'98 Suzuki FX 650 Freewind.

[Bonez]

Still waiting to get bits back from the machenist. There was a bit of a time hold up as a staff member had had a week off on holiday then was sick for another week. Not in any great hurry as I have the mighty CB. Last run I got around 280kms before getting two bars on the dash and switching to researve. That was at a fairly sprightly pace I might add up an down through the gears.

Adjusting the shock sounds worse than actually is. It takes all of 5 minutes to remove what is needed to get access once you have the right tools handy... Like I said I come across worse. Good lighting helps as well.

Edit- Just gave Two Wheels Eng a ring wrt my bits. End of the week with good luck.

[Bonez]

Got the parts back. Had to get the rhs of the top triple clamp welded up because of a senior moment on my part. Collen from Two Wheel Eng did the job. It was big plob of weld about 3/4" square with a threaded hole through it when I collected it. After a few hours of filing and sanding it came out rather well. He also cut the handle bar riser round stock to the sizes I wanted on a lathe. I'll refit the triple clamp and bars today as well as raise the forks the two inches back to their original position. Should sort out the clearence issue.

[Bonez]

Fitted the top[ triple clamp,ignition switch, 1" bar riser and handle bars. Loosened off the and raised the bike front, using a bottle jack and small peice of wood on the bash plate, so the bottem of the front wheel was just above the mark I made of the distance the forks had to be dropped on a peice of wood. A peice of wood and club hammer was used to knock the tubes down. Tightened the triple clamp bolts to the correct torque-tighten until the threads strip then back off half a turn. Removed the bottle jack.

There's a plastic guard just under the lower triple clamps that gets in the way of the top bolt down there. I'm going to cut 15mm off to make it easier next time I need to do any front suspension work.

[rogson]

Mine, bought new 1998.
Lots of mods over the years.
Can't see myself selling it.

[Bonez]

Mine, bought new 1998.
Lots of mods over the years.
Can't see myself selling it.

Awesome. If the panels get toasted on mine I'll go that route as well.

[Bonez]

Been playing around with on orange spray bomb on the damaged lh centre cowling, It's almost a perfect match with the front mud guasrd and side panel. Not perfect but it has been and interesting exercise dealing with paint, grades of abrasive papers and such.

A few muck ups along the way. That's to be expected though as I've never painted a panel this big and with so many compound curves before.

I'll pop around to Collins shop today to show him the final result of his repair on the top triple clamp.

[Bonez]

Tried another method at adjusting the rear shock. This time from the rhs. I removed the seat, rhs side cover and rhs pillion peg carrier. The only thing stopping me from using a a bit of 10mm mild steel round stock about 14" long cut off to unlolock the top nut was the header clamp retaining bolt which stuck through quite a bit, about 30mm or so. It took about 30 min. to remove that completely as it was well seized in. A lot of CRC556 hammering, using a impact driver, heating up and finaly forcing an imperial hex bit in it then extetion on a 3/4" ratchet finally got it out with a lot of squeeking. I dressed the thread with an old bolt I had laying about and replaced it the original bolt with a new one with C5-A anti-seiize compound on it's threads.

That gave plenty of access and tensioned the spring 1cm, locked the nuts and put a but of white paint on them so at a quick glance behind the rear mudguard I can tell if the nuts have moved or not. Refit the side cover and pillion peg holder. Adjusted the drive chain under load. Sprayed some more white paint under the rear guard and took the bike on a 50km test ride on my favorate test curcuit. The ride was definately firmer but not back breaking or butt hurting hard and handled well.. On return home I inspected under the the rear guard and no sign of the back wheel scraping it. The drive chain tension was still fine. Job done........

[Navy Boy]

Nice - One of those satisfying tasks too

[Bonez]

Nice - One of those satisfying tasks too

Yip. I'll shape the end of the bar similar to the spring adjusting wrench so it engages with the tangs better.

