Now that it's cooled off nice here I got around to all the lubing I've been putting off, much of which has been brought up from time to time around here. I notice some pretty noticeable improvements, so perhaps it's worth sharing in case it might help someone.
Fork oil change - My dad was the previous owner for the first 15k miles so I'm pretty certain the existing fork oil was some HD variety, not sure if it was original or not. I had some Honda SS-8 10 wt laying around for my dirt bike so I figured I'd use it up. Wow, what a huge improvement. SO much smoother now even when cold which tends to make things feel harsher. Just smooth and controlled feeling now, way better than before. Oddly, when I drained the forks one side looked darkish but not horrible and the other side was just dark gray opaque yuk. Totally worth the effort.
Primary oil change - Replace the old Rotella 15w40 with the same, felt good to begin with, and didn't look horrible when drained. Adjusted clutch while I was in there, seemed like a fair amount. Clutch felt decent before, even better now. Beautiful. Worthwhile.
Clutch cable lube - I disconnected the cable from the lever, cleaned, and ran some Dupont Multi Use lube into the cable, and greased the pivot pins. I think it's the cable lube more than anything but holy cow it's smooth and easy action on the lever. Kicking myself I didn't do this sooner. Do this, you won't regret it.
Steering head lube - It felt fine before, checked the fall away anyway and measured on the loose end of the good range. I used HD wheel bearing grease in my gun and re-lubed. I used this grease because I think that's what was already in there from dealer service (cuz it was blue) and I've never had any drippage so I wanted whatever was already in there. It was a pain to force the grease out the top end of the steering head, ended up using a shoelace wrapped around 2-3 times which ultimately worked but even then it was messy and a pain. Real messy. Not a ton of new grease was needed. Not sure it was necessary at this time but whatever. I can't see needing this again for another 20k unless I do some serious rain riding.
Shift linkage - It's an upgraded heel/toe deal with a nice grease zerk on it, filled er up with the same HD wheel bearing grease. Hit the heim joint on the linkage with some Dupont Multi Use.
Brakes - Removed calipers and pads, cleaned pistons. Was hoping my brake drag would decrease but not to be, works the same as before just prettier. Oh well.
Wheels - There was some light rust on the spoked rims (my dad lived in NJ), hit them with Permatex Rust Dissolver for 5 mins which removed most of the rust and made things super shiny. I hit the white walls with some 50/50 simple green and a scotch brite pad and now they're white white white.
Anyway, I learned some stuff doing all this, good to know.
Fork oil change - My dad was the previous owner for the first 15k miles so I'm pretty certain the existing fork oil was some HD variety, not sure if it was original or not. I had some Honda SS-8 10 wt laying around for my dirt bike so I figured I'd use it up. Wow, what a huge improvement. SO much smoother now even when cold which tends to make things feel harsher. Just smooth and controlled feeling now, way better than before. Oddly, when I drained the forks one side looked darkish but not horrible and the other side was just dark gray opaque yuk. Totally worth the effort.
Primary oil change - Replace the old Rotella 15w40 with the same, felt good to begin with, and didn't look horrible when drained. Adjusted clutch while I was in there, seemed like a fair amount. Clutch felt decent before, even better now. Beautiful. Worthwhile.
Clutch cable lube - I disconnected the cable from the lever, cleaned, and ran some Dupont Multi Use lube into the cable, and greased the pivot pins. I think it's the cable lube more than anything but holy cow it's smooth and easy action on the lever. Kicking myself I didn't do this sooner. Do this, you won't regret it.
Steering head lube - It felt fine before, checked the fall away anyway and measured on the loose end of the good range. I used HD wheel bearing grease in my gun and re-lubed. I used this grease because I think that's what was already in there from dealer service (cuz it was blue) and I've never had any drippage so I wanted whatever was already in there. It was a pain to force the grease out the top end of the steering head, ended up using a shoelace wrapped around 2-3 times which ultimately worked but even then it was messy and a pain. Real messy. Not a ton of new grease was needed. Not sure it was necessary at this time but whatever. I can't see needing this again for another 20k unless I do some serious rain riding.
Shift linkage - It's an upgraded heel/toe deal with a nice grease zerk on it, filled er up with the same HD wheel bearing grease. Hit the heim joint on the linkage with some Dupont Multi Use.
Brakes - Removed calipers and pads, cleaned pistons. Was hoping my brake drag would decrease but not to be, works the same as before just prettier. Oh well.
Wheels - There was some light rust on the spoked rims (my dad lived in NJ), hit them with Permatex Rust Dissolver for 5 mins which removed most of the rust and made things super shiny. I hit the white walls with some 50/50 simple green and a scotch brite pad and now they're white white white.
Anyway, I learned some stuff doing all this, good to know.