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 Not today but over the weekend I got it inspected, washed it, and took it for the first ride of the year. I can't even describe how good it felt, I can't wait for warmer weather!
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Mar 26, 2015 22:22
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| # ? May 29, 2024 21:55 |
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Decided that I needed a project while off work, and started looking at improvements to make on my Honda NVT650. I picked it up about 6 months ago and have been riding it every day regardless of weather on a long commute, and since it was pretty apalling cosmetically to begin with, I decided to have a go at respraying the panels and generally touching it up. No before image unfortunately. I initially sprayed plasti-dip on the panels and tank and it looked great, but even after a day the 4-coat started to rub off the tank where my leather clad knees go. Pulled it all off and used proper spray paint instead. Fortunately, the tank and panels are laughably easy to remove on the Honda, a matter of two minutes work and some swearing. Rubbed it all down and used a grey primer coat. Discovered a couple of things; 1) Primer nozzle need to be treated with respect or when you put the can gun on it will explode in your hand and become unusable, 2) Don't drop your debit card in halfords car park or some prick will steal it and attempt to buy a £1,200 quid telly from Curries and you'll receive a call from the bank wondering if you really wanted to drain your overdraft on pizza and consumer electronics, and 3) If you spray paint in your garden, every loving insect will flock to the smell of fresh paint and affix themselves to your fresh paint, smudging minute-old coat and requiring tweezers to remove. I digress. Followed up with matte black which looks pretty nifty. The picture doesn't really do it justice.  Since I want to do two-up camping trips over easter, I looked into getting a back/pannier rack too. The standard ones for the NVT cost anywhere between £120-£200 new, so instead I cobbled one together out of aluminium bars which were lying around the house, and the end result is pretty pleasing, and can withstand me sitting on it without shifting, setting me back about a fiver for m8 bolts the right length. Going to make some struts that go from behind the passenger footpegs to the bottom of the frame and affix some panniers once I find some, probably some ex-army lockable jerrycans I saw outside the surplus shop in town. Overall pleased, the bike looks a lot tider and actually quite attractive. Will post pictures from a camera not made in 1997 when I get a chance. EDIt: Oh, and also sprayed ceramic heat-proof paint on the exhaust which was a rusty chrome affair. Pretty productive day overall. Shelvocke fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Mar 27, 2015 |
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Mar 27, 2015 20:23
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O'Reilly and PepBoys both proved completely useless in sourcing a vacuum sealed cup for my brake bleeder so I made one myself
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Mar 28, 2015 01:44
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Homemade bleeders are generally the best.
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Mar 28, 2015 03:16
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No. 6 posted:Homemade bleeders are generally the best. poo poo yeah.
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Mar 28, 2015 03:58
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Slavvy posted:Yeah pad material is porous so it stays in there and fucks everything. I've heard of people blow-torching pads to boil all the fluid out but I've never tried it myself and it's kind of a waste of time anyway considering how cheap they are. I had a fork oil leak once, contaminated the pad but didn't sink in very deep. I was able to file the thin layer of bad material away and put the pad back in. Not because it was a good idea, but because I needed the bike on the road. At least the oil soaked pad material doesn't get into your lungs that easily. 
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Mar 28, 2015 18:12
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Update: Homemade bleeder is baller as gently caress, works way better than any cup I've used. Holds 20 pounds of vacuum like a champ. Total cost: $0.10 worth of JB weld, free mason jar, free vacuum fittings in garage, free knockoff vacuum pump I found in my garage from who knows what. A+ highly recommended.
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Mar 28, 2015 19:21
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I put a Garmin Virb on my bike and rode around today. Least.interesting.video.ever. But I did catch some truck blasting through a T intersection and running over the lawn on the far side before bouncing over hte curb back into the road. So .. 15 seconds of "neat" 90 minutes of boring. Maybe I need a GoPro.
