87590km

The accident week!

Luckily not my accidents! However; two of my friends and fellow bike riders got hit by cars within a week. Both are fine, luckily, and neither of them to blame.

One of them got rear ended while accelerating out from a crossing, just getting the green light. His bike isn't to badly beaten: Busted engine guard and some covers cracked and scratched. The bike is okay. My friend is okay.

The other one you all know. It is my friend who just got a "new" CBR. He got hit by a car that was changing lanes with its driver not looking before turning. He got hit rather badly on the side and his bike suffered a bit of damage: Busted fairings, busted foot-peg, busted engine covers, bent handlebar, busted driving gear and so forth.
Good luck with the insurance companies both of you!

Actually I ALMOST had an accident myself! I was driving home from work, when a huge lorry in front of me decided to break hard in a tunnel. I had good clearance to it, but I fully lock-braked and stopped hard.

It then proceeded to begin backing in the tunnel!

There are several things wrong with this: First of all, in Norway it is against the law to stop in a tunnel. Secondly, it is illegal for a lorry to back without a spotter.

I started honking my horn, heavily, but to no avail. I had to back my bike as fast as I could, but this was on a down-slope, meaning I had to back uphill. Luckily, the cars behind me started honking as well and the lorry driver stopped backing the moment he hit my tire. After getting around the lorry I began shouting at the idiot. He replied with his middle finger. Idiot...

Car drivers of the world:

PAY ATTENTION!

Todo:

• Buy a loud ass horn! (Will  this from Biltema do? (105db))

87101km

The epic, heroic, astronomic, colossal, considerable, enormous, gigantic, ginormous, jumbo, mammoth, massive, mega, monster, monumental, prodigious, sizeable, tremendous, vast, very big, very large and whopping tale of the non-working indicators.

Or not..

Are you ready for the tale of the epic, heroic, astronomic, colossal, considerable, enormous, gigantic, ginormous, humongous, jumbo, mammoth, massive, mega, monster, monumental, prodigious, sizeable, tremendous, vast, very big, very large and whopping fail that is me?

Sure?

I. Used. The. Wrong. Bulbs.

And while most of you probably sit like this now, let me explain myself! Please?

Pretty please? With sugar on top?

I cannot dig myself out of this hole of fail, but I must try!

I got a new relay through ebay a few days/weeks back, and changed it, without much luck. I just didn't think about me changing the bulbs a few days before. You know, the ordinary 12v21W bulbs... The ones I bought at Biltema, rather cheaply.. (15,- NOK apiece, $2) That weren't 12v21w but 24v21w?

Who knew that 12v systems required 12v bulbs? I DID!!! Who knew that you had to read the big lettering on the package to see that it was 12v and not 24v? I DID!!!

Who is going to be ridiculed for this for a long time?

I am...

*sigh*

86912km

How about mounting an autocom?

I have an Autocom Super pro avi I took off my previous bike. I use it for recieving calls and listening to music. I have ordered a second helmet kit from MC-Oslo aswell, since my wife wants to ride with me =)

I had one little problem, though: Where to mount it? The box isn't that big, but there are several wires to be led everywhere. I need to connect it to power, and there are also wires to connect to the helmets, a bluetooth dongle and an auxillary wire for my mp3-player.

The Bluetooth-dongle has a long wire for easy mounting. The same applies to the aux-cable. They are both about 1,5m.

I searched the bike for a decent placement, and for a while I considered the inside of the front fairings. After a little consideration, I decided against it, as it would be very explosed to the elements. I did, however, find a suitable place for it: The little storrage compartment in the back of the bike!

The compartment is almost perfect; not to much water and fairly easy to access it when I need it. Not to logical how to lay the cables, but I found a solution.

First, I mounted the box in the back using adhesive velcro bought from Biltema. They are for outdoor use, so they should stick.

I also bought some cable threaders with rubber covering and bolt holes. These items set me back 67,- NOK ($11)

The threaders are perfect for this job! All the cables I need fit through.

It made the mounting process very easy and it looks nice.

However! There seems to be a problem with the sound. When I turn on the heated grips, the autocom restarts. It is also rather unstable on the bluetooth connection. Could this be because they are connected to the same powerloop?

I have some investigating to do!

86820km

Time to tackle the rattle of the rack!

I got a tube of grease (26,90 NOK ($4,50)) from biltema and got to work!

MMMMM! Nothing like a little grease for the bolts!

I went over the rack, and thightened all the bolts, but the rattling persisted. After a little sound hunting, I found the reason!

The previous owner has mounted a 12v outlet in one of the side covers. I never payed it much attention while removing said covers, but it was loose, and barely hanging on. After a little bit of tightning, the sound was gone :)

Note the nice, purple colour too.

There is a crack in the side cove, so I bought some more stuff, this time at Clas Ohlson - Some fiberglass and lamination epoxy for 119,- NOK ($20)

I went over the bike and tightened up a lot of screws. Also figured out the problem with wobbling speedo gauge. Tighten, tighten and tighten the wire =)

All in all, a good session with the bike, it runs a lot smoother now, with less vibrations and not so many weird noises!

86751km

Time to go shopping!

Off to biltema I went, and this is what I got:

New fuses!

(49,90 NOK ($8))

New fuse holder!

(29,90 NOK ($5))

Some cable shoes!

(39,90 NOK ($6,50))

Took out the old fuse box, and cut the wires, making sure that I didn't get any of them mixed up.

What is left now is some clean up work, to make it look better, and to attach things properly.

My handywork isn't pretty, but I got the job done. Note the busted relay, taped together on the left hand side!

Any ideas on waterproofing and securing the area around the fuses a bit better? The old fuse box had a lid, and that was probably for a reason. Anyone?

The hotgrips work perfectly now, and I can enjoy warm hands during our wonderful Oslo summer.... (11c and rain this morning =( )

According to the xjbikes forum, this, along with thin oil in the forks is a common problem on this bike... Well, not anymore!

Time for a brand new To-do:

• Change fork seals and oil
• Fix indicators
• Buy and mount new top box with break light
• Change locks in Givi bags
• Tighten Givi rack
•  Mount Autocom

86751km

Disaster!

I tried the hotgrips for a couple of days now, and I could not get them above 40% without them turning off or going back to 30% on their own accord. This confused me, as they worked fine when I dry fitted them.

What now? Cut off? Bring back to store? Buy new? Check wires? And....
....

....

What is that smell? Is it burning plastic? Something smells... And it is comming from underneat my seat!!!
Time to fetch this:

I never found anything actually burning, but what the hell made that smell?

After further examination, I found the culprit! And boy did it scare me! I read stories of this on the xjbikes forum, but I thought I was good, since it seemed to be okay for 16 years...

Is that hole supposed to be there?

(Sorry! No pictures of the actual removal process. I was in a panic...)

And what is this?

 Evidence of past failures?

The main fuse was held in place by this... And no glass fuse in the original fuse box.

And by the looks of the rest of the fuse box, I was mistaken in thinking the fuse box was alright, and that it did not suffer from the apparent weakness of all the other boxes on this model =(

Just look at this:

 Melted plastic NOT FTW!

 The holder for the main fuse (left) was completely gone, and replaced by the above fuse holder. The fuse for the lighting system is second, and was melted completely through. It was a wonder the fuse didn't blow. The holders for the fuse was just melted off. And it appears that the original holders are made of chinese garbage metal and left over wires from pre Edisonian era...

The other two fuse holders were on the verge of dying too. Time to go SHOPPING!

Off to Biltema and Clas Ohlson for som shopping!