What did you do to your Yamaha today?

I went for my first ride in '08 today with my son. I was warm as you can see :lol: But on the way home my hands froze as it rained for about 20 miles with the temp in the 30's. I was a little leery of freezing rain on the road. It was nice to get out. My son chuckled at my getup ! LOL !

 

I soldered all the wiring to the Brake Lights and Rear Turn Signals after removing a Module that didn't work as I had expected it would. I think the Turn Signal Module detected the alteration to Flash the Rear Turn Signals along with the Brakes and I kept blowing the fuse to Both the Unit and the Rear Lights.

Now, I have three strips of Red LED's above my Rear Brake Light that come-on with the Brake Light. They are exceptionally bright and add a new element of safety between my Rear Tire and who or what is following me.

The "Back-off Tri-Star" Unit seems to be incompatible with the Turn Signals and the Rear Turn Signals didn't come on when the Brakes were applied.

Now, that's going back for the simpler "Back-Off" Brake Light Modulator which does not involve wiring-in the Turn Signals.

With only one scorched index finger from doing all that soldering ... I'm feeling ahead of the game.

 

Moved the XJ550 to another part of the garage to make room for my new ride... 2007 VStrom 650 in blue. See pics in my gallery.

 

Today I started to clean and polish my carbs. I also started to clean up some of the chrome on the old bike.

 

Painted more on Black Betty. Also gave her a back rest. The wife likes it on there, says it looks real good. Still undecided on the look as permanent, but it is easily changed out for the regular gab bar. Biggest problem I have is that it is chrome, but I will get over.... or repaint it. Nah, just joking, it even has the original sticker on it from yamaha. Gotta love ebay.

 

I really love those gold carb hats on the Midnight models........

 

Me too, trying to figure out how to polish them and keep em gold, and also how to strip and repaint the carb bodies. The bodies are peeling like crazy. As is the rest of the engine.

 

put plugs in my other x
stripped and primed the frame, swingarm and centerstand. It's getting painted today....

 

I went out to the barn and started it up. Noticed a lot of condensation all over the bike, noticed the thermometer said 61 deg. Dug the gear out of the closet and rode it until all that nasty water blew off.

Anyone who saw all that condensation all over everything in my shed would instantly realize why you should never store a bike without a full tank.

 

61 degrees F!!!!????!!!
My God man it's January!!!

Where are you.......... Arizona?
Be careful you dont fall on a cactus!

Just kidding. I wish I could see 61 degrees here in north eastern Arizona.
our highs have been around 40 at best.
In fact it just snowed last night about 2" and its 12 degrees F out right now.
My bike is still tucked in bed, with dreams of highways in its head.

Come on summer!

 

I kinda wish it was snowing. It's January and I want to ski. Oh well, today it is supposed to be about 67F here today. I brought out the new VStrom to ride to work.

 

Yup it's already 64 here! (Richmond, VA) and my bike is once again not getting fuel to one cylinder! YAY! I think I may have a float stuck or something... Who knows! Last week it happend and I fiddled with the Petcock and it cleared up, no such luck this time though, so I guess I will have to take it easy on her on the way home today... guess it's time to tear her down and fix everything up.

 

Philly has a high of 73F today, and I swear my bike started with one tap of the starter button. I'm glad it still needs the key to start, or it would have been out riding without me I bet. Great ride to work, and I'm gonna try to go buy my fuse block over lunch. I still have the old one, and have had a hard time finding one that anyone carries in stock.

 

70 here today took the beemer to work, got home and felt sorry for the xj so we went for a little ride, a little rough at first but after a few red lines, smooth as silk
after a few months off its easier to judge the two
the xj engine is smoother than the bmw but the brakes suck, the xj is cold blooded but the bmw has f.i.

 

Charged up the battery. Only 5 more months till riding weather. Dog sledding it for a while longer.

 

Hey, pretty new to the site besides some questions Ive posted... Bought a 81 maxim 650 over the summer (my first bike), rode all season, now doing a complete rebuild, just to learn the bike. Tore the whole thing apart, down to the last bolt. Rebuilding the engine right now, and tonight drank alot of beer and removed carbon, alot of carbon, from the pistons and cylinder heads. Would have taken the valves out but missed closing hours at the store do I dont have a compessor. This my first real job ive done mechanically besides a water pump and axels on my car and im learning alot every night, not to mention reading old posts here. Ive got some pictures of the process so far ill post this week, and im sure to have some questions to ask. Im going to ride it from NYC to seattle in late april. This really is a great site. Peace, Lou

 

Hey, pretty new to the site besides some questions Ive posted... Bought a 81 maxim 650 over the summer (my first bike), rode all season, now doing a complete rebuild, just to learn the bike. Tore the whole thing apart, down to the last bolt. Rebuilding the engine right now, and tonight drank alot of beer and removed carbon, alot of carbon, from the pistons and cylinder heads. Would have taken the valves out but missed closing hours at the store do I dont have a compessor. This my first real job ive done mechanically besides a water pump and axels on my car and im learning alot every night, not to mention reading old posts here. Ive got some pictures of the process so far ill post this week, and im sure to have some questions to ask. Im going to ride it from NYC to seattle in late april. This really is a great site. Peace, Lou

 

Hey, pretty new to the site besides some questions Ive posted... Bought a 81 maxim 650 over the summer (my first bike), rode all season, now doing a complete rebuild, just to learn the bike. Tore the whole thing apart, down to the last bolt. Rebuilding the engine right now, and tonight drank alot of beer and removed carbon, alot of carbon, from the pistons and cylinder heads. Would have taken the valves out but missed closing hours at the store do I dont have a compessor. This my first real job ive done mechanically besides a water pump and axels on my car and im learning alot every night, not to mention reading old posts here. Ive got some pictures of the process so far ill post this week, and im sure to have some questions to ask. Im going to ride it from NYC to seattle in late april. This really is a great site. Peace, Lou

 

Lou---you are a go-getter! Good luck to you, keep us all posted on your progress.

 

Today I fitted a new K&N high flow air filter

Picked up new brake shoes all round, new headset bearings & oil and dust fork seals for the up n coming front end rebuild