TOPIC:

What my idiots wants, my idiots gets!!

So the pipes are coming along, crazy rusty they were. That pool they're soaking in used to be white vinegar

Still got a ways to go, though. I'll hit 'em again after work tomorrow, turn 'em, rinse, repeat ad nauseam.

Wow that exhaust gas come a long time way! Also your tank is making me want to go bare metal on mine...

Thanks Tusch, that's really nice to hear on a grey Monday morning!

Looking for opinions here, (not assholes) it's just about time to order in a replacement chain and sprockets, and I'm wondering what to get. Been playing around on Gear Commander and fantasizing about laying huge flaming tire marks everywhere I go.
In real life, I have no need to go over 220 kph. Hell, in real life I have no need to launch off the line at a stop light either. Still, it's nice to know you have the option.

So I'm wondering who's got some saddle time in one of these and what gearing changes you made and how you liked them. I've got no problem staying with the stock sizing, just seems that if I'm going to swap some stuff out, I may as well tweak it a little for a more enjoyable ride.

I'll be doing a fair amount of "city" driving, smaller town, not so many soul crushing stops and starts as long as I avoid the Colwood Crawl. Some nice long twisty and open roads. Be doing quite a bit of highway riding this Summer as well, hoping for a Cross Canada ride if the gf can get the time off. I'm thinking perhaps I should have more than one configuration ready to go depending on what I'll be doing.

So, stock? 16T up front? 38T in the rear, 41T? What's been your preference and experience, and why?

Not sure if this'll help, but I previously had a bike that liked to vibrate right at the speed I rode it a lot, and I would have geared it slower if anything to get rid of that. If you know what speed you plan to ride most, I could jump on mine (this weekend when I can finally drag it out, or maybe somebody else can get theirs out sooner) and see if it cruises well at that with stock gearing.

If you don't gear it as fast in order to make those rides nicer, you can always justify it by saying you can ride a second longer at wide open throttle before they take your license away.

unless you change the tire size i have found that the stock gearing on most bikes i have ridden is pretty good. If you are racing or putting lots of fast highway miles on the bike, then you may want to change. Personally I think ma kaw usually has a good compromise with their ratios. Just my .02 nice score on the pipe btw.

Thanks guys, yeah the pipe is coming along, although the chrome's not in the best shape up close. We'll see how it ends up, I might still wrap it. Or maybe get it re-plated if I can do it cheap enough.

Shimmy, I'd love to take you up on your kind offer to ride your bike for me this weekend. It's lovely that you would sacrifice yourself for such a noble cause, and I thank you for it
I should be spending most of my time around 50 kph or 100 kph, (that's around 30 and 60 mph(?) if you're in the States). Looking forward to your results. Ride safe and have a blast!

Going to see an upholsterer today, we'll see where things fall out as far as skill attitude and price. Wish me luck! Going to start the carb teardown as well, I say start because I have 10 carbs to do.

Okay, that's IT!!! The whole world can go and choke on a bag of dicks.
Bike's got a new name:

BAD NEWS

Turns out that my tank is pin-holed after all. Time for a new tank. Kinda knew it was coming, but still. And I just ordered a petcock rebuild kit, too.

My front seat pan is completely rotted out on the left hand side. Probably due to exhaust gases from the battery. Overflow hose mighta helped that. I found out just before I went to take it to the upholsterer this morning. Still went, and hashed out a cool design for the seat, just as soon as I source a new seatpan. Anyone got one they'd care to move? My pillion seat pan is still good, and the foam is manageable on both, so even just finding a naked OEM front pan would rock my little world.

And the carbs. Oh my, the CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED carbs. I'll post some pics tomorrow, when I won't be tempted to just torch the whole pile, and cleanse it with fire. I've got a few sneaking suspicions about these particular carbs, and if I'm right, CENSORED must pay. I'm seeing what I'm now pretty sure is either Locktite, or some kind of silicone sealant in the threads of some of the bolt holes. Neither one will lead to my having a pleasant afternoon. Hit them with enough Deep Creep to skin the panties off a nun. Hopefully I don't have to get too aggressive with them. I've already killed one manual impact driver, and I'd rather not make it my thing.
I just can't believe how many issues this bike has, all of them relating to illiterate lazy donkeys. Read a goddamned book why couldn't they? Maybe a manual, that would've been nice. Seriously, I'm puzzled by a few of the choices that have been made with this machine by PO's, (and not just the evil black paint, which I'm becoming pretty sure is some sort of alien creature, manifesting itself ever further into my reality) what the Hell were they thinking?

Oh yeah, did I mention the spider nest that hatched from somewhere in the bowels of the bike? Yup, hundreds of the bastards. Literally. Swarming all over their evil bastard webs, that they had strung up all over the front end of the bike and off into never before noticed corners of the shop. My, how I loathe spiders. I thought I did before, but that was nothing compared to the icy hate, for their eight legged little asses, that now courses through every fibre of my being.

Oh well, just one of those days, I guess.
Bag of dicks all around.

Okay, got some sleep, there's actually some sunshine outside, and I'm incredibly on my second day off this week. Unless I decide to go into the office this evening, which I should, but Jesus am I done with taxes!
Besides, my Fabrication manual and my Caswell kit came in today. I'm ethically and morally obligated to read the manuals and perhaps even log a little shop time. Maybe even check out the new Captain America movie...

So here's the pics:
Seat pan's CENSORED, but I have a replacement on the way, and an upholstery guy lined up.

Here's some close-ups of my little stowaways. Picture this, only all over the front end and trailing off to far flung corners of the shop.
It was like a really bad version of The Mist. I would have taken more pics, but I was busy defending myself, in a ball, in the corner, with my eyes closed

And here's the carbs. I'm wondering why someone would cap off three vents and plug three float bowl drains. Too lazy to set the float height properly? If there's some logic to this, please let me know, it's troublesome. I'm wondering if there's a safe way to open up the drains again, (probe, drill or punch?) or if I should just get new float bowls. I already have SS Allen bolts on the way and carb kits for a full rebuild. I guess I'll be needing some T barbs and more 3/16", (is that right? 3/16" for the carb lines?) fuel line, as well as clamps, too.
The red stuff you see under the too long, mismatched bolts is the mystery crud that has me wondering just how CENSORED an experience this is going to be. At least everything moves freely, although the throttle cable holder seems to be slightly bent out of true, and the throttle cable mount is damaged, (seems like it should hold, though).

So the shopping list seems to be pretty static, although some new items were purchased as I went along:
Re-upholster seat
Chain & sprockets
Tires
SS brake lines?..

Well, this is frustrating.

Got a seat pan on the way from the East coast, got an upholsterer lined up. But still no love for a tank, I could get the pinhole repaired, but I just don't trust it, the thing is a rustbucket/firebomb just waiting to happen. The only ones I see on Ebay are going to cost me around $150-$200 once shipping is factored in. Sucky

I have a tank that fit a Z1 frame but the bung for the petcock puts it right over the carbs. Dont know if it would work for you or not. I thinks its from an 80's KZ 1000.
Wayne

Thanks Wayne, I truly appreciate the offer, but I'm guessing that the 1000 tank would fit any better than the one I have for a 900.
I'd really love to use the 900 tank, (there's pics of it earlier in the thread) but the front end would just bash it to Hell at full steering stop, and to move it back far enough, I'd need monkey arms to get comfortable.

have you considered just widening your stearing stop so that the fork tubes cannot hit the tank? I will be having to do this on my project but then i only need about 1/8" more clearance, so won't be losing a noticeable amount of turning radius.