In reference to my post of a couple of days ago, I believe that I have solved my fairing rattle problem, and with considerably less effort and mucking around than what I thought would be involved. Some time ago (see “Little Japanese Fingers”) I related the great difficulty that I had trying to replace two headlight bulbs on Rhonnda. In the end the process involved removing the mirrors and the inside panel that hides all the wiring and assorted gubbins around the instrument panel. The removal of the panel required the removal of 4 allen bolts (2 on each side – left side shown here).
As a first step in trying to solve my vibration problem I checked existing attachments and found that all four of these bolts were quite loose, evidently either not tightened properly last time or just vibrated loose as a consequence of some of the very rough roads I have been riding on recently. Needless to say that, having tightened them up, the problem seems to have gone away, a fact that pleases me greatly as I wasn’t looking forward to tearing it apart again.
On Tuesday my brother and I did a road trip to take care of some motorcycle business. Paul had a slight tear in the seat of his VFR and we had been recommended to Mick, the owner of MJM Motorcycle Seats in Goulburn on the southern tablelands. Now, such is Mick’s reputation that a lead time to get some work done by him is close to six weeks, but luckily he had a cancellation and rang Paul and told him. It was great news because, not only could he fit the job in earlier tha expected but, if Paul could drop the seat in early in the morning, he could have it fixed on the day and he would be back on the road.
It was, as locals will know, a vile day, below 10 degrees temperature that felt well below that with the wind chill factor and a howling gale courtesy of a storm cell that had swept in off Bass Strait that was affecting the whole of SE Australia. Just keeping the car in the right lane on the Hume Highway was a challenge but Mick was as good as his word and, having looked at the seat at 0800, told us that it was a comparatively easy fix and that he’d have it done by midday. Whoohoo!
So, what to do with the morning? Goulburn ain’t exactly the centre of entertainment and fun, but we box clever, you see. Thinking that we would have the whole day, here was a golden opportunity for me to take the damaged fairing and tank from the Shadowfax back to Canberra for Paul Campbell of Redback Racepaint to repair. They were stashed in the car so we headed further south. You think it was cold in Goulburn, in Canberra it was 3 degrees and much colder feeling with the wind. It reminded me forcibly of one of the reasons I left the ACT and came back to live on the coast!
The second part of the process complete we headed back to Goulburn, picked up the seat…
…and scampered home. What a great job by MJM. A complete recovering in the correct vinyl, done in half a day and $220 thank you very much. My seat has a much worse tear in it than Paul’s so I will be high-tailing it down to Goulburn soon myself. HIGHLY recommended.
I’m not hurrying for the Shadowfax job but I know Paul will try and get it back to me as soon as he and Alan Beavan have finished working their magic. In the mean time, do any of my readers have a late 70’s Honda Bol d’Or tacho they don’t want any more? The needle has broken off the existing one and is not repairable. I know it seems funny having a Honda tacho on a Kawasaki but it’s just for show and doesn’t have to work. TIA
Misano this weekend, without Rossi, the organisers must be crying in their Chianti. 🙂 Also Round 6 of the ASBK is on here in NSW at Eastern Creek. Should be a great weekend.