Tipover Bars saved my Ride

It was back in Octobaer 2015 when a FedEx delivery truck tried to occupy the same space as my C-10 in the office parking lot.

Luckily I had a set of RIVCO tipover bars from Murph's Kits protecting her.

You can see the damage from the bike as the FedEx truck pushed by bike along on its side for 5 or 6 feet.
The mirrors and other extremities were protected from serious damage by the tipover bars.

So now I have a project to get the mounts replaced or repaired.

As I got the bars off to inspect the mounts that day, I immediately reviewed my options to ge thte bars replaced.  Murph's Kits was my first stop to see if bars were in stock.  Since they were, I ordered a set to have on hand should they be needed.

My insepction revealed the mount was badly twisted but the bars on each side were intact with some abrasions.  Whew!  What great durability!

After contacting RIVCO's sales department with my story in January, they were so impressed that they found a spare parts kit for me.  And I was even able to meet them at the Chicago verison of the Progressive Motorcycle show to pick the kit up in person.I read now that Murph's is offering the tipover bar parts kit also.

Let's compare the original parts on the right with the replacements on the left.

  
The original mount 'S' piece is rather twisted by the force of the impact.  The collar on the bolt is squashed.  And the bolt itself is bent but did not break.

The mounting brackets are not straightforward to place.  You have to mount your mid fairing to get the clearance just right.  I chose to get blue Loctite on the bolts to keep them there.

And the undersides of each tipover bar were scuffed up, one side by the pavement, the other bar fought off the delivery truck.



A bit of engine touchup paint gave each of the bars a new finish.  Not as glossy as new bars but cleaned up.

Cleaning the Black Plastics with silicon Brake Fluid?

Hello,

It was a COG forum post that got me to try out this restoration of my black plastics.

http://forum.cog-online.org/index.php?topic=63983.msg514462#msg514462

So I thought I would try it myself.  I found this bottle at AutoZone for <$11.  Not cheap.  I had been using ArmorAll products before this so I knew how long/short that treatment would last.

So while I had my fairing off to be replaced I began to treat the black plastic parts of my bike.

I used a foam 'brush' to apply drops of the fluid to each piece.  And I mean, drops.  A few drops go a long way as you sweep it back and forth across the plastics.

Here are two YouTube videos of the product in action:
Brake Fluid luggage treatment 1
Brake Fluid luggage treatment 2

Here are still pictures showing this difference between treated and untreated parts.

 




And the dash needed a wipedown also .  First, the inside area was treated.  And then the top side was dealt with but only half of it.  There you can see the difference in color between the untreated and the treated side.



  

The side deflectors got the treatment also.  Drying time for all pieces is minimal but they don't actually dry to the touch.



Of course, 'your mileage may vary' is the phrase we say to consider how your own plastics will take to this process.

Adding Stiebl Dual Horn package with Wiring Harness

One of my Winter projects has been to update the noise capability of my 2001 C-10.

I had been reading about Air horns and the installation process seemed more involved than I cared to handle.

In October 2015, my cycle was knocked over in the parking lot at work.  Since I needed to take off the fairing in order to work on horns, this accident seemed like a good opportunity to get at them.  Once I stopped riding for the season on December 22nd, I put up the bike to work on fairing replacements and new horns.

First, I ordered a replacement Fairing from PartZilla.com.  A new upper fairing took two tries from Partzilla to ship one safely.  The first fairing came with a crack in the mirror area that I was needing to fix.  Oops!  Another visit from the UPS guy delivered a second fairing with expanding foam insulation protecting this shipment. 





Second, I ordered the Dual Horn package with the Wiring Harness.
Link to Dual Horn package

Picture from website

The horns came in one box without distinguishing which was the high tone and which was the low one.

Original package

The wiring harness came with one sheet of directions, one side for using two horns, the other side for three horn or four-horn hookups.  The wiring harness is well constructed with a good relay. I cut the harness halfway to the battery so I could remove the fairing using quick disconnect plugs.  Otherwise, you'd have to disconnect the wires from under the tank to the battery if you needed to pull the fairing and fairing stay.


Once I figured out myself that four-horns set up still used one original connection and the other connection was used with the wiring harness, the only other issue was how to mount all the horns.
I mean there are four 3-inch standoff steel arms that could be used by others bikes to hold the horns but I needed pipe hanger steel to hold the horns farther away inside the fairing stay.  The hanger holes were drilled out 1/8" to accommodate the larger OEM horn screws.




This is the view of the new horns in the OEM horn position.  They needed different washers for me to hold them in place because the horn mounting screw was shorter than the OEM horns. They fit right in the same holes as the other horns.


The noise of the four horns is definitely louder in volume.  I cannot tell the tonal change with the newer horns present.

There will always be a goofy driver who will wander if front of my bike that I will have to chase away with these Loud horns.  :-)

LED Headlight replacement

LED headlight

Plug 'n' Play

I had been reading on the COG board about HID replacements.  I was not clear on changing my wiring harness so I have held off changing the light.

But when I went to the Progressive Motorcycle Show in Chicago on 2-14-15, I saw an interesting product.

I should have taking a picture of their simple booth at the show.  They had a single headlamp mounted on a handlebar with a connection to a battery.  The brightness was pretty intense.

$80 (+ $7 in taxes) later and I had my own.

 

The lamp has a 'hockey puck' for the back with its own built-in harness/plug.  The simplicity of the product was its major appeal for me.

When I worked to install the bulb and socket adaptor, I tried and tried to put it straight in where the halogen bulb goes.

