Displacement is good.

 The daily commute was going fine until halfway home the KLR decided to give me the old dead throttle. Hmm, that's odd 175 miles and time for reserve? So I flip the petcock and leave the throttle closed for a few seconds and retry and it's kind of running. Another 1/4 mile down the road and she's done and a little panic comes over me as I have a kid at home that needs to be at a softball game in a hour. Anger also rushes in as a dead engine is not supposed to happen on a mechanics bike and with that rush of anger as the bike silently rolls down the big hill in the town I'm passing through, I give the gas cap a whack with my hand. I come to the bottom of the hill and jump off to look at the fuel filter and see gas rushing through it like I just turned it on after a rebuild. DAMN TANK VENT! Guess I have the old Fonzie touch as the whack must of unstuck the vent and it fired right up.

 Once I had time I removed the cap and gutted it and pulled out these pieces. I could of just cleaned them up and gave them a shot of WD-40 but why? After 1K removed I have had no problems running.

My old girl

Flipping through some old pictures and found two old shots.  My old Ninja was really my favorite bike that I have owned over the years. She was a little heavy but the engine was good and the riding posture was way better than my current ZX-10. We went 36K together and she was getting a little tired as the miles went up.

Last day in the garage before trading her in for the 10R. Where is she now??

The Little Things

So living in Illinois is not the most amazing state to motorcycle in and it takes time to get to something fun. 99% of the time I don't leave Illinois and thump around the norther parts. Over the years I found every road from Chicago to the Mississippi river that has a curve in it. Now I have a new little thing to do when I need a good reason (not that I really need one) to fire up the bike.
It's a simple as finding old bridges and I started it last year and If your from Illinois here's a file to drop in your GPS. ADV IL bridges

Fricken Bearings

Last month I went through the KLR's forks and gave them some fresh oil and while I was at it I gave the steering a tweak tighter and noticed a definite center spot. Meaning the Bearings have damage to where the roller bearings have worn into the races. So when the steering it slightly off center it pops back to center like a detent or notchy feeling.  

I thought well this is what you get for doing wheelies every time you can but it was a big surprise when I dropped it out and found a bunch of rust. It was well know that the factory was sparing with the grease and owners were finding rust in the first few thousand miles. I also found rust back in the winter of 08' and replaced the bearings and seals due to rust. I used a really good grease made for tractors to protect parts from the harsh field conditions.

The race here is wiped free of grease and the marks are the where the rollers have rusted against and what makes the notch feeling. The KLR is by far the most challenging lower race to get out since the race edge is completely untouchable with punch. The trick is a dremel with a cut off wheel and patience to not cut completely through the race but just leave the slightest material. Then with a very sharp and small chisel (made for metal) put it in the grove and give it a good hit. If you did it right, it will almost fall out of the head. It also sounds WAY easier than it is and I would much rather rebuild a engine that this. 

Putting the races back in is cake and never a issue with a simple bearing race driver.