The green stuff is your good old fashioned ethylene glycol. Apparently the blue stuff is different, and lasts longer. I guess i need to go down a coolant rabbit hole.

 

With the recommended change intervals there is no benefit to anything different (more expensive) than conventional "green" silicate free coolant. If you change colors\types do a complete flush. Different types \colors of coolants generally aren't good mixing compatible, even so called "universal" types if you read the fine print.

 

 

Added some LEDs supported by one inch square tube, extra running and brake lights, sorry for repeat images...

 

I added an auxiliary fuse box behind a fuse & relay so everything will turn on and off with the ignition.
Then I added some amber lights both. I'm considering moving these lower and adding white driving lights where these are now. To Be Decided...

 

Been looking for some lightweight throw over panniers for a while.
Got these Rjays from a local bike shop for $70 AUD.

got a number of straps so mounting and adjusting took only a few minutes.

They are about 30l each. Heaps of room for my stuff which leaves me room in the Ventura bag (on the seat) for my camera gear and drone.
And the genuine Suzuki tank bag will hold my wallet, sunnies and earplugs.
All set for our upcoming 2,000km/4 day trip in 10 days.

And the Chigee AIO-5 LITE running Scenic all set up to get me lost in the Victorian and New South Wales (SE Australia) mountains.

 

View attachment 326935

Well done! But a word of caution-- that right bag is going to melt on the muffler. You will need to do something to create some distance and also possibly shield that. Good luck! Sounds like you have some happy adventures planned.

 

Throttle friction.

My 1987 BMW k75s has a throttle friction knob which acts sorta like a cruise-control. I have it always lightly set so that I have to manually position the throttle which I like and am very much used to. It returns easily to closed.

Was thinking of this for the strom. The throttle return spring is quite strong but what If I removed it or made it weaker, then place an o-ring between the grip and housing therefore creating some tension. Would this be considered dangerous/risk of throttle cable not returning for some reason??

Looking forward to comments on this and any suggestions to improve on this idea.

 

The throttle return spring is quite strong but what If I removed it or made it weaker, then place an o-ring between the grip and housing therefore creating some tension. Would this be considered dangerous/risk of throttle cable not returning for some reason??

Don't do this. It's a bad idea. Instead, get yourself a cheap throttle lock. They're cheap, work well and you won't have to modify anything. There are more expensive options but I figured if you're looking at using an O-ring then you'd want a cheap option.

 

I’m loving all of these mods !!!!

 

None. I can't think of anything else to do to it! No tabs yet and lousy weather today.

If it ain't broke, fix it till it is? Can't do that either.

 

Tabs came in the mail! Something to do!

 

You are invited up here. My list of stuff to do is (still) long.

 

Did the buddy's fork seals and bushings in his Goldwing the last few days so it kind of set the mood for some past due V-Strom maintenance. 2007 with 30k miles of which I have put only about 4k miles on in the couple years I've owned it.
Air filter and spark plugs today. Apparently original air filter as shown, it was an OEM Suzuki. It was horrible. I ride a fair bit of gravel logging\forestry roads. At least the interior of the air box was still very clean. Made a pre-filter screen for the intake to discourage the mice and some bugs from getting into the new EMGO filter. Plugs were also original Nippon Denso and looked ok but gap was getting close to .040". New NGKs installed.
I've always gotten great fuel mileage (upper 50's and some lower 60's) but felt that for a 650 it had decent torque but was a bit of a slug for acceleration. Maybe it will perk up a bit. Haven't given it a trial run yet as the snow flurrys are falling and the wind is howling at 25°F today and lasting a while.
Given the previous owner maintenance (more accurately the lack of) the brake\clutch fluids and coolant are next on the list.

 

Did a short test ride today as it got above freezing and sunny.
Lot better power than I remember the Strom having, but it has been sitting in winter storage since the end of October.
Regardless, it sure seems a lot snappier!!

 

I replaced the radiator fluid which I do every 2-3 years. While I was half way there, I also performed my pre-season air filter check to see if any mice had taken up residence over the winter, fortunately it was clean.

 

-Pulled front forks for new springs.
-Pulled rim/tire assemblies for new Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 tires

 

Swapped front fork springs and tires yesterday.

 

Installed my Kaoko unit today, took about 10mins with a bit of fiddling. What a fantastic piece of engineering and I see that it's made in my country. Haven't tested it on the road yet but seems to do what it says on the tin. My only gripe is that it doesn't match the glossiness of the left bar weight but it's a minor gripe, a lick of paint will sort it out.

