Took the Versys-X out for a spin on the road and dirt hills.
Initial scare as the grease near the place where the 2 exhaust pipes went in burned off the grease I put in there and it smoked. Then some drops from the front drain plug. I’ve learned to tell the difference between “burning oil” smell, “burning coolant smell” and “omg I don’t know what that is burning” smell. I’m wondering if the crappy hex bolt I used didn’t have the flat head flange, thus not making a good water seal… so headed to Ace Hardware for the 20 billionth time. While scary, at least I can get parts within 15 minutes, cheap vs. online OEM which takes a week or more. Bought another one with a flat head I’ll try replacing later.
She “felt” like she’s running better. While I still can’t tell if the $200 suspension upgrade I did improved anything.
I did replace the bushings for them which was way easier than I thought.
Forks are messy af, tho; I’d say only coolant changes are messier. I could certainly tell the bike “liked” the oil change. Coolant’s hard to tell as it’s cooler today, but I know it was good for her. Cleaned the filter; it wasn’t very dirty but those “lifetime” filters need to be cleaned more often just in case, so hopefully she liked the fresh air from the box. The new rear brake lever I installed works. Friend crashed recently because of no good brakes so I tested her a few times “just in case”. (Bent because of crash at motorcross track)
The tires continue to be loved in the dirt; I can just feel the 400lbs “grab” easier and make me freak out less, which in turn makes me more confident, which in turn makes the bike drive better. They say tires can’t compensate for skill, but I don’t know man…
The turn signals and auxiliary lights are… screwed. I keep using epoxy on top of epoxy and it just never lasts. Duct tape, while visually awful, is functionally awesome.
Sadly, the rear sprocket didn’t fit, and just didn’t have the attention span to attempt to exchange online for whatever the right size is. However, testing her bigger, more highway focused sprocket on the motorcross track, she had torque, so… I’ll live.
Race is Friday. 24 hours, 500+ miles. So nervous my mechanic skills have “forgotten” something, or did something wrong I’ll later regret. Best way to learn is the hard way, no doubt, but… geez. I should have done this in my 20’s.
BTW, if you didn’t see it, here is my testing the new knobby tires on mountain, mud, and motorcross.
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