'98 Suzuki FX 650 Freewind.

[Navy Boy]

Got a new battery for the XF650 this morning. The old one wasn't holding charge for long in the cooler weather. Got charged $43 less than I was quoted over the phone yesterday.

How did you manage that then? Incidentally I'm trying 95 RON in the DR to see if it has any effect on the fuel consumption (Currently running around 20km/litre).

[Bonez]

How did you manage that then? Incidentally I'm trying 95 RON in the DR to see if it has any effect on the fuel consumption (Currently running around 20km/litre).

Ron recognised me from a previous storemans job I had. Had the battery ready and waiting. Did a lot of business with him. Also ran in to that outfits ApperalMaster guy while I was there. Pays to know people

[Navy Boy]

Ron recognised me from a previous storemans job I had. Had the battery ready and waiting. Did a lot of business with him. Also ran in to that outfits ApperalMaster guy while I was there. Pays to know people

[Bonez]

Well the day started with good intentions. Was going to drop SPYDA off the Cemetery Curcuit 2004 program to him in Lower Hut. Checked the weather. A bit cool down there but nothing a nice pair of thick cottan jarmy pants under my jeans can't overcome. So googled his street address and jotted down a few streets that lead to it on a peice of A4 paper which I folded in half put in plastic and taped to the back of the tank.

Got dressed for the occasion, pulled the XF650 out, fired her up and off we went. Decided to start on the road behind Massey to warm the tires up on those nice sweeping bends. Through to Shannon, back of Levin and on to PieCock. Left up PieCock Hilll, an old stopping ground in a previous life. A few slips the first couple of kms then fine from there. A lot of low sport cars coming the other way. Run of some sort I guess. Was toodling along fine until about 3/4 the way through. Something felt odd. Pulled over in a parking area looked down at the rear wheel and yip I had a flatty. Side stand down have a look at the tyre and it had picked up a flat head pin. "Bugger" I thought. I in a reasonably isolated road alone, no tyre pando to use. I've had 50/50 success with them anyway.

Hmmm "Bugger". Decided not to interrupt SPYDA from his Sunday slumber or morning nooky. It was pissing down over that way anyhooo. Hadn't reached the Estuary yet so decided to limp to there then backtrack to the highway. The rear tyre had a heavy duty tube with about 2/3rds wear on the tread and the bike is light as a feather so worth a gamble. Off we went around to the highway. I sat my arse on the front portion of the pillion part of the seat to keep some downward pressure on the rear tyre to help prevent it rolling off the rim. Being lanky it wasn't uncomfortable at all. Got around to the highway no worries and could get up tp 60kph without to too much drama. On to the highway and proceeded to go norf. The sign near the expressway stated 115kms to Balmy Palmy. I set a self imposed max speed of 45km for my an other road users safety sake. Checked the rear tyre and rim around every 10-15kms or so and while riding listened to any change noise coming from the rear. Obviously keeping as far left as possible without it being dangerous.

Put some gas in at Z in Levin and on on....... A few drivers and rider notified me the rear tyre was which was nice and generally most drivers gave me a wide birth while passing. Some waved. A few blkes out which was good to see.

Made it home at 3:00pm without any bother at all. I told Connie I'd be home around 3:30pm-4:00pm when I departed so within the margin of error. Apart from the speed it was a most enjoyable ride and worked out I'd done 130kms on the flatty. Obviously the pin head was worn a bit over that time.

As they say any day on your motorcycle is a good day.

[Bonez]

Pulled the rear tyre off on Monday and removed one side of the tyre using my small tyre levers.Broke the beading on the other side with the tyre laid down on the rear tyre I had removed from the CB550 a week or so ago to stop any damage to the brake disk a or rim.. Pulled the tube out and removed the valve stem. The tyre had not rotated the entire 130km journey. Obviously yje stem got ripped from the tube and the tube had a few foot wide gashes around it. Inspected both the inside and the outside. Apart from about a 1/4 of a mil ribbing patch around the outside upper road camper side it looked fine. No sign of metal or cloth fiber protruding into to the inner wall of the tyre.

