Out in the garage I flipped on the tunes, got the Tiger up on a 2x4 on its centre stand so it's a bit higher up and put a car battery on the back so the front tire tipped up in the air well clear of the floor. The speedometer wasn't reading anything so I slipped the front wheel forward off the axle bolt and double checked everything.
Tuesday 16 March 2021
Tiger Triage
Out in the garage I flipped on the tunes, got the Tiger up on a 2x4 on its centre stand so it's a bit higher up and put a car battery on the back so the front tire tipped up in the air well clear of the floor. The speedometer wasn't reading anything so I slipped the front wheel forward off the axle bolt and double checked everything.
Sunday 14 March 2021
Tiger Testing After A Winter of Deep Maintenance
- 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
- 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).
Photos are all taken with a Ricoh ThetaV 360 camera wrapped around the wing mirror with a flexible tripod. The camera is set to take a photo every four seconds then I just go for a ride and see what I caught when I get back. Photos were edited in the Ricoh software and then touched up in Adobe Lightroom.
Tuesday 9 March 2021
Like finally being able to take a breath after four months of holding it...
Sunday 7 March 2021
Pre-Flight Tests: winter motorcycle maintenance
With everything back in place, the Tiger came off the bike stand for the first time since December and the wheels didn't fall off, so that's a win. I'd hoped to start it and test how everything went back together but the new battery is taking a while to charge.
Last summer I purchased a new battery for the Tiger but it didn't come for the better part of 3 months and I didn't want to activate it when the bike was about to be parked for four months, so it's been sitting in the front hall in the box. I put the acid in it today and got it charging.
Tomorrow will be motor tests on both bikes and then a short ride with each (I hope) to shake down any issues. The Tiger was down to its nuts and bolts this winter so I want to make sure everything is tight and together before I put any serious mileage on it.
The Honda has been cleaned and covered since its last ride in November, so it should be ready to go. The battery's been on the trickle charger inside all winter. One way or another I'll be out on a bike this week. It feels like finally being able to take a breath after four months of holding it.
TIGER WINTER MAINTENANCE:
- New indicators that suit the bike better (tougher metal construction too)
- Chassis taken down to nuts and bolts for a complete service
- New HEL brake lines
- Flushed brakes
- New Michelins installed (myself!)
- Fuel Injectors cleaned
- Fork oil changed
- Cosmetic repairs
FIREBLADE WINTER MAINTENANCE:
- oil change
- everything cleaned
- deep carb cleaning (with disassembly)
- battery tending inside over the winter
- throw a blanket on it
Monday 1 March 2021
2021 Motorcycle Wish List
The new hybrid Wrangler Jeep manages to get 50mpg while also being able to run entirely off battery for my entire commute to work. It's also tow capable and even stronger than the 21mpg of the base 4 cylinder model it's based on. It'll tow, it'll use barely any gas under normal circumstances and it's a genuinely useful utility vehicle that also lets you take the roof off and make driving an event.
An easy to load, multi-functional trailer that'll carry up to 2000lbs (3-4 bikes). The transformable nature of it means I could also hang it on the wall in the garage out of the way until it was needed.
They have bike-specific trailers too, but this one would handle bikes while also being a multi-purpose thing that lets me utilize my new utility vehicle in many ways.
This one has a cosmetic scratch but is low mileage (35k kms) and would be dependable for years to come. As a big, functional, dependable 'modern' bike, this one checks all the boxes. I'd like to keep the older Tiger, but this bike would take the all-ways on demand for riding off it.
It comes with all the luggage, just had new tires put on it and has had major services done recently, so it'd be a no-headaches addition to the paddock that would take all the pressure off the old things.
My son and I did SMART Adventures again last summer and I did the whole nine yards: I started on a trials bike, gave the new BMW 1250GS a try and then finished the day trail riding on a Yamaha 250cc dirt bike. It was a brilliant day and I've been keen to find a way to keep practicing these skills but buying an off road bike in Ontario isn't easy.This P.O.S. on Kijiji is a fine example. It's a 20 year old bike that the seller couldn't even be bothered to pick up off the floor for the photo. It's broken, not running and they still want over two grand for it! Dirt bikes get abused and then still seem to retain their value. I'm asking about the same amount for a safetied, perfectly running Fireblade super-bike from the same era and can't get a bite.
The other recent P.O.S. I looked at was this trials bike, which was ancient, technically uninteresting (being the year before they got good) and was being sold in better condition anywhere else except in Ontario for half the $1800 the owner wanted. It's not longer available. I can't beleive that he sold it, but maybe he did. People in Ontario are willing to pay a lot of money for money-pit projects.
The used market for off-road machines in Ontario is so psychotic that it almost makes sense to just buy a new one. A Suzuki DR200 brand new is less than five grand, so why on earth would you buy someone else's heaping pile of shit for the same amount of money? I can handle the weight so even the 50 kilo heavier DR650 is only a touch over six grand. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up that brand-new/old stock DR650 a couple of years ago.I always thought I'd be rebuilding an old dirt bike from re-machining the cylinders all the way up, a complete rebuild, but the obscene pricing of dirt bikes in Ontario makes that unlikely.
There are alternatives to Ontario's psychotic used bike market. It's possible to drop old, used, broken Yamaha money on a brand new electric Chinese trials bike. This is edgy new tech but that's where I work all day so I'm not scared of it.There are other Chinese off-roading alternatives like the Tanaci-Wong, which is intriguing. Their Facebook page has a Canadian distributor offering their 150cc trials bike for under $3500! That'd only buy you a non-working 15 year old POS on Kijiji.
Chinese engineering has come a long way in the last decade and harbouring old prejudices against it doesn't make a lot of sense.
In a perfect world I'd have that Tiger purring like a kitten, the Fireblade for dynamics focused rides, a C14 for two up riding and a trials bike for exercise and balance practice. Alas, these things would necessitate a bigger garage.