Found a 1986 Magna on Craigslist for $900

This motorcycle just started white smoking on me. Don't know if it's a cracked head, or gasket, or whatever. As I am not a mechanic and can't afford to fix it, I must sell. It ran great up until a couple of weeks ago when it started to smoke. I obviously didn't want to run it after that. It is also missing second gear which never posed enough of a problem to be worth fixing. I am second owner (only 8 months). Previous owner kept it up big time, yearly oil changes etc. It has 28,600 miles. Hate to let it go, but hate to see it not running worse.

Offered the guy $750 for it, and madly started looking for a truck.

Seller replied to my email and told me that if I could pick it up on Friday, it was mine. He also included some more pics for me.

Joined SabMag mailing list today and introduced myself. Mentioned I was going to buy the bike, how much it was, and what was known to be wrong with it. The general concensus is that I'm paying way too much for the bike since it is known to need work. Transmission work is extra painfull apparently and the second gear issue is common, so a lot of parts bikes will have the same problem. I've already told the guy I'd pick it up Friday though, so I'm pretty much stuck with it.

The responses off list were less critical than the responses on list though. I'm sure a phychologist somewhere will read something into that.

Went and picked the bike up. The guy couldn't find the repair manual he has, but once his wife finds it for him, he'll either mail it to me or drop it by.

Started it up to drive it onto the truck, and it immediately started dribbling coolant out of the middle of both tailpipes. Looked good and green though so rust shouldn't be a big problem. We decided to just push it onto the truck though rather than take any chances. Took it off the truck, I took a quick look at it, then headed off to work.

When I returned, I took a closer look and cosmetically, it looks almost new. There are three dings in the paint to the metal (no rust in any of them yet) and one tiny scrape on the left side of the gas tank (not through the paint) where it looks like a boot caught it. The end of the clutch lever had a run-in with something and the paint is scraped off (too close to a concrete wall?) but nothing else on that side looks like it's had any damage. The right front shock left a little bit of oil on the fork, so possibly a dried up o-ring. On the other hand, apparently you can put air pressure in there too, so maybe it's harder to fix than I expect.

We're having a BBQ tomorrow, so I need to clean up the yard. Hopefully I'll have time to have a quick look on Sunday

Found a copy of the Haynes manual online and decided to print it off. My printer happens to be one that will print on both sides of the paper, holds 1250 sheets, and black ink is free. Had to fix the printer first, then go to Staples to pick up a carton of paper. Got back and printed it off while I cleaned up after the BBQ last night. After it printed, I read over the chapters regarding removing the carbs and decided I'd pull the spark plugs and figure out where the leak is.

Turns out that none of my spark plug sockets will fit... metric (18mm) spark plugs, who knew. I really hope that the threads are the same or I may end up buying a new compression gauge as well! Got to the local Autozone at 8:04 and discovered they close at 8:00 sharp. Pep boys closed at 7:00, so nothing at all gets done today.

Went to the Laguna Hills DMV this morning to transfer the registration and get my M1 permit. Got there about 10:00am and by 11:45 I had the registration transferred (should have taken a book with me). At about 1:45, my number was called to take the written exam and I went up completed form in hand. Everything was going well until I was asked for my "papers". Of course, she meant that she needed to see my passport and permission to work which I hadn't thought to take in. I usually keep it in the side of my laptop bag, so she is nice enough to wait while I frantically run to the car to dig it out. Turns out that it is NOT in my laptop bag, so I get the opportunity to go back tomorrow.

Since I got in to work late, I had to stay late, so I get to Autozone just before they close to buy my 18mm spark plug socket. Of course, they don't have one (in retrospect, it was pretty optimistic of me to assume they would). So I buy the deepest 18mm socket they have and promise myself I'll buy a proper one as soon as I get to a bike store.

Get home, say hello to the wife, and dig into the bike. After trying out all my 1/2" extensions, I decide I had better take the gas tank off before I scrape it up. That goes smoothly and I take out the left rear plug. No problem there. Next is the right rear plug and it makes an awfull screeching noise as I take it out. "This must be it." I think to myself until I have it out far enough that I should be able to turn it by had and take the socket wrench out of the socket. Turns out that the 18mm deep socket is just a TEENY bit too wide to properly fit in the spark plug hole. I wiggle it out with the pliers and finish removing the plug by hand... nope, not this one either.