Gave it a good vacuum inside to remove any crap that may be there. Put in the nice heavy duty IRC tube I had in the garage. Refitted the tyre and used a portion of early '80 Suzuki gasaxe oil fiter seal to block the hole the pin had made to around 5mm below the top of the tread, leaving enough room between the tube and the "insert" so as the tyre and pushes on toward the tube there will be still a small gap between the tube and the insert. Fitted the tyre yesterday went for a 100km ride to see how it went. This included about 6kms of just freshly graded gravel. Good as gold and should last to until I replace it before the next Wof in August.

[Bonez]

Some pics of the repair.

[Bonez]

Nice wee 350km ride today. Dropped off a small panel heater we were'nt using off to Dad. Just removed the Give top box and wrapped the heater in foam padding and a heavy plastic bag and bungyed to the passenger portion of the seat and top box rack. Weather was nice over in Hawkes Bay. A bit wet and windy this side of the saddle road. Bike ran extremely well.

Finished the painting the two lower cowlings. Found out why the carbs were leaking. The "professionals" who did the the last tune up hadn't tighten the carb drain screws completely. Nipped both of them up tight and now no leakage.

[Bonez]

Received the XF650s side stand back from Colin at Two Wheels Eng. I had him machine up a 35mm extension piece, weld it in place and add a piece of 5mm sheet metal to the foot. Bikes done over 89,000kms so a bit of wear. And now it's back to the stock suspension setup the unmodified stand had the bike on far too much of a lean for my liking. At home I tidied up the welds with some 80 grit sand paper. Yesterday I applied some aviation grade etch primer and top coat. Came out ok. I'll fit it tomorrow as I'll apply a coat of clear lacquer this morning.

Suzuki had two centre and main stand options for these bikes. One set for normal suspension configuration and one set for when the suspension a been lowered. The normal set was painted black and the set for those with Ducks Decease (arse too close to the ground) grey.

[Bonez]

Fitted the extended sidestand this morning. Way better than what it was once I had returned suspension hight to the stock setup.

[Bonez]

Got one of local VTNZ stations to do a WoF check on the XF650. Nothing wrong from what I was already aware of so passed fine. About 2000kms left on the rear tyre.

Popped in to the Nurse to have my three monthly Vitamin B12 injection. She also checked my blood pressure. Same as a 20yo so not bad being 60 years old. I put it down to getting fresh air while riding. I almost always have the visor nipped open 1-2cms while riding in most weather.

I'm running the fuel tank completely dry. Have a full 5lr plastic fuel container in my shoulder bag so I can put that in when tanks drained. Got some bad fuel from a local petrol station. Second time this has happened in two months.

[Bonez]

Just completed a nice Palmy-Ashurst-Fielding-Palmy loop to drain the fuel tank completely. Conked out just inside the Fielding boundry about 400mtrs from a gas station. Put the contents of the 5ltr container in the tank, select prime on the fuel tap and fired here up for the return home. There is a generous 4ltr reserve on these bikes which is around 80-100kms. The trip reading is the kms done on the XF650 so far this month.

Oh, if you are wondering what I used as a cutting compound for the light grey paint job, and I know you are. It was JIF. Available at any good grocery store for around $5 an bottle. Lemon fresh is my favorite. No need for that flash $80 a ltr light cutting compound stuff they flog off at all..

[Bonez]

A piece was missing from the fairing rh rear mounting screw area. When I bought the bike. I'm in the process of repairing it. A piece of CBX750 lower cowling was cut to shape and welded in place using a soldering iron and some plastic tyraps. A very easy job. Just don't over due it as the plastic wil char and fall apart. Then used bog to tidy things up. First attempt wasn't too at all but need to do refinement of the process. I used a small scrapper to cover the mounting nut so no bog or shit in to it.