After some frustration, I decided upon installing the socket adapter separately. While the adapter plate sat in the opening, I could then slide the bulb assembly into the hole.  Note the 'D' side to the plate adapter holds the bulb assembly with the flat side of the triangle wedge facing downward.  I will see how well this provides light when the High beam is used.  The dealer showed me how the flat side gets used when the High beams are engaged.

After fooling around with the bulb and socket, I connected the wiring harness to the plug.  The rubber boot for the halogen bulb is not used now that the LED assembly blocks the plug.  I may or may cut out the center of the rubber boot to use it.

Here's what the light output is from the new LED Bulb.

The halogen bulb draws 55 watts while the LED bulb will draw 35 watts. 

I look forward to seeing the difference on the road!

Changing foam grips

Changing foam grips


My grips were wearing off during the 2012 season.  They were put on by the previous owner.  He mounted them over heated grips.  He bought a foreign-made heated grip kit and it still works well.

I went back and forth over which brand to buy.  I ended up buying two sets from the Internet.

This is the set that worked out for me.





 Removal of foam grips was easy since I was going to cut them off.  However, I did not know what effect a utility knife might have on the grip heaters.  So I inverted the blade and cut up through the grips to get them off.

Here's what the heated grips look like without foam covers.

Looking at the right side grip from underneath.



Because I had the grip heaters, I chose not to put any hair spray on the handles to make it easier to slip on the foam grips.

Sliding the foam grips over the heaters went fine.  I worked slowly to roll them up a bit and then just push them on.


The grips have not slipped or twisted at all since I have had them on.

Although the spring in Wisconsin has been cold and wet, I have not run the heated grips for longer than a simple function test.

The feel of the grips is good in my hands.  I appreciate the curve under my palm as I hold the grips.

SPOOFK - Spin On Oil Filter Kit installation

Spin On Oil Filter Kit - installation

Starting out we have a picture of the cycle before the installation of the kit.

And here is a picture after the oil filter kit is complete.  Note that the bike looks more refined and faster than ever with the installation of the kit.

Actually, there are no drips or leaks to be seen so I must have gotten everything back where it belongs.

So here is the bike before the installation of the kit, uncovered.

Let's move it over to the middle of the driveway shall we?

There we shall get all our tools out.

Oops, reading the directions I need a 1 1/16" deep socket.  Off to Menards' we go.

 Here's the kit laid out on the driveway.

- blue LocTite for the threaded rod

- the threaded rod which holds the oil filter

- gasket spread to seal the filter chamber

- the filter chamber (on the paper towel)

- filter wrench cup

- O-ring for filter chamber

- two short oil filters

Here's the original filter under the bike.

The cover was pretty tight.

Cover removed with some effort.

Dropped the oil filter and any oil there into my drip pan.

Wiped out the area with old newspaper.

 See how nice and clean it looks now?

Cleaned the threads with Carb cleaner and a toothbrush as recommended.

Once cleaned out, I then put LocTite on the short end of the threaded rod.

The rod went in nicely.  Used the brand-new 1 1/4 deep socket to fasten it down with a torque wrench.

 Cleaned up the chamber again.

Put some gasket sealer on the O-ring and the chamber.

As the directions say, 'Carefully screw the chamber onto the threaded rod, but not all the way up.'

Once in position, finish tightening the chamber with your torque wrench.

You have to use the filter cup with supplied rod to tighten the chamber.  See the notches in the picture below show where the rod and engages the chamber to tighten it down.

 And so, we have the chamber threaded into position.

Now the short filter gets filled with oil before being threaded on by hand.

Once started by hand, you can finish tightening the filter with one turn of the filter cup (with the rod removed).

Start up the cycle to check for leaks, drips, or spills.

The bike started right up.

Ran it at idle to see how things looked.  Just fine.

The old filter sits on the drain pan for cleaning and storage/sale.

Thanks for checking it out!

Adding Power Outlet to Dash

I decided to add a power outlet to the dashboard to charge our GPS, or our Midland wireless Bluetooth intercoms, or our cell phones.  The previous owner already had wired in heated grips.  I had to devise a wire harness that allowed the outlet and the grips to stay connected.  I did not choose to add a FuzeBlock or other multiple device connection.

 

So with a plan in mind I purchased the following items:

- spools of 14 gauge wire in two different colors

- power outlet from Radio Shack [EnerCell brand]

- 14 gauge crimp terminals and plugs from Menards - multipack had both in it

- 1 1/8" foerster-style drill bit [Spade bits do NOT work]

- heat shrink tubing 

 The selection of the drill site is important.  You want to drill in a place that does not have wires or other supports behind it.  I put tape down first and measured three times until the tape did not cover anything else behind the dash.

Here is the cycle with the upper fairing removed and the drill site marked with masking tape.

With the drill bit in place, cut through your markings on the tape.  Be careful not to push too hard through the material.  Let the bit do the work and stop once through.

 The finished hole can be deburred with a hand file if you wish.  Depending on the power outlet you buy, you may or may not need to do anything else to the hole.

I had to make a reference cut in the side of the hole so the outlet would not turn within the hole.

Then I inserted the wires for the outlet into the hole to bring them down to the accessory connections.  The connection to the outlet comes later.

I made my connection harness out of the terminals and the 14 gauge wires.  I crimped the terminals and plugs.  I checked my connections with the heated grips and the charger for my GPS.  No fuse blew so I thought I was okay to seal things up.

Then I used my wife's hair dryer to heat shrink the tubing.

 You can see the socket in place on the dash here.

 A closeup of the installed EnerCell socket in my dash.

And here's the finished product with the upper fairing reinstalled.