mods & tweaks, reviews & musings about motorcycles, parts, & accessories

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Helmet cam & mount.

Here's the helmet cam mount i've been using for the last year or so. It seems to work, so i've stayed with it.

Here's the velcro strap on the mount. I zip tied a piece of silicone handlebar grip to it to hold it out the right distance.



It straps right next to the inside chin foam. The shield will still close, but not tightly.



Then the camera mounts on it. It took a lot of trial & error to get it aimed the right way.



My cat was trying to figure out what was so neat about this thing.. it didn't smell like you could eat it, so what's so interesting about it?

It's not very elegant, but it works. I had it bolted to the top at first, but didn't care for the angle of the shots, & the top mount. I think this is at eye level more, & seems to go with my sight line better. I'm sure there are better engineered ways to do it, but i've been too lazy to work on it. Besides, this is working ok, & if it ain't broke, i'm not fixing it.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

New sprockets, fork seals, oil

We're getting ready to do a day ride in a couple of days, & i've been meaning to change my sprockets & chain. I got new ones several months ago, but haven't gotten around to putting them on. Then i had a leak in my front fork seals, & needed to fix that, too. So i was whining about all the work i had to do on this bike, & my riding buddy Tom invited me over to work on it. It's about 50 miles & over the Jerome mountain pass to Prescott, & we just got a big snow load dumped over the weekend. But it was warming up, so i decided to head over.

It was nearly 2pm by the time i left, & it was quite chilly going over the mountains.. snow all over. Then i made a couple of wrong turns filled up with gas, & by the time i got to Tom's it was nearly 4.

He's got a nice hydrolic moto jack, so we raised it up & i started on the back wheel, & Tom on the forks. Everything removed uneventfully, & Tom even had a nice chain breaker to pop off the old chain. I've just drilled out a pin in the past, but the chain break was easy & worked well.

Do you think i was due for a front sprocket? ..about 9k miles on this.. lots of mud, sand, rocky off road, & plenty of slab, too. 4 broken teeth! Tom was surprised i made it this far. I noticed a couple of broken teeth after my last ride at sheeps bridge, & figured it was time for a new one.



Next the new back one. I wanted to go 14/44, & got a 110 chain which fit perfectly. I could only find an alloy renthal at rocky mtn, & it was a little more than i wanted to pay, but it works. I had an alloy back sprocket on my drz with over 18k miles on it, so i figured this should be fine on the 250. A new master link & everything is set.





I knew i had some chain wear on the swingarm, but was shocked to see how much. Nearly 1/4" had worn down. I was pretty careful to keep my chain tight, but a time or 2 it got loose & the damage was done. We both complained about Yamaha.. a poor engineering job, imo, to have the chain hit the swingarm this much just because the chain is a little loose. I should have replaced the slider while i had it off, but i didn't. I'm not happy about the swingarm, but will probably just live with it.. It will probably be ok. If i have any problems, i'll get a new swingarm or have this welded up. Next time i take off the rear wheel i might get a new slider.




In the meantime, Tom was taking off the forks. He drained the oil out, cleaned all around the seals, put in fresh oil & put the forks back in.



Even with the visiting & goofing off, it only took a little over an hour for us to knock this out. I put my windscreen back on for the ride home, & Tom did the final detail cleaning.. wiping my wild looking beast off for the long, cold ride home.



Paula generously made us sandwiches, & we checked out some things on his computer. It was nearly 7 by the time i hit the road. Temps had fallen below 40, but i stayed on the highway & was home by 8. ..ready for the ride on thursday.

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Semi-retired home builder. Musician. Former adventure rider. Philosopher. Innovator. Tech freak, genealogist, golfer. Cosmic Watcher.