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Since we don’t have the greatest of riding weather during winter around here and because I’m a fair weather rider, I figured it would be a great time to dig into the bike a little and take care of a few things that needed to be done as well as add some new parts while I was at it. I hate not riding for long periods of time, so working on the bike I guess is a bit of a compromise and tides me over you could say in the meantime. Anyway, here is a short list among some other things of what I’ve slowly done and added to it within the past couple of months:
-Strip bike down for full detail and going through
-Install new brake pads
-New rear tire: 190/55/17 this time ‘round
-New OEM matching rear seat cowl
-Frame sliders
-Extended swingarm spools
-New sprockets from Drive Systems to change the gearing
-SpeedoHealer
-Custom levers
-Oil change-duh
-New rear paddock stand
-New riding pants
-New helmet
-Had tank professionally repainted
Not a total make over by any means, but just some maintenance and a good going through with some new parts added. It’s a nice feeling to have it all ready to go for spring and summer. I really enjoy working on the bike and find it fairly simple to work on.
I enjoy doing these little write ups and sometimes they get kind of long but, here’s some pics of the new parts seen below as well as a few descriptions of them underneath for all who are interested.
The difference in height between the new 190/55 and the worn 190/50. Being that the 55 has rounder profile, I can quite noticably feel the difference in quicker turn-in. It definitely feels more flickable and less wallowy in side to side transitions which is awesome.
New Drive Systems Superlite 42T sprocket. I originally rode around for a short while with a 15T CS installed with the old 190/50, and it felt absolutely perfect for all types of riding. Basically it got rid of that having to wait a second or so for the revs to get into the powerband after you hit it while the rpm’s were low. Power was always on tap and had that lurch ahead as I call it at any rpm like a V-twin has. As you can see from the third picture above comparing the two tires together, the 55 is considerably taller than the worn 50 is. I figured that after the 55 was installed, it would raise the gearing back up close to what it was stock, so to compensate I bought a bigger rear sprocket, a 45T as I thought that it would even it out some while also making it slightly lower than it was before. With the 45T installed, it felt MUCH lower than how it was and I didn’t like it at all because it pulled very very short through the gears. It was basically like ruumm shift ruumm shift and so on (going through the gears constantly) while the 15/42 gearing was like ruuummmm shift. I just didn’t like it, so I bought a new 42 tooth sprocket and to my amazement, the bike feels exactly the same gearing wise as it did before with the shorter tire. I’m not sure at all why it does as I would have figured that the taller tire for sure would have made a very noticeable difference to the gearing had I originally just kept the 42T sprocket on in the first place, but it honestly feels just like it did before with the worn 190/50.
One of the best things I’ve installed on my bike is a SpeedoHealer. I give it a 10/10 for quality and user functionality. In terms of quality, the wiring and plugs of the unit is top notch and good as the stock hardware. The instructions for it isn’t some thick booklet with English printed in the back while having a zillion other different languages printed in the front, it is very simple and to the point explaining how the unit works and how to enter in/change settings, and most of all easy to understand . Very good product and well worth the money.
New OEM matching rear seat cowl.
Had to take advantage of the $49.99 deal on Scorpion helmets a while back last year.
-Strip bike down for full detail and going through
-Install new brake pads
-New rear tire: 190/55/17 this time ‘round
-New OEM matching rear seat cowl
-Frame sliders
-Extended swingarm spools
-New sprockets from Drive Systems to change the gearing
-SpeedoHealer
-Custom levers
-Oil change-duh
-New rear paddock stand
-New riding pants
-New helmet
-Had tank professionally repainted
Not a total make over by any means, but just some maintenance and a good going through with some new parts added. It’s a nice feeling to have it all ready to go for spring and summer. I really enjoy working on the bike and find it fairly simple to work on.
I enjoy doing these little write ups and sometimes they get kind of long but, here’s some pics of the new parts seen below as well as a few descriptions of them underneath for all who are interested.





The difference in height between the new 190/55 and the worn 190/50. Being that the 55 has rounder profile, I can quite noticably feel the difference in quicker turn-in. It definitely feels more flickable and less wallowy in side to side transitions which is awesome.


New Drive Systems Superlite 42T sprocket. I originally rode around for a short while with a 15T CS installed with the old 190/50, and it felt absolutely perfect for all types of riding. Basically it got rid of that having to wait a second or so for the revs to get into the powerband after you hit it while the rpm’s were low. Power was always on tap and had that lurch ahead as I call it at any rpm like a V-twin has. As you can see from the third picture above comparing the two tires together, the 55 is considerably taller than the worn 50 is. I figured that after the 55 was installed, it would raise the gearing back up close to what it was stock, so to compensate I bought a bigger rear sprocket, a 45T as I thought that it would even it out some while also making it slightly lower than it was before. With the 45T installed, it felt MUCH lower than how it was and I didn’t like it at all because it pulled very very short through the gears. It was basically like ruumm shift ruumm shift and so on (going through the gears constantly) while the 15/42 gearing was like ruuummmm shift. I just didn’t like it, so I bought a new 42 tooth sprocket and to my amazement, the bike feels exactly the same gearing wise as it did before with the shorter tire. I’m not sure at all why it does as I would have figured that the taller tire for sure would have made a very noticeable difference to the gearing had I originally just kept the 42T sprocket on in the first place, but it honestly feels just like it did before with the worn 190/50.

One of the best things I’ve installed on my bike is a SpeedoHealer. I give it a 10/10 for quality and user functionality. In terms of quality, the wiring and plugs of the unit is top notch and good as the stock hardware. The instructions for it isn’t some thick booklet with English printed in the back while having a zillion other different languages printed in the front, it is very simple and to the point explaining how the unit works and how to enter in/change settings, and most of all easy to understand . Very good product and well worth the money.

New OEM matching rear seat cowl.

Had to take advantage of the $49.99 deal on Scorpion helmets a while back last year.








