Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

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  • New AGM Battery for F650

    After sitting without running while I did all the suspension and wheel bearing maintenance my battery wouldn’t start the motorcycle when I wanted to do a test ride. It was obviously fading when I tore the motorcycle apart, but figured I’d deal with that when I was done. I checked with a multi-meter and it was reading under 7 so it was toast.

    The current battery was a Deka maintenance free battery that didn’t quite fit in the battery compartment so I wasn’t looking forward to another wrestling match to get a new one installed.  The guys on the forums had said it took them 30 minutes to install the Deka. It took me 3 hours. Evidently more muscle was needed than I could provide and I didn’t want to go through that again.

    Bad experiences with acid battery

    There was also no way I would consider going with an acid battery again. When you have to take off all the plastic to check the battery it’s not something you look forward to on a regular basis. And the acid had leaked on my brand new motorcycle (because the dealer didn’t attach the drain tube) and dripped down the side of the engine causing permanent damage. I didn’t want that to ever happen again. And since my motorcycle seems to spend more than it’s fair share of time down on it’s side I thought it imperative to have a sealed battery.

    Scorpion YT12CL Battery

    After once again reading the forums I found some guys on advrider.com who had tried a Scorpion battery from BatteryStuff.com and been happy with it so far. It was mentioned the maintenance free batteries don’t last quite as long as a well maintained acid battery, but I’d rather change it than service it regularly.

    The Scorpion is an AGM, cost $63, shipping is free, and I had it 2 days after ordering it. Before placing the order I called and confirmed with them that the battery really does fit in a 2007 F650 GS and they told me it would be a perfect fit.

    Installation

    After the difficult time I’d had with the Deka battery I was pretty excited when it was absolutely painless to put the Scorpion in. It is indeed a perfect fit and the battery posts are located in the exact position needed on the F650. I had it installed in no time and the motorcycle fired right up.

    A friend was shocked I had started the motorcycle without charging the battery so I called BatteryStuff.com again and they confirmed AGM batteries are ready to go out of the box and no charging is needed.

    It will be interesting to see how long the battery lasts, but at $63 with an easy installation it won’t be a heart breaker if it only lasts 2 or 3 years. I love recommending dealers who offer excellent service like Batterystuff.com.

  • Suspension and wheel bearing maintenance

    Reading the FAQs on F650.com left me scratching me head wondering if I could even change the swing arm and wheel bearing on my 2007 F650. Heating and freezing things, lots of hammering with big hammers – it sounded like an almost impossible task.

    For anyone contemplating this maintenance, at least on my era of F650, don’t be put off by the descriptions in the FAQs because that isn’t at all how the maintenance went for me. Just for the record – I had to get male assistance with a couple parts of this job since I wasn’t strong enough.

    Swing Arm and Suspension Bearings

    swing arm links and dogbone
    swing arm links and dogbone

    The suspension bearings were no big deal at all except for getting the swing arm bolt out. I don’t know why it wouldn’t budge – maybe the steel bolt had fused to the aluminum engine, or the swing arm bushings were rusted onto the bolt, but it took a lot of penetrant and a male swinging the 8 lb. sledge hammer to make the bolt come loose.

    The bearings on the dogbone and links were in great condition so I only needed to clean and grease them, but I had recently purchased Kouba links to compensate for putting on Ohlin shock on my lowered F650 so these parts had weren’t in original condition.

    Their good condition was contrasted by the swing arm bearings that spilled out broken needles when the bushings were removed. Yes, I was way, way overdue on this maintenance. Unfortunately the broken needles had scored the bushings and they needed to be replaced along with the bearings.

    swing arm bushings and bolt
    Note the rust on the left side, but no rust on the right

    The guys at Purvis Bearing, where I purchased all my bearings and seals, were so great about educating me that I asked them if they knew of a good machine shop that might help me get the old bearings out and put the new ones in. They directed me to a shop with a wonderful owner who used an arbor press to remove the bad bearings and put my new ones in and charged me $20. It was painless. It took me longer to drive to the shop than it took to do the bearings and he let me help so I learned about the entire process for the next time around.

    A note on going to a machine shop: they do this kind of thing all day every day and their level of comfort and expertise was perfect for someone who was a total and complete newbie. They answered all my questions and I left a lot more knowledgeable than I arrived.

    The only thing I screwed up on was not getting an accurate measurement of how recessed the swing arm bearings were before removing them. Because I failed to do this I had to adjust the bearings a couple times using my vice at home before the swing arm would go back on the motorcycle.

