What did you do to your FJ-tracer-gt today?

[nhchris]

13 hours ago, betoney said:

I had surgery to repair the tendon, they removed the tendon from the bone on the elbow, cleaned up any bone spurs and then smoothed out the tendon tissue.  They had to insert an anchor into the bone to reattach the tendon.  Most of the rest of the Summer consists of physical therapy.

OMG @betoney That's tough!!  And at this time of the year especially.  I feel your pain my friend.

I had rotator cuff repair 2 years ago and rehabbed with lots of PT.  After 4 months of twice-weekly PT  I was able to cast the fly rod again which was my goal.  (I was riding after three months.)  Key for me was working it at home every day and just dealing with the pain while doing so.

In any case I wish you a speedy recovery and I hope you'll stay around here even though you might not be riding fore a while.  Guys like you are a great resource for the rest of us!

[nhchris]

I installed a 17-tooth Vortex undamped front sprocket.  (No one makes a damped 17.)

Not too difficult once you break the sprocket nut loose.  Although I did need to pull the rear axel to get enough slack to fit my new chain 110-link over the 17 and then slide the sprocket onto the splined shaft.

I was very careful when lifting the crimped skirt of the nut and as a result did minimum damage to it. So I was able to reuse it. When tightened down fully the nut was in a slightly different position so new crimps used fresh metal on the skirt.

I did need to shave a bit off the plastic chain guide to fit it over the larger sprocket.  But once installed the guide was snug but not dragging on the chain.

Like hiking boots -- snug but comfortable...

Plastic chain guide needed a little trimming on underside...

Edited July 18, 2020 by nhchris

[roadrash83]

15 hours ago, betoney said:

I had surgery to repair the tendon, they removed the tendon from the bone on the elbow, cleaned up any bone spurs and then smoothed out the tendon tissue.  They had to insert an anchor into the bone to reattach the tendon.  Most of the rest of the Summer consists of physical therapy.

   Heal up quick Betoney! and don't do stupid shit like i did.

  I had me shoulder done a couple of years ago and get bored so I took off the sling and decided I would push my KLR into the front wheel stand so I could clean it up real nice. That didn't work out to well, I didn't have the front wheel dead lined up with the stand and when pushed it in the handle bars cocked and I drop the Pig. It's amazing how much damage it caused, totally bent the crap out of my crash bars to the point of no-return. It was very embarrassing  to have to get a neighbor to pick the bike up for me, before the wife got home and reamed me a new one.

[betoney]

27 minutes ago, roadrash83 said:

   Heal up quick Betoney! and don't do stupid shit like i did.

  I had me shoulder done a couple of years ago and get bored so I took off the sling and decided I would push my KLR into the front wheel stand so I could clean it up real nice. That didn't work out to well, I didn't have the front wheel dead lined up with the stand and when pushed it in the handle bars cocked and I drop the Pig. It's amazing how much damage it caused, totally bent the crap out of my crash bars to the point of no-return. It was very embarrassing  to have to get a neighbor to pick the bike up for me, before the wife got home and reamed me a new one.

That sounds EXACTLY like something I would try to do.  I'm not pushing it around the garage but trying to keep the boredom at bay with little projects and making adjustments.

[Stew]

Fitted the Denali Soundbomb horn and the bar risers.

The new horn is awesome, I am only concerned people might have heart failure if I use it.

The risers, well, they are superb, but not for me, so I'll be removing them again. I don't feel like I have the same weight over the front (I did put them in the up and back position) , and it made the bike feel even more 'hingy' between the front and the rear on bends. Admittedly I was riding in torrential rain on roads I didn't know well, but I sort of didn't feel as confident.

Oh well.

Next thing, call the suspension guy on Monday, as I got an email to say that my front and rear suspension k-tech shiny bits have arrived and to phone to arrange a ride down to have everything done, yahooooooo!

[betoney]

2 minutes ago, Stew said:

Fitted the Denali Soundbomb horn and the bar risers.

The new horn is awesome, I am only concerned people might have heart failure if I use it.

The risers, well, they are superb, but not for me, so I'll be removing them again. I don't feel like I have the same weight over the front (I did put them in the up and back position) , and it made the bike feel even more 'hingy' between the front and the rear on bends. Admittedly I was riding in torrential rain on roads I didn't know well, but I sort of didn't feel as confident.

Oh well.

Next thing, call the suspension guy on Monday, as I got an email to say that my front and rear suspension k-tech shiny bits have arrived and to phone to arrange a ride down to have everything done, yahooooooo!

For the main handlebar risers, do you have them in the forward or aft position? they come from the factory in the aft position.  If you rotate them, they should have an offset of about 10mm.  You can still use the add-on risers in their normal position.  Something to try before discarding them.

