As the rain fell outside, I was in the garage doing a little bit of maintenance today. With a long day in the saddle coming up, my original intention was mainly to just adjust the chain; a simple and easy job for any home mechanic (in my case, used here in it's loosest of loose terms).
With the bike up on the rear paddock stand I checked and found the chain to be a little slack. So, armed with my 32mm socket, wrench, Halfords torque wrench, 12mm spanners and straight edges, I was ready to go.
The job itself is really easy, and the hardest bit is usually un-doing the rear axle nut. For my straight edges I used two pieces of L shaped aluminium I picked up from my local hardware store. To ensure these remain so, I don't use them for anything else. Propping the up and resting them up against the rear wheel, with the front wheel straight, I use the gaps as my guide.
With the bike up on the rear paddock stand I checked and found the chain to be a little slack. So, armed with my 32mm socket, wrench, Halfords torque wrench, 12mm spanners and straight edges, I was ready to go.
The job itself is really easy, and the hardest bit is usually un-doing the rear axle nut. For my straight edges I used two pieces of L shaped aluminium I picked up from my local hardware store. To ensure these remain so, I don't use them for anything else. Propping the up and resting them up against the rear wheel, with the front wheel straight, I use the gaps as my guide.
As I was there I realised just how loose my rear hugger was. The nuts were tight but the hugger itself was free to bounce around like a 5yr old, jacked up on Coke, at a fairground bouncy castle. Carlos Felipe, I'm looking at you here.
My plan was a fairly simple one. Take it off, clean up the areas underneath and using a mixture of plastic washers and rubber gromits, secure it back to the bike. Taking the hugger off, I got a good indication of what years of road salt will do in unprotected areas of soft ally swingarm. I only really have myself to blame here and thankfully its just cosmetic and not structural.
My plan was a fairly simple one. Take it off, clean up the areas underneath and using a mixture of plastic washers and rubber gromits, secure it back to the bike. Taking the hugger off, I got a good indication of what years of road salt will do in unprotected areas of soft ally swingarm. I only really have myself to blame here and thankfully its just cosmetic and not structural.
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