Winter Maintenance

Winter Maintenance

July is the middle of our Winter, and just 3 words sum up the current situation perfectly.

Cold, Wet or Windy or a combination of one or more of those factors.  

Cold as in 0*C ~ 15*C, Wet as in 20 days of rain per month or more, and Windy as wind gusts exceeding 100 kph.  Not the best riding weather by any stretch of the imagination.

Lately, it's been cold & wet & windy, so it is the perfect time to perform that much-needed routine maintenance. 

Now, it is fair to say that there are 2 schools of thought regarding routine maintenance.

The first is " if it ain't broke, don't fix it ", while the second is " a stitch in time save nine ".

Apparently, that saying has a maritime origin from the 1730s and relates to the idea that it is better to repair a small tear in a sail than wait until it is a large tear, particularly when you are in uncharted oceans.

So with that in mind, I pulled out the Service Manual ( as in RTFM ) and pulled together a work schedule.

My bike, a 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ( aka 1000SX ), has 40,000 km on the odometer, which coincides with the first "major" service schedule.

The first order of business was to " undress " the bike by removing most of the plastic fairing pieces, being extra careful to not break any plastic tabs, then getting the bike up onto a cradle that allows for both wheels to be off the ground.

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The eagle-eyed reader will notice that the cradle is made out of wood, and the reason for this is simple: my steel welding skills border on the pathetic.

Besides, lumber is inexpensive, easily cut to size and shaped with simple tools, and if "glued & screwed & braced", more than strong enough for this application.

The next order of business was to remove the front wheel and pull the fork legs.  I had replaced the fork bushings, seals and wipers about 15,000 km ago, so all that was needed now was a quick "dump & run" fork oil change.

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I had RaceTech Gold Valves fitted when I bought the bike, and RT recommended a 5W fork oil rather than the Showa SS-47 (10W) oil specified in the Service Manual.  

RTs reasoning is that a 5W is a "thinner" oil, which will move through the Gold Valves quicker, and the fork action will be more responsive.

I drained the fork legs overnight, measured the amount of oil that drained out and refilled each fork leg with 450 ml of new 5W fork oil. 

The next order of business was to remove the steering stem and associated bearings.  

This has not been done since the bike left Japan in 2019, and not unexpectedly, the bearing grease was hard & dry.  However, it had done its job as the bearing races were in good condition, with only very minor "ghost" marks on the bottom race.  

I will reuse these bearings and look to replace them at the 60,000 km service.

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With the forks & steering stem out of the way, the next step was to remove the air filter box, coils and spark plugs, which were all scheduled to be replaced.  This allowed me to remove the radiator.

Why the radiator ??  Two reasons.  Firstly, to closely examine the radiator core for stone damage and/or corrosion, and secondly, it is far easier to remove the valve cover and measure the valve clearance with the radiator out of the way.

Modern metallurgy and computer-controlled machining mean the old days of valve gap checks at 10,000 km and then every 20,000 km thereafter are now long-gone.

The 40,000 km service is the first time that the valve clearances are checked and adjusted, if required. 

My results were that 2 exhaust valves were out of spec (tight), with the other 14 valves in spec.  

That said, all 8 of the Intake gaps and 3 of the Exhaust gaps were right on the specification's lower limit. ( ie border-line )

As the N1K uses a "shim under bucket" design, the cam/s need to be removed to replace the shim/s and hence adjust the valve clearance.

As 2 shims needed to be change, and the rest were border-line, I decided to pull both cams and swap/replace the shims to move both sets of valves to a more "mid-point" position in the specs.

Why ?  Checking the valve clearance and replacing shims is a PIA activity.  By moving to a "mid-point" in the specification range, I can extend the inspection interval from 40,000 km to say 60,000 km.

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Unfortunately, my friendly Motorcycle Workshop, which offers a " 1 for 1 " shim exchange service ( at a small cost ), does not have enough 2.85 mm shims for my needs and will have to order them in for me.

Historically, I really liked the Metzler Z8s tyres, but they discontinued this tyre some years ago and replaced it with the Roadtec 01, with an "all new and improved" front tyre tread pattern.

In my humble opinion, and it would seem from comments of many other riders on the Web,  this tyre "hunts" badly on rain-grooved pavement, and I found this less than "awe-inspiring", particularly if there is other traffic around and/or its raining.

After discussing my dissatisfaction with the 01s, my friendly Workshop Manager suggested the then-new Bridgestone T32s.

I must admit that I was hesitant as Bridgestones have not always enjoyed a "positive" reputation.  More your "rim-protector" than your "high-performance" tyre.

But the Workshop Manager made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and much to my surprise, I found the T32 to be as good as the old Z8.  

Good-bye Metzler, hello Bridgestone.

This year, the T32 was upgraded to the T33 (doh), and as my old tyres were nearing their "use by" date, and seeing that the Workshop was having a "Winter Sale", the Manager kindly relieved me of a bucket-load of cash and sent me home with these.

There is nothing like new rubber to enhance a Grand Tour ride.

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Unfortunately for now, it's "down tools / twiddle thumbs" until the required replacement shims arrive, and you my dear Reader, will just have to wait for Part 2 of this story to see if I get my bike back together with no parts left over.