at the corner of No and Where

Ah, the electrical work. What I need to do is fairly simple, just replace the switches for the abs disable and the 4-way flashers so that the new ones will mount in the Highway Dirt Bikes top clamp.

Actually, those were the easy ones, but a problem with the turn signals caused quite a delay.

I couldn’t get the turn signals to work properly. The right signal was fine, the left one wouldn’t flash at all and the indicator flashed quickly. I swapped bulbs from right to left as they looked fine, but the left side was still inop. I noticed that the dash illumination bulbs were flashing when the left signal should have been flashing, so I began to suspect a diode. Of course the diodes on the F650 are hidden inside the crankcase – not really but they are still tricky to get a hand on. Replacement diodes from BMW are $17 each, and that was just ridiculous. I had some 3W diodes that should work fine, so I soldered 1/4″ spade fittings and then shrink-wrapped them. I replaced the original diodes and unfortunately the left signal was still inop. OK, this is becoming annoying. I took the left rear signal apart, and it was fine. The left front however was not. One of the wires was not attached to anything. We are talking 12v here so it wasn’t likely to spark across space. I crimped the connector together with pliers to make a better mechanical and electrical connection and like magic the turn signals (and the flashers) are working. At least I have better diodes that aren’t working at their maximum capacity in place now.

I removed the oem heated grip switch because it simply wasn’t possible to use it with the aftermarket heaters. All I needed was a DPST center off switch, but I spent a good hour with the ohmmeter trying to work out a set of contacts that would give that result. Not to be found. So, I ordered a switch blank to cover the oem switch and a new mini rocker switch. Both arrived fairly promptly and the wiring was simple enough.

The grip heater elements are held onto the throttle tube and the shrink wrap with 3M adhesive and then the grips are glued on with JB Weld. Not bad, all assembled and working properly with my brand new switch.

You might think we’re ready to go now, but you’d be wrong. With the addition of the risers, the front brake line from the handlebars to the ABS block on the headstock is now too short to allow full-lock turns. I took the oem line off and went to the local custom bike shop to order a replacement 2″ longer. When it came back the fittings weren’t exactly the same angles, so the line had to be routed slightly different to the original. That difference was enough that the 2″ should have been 3″, but it wasn’t. Crap. I ordered a new line (the fittings are OK) and now I get to wait another 2 days before I can put the brake line back in and bleed the front brakes.

Such are the joys of customizing bikes. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion…

Now that the suspension is sorted out, the final hurdle is the handlebars and the hand guards. I ordered a set of Ultimate hand guards from Highway Dirt Bikes, including mirrors and switches. I had also ordered a set of Protaper SE alloy handlebars in the CR high bend. After some disassembly and some trial fitting, it was obvious that some risers were necessary to give the handguards the clearance needed for full-lock turns. I got a set of Rox risers that seemed to fit the bill and swapped the top clamp for the BMW for one that would fit the Rox riser bolt pattern. Now the clearance was OK. I turned some 1″ extensions to make the bars longer so that the switch housings could be placed in their (roughly) original positions. Mechanically, everything fits.

Stay tuned for the electrical work. My favorite.

I found a pair of stainless Supertrapp mufflers on ebay, and knowing that I wanted a tool tube on the right side and a single muffler on the left, I bought them. It fits properly, but I need a pipe bent and swaged to connect the exhaust pipe to the muffler inlet. Off to Tuffy’s in Yorkville. About 20 minutes after I got there I had a connecting pipe in place that only needed clamps and it was done.

The front wheel bearings and seals were the work of a few minutes and they were done. Freezing the bearings and heating the hubs made it fairly simple. A big socket that just fit the outer race was a help too.

READY TO RIDE!

The first ride was a disappointment. The forks were stiff and the rear shock was very nice. I guess the extra preload I added with the slightly longer spacer was coming back to bite me. Oops. Can’t leave it this way – one of the advantages of pvc spacers is that they’re easy to cut. Mark volunteered his garage this time, so I headed up there and we cut 5/8″ off the spacers and buttoned everything back up. Much better. After a few more miles I may still shorten the spacers a bit more, but I need to see how the forks work when the fluid is warmed up and on varying terrain.

There is a very large field north of my house that’s just begging to be ridden. The full knobby tires are very nice when you run into mud, the bike just keeps going, albeit more slowly than before. With the scorpions on the KTM, it would have been dirtnapping long before I ran out of mud.

Clearly, I had the wrong tires for the eastern TAT. Oh, well. Ride, pick up your bike in the mud, and learn.

I try.

OK, we’re finally back to a rolling chassis, or something pretty close to that. But the front wheel needs new bearings, seals, and axle spacers and the forks need Racetech valves, new springs, and new fluid. Luckily, my good friend Mark is up for the messy job of rebuilding the forks. Actually, it was Mark that made a mess by squirting fork oil on the ceiling of the garage. He’ll deny it but it’s still true.

Removing the front wheel and caliper is a few minutes work, and the forks are off a few minutes after that. Disassembly is almost always easier and quicker than reassembly – in my experience anyway. So we remove the circlips and the fork cap (not threaded on these forks) and pour out what fluid we can. The spacer and spring come out, along with a washer or two. The other fork was left assembled so that we would have a guide if our memory turned out to be faulty, or if our memory was so feeble that we couldn’t remember if it was faulty. Anyway, the piece of tubing supplied with the Racetech springs was not long enough to make spacers for both forks, so off to the hardware store we went. A piece of 1″ PVC tubing fits inside the forks, so that’s what I decided to use. I had to use my impact wrench to remove the bottom screw on the fork and finish the disassembly. While the forks are apart I replaced the bushings and guides.

We drilled the required holes in the tubing, cleaned the fork parts thoroughly, and began reassembly. About 10 minutes later, we had the fork reassembled and were ready to cut the spacer. From the top of the tube (while extended) to the bottom of the installed fork cap was about an inch of preload. We poured in 610ml of 10-wt Honda fork fluid. I left the spacer extending about 3/8″ out of the tube for 1 3/8″ of preload. The extra preload made it a booger to get the fork caps reinstalled but we got it done. The second fork was fairly simple having just seen the necessary steps. There was barely enough fork fluid for both, but we got the full 610ml in the second fork as well.

I replaced the stem bearings while the forks were out, as they seem to have a nasty habit of failing at around 20k miles and my F650 has, well, about 20k miles. Better to work on it here in the garage with a full set of tools than on the side of the road in BFE. Using the freezer and a heat gun, the job was actually pretty simple and the special socket for the special nut was helpful. I’ll put a few miles on it and then recheck the nut for the proper torque.

Next, the ride.