As previously reported the Rally Experience Weekend never happened due to the weather, which is a shame but I guess the risk of breaking something (either me or the bike) this close to the Tuareg was a good enough reason not to go schlepping round Wales in the ice and snow.
And as mentioned I took the opportunity to start the preparatory maintenance, which is still on-going but I have to date:
- Replaced wheel bearings in both front wheels.
- Replaced the wheel bearings in my spare rear wheel
- Fitted a disc and speedo magnet to the spare front wheel
- Replaced the steering head bearings
- Had the swing arm bearings and lower shock mount replaced (I couldn't get them to move in the end so entrusted the job to Torque Racing).
- Changed oil and filters
- Fitted new front brake pads
- Cleaned the current air filter
- Replaced and re-routed the front brake hose
- Fitted new handlebars (Renthall RC High Fat Bars)
- Re-wired the light switches
- Stripped off the graphics ready for re-stickering
- Fitted a Scotts Steering Damper (a second hand bargain)
- Fitted new foam rally grips
- Fitted extended foot pegs
- Fitted a new gear lever (old one strapped to the frame as a spare
- Fit rear brake pads
- Replace brake fluid in rear brake and bleed
- Refill front brake fluid and bleed
- Fit new chain and sprockets
- Check and adjust the valve clearances
- Oil the seven spare air filters, roll them and seal in zip lock bags (one for every day of the rally plus one spare to tuck in the space behind the air box)
- Replace a threaded insert that stripped in the frame tube under the engine that holds the bash plate on
- Fit new tyres and mousses to the original wheels.
- Finish rebuilding the whole thing (not forgetting to put thread lock on every bolt)!
- Build a new mounting for the tail light and replace tail light and a new LED "dust light" as previously mentioned (the current lights work OK so I won't lose sleep if I don't get round to it).
Looking a bit sparse at this stage
Shiny things! New Handlebars and steering damper
Slowly going back together!
Yesterday I popped into the KTM Centre to collected my sponsored goodies, they are still sitting in a very large cardboard box, so tonight I'll drag them out and give them a try.