My brain finally kicks me in the head and suggests I take a look at what is in the Honda tool kit. Of course, there's a spark plug wrench in there, so it's time to check out the front bank. The front left plug is VERY hard to turn, but the 17mm wrench in the toolkit doesn't have a long enough handle to turn it without angling the socket and maybe breaking the plug, so I grab my 17mm wrench and use the box end... better, but still seriously hard to turn. I worry at first that I'm stripping the plug so I poke around with my shop light, look in, turn 1/8th and look again. The plug IS turning, so I apply a fair bit of elbow grease and it comes out eventually with me worrying the whole time that it was cross threaded and debating if I would just replace the head or the whole engine. It finally comes out and I check the threads, and they're fine, but it doesn't look like there was any water on it. A good sniff doesn't suggest there's gas on it either, so I mark that one in my head for a closer look later and move on to the last cylinder. This plug comes out easily and looks great, so I go back to the left front. I grab a clean rag and hold it over the spark plug hole and crank the engine a couple times... take the rag away and there's a green spot.

So now at least I know WHERE the problem is. Looks like the front head will be easier to remove than the rear one anyways, so a spot of luck there and I should at least get the rad off tomorrow and hopefully the carbs as well.

Got to the DMV at 9:15 today and the line was smaller and everything went faster. Tuesday was MUCH better than Monday (note that for next time). Was writing the test by 10:00 and had my permit in my hand by 10:30. Made three mistakes out of an allowed four. Two of them I'm fine with, but the third one I STILL don't think I got wrong. It's right out of the manual on page 17

The blue car is signalling and not showing signs of stopping. Your three choices are:

1. Brake hard
2. Swerve left
3. Slow down and steer away from the vehicle

The correct answer according to the DMV is #3, slow down and steer away from the vehicle. Now, there are traffic lights and yours is obviously green as is the one for opposing traffic and there are no turn lights right? If I move right, I'm just making it more likely either the guy on my right will sideswipe me or the turning car will cream me. If I move left no matter how far, when the car that is turning slams on the brakes so the two cars on my right doesn't hit it, I need to go around BEHIND that car through onciming traffic which has a green light. The only sane choice here is pour on the brakes and let the car on my right pass me, hit the blind driver at which point I'll swerve left, stop, phone the ambulance and hang around waiting for the cops to show up so I can make a statement.

When I got home from work, I grabbed a bite to eat, watched some TV, then went out to pull the rad. Went pretty easily except the Haynes manual doesn't mention that you really need to remove the air filter assembly to disconnect the cooling fan and get the plug to pass through the frame. The 10mm socket and the 5mm allen wrench were pretty much all I needed along with an assortment of socket extensions and a u-joint to get the hose clamp off the rad on the right hand side. The hose from the overflow tank came off and showed that the fitting it went on to was slightly deformed... looks like someone pulled it off with pliers at one point. Rounded it out as best I could and made a note to watch for leaks when I'm riding the bike.

Started taking pictures to help me get it all back together again when I'm done. The thumbnails here are clickable for a way too big version.

Got home from work, ate, and back out to the garage. Just the carb removal today. Went quickly with no real problems except the standard "every screwdriver you own is 1/8th inch too short" issue when loosening the clamps on the boots. Took a couple more pictures, wiring harness and throttle/choke cable detail.

One vacuumn hose was cracked badly and broke when I pulled it off, and the throttle cables were a pain to remove. Next time I'm going to try removing them after I get the carbs out of the boots and see if moving the air chamber around helps get at them.

The Haynes manual said to remove all the fuel lines from the carbs... after looking everything over for a bit, it was fairly obvious that's not what they actually meant. So I just disconnected the one hose from the metal line.

