[VStarArizona]

i felt like a disgrace, lazy procrastinator, thinking of yet another reason to not get off my duff and do some stuff to the bike. Here it was 70 degrees out, no excuses. Somehow i was miraculously able to rise above it
and take the steps....

Long story short, i bought some Ride-On for motorcycles and put it in the rear tire perfectly, i did not spill a drop and i got the correct amount in (13ozs), no question. I had had a slow leak to where i had to add 7-8 lb psi every 2 weeks, which means i must have been 4 lbs short after 1 week. This bothered me and i was also tired of adding air so much all the time. Plus the balancing aspect of the product is a major bonus. Changed to a new valve stem while i was at it.

Put everything away, i made no mess, tire off the ground during fill and re-air to 40 lbs. Now i didn't take it for a ride yet, but i will tomorrow. didn't start till 3:30pm finished at around 4:30pm all told and didn't feel like riding today.

So i actually did something, hurray. 😁

Looked at the weather at 7am, it said rain 100% at 12 Noon. Grabbed the keys and rode 60 miles to my usual stops. traffic was super light, was able to avoid stopping for several miles letting the Ride-On settle-in. Bike rode very nice everything was fine. Stopped at the bakery and to get gas coming home.
51F when i left, wasn't bad with the leather zipped up on neck, hands got a little cold should have worn the heavy gloves. Low fuel light came on at 153.7 miles. 154.9/3.49 = 44.38 mpg.

pics at 7:50am up at the trailhead: Rain forecast thru Tuesday.

 

[Brad_G]

Well it's not very exciting, but I washed all the bugs off from the last ride I took 6-8 weeks ago. Been too cold and such here for any riding. Kind of mixed feelings seeing the bike all shiny and sparkly after cleaning it up and knowing I wasn't going anywhere. But it was fun to listen to it rumble while I warmed it up to dry any moisture in the crevices.

Now I'll move it out of Dad's heated shop and into a storage building as I await warmer weather......

 

[FWRider]

Once again I am glad that the place where the PO took the 650 Classic he sold me to get serviced was really bad at what they do. Why? Because I get to learn how to do it correctly and I never have to take it to a place where I am LUCKY if they do it even CLOSE to correct.

This time, I decided the forks felt limp, so I decided to change the oil. And it was well worth the $16 and 2hr of my time. The old oil was blackish-red, stunk and was 2oz low in each side, which is (no doubt) where they put it at the shop.

The seals were not leaking so all I had to do was drain and replace the oil. And that was a breeze really.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Nice smooth action and nowhere near bottoming out anymore.

And THANK YOU to the folks on this forum who always have enough info for me to tackle the job.

 

[lesblank]

Rant time. Found a disadvantage of living in the sticks, finding automotive maintenance supplies. Need to change oil on bike and wife's 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. Yesterday made a grocery run into closest "big" town, Bourne. So went by AutoZone which I resenty retired from. They didn't have oil filter for bike or truck so left. This morning I get up this morning and run into Bandera to NAPA, had car filter but not bike filter, didn't have synthetic 0w-20 for truck, but did have bike oil. Then went to CarQuest. They had bike filter and truck oil. Just got done changing truck oil, I'll do bike later. Guess I got spoiled to Houston and being able to get what I needed when wanted it. Lesson learned, plan ahead

 

[FWRider]

As a fellow Texan who is kinda out-in-the-sticks I find that Amazon even has most of my oil change needs covered, and since I have Prime, it ships quickly.

Unfortunately it's just cheaper to feed the monster than to drive to town.

 

[lesblank]

Carla had commented that the corner centrifugal force was much different on the trike compared to leaning with a bike. So hopefully the arm rests I installed today will make her ride more comfortable.

Before

After, has built in drink holder

This is the Road King setup that works well. Haven't taken wife for ride yet, but she jumped on bike and really likes it.

 

[FWRider]

I have NEVER wanted a trike...... until now...

 

[AlanRides]

Carla had commented that the corner centrifugal force was much different on the trike compared to leaning with a bike. So hopefully the arm rests I installed today will make her ride more comfortable.

I can well imagine that not having the bike lean when cornering would present a significant side force, kind of like in the real old days of taking a corner too fast in the car trying to get the girl in the front seat to slide over next to you.. Of course this would only work with bench seats and before seat belts were used. Remember tucking them into the space between the seat bottom and back to get them out of the way?