    I couldn’t get the swing arm back in place solo, but everything reassembled easily after that. The swing arm maintenance is simple bolts and bearings.

    Wheel and Sprocket Carrier Bearings

    Next it was the wheel bearings. I have three words to say: TUSK BEARING REMOVER. I talked a friend into going halfsies on this $90 tool and we both ended up thinking it’s worth every penny. After reading the FAQ on wheel bearings I wasn’t sure I could do them. This tool made the removal of the old bearings no big deal at all — so in my humble opinion it’s the ONLY way to go. No heating, no trying to find a proper sized drift, no pounding with a hammer. It hooks the bearings and just yanks them out. Again – something I needed male assistance with.

    Tusk Bearing Remover at Rocky Mountain ATV

    I took the wheels and sprocket carrier back to the machine shop for insertion of the new bearings and when I saw how easily it went I probably could have done it myself. I’m not sure why the FAQ talks about heating the hubs and freezing the bearings. We greased up the bearings and gently hammered them in with a rubber coated hammer and drift. I took step-by-step details on how the various parts had to go together so all the circ-clips and spacers went in properly.

    The thing the machine shop provided that I didn’t have was an assortment of huge sockets that were the proper size drift for pounding the bearings in, so in the end it boiled down to paying them $20 or buying the huge sockets that would catch the outside race of the bearing – sockets I would have no other use for. Your call on that one, but I’ll probably go to a machine shop the next time.

    I took the sprocket carrier and wheels home and got everything back on all by myself. Finally – something I didn’t have to get help on.

    FYI – I asked the guys at Purvis how long my Timken wheel bearings should last and they told me they are rated for 10,000 hours, but that doesn’t factor in the bumps they taking going down the road.

    Wrap Up

    Just for fun I called a dealer and asked the service guys how much it would cost for them to do all the bearings and I was quoted $1600. I spent a total of $320 — $215 for bearings and bushings, $40 for the machine shop, $20 for grease, anti-seize, etc, and $45 for my half of the Tusk Bearing Remover. This maintenance is extensive, but if I can figure it out anyone can. When I found out my efforts were saving me $1300 it made the work very worthwhile. Besides, the more I learn about my motorcycle the more comfortable I am with it 🙂

  • Gilsson hard wire for Garmin Nuvi 2450

    While I like my Garmin Nuvi 2450, the battery doesn’t last all that long on the road so I wanted to hard wire it to the motorcycle.  I’m not sure why, but Garmin doesn’t offer a hard wire for this model but Gilsson, who claims to be the largest manufacturer of Garmin-compatible accessories, does have the GUSB5V-B:

    Gilson GUSB5V-B for Garmin Nuvi 2450

    “This Gilsson direct wire cable is eight (8) feet long, with a voltage converter and fuse box in the middle, four (4) feet from the connector and four (4) feet from the power source. Please note this new version is an improved and extended version from our prior version, allowing customer to hide the voltage converter box and away from the GPS receiver.”

    Installation

    I wanted the GPS to turn off with the ignition switch so I wired it into the Centech AP-1 fuse box that handles all my accessories. The problem was what to do with the “egg” since it sits right in the middle of the wire and prevents it being fished through small spaces. I had to pull the wire forward to the handlebar, and then backward to the fuse box that sits at the very back of the area under the seat. The 8′ length made this possible.

    I finally found a place the egg could reside, although it would be buried under the seat so I wouldn’t be able to check the green power light on the side of it.

    The bad thing about this hard wire is stripping the outer layer to expose the negative and positive wires. The wires are so thin that my first few attempts cut right through the red and black wires exposing the copper. I had to painstakingly cut away the outside layer with a skill knife to expose enough wire to feed to the fuse box. It was such a pain I felt like calling Gilsson and asking them what they were thinking…

    I had it wired, turned the key on the motorcycle, and the GPS powered up perfectly.

    Conclusion

    The “egg” voltage converter and the flimsy wire makes this a somewhat more complicated install than it should have been but compared to dealing with an approximate 3 hour battery life of the 2450 it’s worth it.

    Gilsson sells the hard wire for $23.95 + $8 shipping but I ordered it off eBay where the shipping was free so research who is selling it before ordering.

