Ok, so what if he’s a billionaire!

Is this not one of the dorkiest photos ever!??

fixing things up

Pretty pathetic it seems, that I finally changed my oil.  I’m afraid it’s the first time in 2008 that I have done so.  I went over and picked up some supplies yesterday at Aurora Suzuki: Suzuki OEM oil filter, Suzuki 10w-40 motorcycle oil, Suzuki OEM air filter, and a cable lube kit.  For this stuff, I plunked down around $75, that just seems expensive.  I also asked the parts guy about my handlebar brake lever (only activates the rear brake light intermittently), and clutch lever (loose and hard to pull).

I went ahead and changed the oil, and filter yesterday afternoon.  Wow!  That was some of the blackest oil I have seen.  I feel horrible about riding all this time, all those miles, and never giving it a thought.  Beer is about the best comparison I can give.  The oil I put back in the bike was the color of say, a light domestic beer, and the oil coming out, a thick dark pint of Guinness.  After riding it around a bit today, the engine feels smoother, and transmission shifts without any effort (the engine and transmission share oil).

This afternoon I set about to simply replace the air filter.  Off came the front seat, then the two bolts were removed that hold the front of the fuel tank down.  Lift and prop the tank up with the supplied metal rod, and the airbox is revealed.  Several more screws loosened, and the air filter shines it’s lovely face.  As you can seen there is a noticeable difference between the old filter on the left and the new one on the right.

While I was there working on the filter I decided to go ahead and work on the clutch and the brake levers.  I took apart the clutch lever, unhooking the clutch cable from it.  I then attached the cable lube gadget that I bought yesterday, and then the bottle of lubricant.  It said to spray for at least 5 secs.  After about 5 secs, I stopped, and admired the excellent spray pattern of lubricant all over the left turn signal, fork, etc.  I wiped everything down, put the clutch lever back together, and tightened everything up.  The clutch feels fluid, and it’s so solid feeling now!:)

Next the brake lever.  I took the brake lever off, and cleaned off both contact points, and reassembled it, and tightening the fasteners.  I adjusted the position of the lever and checked the brake light.  It now appears to be activating on application of the front brake lever.  Woot!

I went out and rode the bike down around Ballard for a couple minutes and the bike seems to be breathing a lot better, and throttle response seems better also (I hope I’m not just imagining that!).  The clutch has a much different feel now (as it seems to now be properly adjusted), and the front brake actually feels more responsive. I’m really excited to ride to work tomorrow!:)