The Unofficial Motorcycle Thread!

[DonTom]

This (2023 Energica Experia) is now in my garage (as of an hour ago) here in Auburn, CA (the 18th one made in Italy, VIN ends with "0000018"):

 

[xrated]

I'm in the process of changing things up a bit too. I'm going from a Can Am Spyder RT Limited, to one of the new (2023) Suzuki GSX-S1000GT+ bikes. It's a Sport Touring bike, with sport bike capabilities and much lighter than many of the sport touring type bikes. I pick it up this coming Tuesday, after the Spyder leaves here this coming Sunday...

 

[xrated]

Out with the Can Am Spyder and in with the new....Suzuki GSX-S1000GT+ I picked it up today

 

[DonTom]

Out with the Can Am Spyder and in with the new....Suzuki GSX-S1000GT+ I picked it up today

Nice looking bike!

BTW, this is the first time I heard of anybody going from 3-wheels to 2-wheels.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[xrated]

Nice looking bike!

BTW, this is the first time I heard of anybody going from 3-wheels to 2-wheels.

-Don- Auburn, CA

Two wheels is in my blood. I started riding in 1971 and the reason that we switched to a Spyder was that my wife had complete knee replacement surgery in Jan. 2020. We both sold our street bikes (Yamaha FZ09 for me and a FZ07 that she rode, and bought the Spyder. She just wasn't comfortable with being able to ride her own bike after the surgery.....thus the Spyder. I could just never get two wheels out of my head....I like to lean em over and go through the corners.....not steer them more like a car. She definitely knows how to ride, as we were both Instructors for the largest Motorcycle Trackday organization in the U.S. Here's one of her at age 62, coming out of the last turn and onto the front straight at Barber Motorsports Track in Leeds, Alabama....If you zoom in on the pic, and look closely, you can see the "Honda" sticker on the bottom of the fairing.....the one that is on the opposite side of the bike...LOL!

 

[Boat Bum]

Your wife's a bad ass.

 

[DonTom]

Two wheels is in my blood.

Same with me. When I no longer can be on two wheels, I will give up riding bikes totally.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Ex-Calif]

After 2+ years of clearing land and building a house I am finally getting a (slowish) start on retirement projects.

I have a Yamaha 650 V-Star. I have "sort-of" regretted not getting a big block 1100 since I bought it. It runs out of lungs and RPM around 75. Which actually isn't too bad as I don't drive on freeways any more unless I have to. But even at 50-60 state road speeds it's wound up more than I like.

So my kid bought an 1100 and I rode it a few times and liked it. He then bought another neglected one to flip. He got it for a song and got it running. He needed to sell it and I bought it from him for a song and a half but still way below market.

It has a bad starter clutch for which I have a new one and needed a new battery. The biggest draw back is the rust, corrosion and general lack of care. So I have dived in head first to "refresh" the bike. I like my toys to sparkle so jury is out as to whether I keep it or flip it myself. It will depend entirely on how well the refresh goes.

Here's a playlist of progress so far. Excuse the "colorful" language. I admit to being a bit of a potty mouth.

V-Star Refresh

 

[Boat Bum]

I enjoyed watching, please do a deep compound/buffing of the painted surfaces before deciding to repaint.

 

[garyb1st]

What year is your V-Star 650? Bought a 2005 for the wife. That turned out to be a mistake but that's another story. Carried it in our Outback side-ramp toy-hauler for a few years. The wife and I took it on a number of trips and I don't recall it being underpowered. But I probably wasn't going more than 50-55. Our combined weight was probably 350 lbs so it was loaded. Only problem I had was seat height. A bit low for my 5'11" height. Other than that, I was very happy with it.

 

[Ex-Calif]

What year is your V-Star 650? Bought a 2005 for the wife. That turned out to be a mistake but that's another story. Carried it in our Outback side-ramp toy-hauler for a few years. The wife and I took it on a number of trips and I don't recall it being underpowered. But I probably wasn't going more than 50-55. Our combined weight was probably 350 lbs so it was loaded. Only problem I had was seat height. A bit low for my 5'11" height. Other than that, I was very happy with it.

Both my 650 and this 1100 are 2006. I am 6 foot and I find with the seat height I am sitting on my tailbone too much with my thighs a bit high. I get serious numb-a$$ in one tank of gas.

I generally tow the 650 behind the RV on a bike trailer as my toad.

The 1100 seems to have a bit bigger seat and feels more comfortable. I did ride my kid's 1100 for a 2 hour stretch and found this to be the case. Also, hard to notice unless you drive them both back to back, at parking lot speeds the steering on the 650 wants to "flop" to one side or the other and I found myself wrestling with it a bit in parking lots. The 1100 feels a lot more balanced at low speed for some reason. I can't believe the geometry is that much different but who knows. I do know the bars are a tad wider.

I enjoyed watching, please do a deep compound/buffing of the painted surfaces before deciding to repaint.

The frame will get a degreasing, 400 grit sanding and and acetone prep. The engine/cylinders will likely only get wire brushing/degreasing/acetone prep.

The bodywork will definitely get a deep 220/400 sanding, degreasing etc. before applying paint.

My dilemma is finding a good pinstriping tape and doing a good job applying. I am generally not good/too impatient for detail work like that but I am committed to try on this thing.

If ya'll are interested I will post updates as they happen.

 

[DonTom]

A bit low for my 5'11" height.

If you want a high seat, that will be my 2016 Moto Guzzi Stelvio. The seat height is adjustable, but it starts at too high for most people. I am slightly over 6' tall and its lowest setting is just right for me.

