Back on the road!! And new shoes as well!!

[John97]

I just finished installing my "new to my bike" final drive and final drive flange. Proper grease and checked the two holes in the pinion cup were still clear from replacing it and the driveshaft last summer. Everything looks good from u-joint to rear tire.  I have a spare u-joint and boot that came with the final drive from a seller in Cali.

So now that's all taken care of I finally have my brand new Metzler CruiseTechs on the bike. Balance beads and air pressure set per Jess in VA recommendation. 0 miles on them but as they get scrubbed in and the roads get washed clean I will report back with how I feel about them. I go through rears twice ad fast as fronts so it's been a minute since I've had both tires fresh at the same time. I've used Metz before on my Magna, a set of Marathon so I'm anxious to see what these are like.

How come my bikes ready and I'm ready and then weather in Illinois sucks again? I didn't order this...

[Jess from VA]

Make sure those valve stems are tight with caps on them.

I was riding clear into January, but it seems like a dream now.

I don't even want to drive my truck in this mess. 

Winter sucks!!

[John97]

Oh yeah. I posted long ago under my old username about my stems. When I bought the bike it had the Honda rubber 90 degree stems but the keepers were gone. I never gave it much thought until the front snapped off at 60mph as I was entering some "S" curves not too far from home. No idea anything was wrong until I was heading toward the centerline and oncoming traffic as the bike didn't want to turn with the normal effort. I got it stopped without dropping it and found my stem dangling by the tinniest piece of rubber. I still have it somewhere and the bike has had 90 degree stems with the nut holding them secure. I'm always on top of air pressure and cap and stem tightness after that bit of fun.

I've only managed to put 125 mostly straight road miles on my new tires due to work, weather and the ujoint that failed and I only noticed with the new tires. My old Elite 4 was so choppy I must not have felt the ujoint. With new rubber and balance beads it took all of 5 miles to know I was taking the bike apart less than 30 minutes after I got it together and half of that 5 miles was returning home. And the ujoint wasn't something I could feel by hand out of the bike but it was obvious with my vise and channel locks. That's how I realized my spare ujoint was crap as well.    But I tracked down a new Honda yoke and joint now I need better weather.

[da prez]

  Proper torque sequence of the final drive also.

                                     da prez

[h13man]

Oh yeah. I posted long ago under my old username about my stems. When I bought the bike it had the Honda rubber 90-degree stems but the keepers were gone.

Same here. Had the tires replaced by the shop I purchased it from as a consignment. Yep unbeknownst to me about the keepers and new rubber stems 90 degree as no metal one's were available in the area of sources. 65 mph. on I65 2 up. Fortunately, I felt it losing pressure and averted any bad. It had started to tear just enough to cause a faster slow leak.   Good Karma that night as we was able to ride/move back down a exit to park at lit BP parking lot with the assistance of a NB Goldwing couple that came back down the SB to help, County Sheriff came by and checked on us and said he keep an eye on it thru the night and my wife's friend live 1/2 mi. away and took us home. Next morning a full air tank and two stops/6 mi. back to shop. Got a deal on keepers on Ebay until next changes.

[Willow]

All metal valve stems at $2.05 each plus shipping is a no brainer.  Patchboy metal stems link

[John97]

  Proper torque sequence of the final drive also.

                                     da prez

Followed the strongly suggested advice from here 100%. Went back and reread and reassured myself multiple times. Proper order proper torque it's all as it should be. Expensive if it's wrong