Tuesday 2 February 2016

Pretty Calipers

The brake caliper rebuild moved into the 'nerd-lab' downstairs where my son does his lego and I usually focus more on digital tech.  With Why We Ride playing on the projector I got to enjoy HEAT while I rebuilt the rear caliper.

The only time I had to go out to the garage was to blow out the caliper pistons with compressed air, otherwise it was some light bench work while watching a very pretty film.

I'm still monkeying around with 3d modelling tools.  I'm trying different resolution settings on the Structure Sensor.  I also tried using itseez3d instead of the factory software.  It made for an interesting variation (itseez3d uses the ipad camera to take a lot of texture photos which it mixes into the model).


It only took me a couple of hours to sort out the fronts and have everything looking sharp.  Blowing out the pistons was a bit trickier as there are two on the front and the smaller one (less surface area) didn't come right out with the air.  I'm worried that I scored them too much removing them.  I guess I'll see when I put them all back on the bike.











The front calipers are cleaned up and blown apart, waiting for their rebuilds, probably later this week.
3d model of the rear caliper reassembled.
Compared to the rusty lump it was before, it's night and day.  I can't wait to feel the change.
The rusty, pockmarked disk bolts got dremelled clean and repainted too.

Monday 1 February 2016

Winter Stable Dreams

It's snowing so thick you can't see the road.  I'm at the end of a semester and in full day-dreaming mode.  If I were out bike shopping this week, this is what I'd be aiming to bring back:





The naked:  I'm still smitten with the Kawasaki Z1000.  An orange one, with a tail tidy to get rid of the only ugly part of this stunning machine (the ugly plastic plate hanger off the back).  Some aero crash protectors and I'd be ready to track day with it as well.








The sporty road bike: the jewel-like Honda VFR800 still plucks a heart string.  It's the descendant of one of my first motorbike crushes and would make for a mighty entertaining, sport focused road bike that could still swallow miles if needed.  It looks spectacular in white, but it also needs a tail tidy!





The all terrain bike is a tricky piece of work.  The temptation is just to go all in on a big adventure bike, but the main purpose for one of those is as a road riding mile-muncher.  My off road able bike needs to work on the road and keep up with traffic (something my current 250cc Kawasaki isn't great at), but its focus should be off tarmac (unlike a big, heavy adventure bike).



A light-weight scrambler would be a the preferred choice aesthetically.  Building out my own custom from an existing, off-road focused bike would offer both the scrambler vibe while using light-weight, off-road ready tech.

The Suzuki DR-Z400S makes for a great base.  At 144 kilos (317lbs) it's almost half the weight of BMW's big queen of adventure bikes, and made by a manufacturer that makes bikes with one quarter the number of manufacturing mistakes.  I don't feel reckless in the decision.

Is a Scrambler DR-Z400S possible?  I wouldn't be the first to try.  The DR-Z400SM is a street version of the off-roader, so Suzuki has already done a less off-road focused version.  It's an adaptable bike.

Too bad no one makes a sub 500cc off road focused, light weight Scrambler (instead they market stylish new ones or sell recycled history).  Anything north of 200kgs (441lbs) might be surprisingly capable off road, but it'll still be a misery to pickup and all that weight means you're going to be breaking suspension all the time.

Suzuki already has the platform on which to build a perfect modern scrambler.  C'mon, you're almost there!

Some people want a $30k bike that can do one thing, I'd happily spend that money on a Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki that can do just about everything.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Motorcycle 3d Modelling

I'm teaching a class on 3d modelling in Blender next semester, so what better way to practice than on my partially taken apart for maintenance ZG1000?



The model was made with the Occipital Structure Sensor 3d Scanner.  I'm trying different editing programs.  I used the 3d Builder integrated into Windows 10 to edit out the extra bits captured by the scanner.  It's quite easy to use and has some pretty good editing tools.  If you're trying 3d modelling for the first time it's not a bad place to start (and it's included in Windows 10!).

The file is shared on Sketchfab, which I find to be an easy way to do presentation editing and sharing of a 3d model.  We're using Blender in class, so I'll be cranking out some Blender motorcycle models in the next couple of weeks.  The trick is going to be to get them looking life like rather than digitally modelled.  I wonder how you model patina...