If I get home early enough tomorrow, it's off with the cams. Reading through the manual about that it appears that you need to rotate the crank as part of the procedure. Still trying to figure out if I can get away with using the starter, if there's somewhere I can attach a breaker bar, or if I should just push it in 1st. The Haynes manual is rather silent on this one.

It would be nice to have the head off before Saturday and it looks like I may make it if I can get the cams off tomorrow.

So, got home a little earlier than normal today and was ready an rarin' to go Step one, remove the exhaust. Back bolts, no problem. Front exhaust bolts again, simple. Clamps from the rear exhaust... not so simple. I couldn't find a way to get a ratchet on the left one, so I used a wrench. Wasn't bad though, so I thought I would do the same on the right side. This was a Bad Idea. I could get maybe 1/16th of a turn at a time and I was ready to scream. Fumbling around, I found a way of getting a ratchet on it, so I took pictures...

On the whole, this step was much easier than expected... partly due to the fact that the two bottom bolts were missing (need to replace them eventually!). After that, is was a matter of digging around looking for bits that are attached to the head and disconnecting them. Water and oil pipes were all that were left.

Next up, the valve cover! Only two of the cover bolts had little rubber bits inside to protect the bolt... can't remember if the top two were covered by the guard at the front of the intake manifold or not, so I'm assuming they are for now but I'll have another look later on. And now we're inside the engine! Took a pic showing the contaminated oil. Definately looks like I'm in the right place.

Also snapped a handfull of pics with the valve cover off for help with reassembly

Getting the cams off was pretty straightforward... the Haynes manual reccomends backing out the valve adjusting screws, but I was just carefull to remove the bolts evenly. Seems to have worked fine. Since I had to remove the alternator cover ANYWAYS to see the alignment marks, I just used a 17mm socket on the rotor bolt to rotate the engine. Worked fine. A couple more pics for the record...

Once the cams were off, it sure didn't feel like time to stop... so I didn't :-) Removed the chain tensioner and looked for more bits attached to the head. Didn't see any, so off with the head.

After prying a bit more than I was comfortable doing, the remaining coolant spilt all over the cardboard I put down before I could slide my tray underneath. No big deal, but I guess draining after you remove the rad IS pretty useless. This just means that I can no longer see coolant and say "Aha! I was right!".

After wiggling and pulling for a couple minutes, I decide to take yet another hunt around the head. Turns out this was a good idea since there WERE a couple coolant lines attached to the bottom of the head that I missed. Took those off and the wiggling was almost instantly rewarded with the head coming off. Whee.

Tried to keep the gasket in as close to once piece as possible so I could get a good look at it. Yeah, the ring was blown (on both cylinders actually, but not very bad on the right cylinder). But it was NOT a complete blowout which is what I was expecting. From the amount of coolant that got into the exhaust, it looked like the cylinder was completely full. The place where it was blown was at the bottom of the cylinder. Would enough coolant seep through there in a couple weeks of sitting to completely fill the cylinder? I've never seen a blown head gasket on something that had a large portion of the coolant higher than the head before, so I can't say for sure, but my gut is telling me that it wouldn't happen. Took some pics of the gasket, but they're too blury to see what I mean.

Also took some pics of the head and the block with the head off

So, I'm now reasonably uncertain enough that it's this head gasket that I've got basically three choices of what to do next...

1. Assume that it WAS this head gasket, replace it, put the engine back together, change the oil, run it, change the oil, let it warm up completely, and see if it's fixed. If not, do the same job on the rear head next week. Put off fixing 2nd until the engine is done.
2. Assume that it is actually the other head gasket, replace this one and reassemble then rip apart the other one. Defer any decision about the tranny until I see what the back gasket looks like.
3. Give up and replace the engine and transmission

I don't really want to go with #3 yet, but spending an extra $100 or so to do #1 and/or #2 THEN doing #3 doesn't really appeal to me either.

After polling the mailing list, pouring over the manual, staring head the head, navel contemplating, etc, I have decided to do only the head gasket for now. I don't have enough confidence in the head gasket as the only engine fix needed to take the extra time needed to rip in all the way to the transmission at this point. Doing all the work I've done so far should only take a few hours later when I do decide to fix second, so the best bet seems to be replacing the head gasket and seeing if everything is good.

