I can’t really complain, my bike has been pretty good to me in the past year. Thank god I haven’t had to do anything too serious to it yet, like swapping out the motor or get another frame, knock on wood… But, the little things here and there do add up. It’s a never ending battle to keep up with wear and tear on the bike in the game of stunt riding. You learn as you go.
In the past month, I’ve been keeping up with regular maintenance on my bike as much as possible. After Stunt Wars, I decided to tear it down and start its makeover for 2011. After lots of sanding and preparation for the new paint, the old black and white quickly morphed into a fresh electric blue. While waiting for the clear coat to finish drying, I assessed the over all and much needed, TLC.
I began with throwing in some new spark plugs, a clean air filter thanks to K & N, replaced the old hand brake line and reservoir hose with a new one, switched out the hand brake pads twice, solved the leaky gas cap phenomenon, new clutch cable, new cam chain tensioner, rear tire and rim swap, toggle switch for the fan, new fork seals, a new right side of the cage thanks to Racing 905 and finally, double checked all wiring inside to make sure that there wasn’t any exposed wires that could possibly cause another blown fuse in the future.
Then came the fun with the radiator…
It had been gradually leaking on and off for the past two months. One day it leaked, the next it didn’t, and another it was spewing. The temperature would sky rocket, then it wouldn’t. I tried all the quick fixes including, pepper, stop leak, and even took it to a local radiator shop to weld the leaking line. In the end I took off the original radiator and put it back on an entertainingly fun three times in attempting to plug the leak by any
means. I’m pretty sure that poor old radiator has just about one more life left in it…
Next, I went over all loose nuts, bolts, alans, and screws, again, to make sure everything was nice and tight…..added a couple zip-ties here and there, new bracket for the handbrake reservoir, and washed all of the hidden built up oil, grease, sand, and dirt that accumulated underneath the fairings over time.
For now, nothing is leaking, tapping, squeaking, or rattling and my bikes new paint job is looking wicked, thanks to my Dad and his magical paint skills, some great Florida friends for lending me a helping hand, and fellow rider Brytni Noel for sending me a spare radiator within lightning speed. Ask me in a month or so and I’m sure, I’ll have a different story..
I think all there is left to do is…RIDE!! Catch you in Daytona for XDL Round 1!
