Kari decided she was ready to hit the road last Sunday morning. We got all set, boots, gloves, jackets cell phones and half helmets. The full face helmets are safer with more protection but we needed to be able to hear each other.
We were just going to stay in the neighborhood, but we needed to go down to Eastport Shell to get some gas. We started easy. I had Kari shift up to second gear, initially she forgot to shift down into first at the stop signs. The one little hang up we had was the tight dog leg turn down on Washington/Boucher. After the curve I pulled to the side because we had a truck following us. Kari pulled behind me and the truck pulled in behind her.
The driver got out and started giving Kari an obvious new rider some pointers. The one thing she did was put her foot down going around the turn. He also suggested boots, which Kari hasn't found yet, and full face helmets; I explained the half helmet training situation. I had talked to Kari about the turn before we got there. I told her to enter slowly and take it at a comfortable speed. It's tough to explain to someone how to do something before they have the experience of doing it.
We took the bikes down to Annapolis City Marina, our marina, I stopped on fourth street and parked my bike, Kari did the same. I told her that I'd forgotten that the gas station is up on a pad and that she'd have to negotiate the bump up and that the tire would be hitting at oblique angle. I had her practice on the marina pad where there was no traffic. She did fine.
We went on to the gas station and filled up the little wing. I'd wanted her to go into the station from the North side of Severn so that she wouldn't have to cross traffic. We would then get back on Severn at the light and cross though the light into Eastport. Kari had mentioned that she was having a problem swinging wide on her right turns. I tried to councel her on how to approach the turn slowly and at an angle that wouldn't cause her to swing as wide. We tried a few more right turns and wound our way up towards Louis' house. We then took a right on President Street and another right on Hoover St. which is a loop that crosses across President and we'd be on our way home. We both stopped at the stop sign at President, we waited for traffic to clear I crossed President and Kari waited for the next car to pass. I was about a block away looking in the rear view mirror, I turned and paused to wait for Kari. A car was in front of her, when it moved past I saw her standing there but the bike was on it's side in the road. I rode back up circled around her and parked my bike. She was OK, a dinged ankle and shook up but OK. A passerby offered to help us pickup the bike. I mentioned the youtube video I saw on how to pick up a Goldwing, he and I bent and got the bike up. It was actually easier than I expected, but he was a fairly big guy. The bike had leaked some gas and radiator fluid, there was a rub on the edge of the fairing near the left mirror, otherwise the bike was fine.
I had Kari take her helmet off and told her to sit relax and shake it off. I hugged her and told her the bike was fine. I think she was more shaken and embarrassed than anything. We got set and brought the bikes home.
All in all it turned out OK. It's why I got the Silverwing, an older less expensive bike that she can learn on.
Friday, September 20, 2013
I worked on the Silverwing last week; lubed final drive, cleaned brakes, trimmed the left muffler
As I previously mentioned there was a ticking sound from the rear end of the bike that I couldn't trace down. I decided that I might as well take the final drive and the rear brake off to see if something was rattling around.
To get to the final drive the rear drum brake had to come off. I had wanted to check how much brake shoe was left and it was squeaking badly. I was going by the Haynes manual, they said the muffler had to come off. Unfortunately, I didn't find the section in the back on 82's that said the muffler didn't have to come off. They also had a picture of my brake configuration. The one I used for diss-assembly showed the brake rod going to the bottom of the hub; the correct one shows the rod going to the top.
I pulled the muffler, brake and wheel hub off easily, having already done it on the Goldwing. I cleaned everything off, there was a lot of old grease, actually there was a lot of mixed grease. Inside the brake and hub there was dust grit and grime.
I measured the hubs and there seemed to be ample material on the shoe. The worrisome thing is that the material inside the hub that the shoe rubs against seemed a bit on the thin side. I measured another 2mm's left. I don't know what it takes to get a new ring inside the wheel, I imagine you get the correct ring and press it into the wheel.
After the cleaning I greased everything with Honda Moly 60. I put the whole thing back together, it seemed to be smooth.
The one thing I think I discovered is that the left muffler (a Harley replacement) has two nub bolt holes welded on. The one closest to the front of the bike seemed to be very close to the left part of the rear swing arm. I didn't use this hole to attach the muffler, at least not yet. While the muffler was off I trimmed down the nub on the grinding wheel. I also took the shaft of a cold chisel and banged a dent into the side of the muffler where the center stand was supposed to go. It looked like hell but the center stand no goes up all the way, or nearly so. I mounted the muffler and tested the placement with the center stand, it fit well. I used the muffler sealant again and bolted everything up.
The bike was ready for Kari to ride on her first road ride.
To get to the final drive the rear drum brake had to come off. I had wanted to check how much brake shoe was left and it was squeaking badly. I was going by the Haynes manual, they said the muffler had to come off. Unfortunately, I didn't find the section in the back on 82's that said the muffler didn't have to come off. They also had a picture of my brake configuration. The one I used for diss-assembly showed the brake rod going to the bottom of the hub; the correct one shows the rod going to the top.
I pulled the muffler, brake and wheel hub off easily, having already done it on the Goldwing. I cleaned everything off, there was a lot of old grease, actually there was a lot of mixed grease. Inside the brake and hub there was dust grit and grime.
I measured the hubs and there seemed to be ample material on the shoe. The worrisome thing is that the material inside the hub that the shoe rubs against seemed a bit on the thin side. I measured another 2mm's left. I don't know what it takes to get a new ring inside the wheel, I imagine you get the correct ring and press it into the wheel.
After the cleaning I greased everything with Honda Moly 60. I put the whole thing back together, it seemed to be smooth.
The one thing I think I discovered is that the left muffler (a Harley replacement) has two nub bolt holes welded on. The one closest to the front of the bike seemed to be very close to the left part of the rear swing arm. I didn't use this hole to attach the muffler, at least not yet. While the muffler was off I trimmed down the nub on the grinding wheel. I also took the shaft of a cold chisel and banged a dent into the side of the muffler where the center stand was supposed to go. It looked like hell but the center stand no goes up all the way, or nearly so. I mounted the muffler and tested the placement with the center stand, it fit well. I used the muffler sealant again and bolted everything up.
The bike was ready for Kari to ride on her first road ride.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)