At a later date, I'll pull the engine out and get into the transmission to do the undercut, build up the fork, or whatever else needs doing. Settling in for the long wait for the new head gasket means I can spend a couple minutes every day buffing up the mating surfaces, measuring the cams, wishing for a valve spring compressor etc.

If I can convince the wife that I need a valve spring compressor and a lapping tool, I can do the front valves while I'm at this point. First thing though is to convince myself I need them and I'm having problems with that. After I have time to get emotionally attached to the bike would be a better time to start spending all my spare time and money on it.

Instead, I've decided it's time to start getting some gear together and sign up for a safety course. My wife surprised me with a set of leather she got on eBay for a really good price (under $80 with shipping) they're both Hudson Leather. The jacket is a 305 described on the web site as:

Part 305 - Vented Jacket, w/ Brass Zippers Black Flow through air vents, side laces, inside pockets. This jacket contains an insulating warmer which zips in and out for comfort in all kinds of weather. This extremely varsitile garment is truly... "A JACKET FOR ALL SEASONS". Heavy duty 4-5oz. of soft app

The chaps have been cut down at the bottom an inch or so unevenly, but will still "work". The image from the web site is black, but mine are the same ones in brown.

A pair of shorty velcro fastening brown gloves were in a pocket as well. Can't find a pic of them on the site, but they're brown, half fingers, with knuckle and finger vents.

The two important things I have left are a helmet and a pair of boots. I've worn leather soled cowboy boots constantly for the last 15 years or so, so at the very least, I'll need something with a more suitable sole. I've seen a lot about ankle support regarding riding boots, but I haven't found details of what it actually helps with. If I do move to a real riding boot, it will most likely be an engineer style boot. As for the helmet, I think that initially I'll just get the cheapest DOT approved full face helmet I can get my hands on... which looks like it will be around $80. The problem with that of course is that it won't match. The cheap ones come in white or black, so I'll most likely go with white.

So, the new head gasket came today and I had no problems getting it away from my wife despite previous ominous warnings. After supper, started putting the engine back together. A final scraping and cleaning of everything plus a couple cans of air (I need to get me a compressor) and everything starts going back together again finally.

Had one bad point where I couldn't figure out how to get 46 links between the index marks on the sprockets until I realized that the index marks weren't exactly aligned with the low between the teeth, so "46 between the index marks" was actually what I thought was 44 at first. After a surprisingly low amount of fiddling, got everything lined up and the cam holders on and decided to call it a night.

While I was washing up though, I was struck by a horrible thought... I had rotated the engine three times after the first alignment and it now looks like the cams are in the same position as in my pictures. I'm 360 degrees off! I run upstairs to double-check the pictures, and it's true... Cam positioning is close to the same. A closer look though and I notice that the picture is not taken at either the 1/3 mark or the 2/4 mark... which means the picture is worse than useless. Trying mightily to remember a week and a half back as to if I did a full rotation to align or just the 15-30 degrees it looks like in the picture proves to be an exercise in futility, so tomorrow I need to take the other valve cover off and see if I'm lucky and have the front bank right or if I get to pay for my stupidity of not taking the pictures at the right time and taking insufficient notes.

So, I've stopped there, wallowing in my own stupidity for the day... maybe somebody here knows some magical method of knowing if it's right or wrong just by looking at one bank (though I can't see how). Tomorrow I take the rear valve cover off, rotate the engine a few times and see how wrong I am.

Four lessons (re)learnt today...

1. Take pictures at more appropriate times... or just take more pictures
2. Take better notes if you want to put everything together again when you're done
3. Wait for the parts FIRST so you don't need to remember what you did weeks ago
4. Pictures aren't good enough... use a sharpie and MARK the correct position!

As an interesting note, although the gasket is an exact match for the old one, there is one water hole in the head which does not have a matching hole in the gasket... and the gasket has a hole that does not line up with anything. The mismatch is on the right side cylinder (the one without the problem) so rather than mess up the new gasket, I'll use it as is. This does suggest to me that this head gasket has been replaced before though...

