Motorcyle Blog

On Friday, May 23rd I purchased a used Kawasaki Vulcan 750. Later that night I rode it home without any incident. I put in it my garage as there are several things that will need to be looked at before I can commute or even ride it around.

1. The speedometer doesn't work.
2. New Spark plugs (Switching to NGK Iridirium plugs).
3. Clean air filter.
4. There is a lot of backfiring on deceleration.
5. Left front turn signal is out.
6. There's blue sparking occuring in the right exhaust manifold.
7. Replace/Upgrade exhaust pipes
8. The seat needs to be reupholstered or replaced.

5-29-08.


I checked the brake pads tonight. There is still a good bit left on the brake pads before they will need replaced. I also checked the tire pressure and was astounded to find that there was barely any air pressure to move my gauge! I filled both tires up to max cold which is 40psi. They are dunlop 419 elite 2 tires. They are tubeless. They still have a good bit of tread on them. When they do get to the point of needing replaced, I will be putting metzler tires on the bike or pirelli. I do enjoy the pirelli tires on my Rebel a lot!

The speedometer issue has been a major pain in the rear. Mostly because of a stuck screw up near the speedometer assembly on the terminating end of the speedometer cord. I managed to get that undone after a few shots of WD-40 and about 20-30 minutes. The one down at the wheel was much easier to get off but then again, I had been using WD-40 religiously at this point. I hooked my drill up to the two prongs that feed into the speedometer housing and found out that with the RPMs my drill could deliver to the speedometer cable, it was registering on the speedometer! I got it up to 10mph. Tomorrow night's mission is to disassemble the speedometer housing down by the wheel to find out what parts I need to replace.

Once I have that figured out, I'll be making my first parts order for the Vulcan. NGK Iridium Spark Plugs and speedometer parts will be in the first order from bikebandit.com.