#378
Post
by TwoStrokeNut » Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:41 pm
TEST RIDE!...
Well, it was the moment of truth. I spent 3 evenings after work doing these upgrades and it was time to fire the old girl up again.
I had some premix fuel handy for the yard string trimmer so I put about a half gallon in the tank to run it a bit while verifying the Autolube lines were full. After about 20 kicks (not real happy about that!), she fired up. It didn’t take more than 10 or 15 seconds to ensure Autolube was working fine and I connected those hoses back on the carbs. After another 30 seconds or so of running on both Autolube and premix oil, I drained the premix and filled with straight ethanol-free fuel (that 3-way valve keeps coming in handy!).
Throttle response felt good. After letting it warm up a bit and checking for any leaks, it was time for a test ride. This bike doesn’t run cleanly until the temp gauge needle creeps up to about horizontal in the gauge (not sure if that is normal?) so it took a few laps around my small block in town to warm it up. Neighborhood folks visiting outside stopped talking as I drove by, staring with a puzzled look on their faces. I always wonder what’s going through their heads when they see this bike.
First impressions out on the road are an increased willingness to rev up. It always had that, but now, even more so it seems. In fact, this bike just begs you to do it and it is soooooo fun when revs climb over 6K. I’m not sure what kind of break-in period those poor new rings were expecting, but I’m sorry to say they probably didn’t get treated properly. I soon forgot anything had been replaced it there and was riding it hard. These bikes rev so effortlessly, it doesn’t seem like 9,500rpm could ever hurt it.
Oh yeah, the clutch! Needed to come back to reality and give that a good test too. It had a nice feel pulling away from a stand-still. It still takes very little effort even with the 17% higher pull effort. Upshifting through the gears, I did not detect any slippage… a good sign. I need an open road to really test it though.
It was late and I was getting tired after 6 straight evenings of wrenching on this bike and my old Tiger, so I called it a night… a very successful night it seemed.
Two days later, I was able to take it on a proper long ride to get a better feel for it. Again, it was a little hard to start. I’m not sure if I’m choking it too much or not enough. Once warmed up, it restarts instantly on the first kick. Need to try different things with the starting procedure, I guess.
This ride was pure joy. I’m always amazed at the adrenaline rush you can get from this bike on the pipe. But also equally amazed at how docile and quiet it can be below 5,000rpm. It’s actually very enjoyable to ride slow if you can control yourself to do so. I have a tiny, tiny stumble at maybe 4,000rpm, but not enough to change anything at this point.
The clutch got several good tests with speed shifts between 3rd and 4th without any noticeable slippage. I will consider that one solved!
Its time to park the bike for now so I can give the FJR1300 a valve clearance check. During this COVID thing, the bikes sure are getting some TLC. I wish I could say the same for the classic cars. Maybe soon though if we continue this isolation much longer.