So, decided I would torque everything to spec when reassembling, and managed to stretch two of the oil pipe bolts in the process (my torque wrench doesn't do 7 ft-lbs very well). Luckily, Pete Springer got me the name of someone in San Diego who had parts, so I gave him a call. He had an engine that was sitting outside for years uncovered and without the plugs in it that I could have for the price of a burger... a three hour drive later, and I had myself the needed bolts. Obviously, I gave up on the torque wrench idea and tightened them by prayer and feel.

The rest of the reassembly went pretty well, one of the top coolant pipe O-rings developed a leak, so I had to take the carbs back off and replace that (put in two O-rings instead of the rubber seal that was in there) and got the oil changed.

Fired it up and let it warm up... after it got up to operating temperature, it blew white for a minute or two which I assume was left over coolant in the exhaust, then developed a rattling noise and started blowing blue.

After waiting a day and trying it again, the problem is still there... the rattle is there from when it starts, and it blows blue after it comes up to temperature.

So now I'm at that point where I'm almost ready to admit defeat and replace the engine. I'm planning on checking the valve clearances before I completely give up, but I don't think it's possible to put everything back together badly enough that it runs well, but burns oil like it doesn't need gasoline.

What I plan on doing this week is double-checking under the valve covers for obvious simple problems and adjust the valve clearances and see if that gets rid of the rattling. After that, I'll probably do a desperation move and drain the gas tank and fill it with new gas in the vauge hope that the problem is in the tank. I'm giving this about a 0.5% change of getting me riding my bike this weekend, so when all that fails, it'll be time for me to start shopping for an engine.

So, despite my best efforts, this engine refuses to kill itself. Got the front valve cover off tonight and was horrified to find the threaded end of a bolt in the bottom of the valve cover. A little bit of looking and I found the other end of it as well... sitting down by the tensioner. The two bits together were very short and I couldn't immediately figure out where it came from.

A quick look around though and I discovered to my horror that ALL of the cam sprocket bolts were loose. Like a crowbar upside the back of the head, I remembered that I was going to pick up some thread locking compound on my way home from work while reassembling the engine, but my stretching of the oil pipe bolts drove that thought from my head and the intervening days when I went to pick up the junker engine for parts ensured complete forgetfullness.

More poking around and some turning of the engine (yay, I got to use the "Put 'er in gear and turn the back tire" trick!) showed that the bits of bolts never went through the cams and they're still good. Since I have the junker engine, I've got the extra sprocket bolts I need, and I'll be able to get everything back together (properly) tomorrow... at which point, I will (barring other stupidities) feel good enough about the whole thing to actually ride my bike and hope the smoke stops.

It appears that the rattling was the loose bolts slapping the head... there are some minor scrapes on the head inside the hole, and the heads of a couple of the bolts are battered.

Apparently, the engine gods want me to actually have a ride before I take the junker apart and see what kind of shape 2nd is in. I have had nothing but good luck with this project so far, so I'm actually optimistic again.

Well, I actually tightened the sprocket bolts with thread lock now all I get is a slight ticking. I never got around to taking the back valve cover off, so I'll be wanting to check the valve clearances there right away, but the wonderfull news is that the bike runs great. 2nd is dying not dead (it will stay in gear for a couple seconds) and going from 3rd to 1st isn't bad at all while riding. Of course, I'm not actually going to USE 2nd, but it's nice to know it hasn't completely left the building yet.

As for my rusty riding skills, they're even worse than I expected. I caught myself fighting the handlebars in turns every time regardless of me telling myself to cut it out. In thinking about it, I think I'm unconsciously trying to stay vertical. Because of this, I couldn't make a turn at more than about 10mph or so. Dips and bumps weren't a problem and stopping/starting was something I didn't have the slightest problem with. The amount of rock when getting on and off the throttle surprised me, but I've never rode a shaft drive before in my life. The very slight pause and jump or pause and dive when going from acceleration to deceleration and back will take a bit of getting used to, but it only seems to be noticeable at low speeds. Over about 20mph, I didn't notice it at all.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that I will NOT be using this bike for commuting for another week at least. I was hoping that it was like riding a bike, so I could just get on and go and it would all come back in five minutes or so. No the case for me, so signing up for a safety course and waiting until I'm a lot better at handing the bike is my plan now. Hopefully I'll get an hour or two of riding every evening, but my residential area here is kinda small, so I'll need to get onto roads with traffic before I get somewhere with more space. So basically, I'll be seen driving around and around the same seven streets until I'm confident enough in myself to be on the same road as other vehicles.

