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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> My first bike getting a second chance at greatness
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Message started by ezornes239 on 08/21/19 at 14:48:26

Title: My first bike getting a second chance at greatness
Post by ezornes239 on 08/21/19 at 14:48:26

My first bike was my ‘07 Savage that I bought the day I turned 18. It treated me great, put just about 30k (36k total on the odometer as of today) miles on it over a couple years. Since that time, I’ve just let my poor Savage sit in a garage while I enjoyed the various Ducati’s and Harley’s I’ve had over the past 7-8 years. I haven’t owned a car since the day I first bought that Suzuki, been on 2 wheels everyday since then.

That brings us to the next part of the story, I was hit by a car on my ‘17 Harley Sportster a month ago today. Broken wrist, some sort of ligament or tendon problems in my ankle, plenty of road rash and nerve damage above my right eye after the 15 stitches. I was wearing a full face helmet too.

I’ve been out of work since this accident (after already taking my yearly month off) and am starting to get low funds wise. I had the full intention of finally caving in and buying my first car in 10 years. I couldn’t find anything that wouldn’t nuts the bed in a month with the budget I’m working with. As much as I don’t want to rely on a bike as my sole means of transport, but I gotta do what I gotta do to get back to work as soon as my wrist is healed a bit more (kinda difficult to bartend with a broken wrist). Once I’m back at work, I’m just gonna grind until I can find a decent little Chevy, Toyota or Nissan pickup.

Luckily my roommate owns a motorcycle fabrication shop (frame up builds usually). We”re going super budget with the build, just enough to get her running and semi safe. He fabbed up a battery tray and a plate to hold the electrics, we have a brand new carb on there, new battery, new tires, brake pads and shoes should be here tomorrow, replaced oil, filter and spark plug, new throttle and clutch cable, solo seat/no rear fender, new taillight/tag mount.

Eventually I want to strip the tank and paint it, fab a proper fully enclosed battery/electrical box, delete the hand controls and just mount a simple 2 switches on the box. Then down the road slap on a modern GSXR front end. Need to rewrap the exhaust too (luckily I just found 2 rolls of the titanium stuff in my garage yesterday that I had thought I lost. And polish up the casings a bit.

Now here is where I could use some information guys. Aside from regular maintenance, I haven’t touched any of engine internals. What would you all recommend I look into to make sure to squeeze all the life possible out of this thing?

Here’s how it was looking yesterday
http://https://i.ibb.co/YWQhw7S/E05640-BB-696-B-4-B1-C-A365-EECCC2-F11306.jpg

And today
http://https://i.ibb.co/SVhdM90/D8-C32-E24-006-D-4-D9-B-87-A1-CBD761-AFA86-F.jpg

Clearly we have a long way to go to get it up to my standards, but the goal here was to simply get me back on the road, looks be darned for now.

Like I said, any information you all could give about what sort of engine work I should look into would be great.

And I can post pictures of my “totaled” Sporty if anyone is interested. They said the frame cracked and paid off my remaining balance. I’m gonna miss that bike, it was pretty much my perfect bike. Just put a nice Bassani 2-1 on there recently too.

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by ezornes239 on 08/21/19 at 15:07:57

For sure gonna miss this beast though. RIP.

http://https://i.ibb.co/7RFHfsJ/E06-F7-D3-C-0-E89-4-C03-B504-AFB5-F63-F895-E.jpg

Gonna be weird going back to having less than 1/2 the power I’m used to. Won’t mind the reduced weight though.

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by batman on 08/21/19 at 16:31:26

A look at the cam chain tensioner is a must!!! I'm shocked it lasted this long. That an a loose Front belt pulley nut (torque 94/ft/lbs ) are the only things that can kill the bike by doing damage.

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by ezornes239 on 08/21/19 at 16:39:17

7172677E727D272B130 wrote:

A look at the cam chain tensioner is a must!!! I'm shocked it lasted this long. That an a loose Front belt pulley nut (torque 94/ft/lbs ) are the only things that can kill the bike by doing damage.

Thanks buddy, we will look into that tomorrow while changing the tires and brakes.

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by ezornes239 on 08/21/19 at 16:41:57

Also, he said the belt should last 20 years, I was worried about dry rot and was considering a chain conversion. He seems to think that with the torque of the 650cc single I’ll eat through chains and sprockets within 6 month. Any truth to that?

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by batman on 08/21/19 at 21:26:13

I cant tell you how long the a chain will last , but my belt has 39.000 miles on it and it's 24 years old showing no signs of wear. if you can grab the bet with your thumb and one finger at the bottom and twist it 90 degrees it loose enough not to snap and should be good for 100,000 miles ,I don't believe it will dry rot ,it's not composed of rubber .

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 08/22/19 at 06:47:00

Sorry to hear about the accident. I'm glad you are mostly OK - the wounds will heal but the pain of loosing a bike will never go away :)

Cages are a part of life for those of us in the colder states. Ya can't beat a pickup truck for convenience - and at least you aren't in a friggin car.

If you are doing a budget build, then don't bother with the chain conversion now. I run a chain on my bike because it fits the character of my bike (cafe), otherwise the belt is nice and easy to live with. This 650 in no way makes enough torque to worry about the longevity of a 530 chain. That's just funny. Regarding the condition of your belt, if it isn't showing signs of wear, keep using it. The belt will not fail catastrophicly - it will show signs of fraying and wear long before it become feeble.

Title: Re: My first bike getting a second chance at great
Post by zipidachimp on 08/22/19 at 22:28:09

I always thought belts belonged on pants until I bought my bike. It will outlive me !
cheers! 8-)
ps; Dyna muffler! Try a 130 rear.