10.23.04
I changed the spark plugs and adjusted the chain. I had been told the spark plug change was fairly difficult, but found it to be really easy. Less than 30 minutes to change both. Mileage is 8,123.

9.11.04
I changed the oil and oil filter today at 7,432 miles. I'll pick up some spark plugs and coolant and do the 7500 mile service soon.

9.9.04
Time for a well deserved wash :)

9.2.04, 9.3.04 & 9.6.04
Marni and I decided to ride down to SoCal for a friends birthday. Full report and pictures here.

8.16.04
Marni got me a front Pit Bull stand for my birthday!! :)

7.19.04 & 7.24.04
I had to go down to Los Angeles for some training, so I decided to use the opportunity to ride down the coast. I took 280/85/17 to get down to Santa Cruz and then took Highway 1 all the way down to Santa Monica. What an amazing ride! It was cold and foggy basically all the way down to the south end of Big Sur but the weather after that was really nice. On my way back I took Highway 1 up to Oxnard, then 101 up to Salinas. I then cut over to Hwy 1 in Monterey and took that back up to San Francisco. The trip down was 452 miles taking 725 minutes (including all the stops). The ride back was 432 miles and took 600 minutes.

7.8.04
My mileage is now about 4500, so I decided it was time for another service. I replaced the engine oil, oil filter and air filter. I cleaned, oiled and checked the adjustment on the chain, though that is something I do about every 600 - 800 miles.

4.14.04
I received my Suburban Machinery Type II bars, which I ordered to replace my existing bent stock ones. It took a while to adjust to the new riding position, but now I prefer it much more than the stock bar location. The only weird thing is that it seems that the alignment holes for the control pods do not seem level. This just means that the left controls seem slightly lower (rotated) than the right ones. I adjusted to it quickly, but I am not sure if it was supposed to be that way or not. You can see this in the 3rd picture.

4.6.04
Track school!! What an incredible experience! Much more complicated than I ever imagined. I guess I went into it with the basic assumption that it would be like street riding but just faster and more controlled. It turned out that there was actually very little that was even remotely similar to riding on the street. I learned a ton and know I barely even scratched the surface. I am really looking forward to going back. Here are some pics of the loaded bikes (new Kendon trailer), camp and Tom at tech inspection.

I managed to hit turn 5 a little too hot and not on the right line and ended up going down in the dirt. The hit brought the right side of the handlebars into the tank, leaving an unpleasant imprint :( The handlebars are also bent and the bike has a few additional scuffs. Time for some new handlebars...

Later that day I dumped the bike while practicing my "target fixation" technique :P
I was watching Tom instead of where I was going and followed him as he went off the track. I realized what was going on too late and with fear that I would end up running into the back of him, so I chose to just lay the bike down on the left side. Not a big deal, though it did manage to break the rearset, taking off the shifter linkage and foot peg. Luckily the guys at the school had some extra parts and were willing to lend me a rearset assembly to use until the end of the end of the class. Good thing I was taking a Suzuki-sponsored class! My friend Alex had a new rearset waiting for me when I got back into the city, so that I could get my bike back on the road.

Since I am stuck with the dents for a while, I decided to add some humor to the situation:

3.2.04
I decided to get some more aggressive tires for my track school, since I will need some new tires anyway (they require 90%+ tread). I ordered a set of Metzeler Sportec M-1 Supersport in the stock tire size (120/60ZR-17 front and 160/60ZR-17 rear). It would be nice to find another set of used rims to mount the new tires on, but we will see.

2.18.04
My Woodcraft solid (non-hinged) pegs arrived. I will be using these in the stock peg location for now, though may try some different rearsets at a later point.

I also took a small video to get the sound of the Holeshot:

2.18.04
I was talking to a friend about the shock setup (more specifically, the reservoir location) and he said that we could just move the fitting angle without much work. We purged the nitrogen, loosened the fitting just enough to move the angle and then locked it back down. We refilled the nitrogen and that was basically it. What this did was allow me to better position the line, which gave me the room to mount the reservoir nicely on the left side. I need to wash the bike badly, but here are a few pics.

