A few mods for me monster

So now that the ZRX is up and running, it's time to focus on the S2R1000. I ordered a set of Pazzo levers and Rizoma bar ends and dropped the bike off at the shop. I had them install a set of Sportmax Q2's, do an oil change and remove that hideous evaporative canister.

Pazzo levers and Rizoma bar ends

 So I get a call from my mechanic and he says "I'm changing the oil and I found 1/2 a valve retainer in the oil cap"...  Uh huh. He tells me that the shop has seen this before, that sometimes during assembly these can drop in and the factory isn't going to waste time going after them. On the other hand, it might be one of yours. Really no way to know without looking.

So rather than spend the rest of the summer wondering when a valve may drop onto a piston, I said go ahead and take it apart... Another couple hour$ labor to learn it was indeed a piece of junk from the factory and mine are all in tact.

I can't swing a multi-thousand dollar exhaust replacement right now so I just removed the heat shield and put in a couple Harley-worthy chromed bolts. I've also removed the rear mudflap, but I left the beer tray as I like the length it adds to the bike, plus everyone else removes their's....

"Look Ma, no mudflap"

So far it's been a series of mostly cosmetic mods: removed evaporative canister, mud flap and muffler heat shield. Swapped front sprocket and added bar riser. Zero Gravity screen, Rizoma mirrors and bar-ends, smoked lenses with orange bulbs, Pazzo levers, Oberon pegs and a Motografix tank pad.

Ready for a great summer of riding!

An inauspicious start to the riding season

It was a VERY snowy winter. Like I remember from childhood, and the type we have not had for some time. Sadly, we have rolled straight into a very wet spring. The only upside to that early on was it cleaned all the crud off the roads.

Middle of April I uncovered the S2R, unplugged the battery tender, rolled out of the garage, turned the key and pushed the starter... and the bike fired up like I'd just ridden the day before. Sweet. I checked lights and adjusted tire pressure and then went out for a 40 mile spin. And it was good.

<insert more rain here>

The following weekend I run the same drill with the ZRX and once again, the bike starts right up. Startron and battery tenders, baby. But this time, my son points to the exhaust and all of the thick white smoke pouring out. I thought maybe it was some condensation in the pipe for the first few seconds, but very quickly I could smell the oil, from my 4-stroke.

Well this can't be good.... Did I lose a gasket or something over the winter? So I made a service appointment thinking it was time for new brakes anyway. I'm walking out to the bike with a mechanic as I describe the problem and he says "Look at your (oil) sight glass, the case is full of gas." And processing that information I respond "Huh?"

There is no off position with the fuel petcock and I guess whatever function of the vacuum advance is supposed to prevent fuel from leaving the tank, didn't. So it was moving down through the carbs, past the pistons an into the engine all winter.

Replace the petcock, tune-up, clean the carbs, replace the floats, change the oil in the very clean case, sync the carbs ... 5 hour$ labor. Turns out he thought the brakes looked okay

There was a long enough break in the rain to allow me to meet up with a bunch of guys the following Sunday and put 170 miles on running the northern route. Had a blast.