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Mar 28, 2015 19:53
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PadreScout posted:I put a Garmin Virb on my bike and rode around today. I would be interested in watching the truck video if you feel like sharing jt.
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Mar 28, 2015 23:51
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Changed front brake pads. Man were they a walk in the park compared to changing the rears. Having room to work makes all the difference. Old pads looked fine but changing any "maintenance" type items on this bike since I don't know the history on it and the history I can read from the bike itself reads "my PO was an idiot that didn't take good care of me". Thought new pads might cure the squeal I get from the front when low speed braking but it did not. Slightly better but still there. I've read lots of people have the issue with road kings. Bike has chrome calipers on it of unknown brand so that could be the issue. They might be crap. I'll tear it all apart and make sure the Pistons are all working properly at some point.
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Mar 29, 2015 01:27
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Chichevache posted:I would be interested in watching the truck video if you feel like sharing jt. I edited it down to about 1 minute including the truck (and me hauling down the street trying to catch it, no dice). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJLcGXiu-E I need to learn how to make it not fuzzy. It's supposed to be 1080p.
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Mar 29, 2015 21:48
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Was going to change the transmission fluid on my Sportster but most of the lovely Allen and Torx screws are stripped and I can't get them out. Ordering new screws and a puller instead. Yay! Thankfully I don't need to ride it since it is spring break.
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Mar 29, 2015 23:23
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Armchair Calvinist posted:Update: Homemade bleeder is baller as gently caress, works way better than any cup I've used. Holds 20 pounds of vacuum like a champ. Total cost: $0.10 worth of JB weld, free mason jar, free vacuum fittings in garage, free knockoff vacuum pump I found in my garage from who knows what. A+ highly recommended. Its a penis pump isn't it. Also awesome
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Mar 30, 2015 00:00
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PadreScout posted:I edited it down to about 1 minute including the truck (and me hauling down the street trying to catch it, no dice).  Not as bad as I imagined, but still bizarre. They must have just been texting or something.What bike is that, a Street Triple? It sounded just like the Triumph Tiger while idling.
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Mar 30, 2015 00:57
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SaNChEzZ posted:Its a penis pump isn't it. Also awesome You know I'm like 99% sure it is. I know my next mason jar project anyway~ Bled my clutch today and holy hell that's a lot of bubbles and grime. I haven't noticed any loss in performance over time while riding and I have Teflon tape on my bleeder screw to prevent air from escaping so I'm going to assume the penis pump knocked out the rest of the air I couldn't get manually from my last bleed. My clutch lever seemed to pull hydraulic fluid much faster, too. Can't wait to take it for a test drive tomorrow. 
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Mar 30, 2015 03:31
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Ola posted:He would sometimes be allowed to sleep in bed when he was a little Grom, but now he has to sleep on the carpet in the hallway. He got a temper tantrum when I told him he wasn't allowed to hug that little car.  
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Mar 31, 2015 14:26
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"Oops"
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Mar 31, 2015 17:35
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Laughed way too hard
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Apr 2, 2015 01:27
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Pretty sure you could've gone right through it if you'd just tucked in and throttled on a bit.
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Apr 2, 2015 03:12
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KARMA! posted:He got a temper tantrum when I told him he wasn't allowed to hug that little car. Ouch! Did anything bad happen?
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Apr 2, 2015 11:46
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So, uh, 
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Apr 2, 2015 16:42
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Ola posted:Ouch! Did anything bad happen? Very little, surprisingly! I only got a shorty brake lever and a scuff on my bar end weights out of the deal. The mushroom frame slider a PO put on plus the luggage saved me from any grief. Even the wide af tank has no marks whatsoever. The car got some light scratches on the rear fender, and after ensuring I was ok the lady driving the car would "consult a mechanic to see if those scratches can be buffed out and if they couldn't it would have to go through my insurance". So it just might be my wallet that takes the biggest hit, proportionally speaking. I'm not on the up-and-up when it comes to insurance stuff, so I'm going to have to ring my insurer what I'm in for.
