ER6f Refresh

[sickpup]

I managed to find a swingarm in Italy that was in good condition, all the others I looked at across Europe were in bad condition and some were obviously repainted to hide corrosion.
While waiting I cleaned up the Givi rack arms, sprayed them and refitted.
The swingarm took a couple of weeks to turn up, it sat for a week sunbathing in Belgium but finally arrived the end of last week so Friday I pulled the rear end apart

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/no_rear_end1.jpg

It wasn't the easiest thing to get out due to corrosion on the pivot bolt

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/img-20200508-wa0007.jpeg

but it cleaned up OK so could be reused.

With it removed I could see how bad the corrosion was and it was bad

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/20200508_151711.jpg

the cross support was completely rotted out but the worrying part is the right hand arm was rotted out as well around 10mm from the pivot. The arm snapping here could potentially be fatal.

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/20200508_191253.jpg

[sickpup]

Had the swingarm in on Friday evening so Saturday I fitted the new front sprocket with rubber dampener. The rubber ring cuts noise quite a lot so is worth having but if your front sprocket uses a tab washer it does make it quite hard to bend it over.

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/20200509_185002.jpg

Fitting the chain gave me a chance to test my new DID KM500R chain tool. It isn't as easy to use as the DID videos suggest but it is a lot more positive than using a Whale chain tool and gives a good result.

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/20200509_183018.jpg

A quick bleed of the rear brake and the bike is back together.

Fitted some new Samco hoses.

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/20200509_182602.jpg

And that's the end of Saturday.

[mikester]

really appreciate the effort you've gone to keeping this thing on the road, decent topic with the pics. keep them coming

[chris-red]

I'm all for keeping bikes long term if you like them. My TDM has 105k miles on it. I bought it with 19k. I have always been happy to spend out for parts on it. I changed the brake discs at 70k as they were 0.1 mm above minimum thickness and pads needed doing too. I remember talking about it on here and people seemed amazed I was splashing out £330 on OEM discs + £30 on bolts and £50 on pads on a 70k mile bike (Prices are very much a guess!) My reasoning was OEM lasted that long therefore I don't need to think about it for another 70k.

I feel with any vehicle it takes time to become in sync with it, to me this means do all the most have mods and and fix and issues. Once you have it perfect generally it is easy to keep that way, yes there is the occasional big job but if you don't have the run it into the ground mentality things can last much longer than people think.

IF the ULEZ hadn't come in I'd still be using it, that forced me to buy newer TDM

One of the biggest smiles the whole ULEZ annoyance came when I thought I'd see what we buy any bike would give me for my bike. The sites validation rules would not allow 105,000 to be entered as the mileage
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[sickpup]

No more pictures but it's all finished.
Wired a new 5v transformer in for the front camera, connected up the new heated grips and just did a general tidy up of things. New front tyre and 90degree tyre valve. All the bodywork was fitted with new well-nuts where needed and no longer reverberates with the engine revs.

Called the garage at 20.30 on Saturday night and booked in for an MOT at 21.00 which it passed no advisories. MOT man was amused, was the only recent Kawasaki he had tested which didn't have play in the rear end so well done Hyperpro.

So it's all done now, needs a bit of use to see if anything comes loose so I'll use it for work when I go back. At 500 miles I'll give it another going over and then it can return to it's 7500mile service intervals.

Was it worth it? I think so. It cost me £4000 over 3 years 0% finance and has 95k on it. I've spent probably a bit over £1200 on it and now has very good suspension and everything is sorted the way I want it. If I wanted to replace it I would be looking at £2500-£3000 for one with 20-30K on the clock which would still need the suspension doing as well as the big engine service and without doubt various other things doing as build quality was never high on these. The killer for a normal person is the 30+ hours of work that has gone into this as at shop prices that could be £1500+.

Next time its out from under the cover I'll get a photo and post it.

[sickpup]

Just found more that needs doing.

The swingarm bobbins need changing due to damage and there is a scottoiler dual injector sitting here somewhere for it.
The dual injector will need a mount fabricating to hang it off the bobbin mount which won't be a problem, just another excuse to break out the mig-welder and fabrication tools.

The wheels need balancing so I need to clean up my manual balancer, fair bit of corrosion on it. I want to get an electronic one but its going to cost about a grand so that can wait for now.

After riding it the suspension is a whole lot better but will need adjustment.

The chain is a lot quieter with the silenced front sprocket so that was worth doing.

Helicoiled a mirror boss as the thread was gone.

[chris-red]

I've found you can balance a front wheel in the forks with the brake calipers off. At least well enough for no vibration at 120mph
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[sickpup]

[MarJay]

How do you find the Givi monolock system? I had a monokey system on my VFR and it wore over time, and eventually the box would pop off. The latches were sacrificial and the spares can be bought for extortionate prices on ebay.

