Kiwiwannafly

Have a real close look at each chain link, especially the 'master' link. I had issues with a badly worn master link pin and the corresponding roller it inserted through. Very flattened & worn out O ring = lack of lube = big wear = weird chain/sprocket sounds and chain tensioning was impossible. Too tight at one spot, too loose at another. Was an easy fix - new chain.

Having owned a couple of Transalps recently I can vouch for their bullet proof reputation. Transalp 1: 2003? - well used, not so well maintained. Quick bit of chain clean, fluids replacement, tossed on some soft saddle bags and headed out of Brisbaine Australia. Few months and about 30,000km later well south of Perth via pretty much the coast anti clockwise. Probably a good third of that off tar seal and a fair portion of that 4WD tracks including Daintree, Telegraph Track, Gibb River. Not an enduro bike by any means, but capable of big road miles in relative comfort and able (slow and with care) to get you well off the beaten track. Only had the bolt on the end of the shock shaft work its way off - two days and about 400km dirt road and river crossings with a pogo stick before I found a place with the tools to fix it. And the common final drive sprocket shaft wear. Got a good fix on that - 10,000km later still primo. Transalp 2: After the first good run I was keen on another for Europe prior to a BIG trip around Africa. This one 2001 with a slightly dodgy whine in 3rd gear only - that never got better, never got worse. This one nearly 40,000km of sweet running - European alps, some big highway miles, days in the Albanian villages that never got beyond 3rd gear, Western Sahara big sands - sadly cut short by covid lockdowns otherwise I'd still be tootling around Africa. To be continued. And I'd do another Transalp any day. Other considered bikes with similar credentials - DR's, KLX, maybe a Dominator. None of them with the road creds of a Transalp but likely much more capable off road. Anything more modern is unlikely to be fixable on the side of the road hundreds of km from civilisation. Just my experiences and opinions.

Substantial repairs to my gen5 fairing - had the luxury of a hot staple gun on loan. Stainless staples melted across the breaks adds a lot of strength and you're able to keep the outer surfaces flush. Topped this with fibreglass backing as well. Look carefully at areas to be repaired, especially where they mesh with other panels - some tricky little tabs and slots that once broken can go unnoticed. 3M makes a 2 pack epoxy plastic repair - hard, semi-rigid and flexible plastic to suit various locations/flexibilities. Really good stuff but damn expensive. Also need a mixing nozzle - this stuff sets amazingly fast so one mixing nozzle per use. Check headlight mounts, back of all places where front and side fairings mesh - these holes often are cracked - pretty thin plastic there. Of course in the interests of dedicated weight saving you could ditch them all for the extreme nude look.

Guess what? My starter motor cranks up really nicely now

Ah Cogswell and Howtech my friends - I have conclusive proof that your logic progression resistance-heat-corosion-open circuit is not true ALL the time! (don't take offense, I'm being a smart arse here...) In my case In was suffering from a dodgy ignition switch on a VFR that had a lot of salt corrosion issues. Initially the switch worked intermittently. Traced that down to a wire to the switch that had 'corroded' in the middle of its lengths, inside the plastic insulation, inside a plastic sheath bundling the 3 wires to the switch. The source was only found by stripping off the insulation and finding the area where wires were 'corroded' - I'll come back to this point. OK - fixed that, re-installed. Switch works fine, starts up - all good. Until morning - dead flat battery. Check with a spare battery - everything lights up, starts etc. With no key and ignition switched OFF. WTF??? So - pull the switch again to check - yep continuity between all 3 wires in the OFF position. Check the soldering on the wire connection into the switch - a melted bit of insulation allowing contact between 2 of the 3 wires. Now how the hell did that happen?? It was fine yesterday. This time pulling the switch apart completely. Significant corrosion deposits on the contact areas within the switch. The penny slowly dropped. The poor/intermittent connection there was causing enough resistance to heat at least one wire, melting enough insulation to allow it to contact another wire. And previously enough to heat the wire at a 'weak' spot along its length, progressively causing it to 'corrode' or eventually burn through. So in this case a shit connection yes caused resistance, yes lead to heat and corrosion, but (due to the melted insulation) caused a CLOSED circuit when it should have been open! Yeah, yeah - pedantic. But man, when you've had a bitch of a day going over and over stuff, its great to put a cause to the symptoms at last. So - pull the switch again to check - yep continuity between all 3 wires in the OFF position. Check the soldering on the wire connection into the switch - a melted bit of insulation allowing contact between 2 of the 3 wires. Now how the hell did that happen?? It was fine yesterday. This time pulling the switch apart completely. Significant corrosion deposits on the contact areas within the switch. The penny slowly dropped. The poor/intermittent connection there was causing enough resistance to heat at least one wire, melting enough insulation to allow it to contact another wire. And previously enough to heat the wire at a 'weak' spot along its length, progressively causing it to 'corrode' or eventually burn through. So in this case a shit connection yes caused resistance, yes lead to heat and corrosion, but (due to the melted insulation) caused a CLOSED circuit when it should have been open! Yeah, yeah - pedantic. But man, when you've had a bitch of a day going over and over stuff, its great to put a cause to the symptoms at last!

