Productive Weekend

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart) 05/05/2019 at 19:51 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good, Dating, wrenching

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I accidentally accomplished A LOT this week and this weekend wraps it up neatly in a bow.

I’ve lost 15 pounds over the past two weeks. I’m finally committed to healthier eating and exercise once again! Some of the weight loss is because of a sickness I had during the week which basically cleaned my clock. Blegh.

On Friday I met someone new and spent all night with her. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to get back into dating this quickly, but...yeah. Considering the butterflies in my stomach...well, this meme is definitely fitting.

My apartment is sparkly clean and it looks like I’m getting a new lease without a rent raise. (Yaaaaas!)

And finally, I figured out three things with the GS850G.

1. I finally figured out the center stand. To engage the center stand, all I have to do is place the stand, center the bike on it, put all my weight into the lever, then basically ride it up while balancing the bike. Worked flawlessly.

2. I’ve been trying to figure out why the forks are so weak they can barely support the weight of the bike. My left fork leaks a little bit of oil, but I couldn’t believe that was enough to cripple the suspension. I settled on the service manual for the GS750 and the owner’s manual for the GS650. So far I’m finding that these bikes are so similar that this actually works. Anyway, in the owner’s manual I found a bit that says the front forks have air in them. Somehow I never thought of that. Sure enough, the forks were at 0 psi. I’m betting I’m leaking fork oil because the seals blew because of an improperly set air pressure + pothole. Ugh, I’m still learning.

Anyway, I set the pressure to that described in the manual and magically the suspension started working like the day I picked up the bike. There we go, no more riding around bottomed out! Went on a 100 mi test ride and the pressure held.

I still need to replace the seals and the oil, but at least I figured that particular problem out.

3. Now with the bike being able to be on the center stand, I can finally examine the side stand. Honestly, I’m not sure why this thing has a “gangster lean”. The stand is a hilariously beefy metal and it’s secured rock solid, but it’s either bent or not long enough. The metal is far too thick to be bent in any different direction. It looks like short of welding on a block, I’m just going to get a new stand. The stand is so strong that it would rather dig a hole in the parking lot than let the bike fall, but still, that lean freaks me out. The only way I can get a normal lean right now (like in the lede) is to park the bike so that the stand is on higher ground than the rest of the bike.

How’s everyone’s weekend going?

DipodomysDeserti > Mercedes Streeter 05/05/2019 at 20:10

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You’d be surprised by how soft older Japanese steel is. I accidentally dropped my bike while trying to adjust my points (no center stand) and it bent the foot pegs enough to interfere with my kickstart (they’re inch thick solid steel). I bent it back with a long screw driver.

I also unfucked parts of my bike this weekend and was able to go on a nice trouble free ride.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Mercedes Streeter 05/06/2019 at 13:02

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My weekend was also great! I too am dating again and he is quite amazing. So yeah :D