Been a minute. So, I finally got back down to my bike to button up the rest of my winter maintenance projects. I rebuilt the forks including some new seals and a set of progressive springs.
I polished up the lowers a bit as well. Nothing super fancy, but an improvement....before/after
Also flushed/replenished the front brake and added my Vesrah pad (and drilled my missing rotor hole
@5twins lol).
I spent some time tweaking the mix screw and idle jet to try to get it idling well. I think it's still a little high, but it seems to be running pretty strong. Since I had about 20 minutes on the motor at ~2000 rpm breaking in the cam, I also took the opportunity to retorque the head bolts, since there had been 3 or 4 heat cycles (They did all tighten a little bit even after that relatively small amount of run time, FYI).
After some warm-up time and a blipping the throttle a bit to make sure I wouldn't get stranded, I took it out on the inaugural ride. Have to say, the bike feels AWESOME! Best way I can describe it is it just feels
capable. The 8-plate clutch feels very precise and grabs just how you'd want it to. The motor feels hungry, and was very responsive whenever I gave a bit of throttle. It sounds great. The front end feels a lot less 'squishy' (although I really need to get some miles to feel this out). I did a nice little 18 mile loop or so with a lot of hard acceleration up to 3000-4000 rpm followed by release for some compression braking to help seat the rings. Very happy with how things are looking as of now (knock on wood). No visible oil leaks at the moment (
@TwoManyXS1Bs confirmed that the cam covers are indeed seated, btw). I will need to really pay attention to the plugs to monitor the jetting, but have to say right now, it felt strong and didn't have any stumbles. Feel like I'm at least in a good starting place carb-wise.
Few pics. I'm already seeing some gold on my headpipes, probably from my idling/cam break-in without any sort of fan. Dumb on my part, but will try to polish out if I can. It may just be what it is.
And because you asked
@TX650A919 Van Islander - here's a little drive by video. It sounds better in person, but I think it gives you the idea.
Next steps....I'll head down next weekend for a couple more small rides to shake any bugs out, change the oil, then ride it back home to Somerville to get ready for the
Distinguished Gentleman's Ride here in Boston on May 23rd.