I put mine back together again after removing about 20 years of English salty roads and criminal neglect. Yet to ride the 929 shock mod for an opinion. Better looking than it did when I picked it up.

You've probably already found it. If you take the front mudguard off you may find a manufacturer's sticker (at least from Showa) on the inside of the fork leg, close to where the caliper mounts. For quality video instruction on all aspects of motorcycle repair and maintenance I would recommend the Ichiban Moto series of videos. They are bad ass...

Technically much better instructional video...

Mystery solved: Don't trust a kitchen volume measure. My rough 450ml of oil was well off. All happy on 130mm down from top of tube. For those about to embark on this task: the final adjustment of fork oil level requires smaller than anticipated adds or subtracts. 2-5ml of oil = about 2-5mm height difference. Don't quote me on this ratio - its an about figure.

Whew! Can I employ this guy to work on my bike? Hmm...on second thoughts, no. No. and NO.

My 2000 VFR ex England ??? miles rear shock was non-existent in terms of dampening - i.e. zero. Like riding a pogo stick. I went the way of a CBR929 shock modified to suit, but haven't ridden it yet to make an opinion. OK all you knowledgable forum peoples - which is it...457ml fork oil, or 130mm space above oil level when compressed? The manual says both - but.... Cleaned out forks, rebuilt, topped up initially with 450ml oil, pumped away for a while till no air bubbles from tube or dampener rod - and I have approximately 35ml above oil level - WTF? I was expecting to add 5-10ml oil to make the right level. What gives? Something is wrong - oil volume, oil level or there's a damn big air bubble down there that won't move.

LOL! Always had a thing about the earlier models before sensibility and de-tuning kicked in. Not seriously looking at the moment - still have Africa just put on hold till things open up again.

You find a TL1000 with that kind of milage, stick it in a big suitcase and I'll shout you a trip to NZ. Yeah, did a m/c license test in California years ago on a GS750. The guy rolled his eyes when he saw the bike, but couple of minutes into the slow speed stuff he flagged the rest and said "so, you're already pretty familiar with bikes". Sold my R90/6 in Miami after a trip from Ca to Alaska north of the polar circle & back, then x-country via the south. Flew to England, bought a K100, did Europe & Turkey return, then shipped it to NZ. Many miles on it here before heading around Oz on a TransAlp. Then back to Europe and grabbed another TransAlp for a round trip of Africa. Unfortunately covid put that idea on hold at the Moroccan-Mauritania border. Couple of months there locked down before I could get back to Europe and then head back to NZ - for another couple of weeks in isolation before getting turned loose on the latest acquisition.

I'd say in someones big suitcase when they moved here. Apart from the speedo and odometer in miles I'm pretty happy now. But OMG the hash butchery of the electrics! Bought it as a non go-er from a guy who said the electrics were dead, even with a brand new battery. After I got it home I pressed the kill switch ton 'on'. Everything lights up - but no starter motor. A set of starter motor brushes later fired up first time. But ran a bit warm - one radiator with a bad split. Fixed that, then took it for a little 600km test run, changed the sludge, ran it again and changed again, this time with filter. Re done the horrible crimp on wire patches, new chain (story about that elsewhere on here), new 929 shock mods, rebuilt forks, brakes, paint job on body, wheels and forks. Hope to roll again soon before winter descends. But whatever - we ride 365 trying to ignore wet undies.

😄 this is a sadly neglected old girl ex England where they do nice stuff like put salt on the roads. Ok if you wash that shit off every 5,6,7....years. Never mind, she's found a loving home now.