Overall though, it was a good system and I was able to use it for commuting with a usual 4kg of weight. I've just bought a smaller monolock box which comes with a monolock plate (as they all seem to - saved me a lot of money) and it says it has a 3kg limit... d'oh. I plan to mount the plate on a spare pillion seat for commuting as something I didn't like about the VFR was it's overall length with the box on.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[sickpup]

All of the Givi lock types wear but you can buy a spares kit for about £25.00. This includes the plate rubbers which compress over time and cause accelerated wear.

I've changed the rubbers 2 or 3 times on the ER6 plate and the lock still locks so I'm happy with it.

The usual thing to do is a single M6 bolt with plate washer at the back through the box and into the rack, use an R clip and the box can still be removed easily or a nut to keep it in place permanently.

[MarJay]

[sickpup]

[sickpup]

So after some use a few problems have appeared. The clock back lights are blown and use an odd T3 bulb fitting, the original 95,000mile old throttle cables are stretched beyond adjustment so everything has been ordered from Fowlers and should be here tomorrow.

I've replaced the paddock stand bobbins with new ones, one of the old ones was fractured so it fits perfectly on the stand now.

I think it needs wheel stickers as the wheels look pretty boring.

[sickpup]

The tiny bulbs in the clocks are replaced, the one with the darker base is 1.1w and the other 2 are 0.7w.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/20210302_162233.jpg

The throttle pull cable is about 5mm longer than the the new one so that's replaced, the push cable actually has an adjuster which is hidden behind a frame rail so that's still on but everything seems good now.

[sickpup]

The wheel stickers are done and stop the wheels looking like a black hole. Not cheap at £25 a set but they are good quality vinyl and have a large amount of wastage in material for what they are.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/20210328_174505__1_.jpg

The next project which should pretty much complete things is to recover the seat with a fancy cover.

Another week and it will be time for it's first oil change since the rebuild which I expect to go fine. I'm also thinking it's time for a tracker unit to be fitted to it as well.

[Easy-X]

Erm, is that the overflow drain from the fuel tank? It's triggering my OCD
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[sickpup]

[1claire]

It looks good, your hard work paid off. Are you looking at replacing your motorcycle exhaust?

[Zen Dog]

Do those shock tubes really work? Obviously they stop grit/stones/whatever hitting the damper rod etc., but since they're made of neoprene, I kind of thought they'd end up trapping condensation in the shock when they got wet, and could end up being more of a detriment than a benefit.

With the kind of mileages you've done Sickpup, I'm guessing you've found they're worth it? Or is the shock tube just to cover the swanky shock so no-one nicks it?
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Current - '94 VFR750FR, '00 VFR800FI Previous - '10 Street Triple R, '92 MZ ETZ301, '05 TTR250, NSR125R, KMX125, "Honda" Win (chinese copy of an old Honda design with a C90 engine)
My bike trip around S.E. Asia 2010/2011

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

I just read this thread in it's entirety and I am thinking there is probably a hole in my swingarm too on my 2009 ER6F. Last weekend when I was tightening and lubricating the chain I noticed that when I undid the adjuster block on the right hand side dirty water started pouring out of it where it meets the swingarm.

Think I will take it to get looked at the local motorcycle garage. Then again it is old as shit and was cheap so there's probably a load of problems I don't know about yet.

I was thinking of replacing the rear shock on mine myself just using a better condition used unit from eBay since they are relatively cheap. I've wanted to replace the adjuster blocks on both sides of the swingarm since I got the bike but after seeing how you got yours in decent condition just using an angle grinder I think I will go down the renewal route first when I get it laid up for the winter and move to my Chinese 125cc winter hack.
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PRESENT: 2018 BMW S1000XR SE Sport.
PAST: 2009 Kawasaki ER-6F. 2021 Zontes ZT-125U.

[Tdibs]

Usually the adjuster blocks have a small relief cut into them on one side to act as a drain hole. Check they were fitted the correct way around/might need cleaning up so water can exit. Also sometimes drain holes under the main section of the swingarm that can get filled with crap and just need poking open.

Next time you have them off spray some waxoyl in at least (make sure drain's are still free) to try and buy some more years out of it.
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Previous : 09 Vanvan 125| 02' Sv650s || Current: 1999 Xj600n | 1992 DR650 RSE | 2005 Fazer 1000

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[NutsyUk]

I got my swingarm re powder coated, also tons of crap came out but luckily no serious damage no rust throughs and such....

I ended up getting that nasty rust preventing grease spray stuff and over coated the inside a lot.... should hopefully stop any more damage.... Also the bike has its own shed so its out of the rain. .....
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Yamaha FZ8/Fazer800 (split headlight one) 2014, gingerly getting used to the massive increase in HP and not killing myself in the process! That was easy to get used to.
Kawasaki ER6F 2007 650 Gonna sell as a project bike!
Lexmoto XTR S 125 Sold!

[Easy-X]

[NutsyUk]