Had to use a plastic washer with the correct internal was used to reduce the size of the mounting hole. The washer was way too big too fit so I forced it on to the end of a vivid marker pen cap still on the maker and reduced the outside diameter to the correct size on one of Connies belt sanders by spinning it around while the sanding belt did its thing. Perfect fit so super glued it in position.

[Bonez]

Changed the clutch actuator shaft oil seal this morning. A very straight forward procedure and can be done on any casing external seal which doesn't have any sort of locking mechanism. Tools-battery drill, 1.5-2mm drill bit, a long course thread screw, pliers, some grease, maybe a bit of tub/piping or long reach socket to push the new seal in position, contact cleaner of some sort, fine emery paper along with a small bit of nylon scouring pad, and of course the replacement oil seal.

Remove anything that interupts acces to the seal/shaft area. I had to remove the header heat sheild for better drill access. Release cable tension on the clutch shaft actuating arm and remove the arm off the shaft.Either at the clutch lever enr or any adjust at the actuator arm end. Flush the seal area with the contact cleaner to flash out any crap and dry the top of the seal ready for drilling

With the drill and bit carefully through the metal outer ring just so it piece through without damaging the ali casing or shaft. Just go gently and takes less than 30 seconds.

Insert the screw into the hole you created in the old oil seal and remove the seal with the pliers and discard the old seal.

Check to shaft for wear. I need to dress my one with some smooth emery paper and nylon scouring pad. Again flush the area with the contact cleaner to flash out any crap you creating while dressing the shaft.

There is usually some sort of lip inside the hole where the shaft and seal are located to sop the seal being pushed into the engine. The one on my bike was about 8mm down from the outside of the casing.

Grab your new replacement seal and put a bit of grease around the inside and outside diameter edges. Place the seal around the shaft and into the hole. All I had to do is just push it down using just my fingers and use a flat was to push home flush with the casing. Sometimes a bit of tube, pipe or suitably sized long reach socket may be required.

Once the seal is fitted to your satisfaction refit and tighten the actuating arm. Refit any items you removed like the clutch lever. Then adjust the clutch cable to factory specs. Fire up and let the engine warm up, inspect for any leakage. If non put your riding gear on and take it for a 10km or more ride and inspect the seal again for leakage. Hopefully there is none. Put all your tools away. Job done.

As mentioned earlier it is a straight forward job and just take your time.

[Bonez]

I was in SuperCheap Autos last Friday to see if my favorite m/c oil was on special and spotted RISLONE super concentrated Fuel Injecter Cleaner was on sale at around $7 total. It's fine for carbs as well.

The XF650 was playing up intermittently. At first I thought it was bad fuel until I found out the carb drain tubes weren't draining fuel when their screws were loosened off. To me this indicated lacquer build up as I managed to clear one tube with 22 thou lock wire.

I bought the a bottle of the cleaner because, well, it was cheap compared to the other brands which were over twice the cost. The instructions say put a 1/4 of a bottle in the tank on the XF650(18.5ltrs full). Me being me put half a bottle in the tank.On the weekend I used a tank and a half of fuel. During the rides you could notice the difference. Better throttle response and no hick ups at all from the bike.

I've always been a bit skeptical of using any type of additive in any vehicle but this certainly did the job. I'm very please with the out come.

[Bonez]

Located the pesky oil leak yesterday-a pin hole leak through the cam chain tensioner seal. Would not show up staticly(ie not ridng) until around 2500rpm. Fixed until the bike needs something more major work done to it.

Went for my usual 50km test to make sure it was fine and it was.

Changed the oil and filter-Done. Used my usual non-motorcycle specific brand as usual. At $28 max and around $22 on special at SuperCheap Autos. Its a non brainer really. OEM Suzuki filter because they are the cheapest around. The remaining oil from the 4ltr pack was put into 1qt containers. a handy amount to carry around in a small shoulder bag.

Between the CB550F and XF650 I've clocked up just over 850kms this month. A little higher than my monthly average since Christmas, which is around 750kms per month. Still six days to go