On Sun, 21 Aug 2022 19:59:14 -0700, The Real Bev wrote:
On 8/21/22 6:11 PM, john wrote:
rode to mail box & back, dropped mail by garage and headed to the back
field to pick some blackberries, eat more than i put in the ziplock bag
then headed to the apple trees and watched a yellow jacket have some
sweet juice. the pear trees are just about ready, i should pick them
before the racoon gets them. rode bike back to garage and put it in its
place next to the workbench. that's about the extent of dirt bike riding
i've done this year, sigh
I haven't even done that on my BICYCLE!
After around 15'000km (10'000mi) and ~4 years of all weather, all
terrain MTB riding, the switch cables were pretty shot and quite sticky.
Shame on you, Shimano! Was an easy fix though: You can buy the outer
tube with PTFE liner sleeve per running meter from the spool and
stainless steel inner wires are not that expensive either.
While at it, I changed the hydraulic oil in the brakes (no-fuss Shimano
BR-M555 with 160mm rear disk and BR-M675 on 180mm in the front). For
the BR-M675, you need a special kind of bleeder tool - some sort of a
plastic screw-in funnel. Big mess, if you don't have it and try to
substitute with a syringe. Chances are, that you could use any 5W
weight mineral oil in a pinch (read: COVID-19-induced German e-bike
craze), but luckily I had some leftovers. Same situation with front
sprockets, rear cassette (decent quality 9x3 components are becoming
quite rare nowadays as everybody and his ass rides 1x12 now so he can
buy more ĪxpĪn$ivĪ parts more frequently), chains, brake pads and
rotors.
The orange turd (1998 KTM 620 "Sempre Competizione") is currently
enjoying a mayor engine overhaul (aka. preventive maintenance) with new
forged piston, rings, connecting rod kit, crank bearings, camshaft
bearings, valve stem seals, cylinder wall NiKaSil replating and micro
filter upgrade (the infamous toilet paper roll is discontinued). Also
have new Acerbis plastics in '98 orange I can put on. Decal set costs a fortune, perhaps I just print my own instead. "MY KNTN" following the
well known Porsche number plate in Mike Judge's "Office Space".
Hope, I can ride this thing for a couple more years to come, as the new
690s are becoming ride-by-wire smartphones on wheels, bowing to ever
increasing emission control. What's the purpose of a street legal
dirtbike with ABS that weighs 146kg (320lb) dry and puts out 75 fuel
injected hp to compensate? I'd rather get a Freeride E now since the
Stark Varg is probably not seeing the light of day in Germany. At least
not in a street legal version. And if it is not running on snake oil as
so many electric bikes were (Brammo, Quantya, Zero, Alta Motors MXR).
The RMZ450K8 I haven't ridden at all in four years straight
unfortunately. Partly because of the fierce crash I had in 2018 causing
more damage to man than to machine, partly because of COVID-19 leading
to quite ridiculous restraints - wearing a mask in the paddock - WTF? I
made sure to store the bike in a reasonably dry and dark place, covered
with a bed sheet, elevated on a kickstand with airbox cover and butt
plug installed, plenty of WD-40 on the metal parts, tank filled up
completely to protect the fuel injection system.
So I hope a new air filter, refilling the tank with new juice, some oil
in the spark plug hole and kicking it over for a couple times will help
it fire right up. Perhaps I should have an oily look at the valve train
before that and pray to see no rust in there. Sure I'll change
oil/filter and brake fluid afterwards, the tires might also have turned
to wood out of sheer boredom. But what can you do...?
Volker
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