Finally a nice decent solo ride!

Photo time!

The field of gold

The bridge is all mine!

Another view...

Nice view

On the way...

Nice day out for solo ride!
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

The city was coved with fog and felt cold - but I just couldn't take it anymore and I needed a ride badly. Took my chance and headed to Lake Berryessa - and I was so glad I did it. Weather was perfect at 71F and the roads were free of car, truck, or cop. I wasn't really pushing hard and just tried to enjoy my solo time. It was a great little get away...

Bike apart at the operation table

Bike apart at the operation table
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

While most local riders enjoy the sunny warm Saturday morning out there; my beloved SF-S was on the operation table to fix a small coolant leak. It had been leaking for 2 months - basically drop by drop, and almost dry out once came to contact with the hot engine casing. It left just a trial of dry coolant mark - very annoying. The master over Ace Motosport had to remove every between two cylinders to grant access to the trouble spot (head light unit, gas tank, air box, and throttle bodies). For replacing total worth of $50 of parts (hose & claims), it took 4 hrs to complete the job. Luckily every was covered by warranty - $95 an hour labour rate would add up quickly!


While I was waiting, I took one of their old loaner out for a spin - the super ugly MTS 620. But surprisingly enough, it was actually fun - it was a low easy to ride bike, and that's exactly what I miss! Seating position was close to perfect - I can ride that all day long - almost felt like a scooter! But then of cause, it was slow, hell lot of vibration, and finding neutral was close to impossible... so after 30 mins of riding time and I think I had enough :P

New Evotech radiator guard

EvoTech radiator guard close-up

Done! It fits the bike nicely!

Goodies arrive.... 

There aren't too many radiator guard options out there for the Streetfighter; and after a lot of reading of user reviews; I decided to pick up a pair of upper and lower guards from EvoTech. What's really make it stand out is that it is made by single piece of thick aluminum with black powder coated finish. All the openings are stamped cut - it is not made by some cheap painted gutter screen. Fitting is excellent for the lower piece, and there is room of improvement for the upper piece. All all three screws attached the upper guard, the lower left corner didn't stay close enough to the radiator due to the fans attachment screws behind. End up I have to zip-tie the lower corner. Not really a big deal - it is still light year ahead of other cheaply made radiator guard out there using zip-tie to hold the guard itself. Yes, I am a very happy customer!

A quick mountain twisty run... to oysters!

Some time we all need motivations to go ride especially when the riding condition is less than ideal. BBQ oysters for sure work well with me. Took a longer route on HW1 heading toward the Marshall Store over Tomalas Bay for lunch - it has been more than a month since I went there and I do miss it. Fog covered partition of HW1 at Mill Valley as usual - it was wet, slippy, downhill with traffic, and some constructions were in progress in different stretch of roads too. It was a mess; but the trip still well worth - solo ride with good food always fix me well!

HW1 at Bolians Lagoon

Did I mention I love oysters? LOL

Chilling...

PIAA Slim Sport Horn vedio

OK... the more I watch the video, the more I think there isn't too much of the different in loudness.  They are in different tone for sure; and I think I will still have the benefit of getting more attention on the road. Was $50 well spend? Maybe not. But is it a fun small project? Hell yeah!

Stock horn:


The new PIAA Slim horn:

PIAA Slim Sport Horn

The new PIAA slim horn in the original package

The emission canister 'hole'

The original emission bracket

Bracket and horn attachment

All done! Close up...

More close up...

I can't even tell there is a new horn installed!

 PIAA new slim sport horn
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

It is about time to upgrade one of the life saving tool on the bike - the horn. Just like any other typical stock horn, the single horn on SF is weak, and it sounds like a toy. The new PIAA slim sport horn unit is bigger and much louder. The best thing about it is that it does sound like a car horn - which will for sure get driver's attention.

I removed the PIAA sticker before the installation. I 'hide' the new horn at where the useless emission canister left behind; and the new horn is so slim that the hole almost looks too big for it. I reused all the screws, rubber spacers, and the canister bracket to hold the mew horn, and it worked great fitted well after some adjustment. I took my time and it is about 2 hours to finish up the job including remove the PIAA sticker and spring paint the unit with bracket. What took me the longest time is the emission bracket and the horn bracket. I have to find a right spot to bend the emission bracket to ensure it has enough separation between the engine and the horn (no one like melting horn). Once that's is done, I have to cut and relocate the hole on the horn bracket to make sure it fits into the slot and to the emission bracket without hitting any other hard parts. Make sure reuse the rubber spacer to reduce the amount of engine vibration to the horn. The rest of the modification is piece of cake...

It sounds loud and great (will provide video later - it is 2:00am now and I really don't think it is a good time to shot horn video LOL) and looks great! Can't wait to test ride it...