.: XT660.com - The #1 XT660 Resource :. - Commuter, Adventurer... Racer?

For those with short attention spans, we'll do the eye-candy shot first...

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...10891176_n.jpg
(not the best shot I'm afraid, not the most forgiving light to try taking a photo of something black and white without losing the detail in one or the other)

Right then, where was I...

Got the forks swapped over and the bike back in (just about) roadworthy condition back in December, then realised I still had plenty of work to do.

First up was making the sidestand a bit longer to get rid of the comedy lean:

http://wildchild.org.uk/blog/images/...2_750x1000.jpg

Don't worry, I did weld it up properly after taking this shot ;). I still need to do something about the centrestand - it still holds the bike upright, but both wheels are on the floor. Needs blocks underneath it to actually change the wheels. And yes, I know the bike is really ****ing grotty.

As soon as I got the forks bolted to the bike, it became obvious that they needed rebuilding - enough play in the bushes that I could feel them 'rock' over the clearance when I put the brakes on. However I managed to put enough miles on the bike to convince myself that the stock 450SX setup was a good baseline and didn't need any urgent changes to springs or damping.

It also became apparent that the ergonomics weren't right any more. The OTR top yoke seems to sit a bit further down the steering stem, which in turn meant the bars were a bit lower than before. Probably still slightly higher than stock, but I'm about 6'3" , and I need all the height I can get for a comfortable standing position. It was made even worse by the fact that, being lower, they also had to be rolled back a bit in the clamps to clear the screen 'ears' on full lock.

One lump of alloy bar stock and a trip to my parents to fire up my dad's ancient lathe later, and I had a nice pair of 35mm spacers to fit under the original bar risers:

http://wildchild.org.uk/blog/images/...9_1000x750.jpg

This lifted the bars back up to a sensible height for me, and also lifted them above the wide bit of the screen, allowing me to roll them forward a bit. The result - a much 'bigger' riding position when stood up. Still comfortable sat down, but I think it's approaching the limit.

Sadly this took me way over the reach of the standard throttle cables, which were already a bit tight on my previous setup (although bizarrely there's still plenty of length in the clutch cable). The cables went in the post to Venhill, who used them to make me a new set, 120mm longer to give plenty of slack around the headstock.

As the lack of cables was preventing me riding the bike anyway, I took the opportunity to have the forks rebuilt. I toyed with doing them myself, but then Leisure Trail in Nottingham gave me a cheap enough quote that it wasn't worth my while, and they turned them around the same afternoon I dropped them off. I also did most of the 30,000 mile service, and threw in a bonus valve clearance check since I already had the tank off.

Oh yeah, taking the tank off. I've already mentioned this elsewhere, but when I was taking the throttle cables off I decided, rather than taking the tank right off, to just prop it up. I then managed, while turning the steering through its full travel to measure the required cable length, to knock the tank off the bike. Fortunately I had disconnected the electrical connections, but it was still attached by the fuel hose. Result - one snapped fuel hose and one bent injector rail. It also turned out that the fall had knocked the fuel pump partly out of its mounting in the tank, which lead to my starting issues yesterday ( thread here).

Few other fiddly bits completed:

- A bit of fettling of the KTM master cylinder to get it to play nicely with the Yamaha switchgear.
- Banjo bolt brake light switch fitted, as the master cylinder I bought didn't have a mechanical switch.
- Master cylinder also meant I lost the right hand mirror mount. I used this as an excuse (I wanted some anyway) to buy some Doubletake mirrors.

Finally, I used the wait for the new fuel hose to give the crash panels a repaint after just over a year of crashing and stone-chips had made the original yellow and black scheme look a bit tatty. Went for a bit of a different colour scheme this time round, and vinyl wrapped a new Metal Mule tall screen to match:

http://wildchild.org.uk/blog/images/...2_750x1003.jpg

Didn't make a particularly good job of either the paint or the vinyl (spray painting stuff when it's snowing outside isn't ideal :D), but I'm pleased with how it looks from a few yards away at least, and it's only going to get trashed over the course of the year anyway.

Quick spin out yesterday, and it all seems fairly good. Still need to do an oil and filter change, and replace one of the bearings in the rear linkage before it's due for MOT on the 1st March. Other than that, it should just need some fresh tyres in time for the BBRC pre-season training weekend in late March.

But for now, I'm just really glad to be back on two wheels after four weeks of having to sit in traffic going into Nottingham every day in the pickup (at 25mpg :()