During January pulled the Concours down for Maintenance and repairs in almost three years racked up thirty-four thousand miles.
Rebuilt the rear Suspension & spring change (sag set), swing arm bearings, and all the needle bearings in the arms, rebuilt the front forks & Spring Change ( sag set ), new ceramic wheel bearings front and rear, New Cush drive rubber (the original was rock hard and transmitted every engine pulse to me during cruising ) steering head bearings, Kawasaki had none in stock and was a four-week back order, ( Purchased some All balls from eBay, Something I never Do) and figured pull the front apart next year just to check on the Chinese bearings and if I have the OEM parts by then swap them out.
New Conti Road Attack4 tires, powder-coated rims, EBC Rotors, rebuilt all the brake and clutch cylinders & calipers front and rear, ( Change my fluid yearly so kind of overboard ) EBC pads HH front and rear.
New K&N air and Oil filter, Motul oil, Valve job, thinner head gasket, blueprinted valve adjustment on the workbench, she runs like someone poked Godzilla in the ass!
So, after nine hundred miles and sixteen impressive second gear wheelies up to eighty miles per hour when the front tire softly comes down.
After all that work, imagine me letting off the handlebars during deceleration from 50-40 MPH and experiencing a head shake, 99 percent of the time this type is caused by worn steering bearings, but after everything replaced or rebuilt listed above made me question, what worked loose, or is falling off.
So went through my whiteboard and rechecked, all was good until I got to the steering head bearings, and found both the balls and races dented, must have gotten the set made from recycled Bud Light cans. In my work we only use Timken, or any one of the Japanese bearing manufacturers, figures the one time go out of my norm and get burnt.
Went ahead and replaced them with OEM, smooth as ever once again. Before you tell me, I should have replaced them with Tapered, Do not like the heavy feel of full contact on a heavy bike, and do not mind replacing balls every thirty thousand at the end of the life span.
Can't imagine running this brand of wheel bearings.
Rebuilt the rear Suspension & spring change (sag set), swing arm bearings, and all the needle bearings in the arms, rebuilt the front forks & Spring Change ( sag set ), new ceramic wheel bearings front and rear, New Cush drive rubber (the original was rock hard and transmitted every engine pulse to me during cruising ) steering head bearings, Kawasaki had none in stock and was a four-week back order, ( Purchased some All balls from eBay, Something I never Do) and figured pull the front apart next year just to check on the Chinese bearings and if I have the OEM parts by then swap them out.
New Conti Road Attack4 tires, powder-coated rims, EBC Rotors, rebuilt all the brake and clutch cylinders & calipers front and rear, ( Change my fluid yearly so kind of overboard ) EBC pads HH front and rear.
New K&N air and Oil filter, Motul oil, Valve job, thinner head gasket, blueprinted valve adjustment on the workbench, she runs like someone poked Godzilla in the ass!
So, after nine hundred miles and sixteen impressive second gear wheelies up to eighty miles per hour when the front tire softly comes down.
After all that work, imagine me letting off the handlebars during deceleration from 50-40 MPH and experiencing a head shake, 99 percent of the time this type is caused by worn steering bearings, but after everything replaced or rebuilt listed above made me question, what worked loose, or is falling off.
So went through my whiteboard and rechecked, all was good until I got to the steering head bearings, and found both the balls and races dented, must have gotten the set made from recycled Bud Light cans. In my work we only use Timken, or any one of the Japanese bearing manufacturers, figures the one time go out of my norm and get burnt.
Went ahead and replaced them with OEM, smooth as ever once again. Before you tell me, I should have replaced them with Tapered, Do not like the heavy feel of full contact on a heavy bike, and do not mind replacing balls every thirty thousand at the end of the life span.
Can't imagine running this brand of wheel bearings.