Well, I got up this morning itching to get on the bike... a quick cup of coffee and a bite to eat, and I geared up and fired up the bike.

Letting it warm up, I started debating with myself as to when, exactly, it was "warm enough". The book says that when it reaches the blue line, it's warn enough, but I'm not completely sure I trust that, so I waited until I could see a tiny sliver of black between the needle and the blue line. Am I being too paranoid here? I mean, since it's liquid cooled, and the temperature sensor is for the coolant, the engine temperature should be somewhat above the coolant temperature when warming up right? Anyway it took about seven minutes to reach the point where I thought it was good enough. My experience with sleds and quads suggests that one cigarette should be long enough (2-3 minutes) so I'm waffling on believing the book or not.

A quick five minute tour around the neighborhood to get my confidence up, and I pulled into a likely looking parking lot to practice my turning (off list suggestions seem to agree that this is the first thing to work on). The parking lot has a pair of pylons spaced about 40 feet apart, so after a couple circles around the lot in first, I started in doing figure eights at ultra low speeds.

After a couple wobbly circuits, I reached a point where I could do a left u-turn with the steering right to the stop without a wobble or putting down my foot. RIGHT turns on the other hand became the bane of my existence. There is basically three (wrong) ways that I do it... I either don't lean enough and take the turn way too wide, or I lean too much and have to accelerate to stay up which pretty much ends the turn right there, or I lean too much, fight the urge to accelerate my way out at which point I have to start wrestling with my bike to keep it from falling over. I managed to wrench my shoulder a little bit keeping the bike up, but I haven't actually layed it all the way down yet. From the experience though, it looks like when the bike DOES lay down, it will be resting on the bar that goes around the from of the engine, the foot peg, and perhaps the handlebar. So at least none of the pretty bits seem like they are in mortal danger of getting ugly... which is nice.

After 30-45 minutes of figure eights (with an occasional lap around the parking lot to get my mind out of "OMG I CAN'T TURN RIGHT! ABORT! ABORT!" mode), I still haven't managed to come up with a reason for the problems turning right. I don't seem to be having any trouble with the clutch, throttle, or braking... the problem seems to just be that my instincts just aren't as coordinated when turning right. Hopefully I'm not missing something that that I'm actually doing wrong, so more practice is all I need.

At this rate, a couple more days of practicing turns and I'll be able to move on to practicing braking!

I have to admit that I was naively believing that I would be able to spend a couple hours practicing then my experience in riding a dirt bike across open fields and down gravel roads fifteen years ago would flood back to me and magically transform me into a competent rider with complete control over his ride. I had decided to take the safety course not because I believed that it would actually TEACH me anything, but because it would be easier than waiting in line at the DMV and I would get a break on my insurance. It's pretty obvious to me now that I missed a golden opportunity to take the training course while I was still working on my bike. Had I done that, I would have a two week jump start on where I am now.

I still catch myself making rationalizations to myself and pumping up my ego with such mental conversations like "So now when I do take the course, I'll ace it because in two weeks I'll know everything" but I now have the experience to know that I'm just BSing myself. I can't stop myself from doing it but at least I can intellectually know that I'm lying to myself and override my ego with the rational part of my brain.

It's a good thing that I waited as long as I did to get a bike because I'm not sure that five years ago I would have been able to override my ego this way, and it's quite possible I would have gotten myself killed from knowing that I am invincible and know everything.

Well, just an update from me. I've been trying to ride for at least half an hour every day, but it's been more like fourty-five minutes every two or three days. I'm now comfortable at low speeds and around the neibourhood and venture out to the 35-45 mph speed limit roads briefly when there's not much traffic.