  • Tinting strip for motorcycle helmet visor

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I have sun sensitive eyes. If riding into the sun at the start or end of the day, or when when the sun tends to be lower during the winter months is very hard on my eyes.  So I was looking for a solution.

    tinting strip from front

    I researched and found the strips of visor tinting sold for $14.95 online and thought that was a ridiculous price for a slender strip of plastic cling. I headed to Hancock Fabric and found they sell 54″ wide static cling window tinting (no adhesive) by the yard for $3.97. Tough decision. For a buck you can buy enough to experiment a few times. If Hancock has it, I’m sure other fabric stores do as well.

    Link to UV window tinting at Hancock

    I traced the top curve of my visor on paper and made a pattern for the strip. I ended up trying a variety of widths. On riding tests I felt 1″ was too narrow and didn’t help my eyes enough and 2″ was way too much, so I settled on 1 1/2″ across the top of the visor. It doesn’t obstruct my vision at all.

    I wasn’t sure static cling would stay on the visor at highway speeds but I can tell you after thousands of miles not so much as a corner has lifted up. But if I want remove it I just pick up a corner and the strip lifts off with no residue  left on visor. When I clean my visor with a microfiber cloth I clean the bugs off the strip as well and it doesn’t move.

    It’s made a big difference on how tired my eyes get in bright sunlight and I think it helps with the glare on cloudy days as well.

    If you don’t mind paying postage, I’ll send you some to try (I have plenty). Or go to a fabric store and buy a 1/2 yard and you can have a visor tinting party with all your friends. Seriously — if you belong to a riding club you should get some and share it with the other riders. Anything that makes your eyes less tired after staring at the road for 10 hours is a good thing.

    tinting strip from side
    tinting strip from side

  • Nolan N103 visor mechanism replacement

    This post is more about my great experience with Nolan than it is about the repair. I purchased my Nolan N103 at the motorcycle show in November 2009 and immediately loved it. It had all the features I wanted — comfort, flip front, interior visor, padded neck straps so my neck doesn’t get raw, room for speakers.

    Difference in noise

    I have an Autocom  system with helmet speakers and with my previous helmet (a Caberg Justissimo that fell apart) I’d had a difficult time listening to music when riding at highway speeds and if it was windy I could just forget it; the helmet noise drown out the volume no matter what it was set at. Even under good conditions I would have to set the volume so high for the road that it was too loud when I slowed down through towns.  (Factor in that I never ride without ear plugs)

    Before buying the Nolan I had read the review on advrider.com that told people to never buy this helmet because of terrible wind noise.  Granted I don’t have a ton of experience with motorcycle helmets since this is only my third one, but if I’m not happy with the Nolan I think maybe I need to be riding in a car.

    With the Nolan the difference in my music volume is barely discernible whether on the highway and riding 20 MPH and I can even hear the music with the visor open. That never happened before. The simple joy of being able to hear my music just the way I like — set low so it’s in the background.

    Seal repair

    I put a lot of miles on a helmet and figure the Texas heat probably isn’t the easiest thing on them, so I wasn’t entirely surprised last spring when a small section of the seal around the visor came loose. I called Nolan for how to repair it myself, but they insisted I send it back so they could do it and make sure the seal adhered properly. I don’t think the entire process took  a week; I shipped it, they received it, repaired it and shipped it back  the same day. All of which was covered under warranty. I was impressed.

    New visor mechanisms from Nolan

    Visor mechanism worn

    Another feature I love about the helmet is that I’ve been able to have the visor partially open and even at highway speeds it stayed put.

    In the summer heat of Texas I can’t hardly breathe with the helmet fully closed, so this has been one of the most valued features of the helmet. So I was a little disappointed on the ride last weekend down to the hill country in mid 80’s temperatures and the visor wouldn’t stay open even at slower 60-65 MPH speeds.

    New mechanism in place

    I called Nolan when I got home and they knew exactly what the problem was and no questions asked they shipped replacement visor mechanisms at no cost and told me to call for help if I had any problems while replacing them.

    I did call for instructions on how to remove the old mechanisms and they suggested a plastic screwdriver to pry them off. I used a plastic putty knife.

    I snapped the new mechanisms in, snapped the visor back on and was good to go.

    Nolan believes in Customer Service

    I don’t know about anyone else, but this isn’t the level of customer service I experience when I call most places. Seal replaced for free and quickly. Visor parts sent at no charge and followed by cheerful help over the phone.

    When it’s time for a new helmet I will get another Nolan, not just because I like the helmet, but because they stand behind their products.