Trial and Error

There is a glut of really awful exorcism movies that occasionally appear in the mainstream, and you might as well add this one to the list. It’s the story of a motorcycle named the Duchess that uses her powers of influence to skirt the Catholic church and exorcise her demons – casting off all of the crucial bits that are the essence of her very being.

Since she returned from winter hibernation last month we’ve lost an assortment of hex bolts and wing nuts, bolt caps and machine screws. She has casually disposed of her shift lever at 50 mph, and a muffler at 35 (see above). As I slowly check off my list of spring maintenance projects she willingly adds several more. I can’t keep up with the old girl, and have taken to locking her into a room; by literally locking bolts onto her frame.

I think we’ll be fine…unless she decides to exorcise me too.

A week after the scare with the left foot shift lever I was presented with a new problem. While out bombing around one day the hex nut popped off of the shift linkage making it impossible to change gears (bolt to the upper right of the spring). I had to reset the linkage roadside, giving myself a nasty finger pinch in the process, and then nurse the bike home.

It was trial and error finding the correct hex nut sizes to fit the end mounts, but I settled on M10 with a 1.0 thread. I decided against lock washers this time.

Here’s the offending linkage.

Locktite Red 271 is my new best friend.

Make sure you clean the area well, dab some of the Locktite around the threads, and then mount the nut. The packaging says it can take up to 24 hours to complete the seal.

And here’s the muffler post on the other side. Notice the missing grease nipple – yet another project.

To continue with my spring cleaning I decided to tackle the drivechain. To my knowledge the chain has never been lubed, but most manufacturers recommend at least once every 500 miles. My chain was rusting and crusty with old gummy lube so I first took to scrubbing with an old toothbrush.

I spread around the old lubricant in order to coat the rusting areas. Having a center stand is awesome because the rear wheel rotates freely. This allowed me to scrub each individual link.

I picked up this lube at my local motorcycle store that specializes in Hondas and Ducatis.

I spun the wheel slowly making sure I coated all sides of the chain. I then dabbed lightly with a towel to remove the excess coating. And voila – project done.