FINALLY !!!! First Bandit Ride of 2008 !!!

[H2RICK]

I've been riding my KZ650 back and forth to work for the last 2 weeks or so as well as taking it for short hops on two previous Sundays.
The forecast for today (Sunday) sounded very promising and I could hear the Bandit whispering from the shed: "It's tiiiime. You know we both have the 'need for speed', don't you ?? Don't try to deny it.....".
What could I do ?? I was under her spell, the temptress......
Charge up the battery and then wheel her out of the shed and put everything back together on her. Check the tires and the oil (changed just before I put her away). Hit the starter button....
she's a little sulky after her long hibernation (even with a full tank/carbs of stabilized gas) but finally after two attempts she fires up....with a little spitting and snarling. Sometimes I think she's Italian, not Japanese.
Off we go, headed south to a familiar road with no policias and very little traffic. Restraint is the order of the day until we hit #533 heading west through through the foothills of the Rockies. This is a great road for "high speed testing" of any wheeled vehicle. Lotsa high speed sweepers and quite a few gradual elevation changes with no trees close to the road to hide dumb deer. What's not to like??
Pretty soon we're having a great time but.....I look down at the speedo and see we're doing a buck-seventy (~105MPH) which is not a good thing for our first ride until we get our responses in sync again. We slow down to a buck-thirty or thereabouts and concentrate on corner lines and entry/exit speeds. Pretty soon, I see we're back up to a buck-seventy, a buck-eighty. I temporize and settle on a buck-fifty (~90MPH) and work the corners. Sublime !!! All too soon, we've eaten up #533....and I felt like we just got started.
A great first-of-the-year outing for the old girl and she ran along like the champ she is. Hopefully I can keep her between the shoulders this year.....unlike last year.
And, yes, my shoulder has pretty much healed right up, thank you very much, so I should be good to go for the season.

[ironbandit]

I'm to be right behind your first ride, very shortly.

I just joined this BBS, and am looking for advice on new tires - just about settled on Avon AV55 and AV56, I had a 2001 B12S that simply loved the Azaro ST.

Anyway, my scoot has been down since last October, when she ticked over 60K miles.  Did the 60K Maintenance myself, and then my Dad backed into her with his F-150, and pinned her between his bumper and the wood pile.  All new plastic ensued.  And, one of the head cover bolts stripped out, all of the bowl drain screws were knackered, and a few other sundries needed replaced.  The fact that I've been without a job has been rather restrictive, but I got a small thing working again and have been able to get all of the parts, and can finally afford new shoes for baby.  I hope to have her roadable by Mother's Day.

[H2RICK]

Welcome to the board, Ironbandit. This board is an absolute gold mine of Bandit info and pretty much everyone is very helpful. Very few "agendas" on here for the most part. Everyone just wants to enjoy his/her Bandit to the limit.

OUCH !!! Hopefully your dad will be more careful next time. These bikes are tough....but an F150??!!?? Too much steel in one place for even a Bandit to cope with.
Hopefully your Mothers' Day inaugral ride went well today.

[ironbandit]

Unfortunately, it will take a wee bit longer to get her on the road.  Ordered new Avon Storms for her which should arrive tomorrow, get them mounted and back on, but there's a dozen other parts that are missing, mostly what keeps the plastic where it belongs.  They should be here by Mem Day weekend...  Bike runs, however, got her started and tweaked the idle, didn't sync the carbs as I don't have the tool handy, and I was just happy to get her started.  Right now, she's in a prone position, up on the center and 2 jack stands with both wheels leaning against the swingarm.