I got a chance to pick up the bike tonight. I had to borrow my neighbors MX helmet and must have looked a goof.

First trip and first time on a bike in many moons. Was all good though. Bike felt fine. I felt a small amount of front wheel hop (bounce)? I am not sure if that is the fork with the roads but I will check to see if the wheel is round. I am sure it was fine.

I need to dial in the suspension. No clue on settings. Front I think I will try 12 clicks. I about 185. Rear not sure.

I am going to take a week or so getting to know it. Our weather is borderline. We had a fair amount of snow on and off this week. Today was clear and dry.

Cleaning and polishing is my way of getting to know a new vehicle. Car, motorcycle, bicycle. I will start that tomorrow.

Pretty soon it will feel like its mine

 

Congrats on your new ride.

 

Whoo whoo...another 2006 owner.
Congratulations!

 

Nice! You are going to have fun with it. If you need tips on cleaning and polishing shoot Deej a PM, He prides himself on a clean DIRTbike....
I saw a shirt one time that said "dirt bikes, treat em mean, and keep em clean"

just found it for another thread.

 

Congrats on the new toy!

 

Congrats on the new ride!

But what is "wheel hop"? That doesn't sound normal.

 

Could be from an unbalanced wheel/tire, perhaps from having a rim lock. I highly recommend rim locks if you're riding lower pressure. Blew out a brand new heavy duty tube on its first ride with about 12 psi in the tire -- tore the valve stem. Balance the wheel with weights on the other side, or install two rim locks on opposite sides of the wheel.

 

cupped tires or imbalanced fork fluids/settings can cause an issue as well. Either way, doing a static balance of your assembly is simple enough. Good catch on the locks idea. ^

 

I will look into the balance for sure. It was not severe and may have been nothing. I will adjust the fork next and static check the wheel for round.

I detailed the bike this morning. I guess I spent about 3.5 hours but it went by fast. Cleaned and lubed the chain -it was the only maintenance I got done. I will slowly go through the bike over the next two weeks and double check stuff.

It had a bit of dirt on it when it was brought in for the trade. I could tell that it would clean up nice. Looks almost new. It is going to be a cool bike. Now I have to start thinking about proper upgrades

 

Picture after the morning detail... Stock and clean. Nice place to start.

First thing is to get rid of the big white headlight sticker. I think just Kawasaki in black would look better kind of near the top.