88010km

Time to change the tyres!

My old tyres were just that: OLD. Old as hell, actually. And square.. And hard... And everything a tyre shouldn't be.

My Old Metzler Lasertec had seen better days. I knew, when I bought the bike last year, that they were due a replacement. After feeling insecure in wet conditions, and experiencing some wobble with cold and semi-warm tyres I decided to change them. This was probably a few miles and months too late =P

I was very keen on getting some new shoes for my lade, but I had no idea what brand to pick. The bike runs on 100/90-19 and 120/90-19, so options were a bit limited.

Most shops I contacted wanted me to try a new pair of Lazertecs. I decided I wanted to try something different, as I wasn't happy with the Lazertecs I had. (YES, I know that the tyres were old and crappy, and that new ones would be much better). I wanted something that preformed well in wet conditions, and I couldn't care less if the tyre handles 200kph+. I use the bike for commuting.


After much deliberation, one of my friends recommended that I look at some Bridgestone BT45s. I read some tests, and a couple of reviews, and I decided to go for those.

I got the work done at Motorport - It was fairly cheap (I even got a discount! THANKS!) and I had some problems with my heated grips I wanted them to check out. I also wanted to check my rear wheel bearing.
The changed the tyres, fixed the heated grips and balanced the wheels. I picked the bike up in the POURING rain, and had a rather careful drive to work. Even with the brand new and slippery rubber, I could feel that the grip was better.

I have ridden the bike for 200~km after the change, and I am much happier that I thought I would be. As always: Rubber has EVERYTHING to say about performance and feel.

I ride more confidently through curves, and it breaks much better in the wet. I do recommend these tyres!

Winter update #3

Do you guys remember my Preliminary winter Todo-List? If not, here it is:


* Fix blinker issue

• The blinkers aren't working properly. Most likely a grounding fault. Nothing done about this yet.

* Buy and install new battery

• Battery picked out, but still awaiting the buy. I am going for a gel battery

* Fix more rotten hoses

• Again: Nothing done as of yet. This is fiddle work, and I don't want to do that in the cold. I have, however, bought the replacement hoses =)

* Buy and mount top box break light

• I have ordered this, and It is something I can do a lot of the work on indoors. I will probably do the mounting on the bike at the same time as I fix the back blinkers.

* Buy a loud-ass horn

• I need this after being backed into. The horn I have now sounds like a small bird farting under a thick blanket, so I was in need of a replacement. Again: Roger to the rescue! I got a horn from his collection of BMW-spares!

Apparently it is loud. It looks like a siren, hopefully, looks aren't deceiving this time!

* Change oil

• Probably get someone to do this for me!

* Change oil filter

• Probably get this done for me too!

* Clean properly

• As soon as spring hits!

* Buy new helmet

• Going to germany. I hope I can buy a decent helmet there cheaper than in Norway!

* Buy new trousers

• Going to Germany for this as well!

New items: Changing the break hoses and break fluid up front. Had a look at it last week, and boy is it brown :p

Winter update #1

Yes, WINTER has hit Norway.

This morning I was met by a horrible sight

I put my bike away three weeks ago. She got a quick wash, and nothing more. She is stored in a dry and ventilated, albeit a bit cold, place. The room is big, and there is room for me to work on her there, but I think I will bring an oven and some more light...

Night frost hit us about three weeks ago, and there was a lot of rain. Driving was not really appealing, so I decided to put her in storrage.

Two days after, I got a lovely present from my mothers friend:

It is a Halvarssons Shadow Leather jacket, and it is quite nice. I haven't had the opportunity to test her yet, but it is a near perfect fit, and a present. He bought it for himself after his own jacket got torn this summer, but realized that it was too big after riding with it a couple of times.

Very lovely present, and completely unexpected =) - Thank you very much!



And what are my plans for the winter-season?
Well.. The season is long here in Norway.. I seldom get the bike out before April first. Damn snow!

However! I do plan to fiddle around a bit with my XJ!

Preliminary winter Todo-List:

* Fix blinker issue
* Buy and install new battery
* Fix more rotten hoses
* Buy and mount  top box break light
* Buy a loud-ass horn
* Change oil
* Change oil filter
* Clean properly
* Buy new helmet
* Buy new trousers

87401km

It is getting colder!

Autumn seems to be comming. I had to find both my jacket-lining and my trouser-lining the other day! Temperatures below 7c is cold in the morning. Especially when the heated grips I bought at Motorport seems to be malfunctioning:

At times it seems to be working just fine, but suddenly it drops the effect down to the 30% mark, at which point it doesn't seem to do much heating. I need to find out why it does this =(

It seems that the bike uses a lot of gas in the higher revs! I tested with a full tank of gas, and driving in av very non-economical way. I got about 0,8/10km.. Which is a lot... Just tanked her now, and I will see what milage I get while driving like a granny =)

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!

86704km

Bought heated grips from Motorport. I had some on my shadow, and I want the same on this bike.
The previous one was for custom bikes, this is a bit different!


I got the Oxford hotgrips for 595,- ($99). It was 695, but the nice guy gave me a better price.

The control unit is a bit strange. It has the option of 30%, 40%, 70% and 100% effect. My old one was analog in the controls. The control unit is for mounting on a flat surface or on the left hand side controls.
I tested them directly on to the battery before fitting, and they worked!

Time to mount! =)

Removing the old grips was easy! I used my trusty leatherman wave and cut them off. I cleaned off the surface underneat, and dry fitted both grips.

The cables were stripped onto existing cables, and the grips were super-glued on. They were a perfect fit, and are comfortable to hold.

The control unit is a bit harder. The mounting plate is designed for mounting on the left hand side controlers. I have no screws there..

Nowhere to mount =(

Now,what to do? I have no flat surface fit for the unit. The solution was careful mounting on the right hand side.

A tight fit!

There was just enough room and clearance to mount the unit. Only problem now, is operating the buttons with the left hand.

I also needed to mount the unit that dristibute and control power, and hook the grips up to power.

The unit fitted perfectly underneat the seat!

More superglue!

I didn't want the grips hooked up directly to the battery, because there are a lot of kids in the area, and they fiddle with my buttons! I don't want a drained battery if someone turn on my grips.

I needed ingnition power, and decided to hook into the lightsystem. It is both controled by a button, and by the ignition.

I tested, and they work perfectly! No more cold hands during rainy days and Norwegian "summer" =)