Sunday 24 January 2016

Plugs, Calipers and Frozen Feet

The spark plug (bottom right) is easy to get to once
you remove the distributor caps mounted to the frame.
Yesterday began with a spark plug change on the Concours.  There are two (for lack of a better term) distributor caps (CoG got me sorted, they're coils!) in the shape of cylinders attached to the frame under the fuel tank.  Removing these makes for a fairly straightforward spark plug swap.  Someone had been in here before as one of the distributors wasn't properly attached to the frame (the rear bolt was seized).  With the unit removed it was relatively easy to free everything up in the vice.

I used to be pretty good at gapping plugs by eye, but I hadn't done it in a while.  I got better as I worked through the plugs and the last one only needed a minor adjustment.  The plugs all came out without issue and the new ones went in by hand and then got torqued to spec (14Nm).
The two middle plugs are tucked in behind the radiator and don't collect much road cruft.  The two on the outside
have a tougher life.   Other than being filthy, the plugs didn't show any internal issues.
With the plugs sorted and the under tank electrics cleaned and seated properly, I turned my attention to the rear brake caliper.  I've got a replacement metal brake line, so the old rusty rubber one is going in the spares bin.  The caliper came apart quite easily.  The rear brake on the Concours has always been excellent, but was starting to whine as the pads got thin.  With nothing seized and the main bits just needing a good cleaning, I think this will go back together nicely with new pads and brake lines.  I'd meant to order a caliper rebuild kit from Canada's Motorcycle, but my order got mixed up with a bearing puller I didn't need.  At least now I can tell you how good their return process is.


follow-up:  I requested a return on January 24th and got a shipping label in a reply email a day latter (which I thought was good).  I sent it off that day.  I just got a confirmation email today (Feb 3 - 10 days later) saying it will be another 3-6 days before I see a refund... and I'm charged seven bucks for returning it.  Compared to motorcycle-superstore.com's over the top customer service (immediate, free returns, what can we do to prevent this happening in the future?), I'm left thinking twice about shopping on canadasmotorcycle.ca.


While I'm waiting on the rear caliper rebuild kit I can do the fronts, which is what I'm aiming to get done today.  It's officially frickin cold outside (-20°C overnight, -12°C now), and even with the thick rubber mats I've got down in the garage and the heater going, I still ended up with foot cramps from the cold at the end of three hours in there yesterday.  Winter in Canada can get pretty tedious.  This is one of those days.  If someone called and said they could fly me somewhere warm to ride a bike next weekend, I'd be in heaven.

The two cylindrical distributor caps (COILS! bottom middle &
top right with the spark plug wires coming out of them)
are held down by two bolts.  Once removed from the
frame spark plug access is straight forward.
A longer view of the spark plug.


Wednesday 20 January 2016

Naked Concours

The Concours is a naked thing at the moment.  I'm under the fuel tank for the first time since I bought it.  I'm going after the spark plugs, but neither of my imperial spark plug removers would fit.  Kawasaki uses an 18mm metric socket.  Fortunately, Canadian Tire had that very thing in stock.

With the plugs changed it'll be time to start putting it back together.  I'm cleaning electrical terminals and torquing bolts to spec as I go.


The wheels are off, stripped and cleaned and ready for reconditioning at Fireball Coatings.  I'm hoping to get them over there this week.





What twenty year old Concours rims look like after you've had a go at them with SOS pads for an hour.

 
They're off to Fireball for a two stage gold/candy coat finish.  They look better than they have in years already, I can't imagine what they'll look like when I get 'em back!






The stripped bike is letting me get to pretty much everything.  I found the two cut-off gas tank ventilation pipes, which will get properly re-attached again.



Last but not least will be calliper rebuilds and braided metal lines for the rear brake and clutch (which have been waiting until some down time to install - I was loath to do it while I could be out riding).

It will all go back together on new tires and renewed rims ready for the season to begin as soon as the rain washes all the salt and other winter crap off the road.

If I lived somewhere more temperate I'd need two bikes so that I could rotate one out of operation for this kind of work.  Canada obliges by making it miserable outside for four months of the year.

