be when I'm retired and have the time to navigate all the complexities. 

Eleven Years, Over a Million Page Views

I started writing this when I got my motorcycle license in my early forties. The first post was in March of 2013 when I decided to get my learner's permit. From there I've tried to (as honestly as I can) describe my motorcycling experience. In that time I've gone through a bewildering array of bikes as I've figured out how I was going to enjoy this hobby. I noticed that the blog has just passed a million views (and messed up the odometer styled page counter), so thought it time for a review. Where have I wandered in the past 11 years of motorcycling? It all began with my Mum's passing and an opportunity to ride without panicking those around me.

The First '07 Ninja 650 seemed like a logical starting bike. From there I got my first fixer-upper in the form of a '94 Kawasaki C10 Concours. Getting that out of a hedge, sorting it out and putting lots of miles on it felt like a big win, but I was still learning and when the carbs went on me, I lost the plot with it. That's one of those 'Costanza moments' when I wish I could have a do-over - I've got the tools and knowhow now to sort them out!

The KLE dual sport was too small for me (couldn't get me to 100kms/hr which is dangerous on our increasingly crowded and impatient local roads), so it came and went. I also dabbled with an old Yamaha XS1100, but never got it road worthy so it doesn't make the list. Then there was the PW80 I got for Max which he wanted nothing to with, so it came and went. Neither of them cost me anything (I broke even on both) so, whatever.

With the Concours acting up and a dead Midnight Special in the garage, I was prompted into the '03 Triumph Tiger, which has been my longest serving machine (currently at 8 years and over 40,000kms travelled). The Tiger filled the gap for a long time and let me drop both the Yamaha and the Kawasaki. While the Tiger performed regular riding duty I came across a Honda Fireblade that had been sidelined for several years, got it for a song, fixed it up, rode it for a season and then sold it on for a small profit, which felt like a win.

During the early days of COVID the Tiger started acting up and I came across a 2010 Kawasaki GTR1400/Concours 14 for sale with low miles that had also been sidelined in a shed. I sorted out this complex bike and once again felt like my mechanicking skills had levelled up. With some extra contract work I'd done and the money from the Fireblade this step up to something more expensive didn't eat into savings.

The C14 and Tiger are both still currently in the garage. In 2021, as COVID lingered, I came across an opportunity to try a vintage restoration. I had a choice of several bikes and took one that was the furthest gone, which in retrospect was a mistake (don't get cocky, right?). I cleaned up this ratty old chopped 1971 Bonneville and got to the point where it sat in the corner of the garage because I'm too stingy to throw money at it. Lesson learned: if you want to go vintage, be prepared to pay through the nose for it and wait a lot for parts availability.

I let the Bonneville go this spring for what I paid for it (minus the new parts). It was a loss but it gave me something to do while the world stopped and I learned a lot. It was fun doing an archeological inspection of a machine that was almost as old as I am.

What's next? I've never owned a new bike before. Following my shear perversity in terms of motorcycling, I'm tempted by a Moto Guzzi V85 TT. Partly because of the character, partly because I think they're stunning and partly because it's so not everyone else.

I noticed the other day that the blog has passed a million page views. It took since March of 2013 (when I started riding) to pull it off, so that's just over 11 years, but a million is a bigger number than most people can conceive. Over the 4083 days this blog has been up it has averaged over 250 page views every day, which feels good. It provides information for people looking for details on some of the mechanics I've tackled, and it also gets good pickup on travel stories and bike tech. I'm hoping more travel stories are in the future.

Another story that popped up recently was the ride around Vancouver Island ten years ago. That would be the first time I rented a bike while away from home. It led to the Island Escape story in Motorcycle Mojo. What isn't mentioned there is that prior to my wife's conference we also rented scooters and went for an adventure to Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

More travel opportunities like that, or Max and I's ride through the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, or down to the Indianapolis MotoGP race would be fantastic, it's difficult to find the time though.

The other day I thought I'd get into the throttle controls on the Tiger and clean and lubricate all the bits (if you read this regularly you can guess where this is going). Everything plastic on this 21 year old bike is brittle and yep, the throttle cable adjuster broke. I've jury-rigged a solution, but like everything else on this bike, finding parts is becoming 'vintage difficult and expensive', even though it's anything but.

My biking decisions might be made for me if we decide to move. If we downsize into a condo or something without a garage I'd be tempted to clear the deck and get something new. At that point having something that someone else has to work on while it's under warranty would make sense. I don't know how long I'd be happy with no working space, but perhaps I'd end up getting in with a shop coop and having some space in a shared garage somewhere. My approach to motorcycling is quite isolating. A change in circumstances might be a good thing.

