It didn’t take long, and the Dale-ization has begun. I believed the bike to be in good shape mechanically, and after spending some serious wrench time with it I can say with certainty that it has been well maintained.
In its stock configuration, the “S” model is waaay too tall for me, so correcting that was a top priority. I removed the front and rear wheels, and then the forks and rear shock. Off they went to Javier at Trailtricks for a rebuild, revalve, respring, and shorten back to the standard spec height. The suspension changes will net me a 2 inch reduction in seat height. I added a KTM low gel seat, which gains another inch for a total of three. This is enough to make the bike fit me much better.
While the suspension work was being done, I began the remainder of the work. I took the LED battery minder and extended the leads so that I could mount the LED in the dash and have the electronics under the dash behind the headlight. A cleaner installation than cable-tying the box to the clutch reservoir.
I cleaned everything from front to back, but it was already in good shape. The PO had drilled some holes in the tool box under the seat for wiring and I removed that wiring. I used some fiberglas cloth and ABS cement and patched up the holes. I took the opportunity to remove the steering stem and clean/repack the bearings – did the same to the swingarm bearings and also drilled holes into the bottom of the swingarm so that any water would have an escape route. Some folks have had the axle adjusters corrode due to water in the swingarm; I did not have that problem but the holes will prevent it from showing up later. Some anti-seize on the threads and that’s done.
More to come…