-Don- Yuma, AZ

 

[Boat Bum]

Both my 650 and this 1100 are 2006. I am 6 foot and I find with the seat height I am sitting on my tailbone too much with my thighs a bit high. I get serious numb-a$$ in one tank of gas.

I generally tow the 650 behind the RV on a bike trailer as my toad.

The 1100 seems to have a bit bigger seat and feels more comfortable. I did ride my kid's 1100 for a 2 hour stretch and found this to be the case. Also, hard to notice unless you drive them both back to back, at parking lot speeds the steering on the 650 wants to "flop" to one side or the other and I found myself wrestling with it a bit in parking lots. The 1100 feels a lot more balanced at low speed for some reason. I can't believe the geometry is that much different but who knows. I do know the bars are a tad wider.



The frame will get a degreasing, 400 grit sanding and and acetone prep. The engine/cylinders will likely only get wire brushing/degreasing/acetone prep.

The bodywork will definitely get a deep 220/400 sanding, degreasing etc. before applying paint.

My dilemma is finding a good pinstriping tape and doing a good job applying. I am generally not good/too impatient for detail work like that but I am committed to try on this thing.

If ya'll are interested I will post updates as they happen.

I meant just the tank and fenders, they seem to be in OK shape. If you must know, I'm against the color changing paint, even when professionally done I don't care for it.

 

[garyb1st]

If you want a high seat, that will be my 2016 Moto Guzzi Stelvio. The seat height is adjustable, but it starts at too high for most people. I am slightly over 6' tall and its lowest setting is just right for me.

-Don- Yuma, AZ

Had that on my Yamaha FZ6. That was my first bike and it was scary fast.

at parking lot speeds the steering on the 650 wants to "flop" to one side or the other and I found myself wrestling with it a bit in parking lots.

I had the same problem. Actually dropped it when trying to make a turn in a banked driveway entrance. Didn't get hurt but it was embarrassing.

 

[Old_Crow]

I had the same problem. Actually dropped it when trying to make a turn in a banked driveway entrance. Didn't get hurt but it was embarrassing.

When one of my kids was in the Navy, attending class in the Chicago area, he borrowed a friend's Ninja to take for a ride. Along the way he stopped at a Harley dealer to get his mom a T-shirt. When leaving the parking lot he drove through some mud unintentionally and the bike slid out from under him at like 5 mph. Nothing hurt but his pride. I asked him if he had hit that mud before he bought the shirt would he have still gone into the dealership. He replied in the negative.

 

[Steven UK]

Here is my old pig of an 1981 GL1100 it was a fully faired Goldwing when I purchased it. This was after swearing off road bikes for ever, after surviving a string of MX race bikes and crotch rockets. It runs, it has issues but it runs. The Tach and Speedo failed within about a hundred miles of each other last year. I started doing longer runs on it so needed to improvise a fairing on it because i was getting beaten to death with the totally naked approach. The small fairing made a huge difference, I'll do something about the sharp edge and paint it as soon as I get a 60°F day and some time.

 

[Ex-Calif]

I meant just the tank and fenders, they seem to be in OK shape. If you must know, I'm against the color changing paint, even when professionally done I don't care for it.

Ah... Gotcha. There are a few chips and peels. The peels predominantly under the mounts.

If I had more inclination I'd strip it and candy apple the bodywork. But I have a lot of projects in the queue hence the "quickie" refresh. I'm after a decent 10-footer.

I am still a bit hesitant about color shift from a can but as we all know 95% of the paint quality is in the prep. I guess I am gonna do the color shift because it will make the bike a bit unique if I decide to sell it on.

I had a little analysis paralysis on how to proceed but decided to finish the front end. Then do the engine, then the frame, then the back end.

Here's a little progress on the front end. I used wire brush, sharp chisel and then sanding to dig out the aluminum cancer. Of course you can't feather the edges of the chrome so the surface is uneven. But it's buried under the bar bag, bars, windscreen etc.

My buddy(ies) are recommending powder coating the frame, sending the chrome out etc. etc. etc. I know how to do that but this is a bike that, even with an awesome restoration, will be worth like $3000 max.

Sorry for the bad lighting. I spent the last hour or so today cleaning up the front brake system assembled. Command decision for tomorrow is the tear it down. It will be easier to refresh the components and bleeding bike brakes takes like 5 minutes.

Paint Prep & post paint

 

[Boat Bum]

Looks good, the forks came out great.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Fiddly Dee, Fiddly Day...

5 hours of wire brushing, disassembling, painting etc.

The controls didn't buff out like I wanted them to. As near as I can tell they might have originally been painted. With all the corrosion removed I am probably gonna paint them to match the lower forks. The handles themselves burnished up nicely. Photo shows wired handle assy and switch housing on the left and pre-wire brush on the right.

Calipers painted with caliper paint and cable guide hardware painted. In for a penny, in for a pound as the Brits say, so the bolts are all gonna get painted as well.

The big job is refinishing the front wheel. It won't be as bad as I first thought but it is a Brush Aluminum/Paint two-tone so the masking will be a bit fiddly.

I'll take that on tomorrow between coats of paint on the controls and hopefully assemble on Friday if the paint gets hard enough by then - nothing worse than jumping the gun and scratching soft paint.

You can see I took all the switches out of the boxes. Most of the switches are microswitches but the start button and horn button are exposed contacts. The start button was intermittent and upon disassy found spider webs and corrosion like the rest of the bike. Butt simple switch which I am sure will be fine after I polish it up, apply a little contact grease and reassemble.

 

[Boat Bum]

I'm conflicted, it's cool and all but...

What say you?