Alright! Tiny update.
Checked on
alignment by looking at whether front and back tire seemed in line both from the front and from the back... truth is I felt mentally challenged when I was doing it--perhaps because I was looking for something that wasn't there. Short answer is I think I'm good. Tried running a string from the front tire to the back to see if they hit center, but there were some...foreign obstacles on the street I didn't want to get close too (see pic; sorry, just found it too funny not to share, because of course that would happen). The front tire is quite a bit skinnier than the back so it was messing with my head a bit, but if it's bad I imagine it'd be incredibly obvious, so either it's fine or I'm blind, or the slight downhill slope was messing with me. Attached some pics below, though not sure you'd be able to tell this way because of the tire sizes anyway.
Handlebars. On this one, I think the left side is pushed towards the seat a wee bit, starting from at the rise and running to the grip. I haven't noticed any difference in handling though. The night I rode back, I felt like I was pulling a little to the right, but I think I was being paranoid. And that wouldn't add up with what I'm seeing anyway. Not sure if what I'm seeing in the bars is just a product of paranoid eyes. These bars were cheap, so not the end of the world if I need to replace soon-ish. I know the butt of the grip made ground contact (see pic) cuz of dirt, but I'd be surprised if the impact was enough to really crook the bars...lever took the brunt it seems .
Pumped the
forks, no sticking. They look straight.
Went with the shop paper towel trick under the dust boot for the fork leak. Didn't get pics, but I managed to wrap one underneath the dust boot and get it to accordion itself as I pushed the boot all the way back down. Two short errands since then and no sight of leaking. Tomorrow will be more of a test as I have more riding. (
@gggGary Tried the hook trick with some film negative last week, and didn't get anything, but couldn't get it to go down far at all. I'll try the milk carton option at some point--though I'm going to have to replace this fluid anyway. Thanks for the tip on those pads! ). I didn't grab the brake cleaner. Going to try to get to that asap. Mostly want to make sure the pads are good in there. Seeing my tool/space situation, going to look into how I should deal with the fork and rusty caliper situation.
Bent the
shifter back out and so far am shifting fine. And I have a new clutch lever, an oil cover gasket, and possibly a shifter coming my way thanks to Mr. Jim.
Besides this, still need to trace oil leak on LH side case. Switch out washers for oil drain plugs as I think that's responsible for leak under there.
Not to overwhelm myself, but well, here I go. Also noted this:
I'm not sure if it was from before the retorque and I'd wiped it up with a towel but hadn't gotten residue off, so it kept collecting dust as I'm out on the street. But I wiped it up again. I think I need to hit the area with some mineral spirits to make sure there's no film picking up crud and messing with my head thinking there's a leak--or so I can see if there is one and who's responsible. Haven't seen any active leaking. Looks like I have a thorough cleaning day in my future.
Alright everyone. Thanks for joining me for another episode. Thanks as usual for all your help and time.