Sense of Achievement! Concours C14 Windshield Fixed

I dug deep into the C14 Concours today and the windshield is solved! I followed the shop manual diagram, but it actually points at the wrong bolt to remove the windshield motor housing. There is a tricky bolt underneath, but otherwise the rest are on the front and the whole unit comes out.

The three bolts at the top that connect the instrument bezel and two lower bolts hold the whole assembly in.  You need to take the bolts out of the instrument bezel too, but you don't need to completely remove it or take the front body work off either.  With bolts removed and the binnacle loose, you can slide the whole unit partially out, remove the power plug in the back and slide it the rest of the way.

With it out on the bench I cleaned all the connectors and also loosed the motor out of its housing and cleaned it all out as well.  With the assembly out I could check the power coming and and both up and down were at battery voltage, so the relays, switch and back end of the circuit were all good.

Motor's on the left next to the big round thing.  With the contacts cleaned and the motor reseated I gave it a go and off it went...

While it was out I greased all the components - it's very quiet when it runs.  Nice, smooth action too.

***

With the front end solved and the fairing still off I figured I'd do an oil change.  The parts came in from FortNine in only a couple of days.  Mobil1 seems to have ceased to exist in the COVpocalyse, so I went with Motul for the first time.  Before I even put it in the bike I was impressed with the pop-out spouts built into each bottle.  WTH Mobil and Castol?

I didn't realize the 5100 was their mid-range oil but after seeing what came out of the bike I think I'll run this until the end of June as a cleanout and then switch to a fully synthetic oil.  Motul's full synthetic is pretty expensive and with Mobil1 no longer available I'm going to use Castol Power1 4T, which still seems to exist and is working well in the Tiger.

The filter wasn't coming off easily and even the oil opening plug was ceased shut, so I don't know the last time this thing got serviced.  The oil coming out was dirty but didn't have anything worrying like fuel or coolant in it, it was just very, very used.  Those are hard drive magnets on the end of the filter if you're curious.  They're super strong and keep any metallic detritus in the filter as the oil circulates. 

With the bike now back to spec and the basic maintenance taken care of it's time to get this thing on the road!  I'll sort out insurance this week and then figure out what's what with licensing with the 3rd wave running Ontario into the ground.

Tiger Tales: finding twists and turns in a straight line desert

I know I live in the wrong place when I ride 20 minutes out of my way to find two consecutive corners that let me lean the bike.  One day I'll escape the tedium of Southwestern Ontario and live somewhere with geography that delights rather than depresses.

In early April I rode for over an hour to get to River Road out of Horning's Mills.  That's a 60 minute ride to get 13 minutes of corners, except Ontario, in its wisdom, has decided to make the whole thing a 60km/hr zone now, so you're going so slowly you end up tipping over rather than enjoying the corners.

The other fun thing (besides the tedium of the geography) is that the roads are falling apart after another long Canadian winter. Between that, the lack of geography and ever increasing population pushing speed limits down to dribbling velocity, it's time to find some corners elsewhere on a trip, except there aren't any trips in year two of COVID.

I've still got a stupid grin on my face though because I'm back out on two wheels after nearly a hundred days of the weather trying to kill me.

45 minutes to the east are the Forks of the Credit, a 5km wiggle that follows the Credit River as it tumbles down the Niagara Escarpment.  You actually get a switchback out of it, but the proximity to Toronto means it's usually very busy, even though it wouldn't rate a second look in California or anywhere else with mountains.  I went on a mid-week day and managed a couple of clean runs in the mid-April sun.

Last weekend I headed south to near Campbellville, another 45 minute slog to get a couple of curves.  I don't usually head that way often because it's perilously close to the GTA, so you not only get tedious roads but also a lot of tedious people.  It took me a couple of tries to get a clean run at it, but even then you're waiting forever for the odd corner.

We live west and south of the Niagara Escarpment (yep, the same cliff Niagara Falls flows over an hour and a half south west of us), which winds around us and up north into Michigan.  It's one of the few geographical features that break up the monotony, but not by much.  After having ridden the Arizona mountains and Vancouver Island's spectacular scenery, it's difficult to take the tedium when you know other people live in places that make riding a thrill.

Not all Ontario is this dull.  As you head east you get into the lake of the woods and the Canadian Shield which offers some interesting riding options, though the road conditions are still rough.

Maybe one of these days I'll get a chance to head out Peterborough/Ottawa way and enjoy the curves the Shield and the lake of the woods offer.

Kawasaki Concours C14 Suspension Setup

https://forum.concours.org/index.php?threads/setting-the-suspension-on-the-c14.11199/

https://forum.concours.org/index.php?threads/c14-shock-conversion.48702/

From ADVrider: https://advrider.com/f/threads/setting-up-suspension-on-a-concours-14.514158/

I am 6'-3 and about 245-250 Lbs. My settings are as follow:
Forks: 10mm and 4 clicks out (rebound)
Shock: 24 (?) clicks in and 1 click out (rebound)

These settings are a bit stiff but...I like them that way for spirited riding. For 2up, I will just adjust further the shock preload.