If every time I touch the Tiger to do maintenance (it needs regular TLC) the parts crumble in my hands, I don't know how much longer I can keep it going. I'd really like to get it to six figures but beyond that I'm not sure - perhaps turn it into modern art?

I'm still also keen to pursue trials riding and perhaps long distance enduro with an eye for finishing rather than beating up machinery to attain top speeds. I'd do track days but I live in Ontario, which doesn't make access to things like track days easy in a any way. Likewise with the off roading. It's about, but it's sporadic and they make it as difficult as possible. Living somewhere else might open up motorcycling opportunities that feel out of reach here in the overcrowded world of South Western Ontario.

Riding Versus Flying to BC for Work...

I've got a work thing in Vancouver next month which got me thinking about incorporating a ride to the west coast and back. Turns out flying is much cheaper (even with car rental) than riding...

Cost of flying/ ($200 return) + renting a car for the week (inc. gas + taxes = $1100): ~$1300 total.

Total mileage riding out and back: ~8800kms. at 0.58 cents/kms = ~$5100 (not counting hotels enroute). Flying is way cheaper! I'd save on having to rent a car while out there, but the costs of moving myself there (as opposed to being luggage on a plane) are significant.

If I took the week off before the week I needed to be in Vancouver, could I ride out there in that time? It's about 4400kms to get there. Saturday to the following Sunday is nine days on the road, which works out to under 500kms/day. Intense but certainly doable.

4400kms out at 500kms/day = 9 days (8 nights of hotel). Going cross-Canada on the way out: https://goo.gl/maps/zBYBMzkMqsxDrMx67 = 4436kms. 9 days on the road at 500kms per day = 4500kms.

After the week on the ground in Vancouver, I'd take 2 weeks off to come back through the States, hitting key points like Yellowstone National Park. The way back through the US, even with the detour down to Yellowstone, is 4462kms: https://goo.gl/maps/RHEUUiSrxCCj6V7g7

It would probably be wise to factor in a tire change at some point on this 10k odyssey. I imagine they're cheaper and easier to find in the States, so I'd throw on some new shoes and get an oil change and service once south of the border.

Riding out would chew up 3 weeks of vacation but would offer a chance to cross most of the continent on two wheels. In a perfect world I could find work related stops on the way out across Canada and get that week covered (mileage and hotels), then use 2 weeks of holiday for the return through the US.

Motels in Canada on the way out look to be between $120-150 a night (x 8 nights = $1200 in not fancy housing). If I stayed out of cities (where hotel pricing seems to have lost its mind), I could come in under budget if I was aiming at $150/night (taxes in) on average. Hotel prices in the States look similar.

Budget (assuming I covered all costs)

Hotel stays going out (8 nights @ $150/night avg taxes in) = $1200

Hotel stays coming back (12 nights @ $150/night avg taxes in) = $1800

Gas/day = $60* (= 2 tankfulls and ~700kms range/day on the C14) x 20 days on the road = $1200

Tires & Service: Bellevue Kawasaki in Seattle on the way back $1000

Travel eating: breakfast**: $10, Lunch: $20, Dinner: $30 = $60/day avg. x  20 days = $1200

Estimated total cost for a 3 week cross continent 2-wheeled odyssey: $6400

*  Well over what I'd need/day mileage wise and will be cheaper in the US
** If I'm staying a breakfast included hotel then I can save there

That budget isn't being overly stingy and I should be able to come in ahead on it. It might also be possible to shave days off if I get into a groove (say, on the Praries) and do a couple of big mileage highway days. If I got good at a last minute booking app like HotelTonight I could probably save a bit on the hotel stays too. Another alternative might be to stay at the same chain all the way across and save that way.

We did it by car preCOVID and it was an epic trip. Riding would make it even better!

Travel Photography Tech Wishlist

After 25 days on the road across the Iberian Peninsula, I have ideas about what I'm looking for in terms of travel photography tech. The Canon SLR with a bag of lenses is too much to lug around, and the recycled 7 year old Dell laptop doesn't cut it when it comes to keeping up with modern file sizes. An agile photo tech set also works on two wheels, so here's what I'd bring along if I were going light but looking for full technical flexiblity in terms of imaging while on the road:

Zenbook S 13 FLIP OLED

An absolutely bonkers sub 2.5lb laptop with 2k of colour corrected display with 100% colour gamut. It folds away to almost nothing, offers the power needed to make high resolution photo and video edits on the road and even converts to a tablet for digital sketching.