I managed to get past the stall after every stop stage pretty quickly and am almost to the point where I always know what gear I'm in (extra important for me since it jumps out of second). Adapting to 3000 RPM as the "normal" engine speed is coming along though I still catch myself when approaching turns.

Discovered that I had a tendency to lean *forward* in turns which I assume is a holdover from the dirt bike since I can't think of any other reason for it, but now that I've stopped that, my back doesn't seem nearly as ticked off at me as it used to. Still not completely natural yet to lean back when I'm leaning out, but as with all things, that will come with practice.

As for the bike, no new problems as of yet... no odd leaks or strange noises and everything feels pretty solid. Had a squealing from the front brakes for a couple or rides so I checked the pads... they're OK, but I'll want new ones relatively soon. Next time I buy something from a place that would carry them, I'll order the pads, but the squealing was just a rock or something. The rotors are gnawing away at me a little bit... I don't know if it's "normal" or not, but if you run your finger along the rotor from inside to out, there's a pronounced waviness. I'm thinking it just because they're so much more exposed than in other vehicles, so this is alright, but if it was on a car, I would be getting them turned. I'll see if the new brake pads seat in before I get too worried about this though.

Another possible problem I noticed when I was working on the brakes is that there's a spot in the rim on the one side where the rim is bent out just a teensy bit. The tire isn't leaking or anything, but I worry a bit about loosing the bead if I hit a bump just wrong.

I haven't yet mucked about with the suspension, just left it wherever the previous owner had it. I'll most likely start experimenting with it a bit tomorrow.

All in all, I'm very happy with the design of this bike... not sure if I've just gotten lucky and managed to pick a great model out of the hat at random as it were, or if I just like bikes more than other things with an engine. Or maybe I still have that new owner glow... who knows?

Nothing new at all, didn't manage to have enough daylight to actually ride much this week at all due to craziness at work. Today however, I was out for a few hours. Getting pretty darn comfortable riding now, and have found two seat positions each of which I can hold for half an hour or so so my back isn't complaining like it did at first (also, I'm sure I'm more relaxed than I initially was). The first position is with my butt pretty much in the middle of the seat with a slight crouch/slouch. Once my butt starts to hate that, I move to the back of the seat and perch with a straight posture. They both seem to work pretty well and they wear out different butt areas, so moving between the two lets me stay pretty comfortable.

I actually rode to work today. Being Saturday, there was practically no traffic, but there was some and I started the process of discovering why it is that you should always believe they are out to kill you. Nothing major, but I've noticed a few things.

First of all, people really desperately want to cut you off. Even when there isn't enough room between you and the guy in front of you, but there is NOBODY behind you, they will accelerate, pass you, then cut in front of you. While this hasn't been a problem for me yet since I'm still avoiding real traffic, I expect this to be a major pain a few months down the road.

The next thing I've noticed is the "oh crap, a bike" maneuveur. This one is a new game every time. Essentially how it works is someone apparently fails to see you and starts into your right of way... usually turning in front of you, but this occurs with lane changes as well. Once they are halfway into your path of travel, you see them do a double-take and slam on the brakes. At this point, they are already in your way and you've already started to slow down with the expectation that you will end up behind them. Now however, you have apparently reached a stalemate. Each time, the call to brake harder, wave them on and wait or to try edging around them is slightly different and varies by other traffic, how far into your path they have gotten, what they're driving, and what kind of driver they look like. I can see that I'll be playing this game for the rest of my life.

The last one really surprised me. When approaching a red light with only one vehicle ahead of me, twice the person in front of me has moved to the far outside of their lane and stopped ten or fifteen feet back from the crosswalk. This filled me with doubt both times... first of all, I'm not sure if they're doing it to let me past or "just because". Secondly, I'm not confident enough yet to pass them and thirdly, I'm not sure how to indicate "thanks, but I'm fine here." The second time it happened, I gave a little wave and slight shake of my head, and they guy didn't pull up to the crosswalk... so I'm still unsure. This does seem like something I'll start doing when I'm driving the car (never done it before, and never noticed anyone else doing it). What does everyone else do in this situation?

