Wrench'n Ride'n

After a good wash and polish time for some details shots.

So far my Bandit, "el Lobo" is a dream to ride and own. For me the ride position is just about perfect. The seat can be a bit hard. That has been fixed with my Airhawk blow up seat cushion. For the pillion (for you Yanks that's passenger) it is another story. The pillion part of the seat slopes forward and the pegs are very high. This kinda sours the bike a bit. To make the pillion perch flat we have added a small Airhawk and a sheepskin. This helps Jan from sliding into my back when I brake or de-accelerate. Some how I would like to mod the pillion peg hangers so her legs are not so bent at the knees. I spent all of yesterday trying to rig up the spare BMW pegs I have. I had them is a great position too. The mounts I made were way too weak to take the weight of a person swinging up an onto the bike. Back to the drawing board.

Yesterday I made Sofie's retirement official.  I took the number plate into the RTA and handed it back in. Filled in the form. Plate was thrown into a box of other plates without a care in the world. I just stood there and watched the lady behind the counter do this. My heart sunk. Sofie had lost her name plate. I was told I would get a cheque in the mail for the whole sum of $10.00. She sits out the back all covered up. I have started to make a list of what needs to be done. It is getting longer everytime I sit down and do this. Maybe I should cafe racer her or bobber her.  One day in the future I shall decide.

I have bought a low mileage 2002 Suzuki GSF1200 Bandit. It has only got 37k on the clock. Very well looked after by the previous owner. Full service history. A rare find I would say.

Sneek peek of El Lobo. All going to plan I pick the bike up tomorrow. I am keeping the BMW and will one day restore her.

No spark what so ever.  2 days ago she cut out on me while riding home from work. No sooner had she cut out that she fired back up. Then cut out and then straight away fired back up.  I checked the Omega system and found that the plastic screws that hold the Printed Circuit Board had come loose. I replaced these with small metal bolts. Set the gap between the Printed Circuit Board and the magnet carrier as per the fitting instructions. Took her for a run and she just did not feel right. The  plastic  screws have stripped their threads too.  Started her up this morning and as she is warming up then she cuts out. Pull the plugs, ground them to the cylinders with plug leads attached and see if I have any spark. Nothing on either side.  New coil, plug leads and caps were fitted March this year around 6000 kms ago. This was when the Omega was fitted too. I don't believe its the coil.  I had fitted the coil and Omega as the bike had cu...

Ben Carufel from the ADV forums has allowed me to share his ride report. He went and bought a truly lovely old lady of a R60/5. Then rode her home. I would trade my R100 for an R60 in a flash. Even more so aftering see this one that Ben bought. So over to Ben..... I got to thinkin' a few weeks ago when Jo-Nathan posted his thread that, dammit, summer is ending and I didn't do any sort of multi-day ride this summer. In fact, my last multi day trip was in April for the ADV WARPED VII event. A 5 hour ride each way with two nights of camping between. So of course I started looking for a nice airhead which I could pick up not too far away and ride back to San Diego. Something which will give me an airhead to putt around town on while I really dig into my R65. After the R65, I reasoned, I could pull the newer (to me) airhead apart and do a nice restore on it, too. Thinking about things, I thought I'd like a little older bike than an R65. I dig my R65, but I have always...