Month: June 2018

Mileage: 12,810

Maintenance Summary:

• Installed new TKC 80 tires front and rear
• Installed Headlight Guard

In preparation for a likely 2000 mile trip that will probably involve more off-road travel than on, I’ve swapped out the Anakee 3’s tires for some TKC 80’s.  The Anikee’s probably would have been OK, unless there was going to be mud or sand.  I’m expecting both.

I had one small problem when I first reinstalled the front wheel — the caliper was dragging.  I removed the wheel and discovered that the inside pad had come loose from the top clip.  I couldn’t get it back in without removing the rod at the bottom.  That done I could slide the pads vertically back into the clips and reinstall the rod and retaining clip.  Everything was fine after that.

For the trip, I’ve also installed a cheap headlight guard bought off eBay.  If you look carefully in the next picture you can see the freshly painted radiator guard made from a kitchen cooling rack. (click to enlarge)

I’m not expecting these to be good highway tires, but they should add a large margin of safety on the more slippery off-road bits.

The Anakee 3’s will go back on the bike at some point.  They still have a lot of wear left in them.  I don’t know how many miles are on the rear, it looked pretty new when I bought the bike. As you can see it has a lot of tread.  The rear has started to square off a bit.  The front tire as almost exactly 3000 miles on it.  I have no complains about these tires so far.

Mileage: 12,803

Maintenance Summary:

• • Installed Radiator Guard

I’ve installed a homemade radiator guard in preparation for an upcoming trip that will likely involve several hundred miles of off-pavement riding.  I didn’t like the commercial offerings — too pricey — and most of the DIY guard designs looked like they’d restrict the air flow too much.

This is what  I came up with.  The guard is made from a $13 stainless steel kitchen cooling rack and a bit of aluminum scrap that I had in the garage.   I’ll eventually paint it black, but I thought you’d be able to see the design better before painting.  The mounting hardware did add a few dollars to the cost of the project, so it’s not really a $13 guard, but it’s close.

I’ve created a separate page with more detail on this guard as well as another design that I decided not to use: DIY $13 Radiator Guard

 

Mileage: 12,778

Maintenance Summary:

• Changed Oil and Filter ( ~7 months / 3000 miles)
  • BMW Filter
  • Castrol 10W-40 4T Synthetic MC Oil
• Check Valve Clearance (work performed by Vallantine Motor Works)
  • Clearances within spec, no adjustment required
  • New style valve cover gasket installed.  Should fix minor leak
• Changed Spark Plugs (work performed by Vallantine Motor Works)
  • Technically don’t need to change until 24k miles, work recommended by tech.  Claimed they were only good for 18k miles.
  • Kept old plugs as spares
• Inspected the following:
  • Coolant level:  OK
  • Clutch play: OK
  • Front/Rear brake:
    • Pads OK,  Front disc has a small amount of rotor warp
    • Fluid Levels OK
    • Hoses/Connections OK
  • Tires pressure/depth:  OK
  • Side stand OK
  • Steering-head bearing OK  No fore/aft movement, easy turning
• Inspected, cleaned and adjusted drive chain.
• No fault codes, service-due date reset (Vallantine Motor Works)
• Cleaned air-filter with compressed air
• Re-installed AltRider crash bars:
  • Lower crash bars torques:
    • Upper bolt to Cylinder head:  48NM (BMW DVD)
    • Lower bolts: 19NM (BMW DVD)
  • Upper Crash bar torques
    • 9NM (AltRider Instructions)

This service was performed at the conclusion of a 10 day, 2200 mile road trip, and in anticipation of an upcoming trip of similar duration.