$1899

Sony Cybershot RX10Mk4

After lugging the SLR with many lenses around Iberia for weeks on end, I'm looking for a more compact but technically robust option. The Cybershot has a massive sensor, shoots in RAW and outperforms my SLR in pretty much every area. Being smaller and less fussy (just the one do-it-all lens), it does what the best camera always does: makes it easy to have it with you. I ended up leaving the SLR behind towards the end because it was more trouble than it was worth

$2199

Ricoh Theta Z1

Simply the highest photo quality 360 camera you can get. A massive 1 inch sensor means good low light, RAW shooting, a programmable Android based OS that lets you push the limits of this emerging format by creating my own plugins.

I prefer photography to video so the Z1 is the weapon of choice when it comes to 360 photography. The only thing it can't do is rough and tumble, but I have a plan for that.

 $1349

I like a good 360 photograph (not so big on the videos), but the old ThetaSC isn't great in low light conditions, Even a cloudy day can make things muddy.

You can make some interesting compositional choices with a 360 camera that conventional photography would struggle with. A better still 360 camera would let me explore this further.

Insta360 X3

The rough and tumble option. If I'm riding, in the rain or filming under water, the X3 does the trick and it's still in the shape I prefer for 360 cameras (blocky GoPros are awkward and not so aerodynamic). The Insta360 cameras are tough and this new one has such a good sensor that it approaches the Theta Z1 for low light and detail pickup. So close in fact that I think I'd just go with this new X3 and shelf the stirng of Thetas that got me into 360 photography to begin with. Ricoh just doesn't seem that intent on pushing the genre anymore.

$600 standalone, $713 with motorcycle gubbins

Apple iPhone 14 Pro

I got an iPhone 13 last year and the camera on it is good - so good that I found myself leaving the DSLR behind because, for candid snaps, the iPhone is more than up to the job. As good as it is, I'm wishing I'd gone a bit further and gotten a 14 pro with extra lens and that bit more photographic range. I'm still struggling with adapting to iOS after owning an Android from the very beginning, but I'd stick it out for the software integration and quality on the iPhone (Apple's stance on user privacy is appealing too).

$1549

This might all seem pretty expensive (photography isn't a cheap hobby), but when a single pro 400mm lens costs you about ten grand, this entire $7665 set offers much more flexibility with a powerful all-in-one camera, two 360 specialist imaging tools and a state of the art lightweight laptop for post production, and all while taking up next to no room.

If I wanted to boil it down to essentials, I'd take the Insta360 X3 ($713) and swap out the Cybershot for a Canon SX70 ($800) - another very capable superzoom all-in-one, and then I'd round it out with the same Zenbook in an open-box sale (I've seen such for about $1100). That'd get me within inches of the rich option for about $2600.

***.

I did alright with the old DSLR (these are wild Portuguese seas), but lugging all that about wasn't very travel friendly - I think I'm ready to migrate back to a prosumer grade all-in-one superzoom camera. I just need to make sure it beats the SLR with lense and includes the specs I need to improve my imaging (large sensor, full manual controls, RAW file saving, epic lens).

I'm pretty crafty with on-bike pics from the old Ricoh Theta I've got, but with newer (and tougher) tech I could push the boundaries there too.

Good example of how capable the iPhone is at photos (and a nice way to get to the beach - on a 90s vintage Africa Twin!). This is cropped in tight from the original and is still high-rez.

One Man Caravan: Motorcycle Travel History

You can pick up a reprinted copy of One Man Caravan on Amazon for about sixty bucks, but I did a bit better. For ten bucks I discovered an original 1936 edition in a used book jumble when we went to Pelee Island over Canadian Thanksgiving. The spine is cracked and the pages are stained with almost a century of smoke, coffee and whiskey - intrigued yet?

When you take on a read like this it drags you out of your own context and into a world substantially different from the one we live in, Many people have trouble navigating this time culture shift (they like to bring their current values and fixations with them - it's a kind of temporal colonialism), but not me, I like the dissonance.

One Man Caravan is the story of Robert Fulton, an American student living in Europe who shoots his mouth off at a dinner party, saying he's planning to ride a motorbike around the world. (Un?) Fortunately for Robert, one of the people at the party owned the Douglas Motorcycle Factory and offered him a free bike to do it on. It reminded me of Charley Boorman shooting his mouth off about doing the Dakar... and then having to do it.

Another familiarity with moto-travel history is similarities to Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels. Fullerton describes his decision to go with a motorbike: "I had considered the matter from various angles, only to arrive at the conclusion that there must be some better method of seeing that world than by the standard processes. On foot and carrying a knapsack? That would be too slow. By motor car? Too expensive. A bicycle? Too much work. A motorcycle?"  Simon says something similar in Jupiter's Travels when he talks about what it takes to ride around the world.

The world Fullerton navigates feels like another planet to most modern readers. No digital anything, nothing like today's transport infrastructure, and industry has yet to force everyone into similar lifestyles. We often forget how much industry defines our lives, but Fullerton comes face to face with that in 1932. The other oddity for the modern reader is just how different the immutable facts of life (like countries) change over time. The world was a very different place in 1932...