Monday 18 January 2016

Doing a Dangerous Thing Well (or not)

The rolling hills mean short sight lines and lightened
suspension. Patchy pavement means a rough ride.
Lots of corners means you're depending on the sides
of your tires. The Bush Highway is a demanding ride. 
After our horse ride in the Arizona desert we took the rental SUV down the Bush Highway and into Apache Junction for dinner.  Over one of the many hills we came upon a dozen emergency vehicles with lights blazing.  The road was closed down to one lane.

As we crept past we cleared the ambulance in the middle of the road and a rider came into view.  He was sitting in the middle of the pavement my son and I had ridden down a couple of days before, his GSX-R a pile of broken plastic and bent metal on the gravel shoulder.  He'd obviously been thrown clear of it.

He was sitting up because he was wearing a full helmet, armoured leather jacket, pants and boots.  ATGATT meant this was an expensive crash, but not an overly injurious one, he looked winded and freaked out, but paramedics won't have you sitting up unless they've ruled out a lot of more serious injuries.

Helmets are optional in Arizona.  If this guy had come off at the speed he was travelling (he ended up a good sixty feet away from the bike) without a helmet he wouldn't have been sitting up.  He also would've left a lot of skin on the pavement if he wasn't wearing armoured gear.  As it was he looked cut free.

There might be a sport bike argument to be made here.  Cruiser riders may ride around in t-shirts and no helmet in Arizona, but then they don't try and tackle the bumpy, undulating Bush Highway at high speed either.  If you're going to ride a sports bike aggressively, full gear seems like an obvious thing to do.  Exploring the limits of said sports bike on a bumpy, poorly maintained desert road with a patina of sand on it might not be such a bright idea either; that's what track days are for.

I didn't start riding until my forties.  I could have started in my twenties when I had fewer responsibilities and much more free time, but a bad crash at work put me off it again.  Every time I see a rider down my heart jumps into my throat.  I want them to be ok, but I also don't want it to be the result of a stupid decision they made.  Every time that happens someone like me is shaken off the idea of riding, which means they are missing out on a magical experience.

Saturday 16 January 2016

Horse Power

This is Butch, he's kind of a jerk.
While in Arizona we went out horseback riding for a couple of hours.  I hadn't ridden a horse since I was a kid (almost forty years ago - back then they were tiny prehistoric horses).  I got Butch, who liked to eat a lot and thought it a good idea to stick his nose up the horse in front's ass to get it back to the paddock early for lunch.  He managed to piss off half a dozen horses doing this.

I ended up with mighty sore knees because I kept weight on the stirrups for the entire ride.  Partly because it was suggested and partly because it took weight off the horse's back.

Working with an animal is a very different process than inhabiting a machine.  I imagine that developing a longer term relationship with the creature eases the guilt I was feeling over using the animal.  If I knew that Butch enjoyed taking people out and going for a walk I'd have been a lot happier with bothering him with it.  His habit of rushing the other horses suggested that he wasn't enjoying hauling my heaviness around though.

How different is riding a horse from asking a taxi to drive you somewhere?  In both cases you're paying an organization to provide an animal that will transport you (one a horse, the other a machine assisted human).  In the case of the taxi driver you can at least communicate with them and get a sense of their willingness to do the work.  You can probably do that with the horse too, but the non-verbal communication takes longer to figure out.


I don't worry about my largeness (6'3" 240lbs) hurting a motorcycle but it was on my mind with the horse, even though they gave me one of the biggest ones they had.  My animal empathy is overdeveloped, no doubt, but even with a machine I still sympathize with its situation, it's one of the reasons I take care of mine so diligently.  With an animal I'm unfamiliar with I'm not clear on our relationship.  If the animal doesn't want to be there it sours the experience.  Put another way, I've never met a motorcycle that wasn't eager to be ridden - it's their purpose.  We might have domesticated horses but their reason for being isn't to carry people around.

While machines may have their problems they have also offered us an opportunity to stop using many animals as chattel for our own ends.

I enjoyed the horse ride and I'd do it again, but it would be nice to better understand the horse and their situation.  Knowing that a horse was excited to see me and go out would go a long way toward enjoying the ride more in the same way that taking out an excited dog for a walk is a positive process.  Two days before our rental horse ride I took a rental motorcycle out for the day and didn't have anything like the same moral quandary, though perhaps I should have.


It's wonderfully quiet out on a horse in the desert.