What Have YOU Done For Your Bandit Today ???

[H2RICK]

#17 is still in the shed in her winterized state because the weather here is still changeable....and too cool to ride in regularly, so I figured it'd be a good day for some remdial maintenance
.....sooooo....
I figured it would be a good day to tackle the tedious but necessary job of lubing my rear suspension linkage. What a pita.....but it's been nagging at me for at least a year.....those whispers every time I came near #17....."Lube my suspension linkage....Lube my suspension linkage". Sometimes #17 reminds me of my wife.....
I disassembled everything to find.....ta da.....no grunge or water had worked their way into anything....yet.....but it was only a matter of time, IMO. I washed all the lame factory fish grease out with nice clean solvent and put some real chassis grease in everywhere....LOTS of grease. The bushings showed very little evidence of wear....but water corrosion was starting to show up under the heads of two of the bolts. #17 has been exposed to very little rain in her short life so I can imagine what you folks in damper areas are up against. Cowtown is quite dry usually so on the rainy days I take my cage to work and spare the bikes.
Cleaned the bolts up with a hand fine wire brush and then lubed the heck out of them too. Then the tedious job of putting everything back together and torqueing everything correctly. Without the FSM, I'da been totally at sea for torque values....and even some of the finer points of reassembly (bad short term memory, don'tcha know).
While I was standing there admiring my handiwork, I figured since I had all the tools out and the grease I might as well lube the pivots for the shifter and the rear brake as well. They've both been done about two years ago but they both really needed doing again so that was time well spent.
Now.....how is YOUR spring maintenance coming along ???

[Sven]

Sometimes #17 reminds me of my wife...I disassembled everything to find.....ta da.....no grunge or water had worked their way into anything....yet.....but it was only a matter of time

I'd like to know more about how you periodically disassemble your wife.  No, wait, maybe I would NOT.   

[H2RICK]

Hmmmm....from the lack of replies, it seems like everyone is out in the shed working on their bikes..... 

[Red01]

Now.....how is YOUR spring maintenance coming along ???

I bought an oil filter yesterday - plan on some quality time with the The Red 01 this weekend.
My usual sources of oil filters (auto parts stores) are no longer carrying the Purolator, STP or K&N filters, so I stopped by the stealer for one... $14!  OUCH!!!
Guess it's time to start mail ordering them.

[JamieK]

I'll be puttering about on mine over the weekend getting it ready to put up for sale. Just bought a SV650 to replace it....don't need the power of the Bandit and the SV is a lot lighter.

[pmackie]

We'll, I chose to take the Triumph in to the dealer for it's warrantee service...an OK excuse to go for a ride.

The little Bandit is sitting, waiting patiently for me to replace it's chain and sprockets, do a little clean-up and then it's up for sale, since my younger brother changed his mind.

I seem to have too many other distractions to get at working on the bikes so far this spring...sigh...

[stormi]

Dita finally got her battery back in, and fired up like a good girl.  She's sat for about 2 weeks since,.. and we got about 5" of snow today. 
Poor girl.  I really should sell her, she'd rather be ridden than stuck in the shed with two Hondas.

[dhcolesj]

Or sell the two Hondas.  

[wizzobeer]

Dita finally got her battery back in, and fired up like a good girl.  She's sat for about 2 weeks since,.. and we got about 5" of snow today. 
Poor girl.  I really should sell her, she'd rather be ridden than stuck in the shed with two Hondas.

If you are going to sell let me know, not sure if I can swing it but I like to dream big (or small in this case) and let reality take care of the rest

W

[smooth operator]

  I fired 'er up and took a short spin. I had taken the tank and body parts to a guy that I had done some work for. A couple yrs ago I made a marble patio for him out of marble. They were big pcs of all different sizes,so I had to cut them,heave them around and set them in a crushed slate bed. Then last year I reset a section due to his septic tank was under part of it and he had to open it up. I also put in a small tile floor in a bathroom with no $ exchange. So he was to repaint the Bandit. I had given him the parts to be painted while the snow was still flying. And after calling him or stopping over to see him and seeing he hasn't touched them and they had a good coat of dust over everything I finally got on his case a couple of weeks ago. It didn't seem to light a fire under his ass, too many excuses,so I just grabbed my stuff and put them back on yesterday after work. He now gets his name on the WALL OF SHAME!
  But the Bandit fired right up and ran good. It was good to put some life back into her.

[mud390]

I threw some new grips on my 250 and it made a world of difference!  After that, I took it for a nice little ride last night.  I love riding in the very early (1am-ish) morning.  No traffic!

Kris

[Red01]

That really sux, smooth!  I hope you wrote his name in big letters at the top of the wall. 

[PitterB4]

I fired up the Kawi a couple weeks ago...  to load it on to someone else's truck...    

[Red01]

I fired up the Kawi a couple weeks ago...  to load it on to someone else's truck...    

Bikeless?!  I hope this is just a short term situation.

[stormi]

Yeow!  Pitter Bikeless?? And retired?  What's up with that?

Hey Wizzobeer,... send me a PM with our availability, we can chat about Dita.  She might also be coming into the city later this week, weather permitting.   I don't think it will be tomorrow, probably Thursday.   Should be interesting to see what it's like to go from the VFR to her for a day.

*edit: oh,.. and back on topic, Dita had her "beginning of the year oil change" yesterday too.  Fired up like a champ before and after.