After the restoration: 12000-mile service
Monday, Oct 10, 2005
It's not quite time for the 12K service, but the front end is getting
twitchy; so twitchy that it is sometimes a bit scary. You want to
be sure you've got both hands on the bars when decelerating at about
30 MPH. I've checked everything I can think of checking. The only
thing I haven't done is change the front tire. There is lots of tread
left on the front, but it is over 5 years old. The fact that it is
5 years old bothers me a bit... the tire was purchased and mounted
in May of 2003. They've been used a bit over 6000 miles. The odometer
is at 11,6xx.
Tuesday, Oct 11, 2005
After some discussion on the slash2 mailing list I decided to go with the
Bridgestone S11 Spitfire. I ordered a pair—front and rear—from
Southwest Moto tires Monday morning. They arrived today! Yes, this means
I'll be changing the rear tire which was mounted less than 4 months ago and
has less than 1000 miles on it. So be it. I want to try the new tires as
a matched pair.
Wednesday, Oct 12, 2005
I hate changing tires. What takes others 20 minutes winds up taking me
about 4 hours. Yeah, I'll check spokes, wheel bearings if it's been a
while, polish the rims, clean the brakes, lube cables and linkages, and
generally try to make everything just right in addition to changing the
tires, but still... four hours! I started today by putting the bike on
the lift.
First things first. I removed the front wheel and checked out the condition
of the front brake friction material. Looks good. I wiped out some
excess wheel bearing grease from the inside of the backing plate and cleaned
the friction material with brake cleaner. The backing plate was then
turned over and the outside wiped down with some WD-40. It's ready to put
back on the bike.
I've learned in the past that it's easy to ding the hub cap when tire
irons slip. I removed the wheel bearing retaining nut, the hub cap,
then put the retaining nut back on the wheel. The hub cap was put out
of the way where it will stay until it is time to balance the wheel.
After much cussing but, to my surprise, no busted knuckles, the tube
came out of the tire then the tire came off the rim. It was easier
than last time, but that's not saying much. Have I mentioned that
I hate changing tires?
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