The emerging chancellor in Germany was taking it into the future (Fullerton talks about how well ordered and future facing Germany is - unnerving, right?) ! I had to look up Waziristan (modern day Pakistan).

Robert blitzes across continental Europe before pressing on into Greece and finding his way to the 'edge of civilization' in Turkey.

You'll come across a very colonial view of the world because that's how it operated in 1932, but if you can get past your temporal prejudices, this old book does a fantastic job of bringing that lost world to life. Robert finds himself in kinship with Bedouin camel train drivers who live their lives on the road (at least when he isn't being thrown in jail - the preferred way to house an itinerant motorcyclist passing through in the 1930s). He has frequent altercations with local law enforcement and the various 'agents of empire' he comes across, though his American citizenship gives him a useful separation (and a healthy irreverence) for those government interests.

Like many around-the-world stories, the trip itself changes Robert as he travels. His early, furtive forays in Europe are accompanied by a rueful, self-mocking tone, but once he gets into the grind, especially as he's navigating Middle Eastern deserts without roads or even a clear idea of where he's going, you start to get a  sense of how much of a grafter this guy is - he certainly isn't afraid of hard work.

By the time Robert has navigated to India he is in the zone, pushing on into Afghanistan even though every possible barrier is thrown up against him. It's in these places beyond the comforts of civilization where his fixation on trying to capture these disappearing cultures really comes into focus. Robert is very aware of how the industrial revolution is shrinking the world and remaking it in a single image. His observations about being offered tiger cubs for two dollars in Indo-China (a motorbike isn't the best place for a tiger cub) speak to the process of 'civilizing' these places.

Another quality that comes across as Robert's confidence (and writing voice) improve is his sense of humour. He starts off having a healthy respect for the status quo, but by the time he is navigating his way out of China to Singapore with no money, he is fast and loose with how things should work and much more likely to absorb the lessons the road is delivering to him.

His description of how the Chinese measure distance (in terms of ease of travel vs. distance) is particularly funny and insightful and shows you how far he'd come in terms of simply listening to the world rather than judging it:

"...the Chinese method possesses one distinct advantage over all others. It does not deal in distances but rather in 'going conditions.' For example the distance from Kaifeng to Tungkwan might be two hundred li, while from Tungkwan to Kaifeng measures only a hundred and fifty. The reason? Simple enough. It's down-hill coming back."

If you want a feeling of this lost world buried in the history of the past 90 years, the photos in the book will take you there...

 

Riding the streets of Shanghai in 1932...

Robert's mechanical inclinations kept him in motion
(he went on to invent the skyhook system you see in James Bond and Batman films!)

In Saigon, the 'Little Paris of the East'

Whether you're a motorcyclist, a historian or a lover of travel, finding a copy of One Man Caravan is a wonderful opportunity. If you can find a survivor like I did for a song, then good for you. Right now, the only hard cover original edition available is going for $934USD (eek!).

The best follow-on is that all that film that Robert lugged around the world (and got into all sorts of trouble trying to develop along they way) is out there somewhere as Twice Upon a Caravan. I'll have to do some digging to see if I can find the complete package, it'd be something to see.

The fascinating life of Robert Fullerton:

The One Man Caravan of Robert E. Fulton, Jr. - The Inventions from Searchlight Films on Vimeo.

Exploring The North on Unridden Roads

 

Finding some roads I haven't ridden before:  this ride involves circumnavigating Georgian Bay (which I did in 2015 on the old Concours C10), but then going north onto roads I haven't ridden before.  This time around I'd do it on the C14 if Alanna wanted to come along or on the TIger if I were solo.

Three nights four days on the road breaks it up into manageable chunks that would allow for frequent stops and off piste explorations.  If I did it in August the temperatures shouldn't be too mad.

ONTARIO MOTORCYCLE TOURING RESOURCES

Ride The North: https://www.northeasternontario.com/ride-the-north/

Northern Ontario Travel Motorcycle Routes: https://www.northernontario.travel/motorcycle-touring/top-10-motorcycle-routes-for-2020

Ontario Motorcycle Tour Routes:  https://www.destinationontario.com/en-ca/motorcycle-tour-routes-ontario

Haliburton Highlands:  https://www.ridethehighlands.ca/

Destination Northern Ontario: https://destinationnorthernontario.ca/

Northern Ontario Road Trip: https://ivebeenbit.ca/northern-ontario-road-trip/

What to see and do in Northern Ontario: https://us-keepexploring.canada.travel/things-to-do/what-see-and-do-northern-ontario