Over the past week I lubed the 4 notch bearings. I found this to be a pretty easy and straightforward job, with no need for any kind of odd tilting of the suspension lock to get at the 4 bolts. All were fairly easy to get at with the bike straight/level and the front end locked. I will add that for my money I think the "special" grease fitting bolt is a waste of money and more complication that it's worth. I have a nice "cone" fitting for my grease gun tube and it's super easy to press it firmly flush to the open hole of the removed bolt and pump her full. I used a nice high quality marine grease and since it had been done before I only used about 2/3 of a 14 oz tube to fill the 4 locations.
Next up was new brake shoes…very easy. Not really necessary as they probably had 40% left…but since I was doing a break fluid flush/fill I figured I'd start with new discs and a full master cylinder for the next 10,000 miles. Took forum recommendations and did the left front first and then did the right front. Pretty straightforward. Can't honestly say I feel that much difference at the lever, but it was time to be done so I did it.
Oil/filter change. Again, pretty easy and made sure not to overfill. The previous owner had been super conscientious about this and we've all learned not to overfill. So…right at 1.5 liters and running great. Did the air filter the same day and put in a brand new dual density filter. Cleaned minor debris out of the air box section, but no oil blow by. Gave the filter a light spray with fab1 and seems to be running great.
Did the dual spark plug replacement with the 7 series iridium plugs. Yeah the plug compartment is a little tight even with fairly small hands. Minor struggles with boot removals and the back plug is not the easiest thing to get a wrench on but fairly minor swearing. Lined the new plug threads with some anti seize grease started them by hand. Snug plus a quarter turn and all seemed well.
After all this I was a little concerned I'd turn on the bike and go to start to find the bike wouldn't start or maybe the dash would be throwing a code or warning light. No such issues. Fired up and seemed to run stronger than ever on the road. Nice crisp acceleration with the improved air flow and fresh plugs and brakes were nice and smooth and progressive.
The last thing done was the move to the darkside rear tire. On an earlier post I showed to condition of a new 150 city grip2 after about 3500 miles. Pathetic and pityful. Allegedly in western N.C. they put a lot of granite in the road surfaces but between the pain of removal and installation and the price of good tires I felt compelled to try darksiding. Installation wasn't the easiest and it took a good lubing and 90 lbs to get the tire to seat with a nice pop/pop. I balanced with 11 oz. Of rideon liquid and went for a test ride. I had been very conscious about tire selection and looked for a tire with a nice shoulder, softish compound and deep tread. I can honestly say that after a blast through one of my favorite mountain twisties course I felt zero issues with the handling, initiating tip in, etc. Ran great and felt great and considerably more comfortable at 33 psi. Than the Michelin city grip 2's. In fact I'd say there was less of a pronounced difference to the ride than when I go from a well worn scooter tire to a new scooter tire. If someone just hopped on and went for a spin I don't think they'd ever know…but I'm hoping for 15-20k instead of 3k and that will be a huge deal…a big savings in time, effort and $$$.
Here's some pics of the city grip 2 after 3500 miles and a couple pics of the new tire.[/img]
