UTMC

My solid week in the saddle hasn't gotten off to a very great start. Not that I'm complaining, because I've gotten some good acoustic motorbiking in, and, well, got "distracted" by someone for a minute there.
Today though, I was bound and determined. My parts for the broken Tuono haven't come in yet, so no go there. My exhaust on the KLX won't pass muster with the park/forest service, and has knobbies on it, so no go there, either. So I did a quick tear down on the carbs for my KZ, then found out that the battery is shot beyond hope.
Cannibalize a battery from another bike, and... The cables won't reach. Cannibalize a battery cable that I can daisy chain to the existing cable to make the stretch and... can't find hardware to put it together.

Cue impatience: Fine. Fuck you. Instead of wasting one more fucking second trying to find the goddamned nut I need that I KNOW is here somewhere, I am going to take this package of cotter pins, and use them like twist ties to stretch between the battery terminal and the cable.

Damn it feels good to ride. It's been a LONG fucking time.

Hm, Tuono is out because of faulty brake switch?

And what is that "muster" that forest service wants from your muffler? Thought you had a stock pipe.

Tuono is out because of a faulty brake light switch and an increasingly bad oil leak. If I were riding with a friend or in a group, I'd just say fuck it, and go. Since I am riding by myself, I don't want to chance it. Hopefully the doorbell that rang early this morning and woke me up is an indicator that my parts are sitting on the front porch, and that will get fixed today.

The KLX has a stock exhaust, but the back end of it is chopped off. California OHV and forest rangers frown upon that sort of thing. I've got an old Kerker canister that I'm mating up to the bike, and hopefully today I can get that done. I've already figured out how to put a spark arrestor screen in it, and I'm already jetted too rich, so as long as it's not painfully loud or something, I'll be good to go. If it IS too loud, then I'll be good to go with the forest service, but the park service will still give me the boot.

Damn it. The door bell didn't signify moto parts, it signified someone who was trying to convert me to Christianity.

The trick with brake light is to use both brakes at the same time, even if one switch is out the light still works.

Now where is the leak?

No, on the Aprilia, if the switch goes bad, the light never turns OFF.

The oil leak is coming from the o-ring around the fuel tank screen. Being as I'm pretty broke, I wanted to fix it and do an oil change at the same time, that way I don't waste money on oil that I'm going to throw out in a couple of days. If parts (switch, o-ring, oil filter) don't come in tomorrow, though, I'm just going to top it off and go. I'll be riding with people for the next few days, so if things go pear shaped, I'm not screwed. And I use hand signals to turn anyway, so using them to stop isn't much difference.

Disconnect the faulty front switch from the harness, light will go out and you will still have functioning rear brake switch, but I'd imagine with the massive V-twin rear brake does not get much use.

Not sure where the fuel tank and oil have a connection, but my knowledge of Tuono is limited, more familiar with Mille...

Dur... I meant to say oil tank screen. Dry sump system. And you are correct, the rear brake on that bike hardly gets any use. Largely this is due to the engine braking you mentioned, but also because I don't much care for the rear sets I've got on the bike. They don't combo well with the braking system, have way too much travel, and way not enough feel. Plus, the only time I ever used the back brake, my buddy pulled me over because the brake was dragging and smoking afterwards. I went through and never could figure out why.

Probably caked up shit on the brake piston from the lack of use, once you pressed it it could not retract.

I never wore out rear pads on any bike I've owned, mostly twins, a friend I used to race with would go through a set of rear pads in a weekend in his RZ350, lack of engine braking made him nervous and he would drag the brake most of the way through the corner, even getting on the power, sort of like traction control, full throttle, modulate the brake to control the wheel spin.

MATPOC wrote:Probably caked up shit on the brake piston from the lack of use, once you pressed it it could not retract.

I never wore out rear pads on any bike I've owned, mostly twins, a friend I used to race with would go through a set of rear pads in a weekend in his RZ350, lack of engine braking made him nervous and he would drag the brake most of the way through the corner, even getting on the power, sort of like traction control, full throttle, modulate the brake to control the wheel spin.

Good thought on the dragging brakes. I'll hit it with some brake cleaner before I take it out.

Dragging brake to modulate tire spin is a lot to think about while exiting a corner.
Sounds like either a really good rider, or a person with a lot of bad habits.