Great news on the suspension, like a kid on Christmas morning.👍

[Stew]

1 minute ago, betoney said:

For the main handlebar risers, do you have them in the forward or aft position? they come from the factory in the aft position.  If you rotate them, they should have an offset of about 10mm.  You can still use the add-on risers in their normal position.  Something to try before discarding them.

Great news on the suspension, like a kid on Christmas morning.👍

Std 'aft' position. But I realised almost right away that I actually preferred the feel of the bike without the risers on. I was also getting buffeting and all sorts, so I'm quite happy to just take them off again. If anybody in the uk is looking for some they can have mine for the price of the postage. They have been used for one 80 mile ride

Cannot wait to get the suspension done, it feels like santa is coming early.

[roadrash83]

@stew I told you the soundbomb💣 was pretty dam impressive, now don't go and send anybody to the promise land with it🙂

[Stew]

4 minutes ago, roadrash83 said:

@stew I told you the soundbomb💣 was pretty dam impressive, now don't go and send anybody to the promise land with it🙂

It's crazy. Fitted it while talking to my brother in law. Sat on the bike to test it. Hit the horn button for a second and the pair of us looked at each other, grinned, then nearly died laughing , it is soooooo loud. I love it, every bike should have one

I'll probably treat him to one for his vstrom, just for the sheer joy it brought us both , hahahaha. Well done Denali. It isn't even expensive for being such a massive upgrade, that fits in , what, 5 minutes, took me 10 cos we were chatting.

[betoney]

4 minutes ago, Stew said:

It's crazy. Fitted it while talking to my brother in law. Sat on the bike to test it. Hit the horn button for a second and the pair of us looked at each other, grinned, then nearly died laughing , it is soooooo loud. I love it, every bike should have one

I'll probably treat him to one for his vstrom, just for the sheer joy it brought us both , hahahaha. Well done Denali. It isn't even expensive for being such a massive upgrade, that fits in , what, 5 minutes, took me 10 cos we were chatting.

I have used my Soundbomb in traffic, a woman driving beside me started to change lanes without seeing me.  I held the horn for about 2 full seconds and she swerved back so hard and fast I thought she was going to crash. 😄  It gets the point across.

[texscottyd]

59 minutes ago, Stew said:

Next thing, call the suspension guy on Monday, as I got an email to say that my front and rear suspension k-tech shiny bits have arrived and to phone to arrange a ride down to have everything done, yahooooooo!

You are going to be so pleased with the suspension upgrades...  I can’t wait to hear your impression.   

You may surprise yourself with adjustments to the riding position after having the suspension done.   I went lower & farther away with the bars, and the slight extra weight over the front is the perfect complement to the more sporting nature of the bike.   It’s still super comfortable, and the slight forward upper-body lean balances nicely with the clean airflow from the shorty windscreen I use.    It’s kind of a a comfy hooligan-sport-standard...  

[iitywygms]

26 minutes ago, texscottyd said:

You may surprise yourself with adjustments to the riding position after having the suspension done.   I went lower & farther away with the bars, and the slight extra weight over the front is the perfect complement to the more sporting nature of the bike.   It’s still super comfortable, and the slight forward upper-body lean balances nicely with the clean airflow from the shorty windscreen I use.    It’s kind of a a comfy hooligan-sport-standard...  

I just got done putting on risers that are lower and I set them farther away.  Wow! so much better for me.  Feel way more in tune with the bike.

 

[iitywygms]

1 hour ago, Stew said:

Next thing, call the suspension guy on Monday, as I got an email to say that my front and rear suspension k-tech shiny bits have arrived and to phone to arrange a ride down to have everything done, yahooooooo!

What suspension goodies did you decide on?  I have the base 900 and have been looking around trying to find something that is the best bang for the buck.

[texscottyd]

4 minutes ago, iitywygms said:

I just got done putting on risers that are lower and I set them farther away.  Wow! so much better for me.  Feel way more in tune with the bike.

 

I know, right?   A fairly minor change, but it really helps me connecting with the bike   

Did you do the Rizoma 60mm risers that were discussed in another thread?   

[iitywygms]

2 minutes ago, texscottyd said:

I know, right?   A fairly minor change, but it really helps me connecting with the bike   

Did you do the Rizoma 60mm risers that were discussed in another thread?   

Yup.  Those are the ones.  Pretty straight forward swap with a long extension.  One of the riser kept spinning on me when tightening it down but other than that it was fairly simple.  I did not have to make any changes to cables or anything except mirrors.  Well worth it in my opinion.  The ease of putting the key in is a added bonus.