Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Gettin' Ready

Well, I'm in the midst of getting ready for the trip.  The first order of business is to get the bike ready.  With 24,000 miles on the bike, it was time for a major service to be done.  Oil and oil filter change, air filter, transmission oil change, check brake pads, and several small things to be lubricated.  So, yesterday and today I spent most of the day doing those things.  The fairings had to be removed to get to some of the things needing attention, so the bike became pretty naked to do what had to be done.

All of that went pretty well.  Oil and filter change is easy.  Transmission oil change is a little more involved, but not difficult.  Air filter was not difficult.  So, all in all, the service went well.

The tires on the bike needed to be checked to see if there was enough tread to get us out west and back.  I looked at service records and found that the front tire has 11,000 miles on it.  My records show that front tires have lasted from 15,000-17,000 miles, using a different brand of tire.  The tread looks pretty good on the tire on the bike.  But I think we'll probably ride about 7,000 miles out and back.  If that's true, I'll need a front tire before I get home.  The rear tire has about 8,000 miles on it.  I never get more than 13,000 miles on a rear tire, so it's clear that I will need a rear tire installed.

After considerable thought, I decided to replace both tires.  I had ordered new tires a couple of months ago, so they are available to be installed.  Tomorrow I'll go to Wilson and have the new rubber installed.  Then back home to reinstall the wheels and put the rest of the bike back together.

That will have most of the work done.  However I have two additional things to do.  On Friday I take the bike to the dealer to have the final drive oil changed.  The new final drive's oil needs to be changed to flush out the metal filings created when the drive was manufactured.

The final thing to be done was not anticipated.  Today I started to check out an issue with the walkie-talkie and found that the main fuse panel was not being supplied with electricity.  Checking with a tester, I decided that the relay that serves the fuse panel had gone bad.  And, of course, it's not a relay that fits in normal cars.  Google found the only distributer in USA that handles this particular relay in California.  So, a new relay has been ordered with 3 day shipping.  Hopefully it will arrive on Friday so I can install it and check things out.  Seems to always be something to do.

Next item to deal with is a packing list.  I find anymore that if I don't have a list, I forget things that I'll need.  So, I'll work on a list that I'll use on Sunday.

That's it for this post.  We're getting down to the short rows and plan to leave town a week from tomorrow (August 9).

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