what did you wrench on today??

[sedelen]

Sure could use some pics and a bit of a how to as I am thinking about doing mine as well.

Mike

Pinstriping 101.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vNqe8RMW1U

[Tim Tom]

I spent about an hour fiddling with the bike today after work to finish up some odds n ends. Started off by replacing the tach cable that snapped on my Saturday ride, and made damn sure to lube it well. Judging by the state of the old cable it seems I should lube more often. I got about a year out of that one, but it should have been much more.

While I was up front with the lube I did the throttle, clutch, and choke cables too and it made a noticeable difference in the controls.

Next I jumped up and down a whole lot on the bike and adjusted the rear damping on my shocks up by one position. We will have to see how it affects the bikes handling, but now the front and back move the same amount when jumping on it so that's an improvement. Right?

Finally I turned the fuel air mixture screw a bit so that the bike idles better and doesn't stumble or stall in low RPMs.

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to a great big empty parking lot and working on my skills a bit. After all that is the best thing you can improve on a bike... The nut connecting the seat to the handlebars.

[michaelj_444]

Gracias!

Thanks a bunches. Is that even a word?

Pinstriping 101.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vNqe8RMW1U

[sedelen]

Thanks a bunches. Is that even a word?

Your Welcome!
There's "bunches" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bunches
of that stuff on You Tube. Just go to You Tube and type in "pinstriping" and all kinds of stuff will pop up, all you got to do is pick and choose. In fact you can find tutorials on most anything as I'm sure you already know.

[pete]

I spent about an hour fiddling with the bike today after work to finish up some odds n ends. Started off by replacing the tach cable that snapped on my Saturday ride, and made damn sure to lube it well. Judging by the state of the old cable it seems I should lube more often. I got about a year out of that one, but it should have been much more.

While I was up front with the lube I did the throttle, clutch, and choke cables too and it made a noticeable difference in the controls.

Next I jumped up and down a whole lot on the bike and adjusted the rear damping on my shocks up by one position. We will have to see how it affects the bikes handling, but now the front and back move the same amount when jumping on it so that's an improvement. Right?

Finally I turned the fuel air mixture screw a bit so that the bike idles better and doesn't stumble or stall in low RPMs.

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to a great big empty parking lot and working on my skills a bit. After all that is the best thing you can improve on a bike... The nut connecting the seat to the handlebars.

Good stuff Tim, I've been thinking of playing with my pre-load lately as after riding that awesome Katana with Ohlins on it I feel my suspension with the Ikons is far too soft... even though it's miles better than the stock setup... I intend to try some PVC spacers in the top of the forks as well as adjusting the shocks... not that it'll get anywhere near having well adjusted Ohlins on it of course!

And with the aim of improving throttle response, I took a drill to my slides last night:



Not sure if I'll get a chance to test ride until the commute to work tomorrow though as it's a public holiday here today...

[earlfor]

Valve adjustment time again on the Bandit.

[Tim Tom]

Good stuff Tim, I've been thinking of playing with my pre-load lately as after riding that awesome Katana with Ohlins on it I feel my suspension with the Ikons is far too soft... even though it's miles better than the stock setup... I intend to try some PVC spacers in the top of the forks as well as adjusting the shocks... not that it'll get anywhere near having well adjusted Ohlins on it of course!

Cheers Pete. I got the chance to test out how the suspension felt with the damping adjusted today. I put it up to 2 instead of 1 where they have been for the past 12k+ miles. At low speeds it made no difference really, however at highway speeds going over a bump in a fast sweeper really upset the bike. The back end felt like it jumped all over the place and pogo'ed a bit. After a thorough evaluation I put them back down to 1 and it is much more comfortable at faster speeds. Since I do a fair share of highway, I figured it's worth it to not have to worry about initiating a tank slapper.

Perhaps I'll try adjusting the preload just to see what sort of difference it makes. After all that's how you learn!

[pete]

Good stuff Tim... pretty sure my Ikons are pre-load adjustable only so I'm keen to give it a go.

I need to figure out the front fork spring diameter first to make sure I have suitable PVC pipe around, then I can give it a go.

Really need to finalise my jetting first though, trying to only change one thing at a time so I can focus on what (if any) that one change has made.

[tomo]

I took the Bandit 1200 out last year before the bad weather set in, it rained a bit and I washed the bike when I got back. A few days later had to move her out the garage to get to my welder, noticed the front fork sliders were blooming like crazy. Think the council had been out salting the roads and that had got into a stone chip or two and under the laquer. I was well cheesed off, had the bike 4 years and till then had kept it mint. So now I`m going to have to sand em down and re-paint. Not too sure what to use though as they do take some hammer from stone chips. Ideally I should strip the forks and get the sliders powder coated, but finance wise thats out the question. Think for now I`ll have to paint them in-situ. Can anyone suggest what would be best paint wise ?.

[pete]

Good stuff Tim... pretty sure my Ikons are pre-load adjustable only so I'm keen to give it a go.

I need to figure out the front fork spring diameter first to make sure I have suitable PVC pipe around, then I can give it a go.

Really need to finalise my jetting first though, trying to only change one thing at a time so I can focus on what (if any) that one change has made.

Well whaddya know... just re-read the adjustment instructions and my Ikon shocks have four damping positions and three pre-load positions... now I have even more to play with

[Tim Tom]

Well whaddya know... just re-read the adjustment instructions and my Ikon shocks have four damping positions and three pre-load positions... now I have even more to play with

I thought so. If I recall correctly you have the series 93 shocks on there right? If so they are the same as on my 850, although with quite a different spring rate to make up for the 150lb ish weight difference I'd imagine.

I'm curious to know how you end up setting them up.

[Sandy]

Tonight I managed to start putting things back together. Put the oil pan back on as well as got the cylinders and head back on and torqued. Installed the cams, got it all timed up, turned it over a few times by hand and then some spins with the starter. All looks and sounds OK. WooHoo!! Next a post build compression check, exhaust, carbs, gas and hopefully it should run.

[pete]

The Ikons I have are 7610-1282SP10... damping and pre-load adjustable.

I'll finish my jetting changes then start on suspension.

And speaking of jetting, the enlarged vacuum holes in the slides definitely had an impact today. Not ground breaking but definitely noticeable quicker throttle response, especially once the rev's are up around the 5500RPM mark or more.

I need to try dropping the mains back to 145 again and see how that goes, but I feel I'm very close to just right

[mrbill5491]

Sure could use some pics and a bit of a how to as I am thinking about doing mine as well.

Mike

I would have a extra person on hand, they can watch as it is applied as to the alignment. Take your time because you will have to reposition the tape a few times. Take breaks. Once done and happy with your work, clear coat the hell out of it lol.

[earlfor]

I have pretty much all the regular spring stuff done on my bike.
I have the old tire that was on it when I bought it.
I figured I could take the worn tire off and throw the old on for now and it's be fine for wizzing around a little bit.
So I went ahead and got insurance on my bike, it was only $20.

Today I managed to get the worn tire off and after wrestling around trying to get the old tire on and seated, I discovered (and remembered) that when I took it off originally, I had let the air out of by stabbing it with my knife.

Needless to say, I did a decent amount of non productive work today,
lol.

I guess it's safe to assume you were fresh out of Little Jiffy knife slash repair kits huh?