first thousand miles

Hei guys

10 days on, and bike's already clocked 1000 miles since buying and fixing it.

took her up to here this weekend:

Cuorgnè TO to Colle del Nivolet, Ceresole Reale TO - Google Maps

list of stuff done:

Fork seals
All fluids changed
all filters changes
Brembo red racing pads
tons of little stuff like brackets straightened, bolts tightened, stupid stuff by PO's sorted, serious cleaning
tightened main rear axle nut,when buying the bike I told the guy that the bearings where shot, but it was only a loose nut
"Italian tuning" session, a good hour blast at 100-110 mph on the Autostrada to get rid of all the deposits on valves and combustion chambers, motor feels sharper now

Mods so far (cant leave things alone):
2" shortened front springs with longer pvc spacers
moved R/R and mounted it with a big heat sink
sunk rear caliper bolt/ rotated the rear hub eccenter 180 degrees for higher rear height/less fork rake
added a small spacer to side stand to keep the bike straight now that its higher

The last mod has really transformed the bike. rode a bit before with the stock rear wheel position and its a no brainer, bike steers much faster. my measurement shows it adds about 30mm rear height/steepens the rake by 1.2 degs. just plain works.

Bike has now 35K miles and simply feels like new, pretty amazing. Even two up the stock shock is still pretty good even when riding the thing to the edges of the tires. I get to try a lot of new bikes and this one feels better than many 2010 models. Now that the VFR800 is gone for ever, I cant even think of a current middleweight tourer that is this good, period. Can definitely see why some people rate 3rd gens so high, maybe even best.

Things to fix:
Like it says in the 1990 road test, gear change is pretty stiff, specially changing up, the shaft mounted lever digs into boot. Have a swank idea about this, will report if it works well.
Replace dried seat cover (cover already ordered)
Lower rear foot pegs some for better girlfriend comfort. with the cases on there's not much room for feet.
In stop and go traffic (I ride to work, a 40 miles a day loop) clutch lever effort is on the high side, will look into smaller diameter M/C's

Other than that? not much to do there.... amazing for a 20 year old thing with the added bonus that 20 year old "historic" vehicles get a heavily discounted insurance and road tax round here. kewl.

Cheers and Ciao

TG

 

Beautiful bike. Look forward to see how you modified the stiff shift lever.

Amazing you can still get this kind of performance out of a bike that's old enuf to drink.

Congrads on the new bike.

 

Make sure the rearaxle bolt is staked on...Had mine work itself loose..not fun

 

Thanks, Some ebay parts are on the way for this shifting mod, we'll see soon.

noticed already that you need to keep an eye on that nut, had to redo the stalking indeed!

TG

 

Kenwood

OK, so ebay parts for the shift mod arrived quicker than expected, it was an easier job than I have planned (happens....), two hours in the garage and what can I say?

IT WORKS!!!!

bike shifts like there's a different gearbox in there! And no, it's not the factory pro star kit. Way way cheaper...

I still find it hard to believe, really.

Regretfully camera is not charged, so cant report

Cheers

TG