Van Islander's TX650A - Quest for a Daily Rider

I got some nice new Revit riding pants a few months ago. They have a tough plastic/rubber type wear strip which is located on the area of your inner ankle. Yesterday I melted some off onto my otherwise nice exhaust. Neither laquer thinner nor autosol seems to get it off of the chrome. Ideas? Thanks.
Razor blade and metal polish.
 
Will try the razor blade but that scares me
In this sort of melted plastic-on-chrome situation, the only thing that has been effective is a new razor blade, very carefully and gently applied, like delicate surgery. My nylon windbreaker got into my '75 header, and it took a couple hours to scrape it off.

Gently, gently.


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I got some nice new Revit riding pants a few months ago. They have a tough plastic/rubber type wear strip which is located on the area of your inner ankle. Yesterday I melted some off onto my otherwise nice exhaust. Neither laquer thinner nor autosol seems to get it off of the chrome. Ideas? Thanks.
I've had good luck removing that stuff with a rag soaked in MEK. With that I have removed melted rainsuit, melted bike cover and melted boot sole. MEK is safe on chrome.
 
I think all I've ever had to use is a good chrome cleaner, sometimes with an old toothbrush. It takes lots of rubbing and multiple applications so the rag always has fresh stuff on it.
 
I used to have a pair of work boots, I don’t know what the soles were made of but they would always instantly melt and stick to my exhaust pipes. It wouldn’t clean off, but what the others have said about single edge razor blades, it works super easy. Hold the blade at a very low angle to the exhaust and it will scrape right off without harming your chrome. :thumbsup:
 
So that is what I did. Ancient turtle wax chrome cleaner, autosol, low angle new blade, gentle toothbrush, elbow grease. The polishes seemed to soften the crud a bit maybe, but the blade gently applied did the trick. Its a bit hazy but I'm going to keep working it with polish and some wax perhaps.
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So that is what I did. Ancient turtle wax chrome cleaner, autosol, low angle new blade, gentle toothbrush, elbow grease. The polishes seemed to soften the crud a bit maybe, but the blade gently applied did the trick. Its a bit hazy but I'm going to keep working it with polish and some wax perhaps.
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Bike is looking great! Only thing that could make it look nicer is if it was in my garage! Lol 😂
 
Yes, that's one clean machine, I like it. Your rear brake shoes may be wearing out or maybe the brake arm is mounted one spline off. Usually not that much threaded rod sticks out past the nut. Speaking of which, I've upgraded mine to a wingnut. It's a Yamaha part, from a Virago I think .....

RearBrakeWingNut2.jpg
 
Thanks guys. Re the rear brake, I should reposition that brake arm. When I serviced the rear brake, (per your excellent write-up 5T, thank you), I likely installed it off target. I didn't measure the brake shoe thickness, but there appeared to be lots of meat left on them.
 
Good morning. I'm buying some new tires for the TX and these are the sizes I see most folks from the forum using:
Front 100/90-19
Rear 110/90-18

Am I correct in understanding these are closest to stock size / offer the best performance and no clearance issues?

Thanks
 
Good morning. I'm buying some new tires for the TX and these are the sizes I see most folks from the forum using:
Front 100/90-19
Rear 110/90-18

Am I correct in understanding these are closest to stock size / offer the best performance and no clearance issues?

Thanks
100/90 is 4”

110 is 4.5
 
Yes, yes, and yes. You can squeeze a 120 on the rear but it slows down the steering and handling. The 110 will make the bike very "nimble" and is all the tire it needs.
 
Just for visual reference, here’s the Michelin Pilot Active tires I put on my ‘77. 120/18 rear 100/19 front
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and here are the Dunlop K70’s on my XS2. 4.00 x18 rear. 3.50x19 front

The Michelin was the better road tire, the K70’s have that vintage factory look. I liked them both but the K70’s wiggled a bit in rain grooves on freeways.
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Thanks very much for the input and help guys. I'm going to try the Shinko 712 as they are in stock at Fortnine, not expensive at $116.00 each, and ship for free. They have good reviews by riders of older bikes. I recently installed some Shinko tires on my DR650 and have been very impressed. I will report back on them in a few weeks. I'm excited to punt the dual sport Bridgstone Trailwings which came on my bike from the PO! As they're wearing they have become very loud and likely adding to vibration.
 

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