Well, I was riding the motorcycle yesterday, and in true newbie fashion I forgot to put on the choke before starting it. I realized my error right as the engine turned over with no hesitation whatsoever. It could be that it was hot out yesterday, but I've never heard of a carb engine not needing choke when it's properly adjusted. But what do I know? It may run fine now, but if it's running too rich I can't imagine that's good for it in the long run.

Ok, so I won't buy a disk lock. Does anyone own a grip lock?www.grip-lock.com It looks like it may be a nice deterrent, and there's no way I'd forget to take it off.

I didn't get a chance to look at the tires yet, but the tread looked okay.

I've been reading other threads on the cam chain tensioner. Seeing as I've only got 1900 miles on the engine I'm thinking I can put off replacement for a while. Thoughts?

Warm day, low humidity, the "choke" is usually unnecessary. Oversized jets in an otherwise stock bike just means you have to change the plug more often, maybe the oil as well, due to excess carbon deposits.

Tread depth is irrelevant on "old" tires. Look in the sipes (grooves) for significant cracks, check the sidewall for significant cracks, do the "thumbnail test"... if you can't leave a half moon dent in the tread block edge with your thumbnail, the tire has outgassed enough to have become hard. Fine for a burn out contest, not so good in traffic, especially for a new rider. I have tires for one of my trucks that left their molds in 1960, 61 and 62, and are still nice and soft. But, they are for "dress" use only, bias ply wide whites (truck is a 1949 Dodge). The real tires are much fresher radials, the wide whites will be installed once we get to our destination (if I ever finish the thing).

Chain tensioner? My bike is 15 years old, has been flogged its entire life, and still has a notch or two before it lets go. If your bike has been babied, expect significantly less tensioner life, stop and go seems to wear them 2-3x as fast as hard or distance riding. I'd leave it be until at least 8K miles are showing, then pop the case cover off and give it a peek. Good oil, and few short trips will keep it happy for a long time. My odometer died 8 years ago with 15k miles showing on it...

Signals? Whatever floats your boat, seriously, any ones you like can be grafted into place. L.E.D. bulbs require a different (tunable rate) flasher to work correctly.

Tires... do you want cheap or do you want good? Pirelli, Metzeler, Dunlop are the "big name high dollar" standouts. Kenda makes 2 very good medium price range tire lines for our bike, cheaper than the stock tire and hold the road better. Shinko and Duro both make tires that fit the bike for a fraction of the cost, but you'll change them more frequently. Get a 140/90-15 rear, stick with the 100/90-19 front or drop a size to 90/90-19 if you find a tread pattern you prefer in that size (the rim is a bit narrow for 100/90, perfectly safe, but shorter tire life). Tire threads tend to turn into tire wars pretty quickly, put your helmet on and hang on...

Oh, I have an IRC take off front and Cheng Shin (no longer made) rear on mine, front since 2004 or 2005, rear since 2000 or 2001. Both are rock hard... both are being replaced with VS 800 style treads, off brand front, Dunlop Qualifier rear.

Well, I bought a pair of Metzler 880s. I'm wondering what next step I should take. Should I take it to a mechanic to change them over, or is this something that could be done in a driveway with some help?

NV1P wrote on 06/28/13 at 06:03:02:


The front is pretty easy, the rear can be a bit of a struggle depending how stiff the sidewall on your particular brand of tire is. There are lots of videos on youtube that will walk you through the process. Biggest thing to be concerned with on our bikes is not pinching the tube while levering the tire on and creating a leak.

If you've never changed a motorcycle tire and can find someone local who will mount and balance them for 20 bucks or so per tire if you bring him the wheels off the bike, it might be worth it to just do that. If you don't already own some tire irons you're going to have to spend 20 dollars or so for a decent set the first time around anyway. Plus a couple of bucks for whatever wheel weights you decide to use.

Don't be afraid to give it a try yourself though, especially if you've got a friend whose done it a few times to give you a hand. It's a very useful skill to have.

That's my other issue. If I have to drop it off I'd be without my bike for an entire week. Due to my work schedule I'd only be able to make it over there weekends. And I'm not sure how much it's going to cost me, but I'm guessing it's a bit more than $25 per. We'll see.