How you can tell I've been working on my bike...

[Jess from VA]

I have another great big gash in my old bald head from coming up (hard) under the handlebars.

I've done it so many times I started putting a pair of heavy winter of gauntlets over the grips.  But I forget to put them on until after the gash in the head.   

I cut off the front guard Interstate air scoops with a cut wheel (to mount Hwy pegs there), and I'd never used one of those things before.  You can actually set yourself on fire.  The tight spaces on a motorcycle mean you have to turn that thing upside down and sideways to get at the work, and the sparks fly.  Some file work and then mounted the pegs.

I also swapped out (stupid) high spring rate 13" Progressive Suspension 440 shocks for a set of 12.5" lower spring rated 440s.  After all the work (seat, bags, bag heat shield removed, loosen the bag guard rails, moving the jack up and down), the bike only seems a hair lower, but I didn't get to ride it because it was hot and I was whipped.  So I'll try it out tomorrow.

The gash stopped bleeding. 

When I look in the mirror, it looks a lot like this.

 
 

[Chrisj CMA]

Two things Jess

1 pictures or it’s just a story

2 how many times will it take before you learn your lesson?

I whacked my head on the edge of my table saw. Blood and everything. That was years ago. I’ve learned to steer clear. It wasn’t hard to NOT do it again 

[Jess from VA]

I can't do (my own) pictures Jeff.  I wish I could.

Most work on a motorcycle is under the handlebars.  And it's always an up and down operation.

Not much work is under a table saw.   

I'm trying to do better. 

[klb]

Jess I have the same problem. I can't work on any of my bikes without having bruises or blood. Last time I took the tank off
she took a bite of me with that shiny cover.    Next time it comes off I am going to put the studs in it so I won't have to put the spacers in a place that my hands are too big to fit in.

[Jess from VA]

I wear nitriles or heavier rubber gloves most of the time (like when using a cut-wheel), but some things you need bare hands for.  That's when I pinch myself with the needlenose pliers.   

[Robert]

 

You will heal don't damage the bike. 

I used to get that all the time when I worked on something.

[Chrisj CMA]

I can't do (my own) pictures Jeff.  I wish I could.

Most work on a motorcycle is under the handlebars.  And it's always an up and down operation.

Not much work is under a table saw.   

I'm trying to do better. 

lol. Well. You have to get under there to clean every once in awhile. Sawdust has a tendency to build up

[Jess from VA]

I also swapped out (stupid) high spring rate 13" Progressive Suspension 440 shocks for a set of 12.5" lower spring rated 440s.  After all the work (seat, bags, bag heat shield removed, loosen the bag guard rails, moving the jack up and down), the bike only seems a hair lower, but I didn't get to ride it because it was hot and I was whipped.

Not only do I want the bike just a little bit lower for my short 29" pants inseam legs while riding, but that bike has always leaned way over on the kickstand.  My other Interstate with 12.5" shocks leans far less (still enough to be safe).  Now I know the cross member underneath that the stand mounts to can get bent and affect lean angle, but mine aren't bent.  And I can find no kickstand damage or hits on either bike, or evidence some previous owner shimmed the mount to affect lean.  I also know that when Honda put these bikes together at the factory, inevitably all bikes didn't turn out identical.

But the trunkless 12.5" shock Interstate easily lifts of the stand, but the trunk Interstate requires more of a weightlifter clean and jerk to get off the stand.  

After putting the 12.5" shocks on the trunk bike, it still leans far over, though maybe a bit less than before.  (I have yet to ride it some from the seat to get a real idea.)  I absolutely do not want any lower shocks than 12.5"s.

So if anybody on here has shimmed the kickstand to reduce lean angle a little bit (without screwing up the kickstand kill switch), I'd sure like to hear how you did it.  I have not searched the site for old posts which are likely on here somewhere.

[Oss]

years ago someone had what looked (to me) like a dragon's foot attached to the bottom of the kickstand

If my rememberer is working correctly it lifted the bike a bit so as not to lean as far

Have you considered that route ?

[Jess from VA]

Evan, one of my bikes came with a handmade 'footprint' plate bolted around the kickstand foot with metal straps.  It was thin steel, and really only to stop from sinking in soft dirt or hot pavement, not to lift the bike higher on the stand.  Despite tightening it from time to time one day it departed the bike.

I've had a chance to go out and take a careful look at my bike again this morning and do some measuring, and I was wrong saying the new/used shocks barely lowered the bike.  It absolutely lowered it and made it easier to lift off the kickstand too.  I was tired and hot after all day working on it yesterday, and did not take time to do a proper evaluation.  It still leans more than my other bike (with the same 12.5" shocks on it), and I'm certain it's because of the kickstand keeping the other bike up a bit higher.

But I am happy with the work I did yesterday and do not need to fiddle with the kickstand at all.

The curious thing is, I have looked at the kickstands and mounts and cross-members before, and I can find no difference or defect at all.  But the other bike still stands taller on the stand than the other. 

I'm done worrying about it though. 

If it would stop drizzling, I would like to now ride it with the new shocks and hwy pegs, but it is freshly all cleaned up, so I'm waiting for no precip and dry roads first.  Maybe in a couple hours.

[Jess from VA]

Well, I got in a nice cool 3hr ride today, and the new used lower spring rate shocks are simply perfect.

I'm a little lower, easily flat foot, it comes up off the kickstand much easier, the ride is nicely softer but still perform great in all riding conditions.

A little note in the box they were in tells me I traded a member here for them in 2009 (I cannot remember what I gave him) (not a regular poster today).

They've just been on a shelf in my bike shed since then.  I have no idea why I waited so long.