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Apr 2, 2015 19:54
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KARMA! posted:Very little, surprisingly! I only got a shorty brake lever and a scuff on my bar end weights out of the deal. The mushroom frame slider a PO put on plus the luggage saved me from any grief. Even the wide af tank has no marks whatsoever. So you hit the car and not the other way around? That's good in the sense that it's not nice when car people do bad things to motorcycle people. And also good that you didn't do much damage.
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Apr 2, 2015 20:28
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Armchair Calvinist posted:So, uh, So how many inches did you gain?
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Apr 2, 2015 20:41
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Went ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Was 65 today. Put about 100miles on. Forgot how easy it is to speed without realizing it. Thankfully da popo was not hunting for bieks today. Some poor college kid in a piece of poo poo civic took the ticket. Probably cell phone. 
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Apr 2, 2015 20:47
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Ola posted:So you hit the car and not the other way around? That's good in the sense that it's not nice when car people do bad things to motorcycle people. And also good that you didn't do much damage. See the garbage truck in the wrong lane? See the acute angle of the corner and all that bush (heh)? See the wet stones with sand all over it (probably not, just go with me on this one)? Image her braking suddenly, and me skidding while the ABS is trying and failing to keep me upright in a corner. Bottomline: I followed too close and got stung for it. 
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Apr 2, 2015 22:47
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Slavvy posted:So how many inches did you gain? Those are actually before and after photos. The mason jar gained four inches. Pretty impressive for a garage sale pump!
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Apr 2, 2015 23:26
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Chichevache posted:
Yeah, Street Triple. I need to move that drat camera - I don't like the headlight being in frame, but there's not a lot of options. Also the fact all you can hear is valve train noise and not the beautiful Remus set I fitted it with makes me a little sad. That's this weekends job - find a better place to mount the camera.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:07
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Replaced my broken brake lever, got some new oil in. Got the old chain off but couldn't put the new one on because I assumed it would be boxed with an appropriate split link (it wasn't).
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Apr 3, 2015 12:18
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KARMA! posted:
If you and the bike are ok, it was a cheap lesson!
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Apr 3, 2015 12:48
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Armchair Calvinist posted:Those are actually before and after photos. The mason jar gained four inches. Pretty impressive for a garage sale pump! Speaking from experience, vintage 240 owners are healers accustomed to using alternative medicines and home remedies.
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Apr 3, 2015 17:30
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  New ebay windscreen. Not sure how I feel about it. Going to take it for a test ride.
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Apr 4, 2015 17:52
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Does the baby GS go fast enough to warrant a screen?
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Apr 4, 2015 17:54
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Before I saw it I already told him he was out of the naked bike club. Now that I've seen it he's definitely out. Purple screen and red bike...
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Apr 4, 2015 17:55
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 slowly installing new plastics on the yzf, no rush because the snow needs to recede before I can even get it out of the garage.
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Apr 4, 2015 17:59
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clutchpuck posted:Does the baby GS go fast enough to warrant a screen? It does after riding an hour and a half on the highway.
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Apr 4, 2015 18:11
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Meanwhile in Florida, it's been in the 80s all week and I've been without a bike since March 26 because the local dealer can't seem to source a loving tube that fits the motorcycle they sell. I've broke down and ordered one from Cycle Gear and will bring it to the dealer if they don't get their own within 2 days.
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Apr 4, 2015 20:16
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EX250 Type R posted:
Is that a thundercat or a thunderace?
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Apr 4, 2015 21:24
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Just a lil kitty
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Apr 4, 2015 23:43
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| # ? May 29, 2024 21:55 |
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Didn't realise the cat came with the R1 style calipers. That looks about a million times better preserved than every ace/cat I've ever seen here; they're usually ridden by middle aged men who bludgeon them into being tourers and rack up the miles.
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Apr 5, 2015 00:26
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