[Philmo11]

Dennis Kirk is kicking butt and taking names when it comes to getting your order to you. They have beat Amazon here the last 3 times. Anyway, grips and levers came in. All looks good. its freezing outside so I don't know If I'm going out today to work on it or not. The grips are 1 piece chromed aluminum, no plastic caps. Rubber Ribs got nice grab in the hand.

 

[Philmo11]

Got the battery but had to rush home to meet the furnace guy. Temp is going to start dropping from now until tomorrow night and stay in the 20’s and 30’s for the foreseeable future, so I doubt I touch it for the next 10 days.

 

[Philmo11]

I pushed myself to get one side of the handlebars done. I just did a light polish to see what it would look like. I did get those nasty cables covered. Not a pro job but it beats the yellow and dark brown the cycle sleeves turned over the years.

This is what those cables looked like

 

[Philmo11]

I ordered a new clutch cable. It was very difficult to pull in when I test rode it. I thought it was just because my hand was all screwed up (broken thumb and jammed middle finger) but when I pulled it apart yesterday, I have never seen a cable that gummed up before. Not ever. I literally had to scrape the gum out of the old lever with a flat head screw driver. If it was just gunk, it would be one thing, but this was sticky, like warm chewing gum. I'd venture to guess that the entire line is like that. It's no wonder I was having trouble with it. For $40, I bought a new braided clutch cable.

 

[Philmo11]

Return spring on the front brake lever wasn’t long enough. Front brake was sticking. Got that resolved. Got to make some adjustments to the risers. Not sure what the deal is yet but the still aren’t in alignment with each other. Doing that this afternoon along with covering the cables on the throttle side. This was a pic from yesterday after a test ride.

New driver backrest is ordered. Got the majic erasers for the whitewalls but haven’t done the tires yet. Clutch cable and gasket are out in the ether still. I’d better get on it if I wasn’t a road test afterwards, snow storm is coming.

 

[03star]

Bike looks great! Just like a road king classic! Very sharp! Glad to see how happy you are!
Is that bike carbed? I am looking at a 1300 only because it is fuel injected. I am tired of carb stuff...and want a bigger bike too. Keep us posted. Fun to read along about your upgrades.

 

[Philmo11]

Bike looks great! Just like a road king classic! Very sharp! Glad to see how happy you are!
Is that bike carbed? I am looking at a 1300 only because it is fuel injected. I am tired of carb stuff...and want a bigger bike too. Keep us posted. Fun to read along about your upgrades.

Carbureted. I don’t think Yamaha started fuel injected models until 2008. I’ve never really had any issues with carburetors on my street bikes. Never even had to have the carbs cleaned once. They are just cold hearted. There’s plenty of throttle response on the two carbureted bikes I just bought. You just can’t jump on a cold bike and go. Gotta warm it up for a min.

 

[Philmo11]

The new Road Star 1700 tank bib did not fit. I was going to put one that matched the seats on because of the space between the bezel and the tank. Nope. That's going back tomorrow. That was $77.

I pulled the risers off and sure enough, a washer was present on one side and not the other. After some searching, I found one that fit. Handlebars are now aligned properly.

 

[Philmo11]

The saddlebags when I got started. Note, this was after the power wash.

The saddlebags when I got done. They are still stuffed. Probably will be for at least another day.

Hopefully will hold their shape after I remove the stuffing.

 

[Brad_G]

Wouldn't know they were the same bags. How did you recondition them? I have a set in my basement (that look worse than yours did) that came with a pile of parts I bought. Maybe I should pull them out and see if I can resurrect them. I wasn't personally planning on using them but maybe they could be made to look decent enough they wouldn't go to the landfill.

 

[Philmo11]

I gave them a hot water bath and hand wash after the power wash. This is what the water looked like when done.

Used black leather dye on the edges where needed. Stuffed them with clothes inside of a trash bag. Then used saddle soap.

If there is a lot of the finished surface missing or bare, might want to consider hand sanding and dying the whole bag or it’ll be blotchy.

 

[Philmo11]

How does she look now?