Regardless, I'm sure they will help give her some support while you're out there racing around.....

Did you have to make any modifications or did it bolt straight up to the FreeWheeler back rest?

 

[AlanRides]

Rant time. Found a disadvantage of living in the sticks, finding automotive maintenance supplies. Need to change oil on bike and wife's 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. Yesterday made a grocery run into closest "big" town, Bourne. So went by AutoZone which I resenty retired from. They didn't have oil filter for bike or truck so left. This morning I get up this morning and run into Bandera to NAPA, had car filter but not bike filter, didn't have synthetic 0w-20 for truck, but did have bike oil. Then went to CarQuest. They had bike filter and truck oil. Just got done changing truck oil, I'll do bike later. Guess I got spoiled to Houston and being able to get what I needed when wanted it. Lesson learned, plan ahead

Hyundai will change your oil for 3 years / 36 months on a new purchase. Dealer too far away? Sounds like you put a good bit of mileage on something just tracking down the parts.

But it's not just out in the sticks. I had a heck of a time getting some Rotella T6 15W-40 at my local AutoZone. Wound up settling for T5 so I could take advantage of a coupon that was about to expire.

 

[lesblank]

Of course this would only work with bench seats and before seat belts were used. Remember tucking them into the space between the seat bottom and back to get them out of the way?

That's what old pickup trucks were really good at.

Did you have to make any modifications or did it bolt straight up to the FreeWheeler back rest?

No modifications needed, direct bolt on. Remember, the Freewheeler is a Road King with a trike rear.

Hyundai will change your oil for 3 years / 36 months on a new purchase. Dealer too far away?

The free oil change is for conventional oil only. With the dealer up charge it's cheaper to do myself. Dealer is 45 minutes away, so not to bad.

I was on trike today, was a good reason to get a few miles in.

 

[lesblank]

@AlanRides, here's the installation video.

 

[Brad_G]

@lesblank that looks good on the trike. My wife wants something like that thinking should would enjoy riding more if I did. Thought of looking into an aftermarket knock-off tour pack to get the wrap around backrest. But your option looks really nice.

 

[FWRider]

Since the PO had the bike serviced at a shop where they made a habit of doing EVERYTHING COMPLETELY WRONG, I figured that since I had already re-done most of the maintenance that I should probably check valve clearances.

"Retro Tech & Electronics" channel on Youtube has a great 2-video series on doing the valves (as well as a few other videos on V-Star 650 and 1100). I have never done anything like this before. I followed the videos and it took me a couple of days to get the job completed, but I did it and was successful. Good thing too, two of the valves were indeed out of spec.

It really feels GOOD to be able to do this kind of work.

 

[Jo hart]

Swapped out original drive pulley cover for "unicorn" Star accessory # STR3D8278201. A huge tip of the hat goes to @lesblank for his help, thank you sir !

 

[lesblank]

Swapped out original drive pulley cover for "unicorn" Star accessory # STR3D8278201. A huge tip of the hat goes to @lesblank for his help, thank you sir !

Pictures or it didn't happen.

 

[Jo hart]

I'm struggling with the pics LOl . This should be a before and after.

 

[lesblank]

Looks nice! Glad it worked out. Any issues changing it out?

 

[Jo hart]

I went slow and methodical, nothing rammy. The dowel pins didn't line up quite as well as the original, so some finagling was involved. I calculated the gap of the inner plate that spins and outer cover to be 3/32" before removing the driveshaft nut to make sure it would work, the clearance is actually less when installed. And the 100ft/lb torque of the new driveshaft nut is an educated guess.

 

[lesblank]

Always great when a plan comes together.

 

[Brad_G]

Got a new tire mounted. Man these stiff tires are more work than a car tire. I meant to post in this thread last weekend and forgot. As you can see I have the Road Star stripped down a bit. Getting ready to sand/clean the rear frame and swing arm area for paint.

BTW this wheel had both stick on weights to balance the old tire and a couple smaller ones that go over the spoke. Do all the weights come off or just the tape on ones? I plan to use Ride On to balance the tire going forward. I cleaned off the stick ons but left the spoke weights until I got some feedback.