As for things I've noticed about riding... I have two helmets, a black open faced one that I wear when riding in residential areas and a silver full-face one that I wear when I'll be doing 50mph and more. I've started getting the hang of opening the visor a crack when approaching a red light or entering a residential area or parking lot. I've also noticed that the full faced helmet makes a huge difference in drag when shoulder checking. I tend to get a slightly sore neck after a while or riding with it. Eventually I expect that my neck will toughen up and I'll stop noticing this.

Regarding things I've noticed about my riding... I've found that on occasion when I'm in a curve at 50+mph, I get a very slight wobble/twitch from the front. I'm not sure if this is me or the bike yet, but it scared me quite a bit the first couple times it happened and while I haven't reacted badly to it yet, it's not something I want to be happening on a regular basis. The front tire looks good and I can't find any obvious problems with the fork that would cause it. Anyone have any suggestions or comments? Should I assume it's me and work on my curves or should I assume it's the bike and back off a little until I find a reason for it?

I've also noticed that the centre stand has a tendency to slap the left muffler when I go over bumps. I haven't looked yet, but I assume there's a rubber stopper under it that's worn down too far. I'll have a look at that tonight and see if I can mickey mouse something together that will hold me until I figure out the Right Way to fix it.

That's all for now... still in the basic skill building stage of riding, so hopefully no exciting reports from me any time soon.

Well, while giving my fork a closer looking at, I discovered a few new things.

1. The valve stems have oil in them. Not sure if this is a problem or not.
2. My only good pressure gauge does not open the valve, so I don't know how much pressure is in them. Time for a new pressure gauge.
3. My fork brace is cracked and I can open the cracks by holding the tire and putting some pressure on the handlebars.

That last may be the cause of the twitching from the front end I mentioned yesterday. It's the right side of the brace which has the problems and in thinking about it, the problem occurs when I'm turning right.

The crack at the rear of the brace is almost all the way to the edge, so it won't take much to separate that bolt from the rest of the brace. The front crack isn't as far, but I'd bet that if the rear separates, the front will fail almost instantly.

The FAQ has information regarding a replacement brace which is no longer available and a new brace will run around $40 (and possibly crack again). Now my issue is how to modify my riding until I get that brace replaced? Most likely I'll do residential and parking lot riding only. Once the brace is replaced, I'll take it out at speed again and see if it fixes the twitch.

About the oil in the fork valves, I'll hold off on taking the forks apart until after I get the brace fixed, but I'll buy a new pressure gauge before then. Not as vital since I won't really be doing much except putting around for a while.

Got the new fork brace installed and it's like riding a whole new bike. Even at low speeds, it responds immediately and seems much tighter. No more elevator dropping feeling from the front end. I have noticed a slight wandering but I may not have tightened the bolts hard enough (going to check that right away). If the OEM part makes this much difference, I'll most likely be buying the steel bracket available here right away.

Completely unrelated, I'm starting to look at some luggage. Basically, I want something I can stash my leathers in when I get off the bike. Chaps may look good when within six feet of the bike, but they look sillier and sillier the further away you get. :-)

So, I've looked over the prices of soft luggage and became quickly overwhelmed. Some bags say what bikes they fit on, others don't, and I haven't been around motorbikes long enough to have a gut feeling of what's good and what's not. I'm including to just get a throwover pair of saddlebags which, it appears that you would run the main strap under the seat, then run a strap to the tail lights (can they take this?) and another to the passenger peg. It *appears* that they can sit against the shocks and not get pinched in the springs, but it wouldn't be all that hard to put some kind of plastic cover over the springs so the bag doesn't get pinched.

However, the price of saddlebags seems way out of whack to what you actually get. It's like the word "motorcycle" somehow makes them magically cost three times as much. So, what I'm looking at is picking up some military shoulder ammo bags (army surplus or some such) like this and some webbing and mount them myself. Total cost would be under $40. I know I've seen bags like this for under $10 before, so some extra shopping would help out. Most of the military bags also have extra loops and such for clipping stuff to which should make mounting on a bike easier.