[Navy Boy]

Incidentally I've just done an oil and filter change in my DR650 - I've used Penrite 10W-50 Semi Synthetic which seems to work rather nicely. I suspect that it's something of an overkill for the DR motor but at only $5 more than the Penrite mineral 10W-40 for a 4 litre tub I reckon it's a bit of extra money well spent.

[Bonez]

My helmet fell off the lid of the rubbish bin smashing the visor so popped in to see Paul at Manawatu Motorcycles to see if he had replacement visor as that is where I bought the helmet originaly over 10years ago. While he was out back looking I had a gander at the new helmets he had. On the bottem of the shelf was a small size one and it was a perfect, snug but not too tight. Paul came out and said he didn't have any suitable visors. I told him I'd buy this helmet which meets m/c safety standard and payed by EFPOS. Another reason I chose this helmet was it had double Ds on the chin strap. So for the princely sum of $129 I'm happy.

Got a couple of oil filters. I like to be prepared. Then went to Jaycar and got some heat shrink to cover my m/c security cable I bought back in '83. someone had tried to cut it to steal the GSX750EZ I had at the time and only managed to break one strand.

[Bonez]

Modified one end of the 10mm bar to engage the shock spring locking nuts better and less likely to slip.Put a 6" length of green leftover heat shrink in the position I hold the bar.

[Bonez]

Nice 2hr toodle today. I dared to take a 47bhp motorcycle outside the city limits. The Pahiatua Track has a long stretch of road works on the Palmy side so expect a 5min or more wait. On the main road to Eketawhere the traffic was doing 95-98 average according to my speedo. A quick twist of the throttle gave me plenty of puff to pass them quite easily and safely. A lot of cow poo on the back road from Eketahuna to Paheatua. This road can be quite tight in places with no direction indicator or approx. speed markers so can catch you out if not fully observent. Generally though it is a great riding road with a good surface. Passed the now defunct Tyrants M/C club rooms. Wonder what AJ is using them for now as the gate looked freshly painted. Returned back over the track,then Ashurst, popping in to AFC M/Cs for a quick gander. Then off home just around the corner. When I got home had some late lunch and gave the NX650 a quick wash with hose and scrubbing brush to get rid of most of the cow poo that had flicked up.

If you see a solo cone in the middle of the road without markings keep it in your mind that there may be stock ahead. Traffic was very considerate, pulling over when I indicated to pass. Lots of full dresser cruisers heading to Palmy. Still over half a tank of fuel left. Great ride on a great bike on great roads.. Had a smile every mile.....(Dots added for effect)

[Bonez]

Nice wee ride today and had a catch up with an old riding buddy. Talk bikes, trips, shit and had lunch with him and his ol lady. Had an interesting discusion about sidecars and the fact they need to be vinned seperately now apperently. Talked more bike stuff after lunch until a new lot of visitors turned up and waved them good bye. 100kms of gravel today. First time on the XN. Being 100lbs lighter than the CB made a big differnece. Also took a while to get use to the different power delivery compared to the ol CB. But once I'd done a few kms I was having a ball. Lots of cyclist out on these remote roads as well as the odd Kamakazi Magpie. Still have over a 1/4 a tank of fuel left before hitting researve after 280kms all up on the last refill.

[Bonez]

After the last couple of rides I've noticed the cow poo flicks up higher than I like on the frame and engine so made a wee mud flap up and siliconed it to the rear of the front mud guard. Also made a paddock plate up for the side stand out of a bit of plastic storm water grating which fits nicely in an old m/c tool pouch. I mounted the pouch in the lower front cowling just below the tank so it is nicely tucked away. I can easily access the paddock plate while seated on the bike and fit it under the side stand. Secured the plastic cover with a flat rubber washer over the choke base. Cut out the damaged portion of mudguard( previous ower had lowered the bike that much the rear wheel ripped into the mudguard) and placed a peice of heavy duty rubber strip in the hole.

The previous owner had a slim paddock plate stashed in the tool holder box under the seat which is pointless if the bike is loaded up.