So now my bike has mismatched rims and mismatched bar ends.

 

I changed the brake pads...finally. The first kit I bought came with two left pairs of front pads. Harrumph. They refunded me, and I got a set from Fortnine after. They (EBC) look identical to the ones I got from Partsdiscounter (Niche), but have the correct mirrored pads. Partsdiscounter were great with the refund, but I think their kit is mis-spec'ed. Or maybe got picked incorrectly. I thought I was going nuts at first, but, no, the pads were wrong. All done now. Whew!
Edit: first thing I have ever done with brakes ever. :^)

 

Installed my new VSYSTO S6PL camera system and while I had everything apart I also changed the air filter. Was overdue after 23000km.

 

I changed my front brake pads and gave the calipers a going over. I like to clean the pistons before pushing them into the caliper to accept the new, thicker pads. I do this by wrapping a shoe lace around the piston, spraying it with brake cleaner and pulling the lace back and forth to scrub the piston clean, then bleed of a little fluid to make room for the pistons. I lightly sand the pad pins smooth, and pull back the pleated rubber covers and lightly grease the pins that the calipers slide on.

A little bonus is that this cured my spongy front brake lever that I've been trying to fix by bleeding. I must have pushed some air that was near the MC up and out. The lever went from spongy and traveling 3/4 of the way to the bar to firm and traveling less than a 1/4 of the way to the bar.

 

I too, like the shoelace flossing method. I usually use some brake fluid as the solvent of choice. It works so well to get all the way around the pistons before pushing them into the caliper.
I learned that process on the ST-owners forum years ago I believe.

 

Over the last couple of days I drained/replaced the coolant with Maxima Coolanol from Cycle Gear (I was in there buying fork oil and saw it, thought I'd give it a shot), replaced the clutch pushrod and the rubber bushing it rides in, replaced the battery, and most significantly I replaced my forks with a used set from an 06 Vee w/9800 miles on them. Put my innards (cartridge and springs) in them and new oil. Went for a ride today for the first time since July of last year!

 

Yesterday, I was able to get enough slack in my lines, and installed my new handlebars. Drilled the notches for the control's set pins.

 

The 1050 has a one piece upper bracket for its handlebar clamp. This stops you from using say, a Quadlock fitting that goes into the headstem.

I found this item recently. A local Australian distributor imported it from the UK. Cost about $100 AUD. Not cheap but it's a more solid fitting than most of Quadlock's OEM gear.

Note, the one in the image from the website is for the WeeStrom, but it looks the same as what I have. It's the first image that I grabbed. The other image are 3 shots "sewn" together using the Picsew app on the iPhone from Camera Photos.

I now have a fitting that's more secure, sits back, is centralised on the bar and doesn't block either the dash or the ignition when I'm on the bike.

The next project is to remove the Garmin Zumo XT mount so I can centre the Chigee unit on the accessory bar. Unfortunately, asymetry bothers me. It's sitting behind the Chigee. I wanted to make sure that the Chigee did what its makers claim that it did before removing the Zumo hardware. And it does.

I think that might be it for the bike's farkling. But you never know...

 

Front fork is blown. Seal is leaking on the drivers side.

Need to take it apart today and start the new seal process...

 

Today I made fuel bottle holders that attach to the pannier rack and rear foot peg bracket. I made a total of three, two hold 1.5L Primus fuel bottles and one holds a 1L Primus bottle for a total of 4L of extra fuel…um actually a bit less as you have to allow for expansion so 3.8L or one US gallon.
This is in prep for my trip to Tuktoyaktuk in 2025.

 

Today I made fuel bottle holders that attach to the pannier rack and rear foot peg bracket. I made a total of three, two hold 1.5L Primus fuel bottles and one holds a 1L Primus bottle for a total of 4L of extra fuel…um actually a bit less as you have to allow for expansion so 3.8L or one US gallon.
This is in prep for my trip to Tuktoyaktuk in 2025.

Doesn't the bottles position get in the way of riding with your feet on the back pegs, like you do.

 

Now that's a trip up nort!

I got my fork seal replaced yesterday. Today I need to put the 530 mL of fork oil in the top. Just need to get the cap off. Didn't put the oil in when I had the fork off...

 

Adjusted the chain and went for an hour's bike therapy.
Aaah.
I feel better.

...and the throttle isn't jerky any more.

 

No regrets!