2.13.04
Time for the rear shock installation. I was thinking this would be an easy job though I should know better by now :) Here are some pics of the new and stock shock and a comparison of the two.

The only real problem that I ran into was that the shock is designed to have the remote canister mount on the right side of the tail, but my high-mount pipe is already there. I could have fit them both in, but I did not want the canister that close to the exhaust heat. What I ended up doing was running the canister on the left side, which required some slight modification to the side grille. I still need to figure out a better permanent mount but what I have should work for now.

Here are some pics of the sprockets and the finished product. I still need to adjust the shock settings, but so far I am really pleased with the ride. The new sprocket also seems to have made a great improvement. Definitely more pull, and now I feel like I am actually utilizing more of the transmission.

I also picked up some Alpinestars Track pants today. They zip to my jacket and will be perfect for my upcoming track school :)

2.12.04
My front suspension components arrived so I decided to go ahead and install them. This would give me a chance to see what difference just the front suspension change would make.

Here are some pics of the stock fork parts, the Gold Valve emulators and the modified dampening rod (enlarged/additional holes). The red fluid is the stock fork oil. I used some Bel Ray 20W for reassembly.

Here is a comparison of the spacers (new on top) and springs (new on bottom). The aluminum tubing was provided to use for new spacers (you cut it to the desired length). The spacer length ends up shorter since the new springs are longer and we are adding the Gold Valves. The new springs are 34.7x340mm .80kg.

Finished and ready to go! The front definitely feels more stiff, though much more controlled. The front end also does not dive like it did before when applying the front brakes. Now I am excited to see how the bike feels with the Öhlins rear shock, which I will be installing tomorrow. I also received my new 47t rear sprocket, which I will also install tomorrow.

2.8.04
Today I managed to give the bike a well-deserved cleaning. I still need to do a full detail but that will happen once the rain seems to be gone for a while.

2.7.04
When I replaced my rear tire, I noticed that my rear brake pads were almost completely gone. I checked the fronts and they were fine. After some examination of riding habits and talking with friends, I realized that I had an odd right hand/grip position. This was causing me to not use my front brakes very much. I changed to a different hand position (first two fingers over the brake lever and the other two plus the thumb around the throttle), and things are much better now. Anyway, I needed new rear pads, but decided to replace them all at the same time. I used EBC FA pads (part numbers FA63, FA229 and FA231), which so far seem to work great. No noise and great stopping power. I also cleaned and lubricated the chain, and decided to leave the chain guard off for now (looks much better :)

Next on the list is suspension mods. I ordered RaceTech springs and Gold Valve emulators for the forks, an Öhlins rear shock (46HRCL) and some 20w fork oil. I also ordered a 47t rear sprocket (+2) and some solid pegs. Should be a fun project :)

1.31.04
I did an oil and filter change today, as well as installed the carb shims that were included with the Holeshot pipe. While I had the carbs out I also drilled out the plugs for the mixture adjusters. I added two shims (per needle) and set the mixture at 3.0 turns out.

Before I reinstalled the tank, I found some metal bushings that will work as tank risers. I will eventually replace these with something that looks a little more stock, but these should work fine for now.

1.30.04
I finally had an opportunity to install the new front indicators. I am happy to get rid of the monstrous stock indicators and switch to something a little less conspicuous. They are not quite as bright as the stock ones, but definitely still visible.

1.18.04
I had spoken to some motorcycle friends who do fabrication work about the ring watch, and they talked me into just purchasing a clock made for a motorcycle. I had not been able to find one online, but then finally ran across the Bike Watch. It works great and does not look at all out of place. I would still like to find a use for the ring watch, but at least I now can see the time while riding.

I am now at about 1900 miles, so I think I will do an oil and filter change at 2000. The maintenance schedule lists the next oil change 4k miles and the next oil filter change at 11k miles. That seems strange to me, so I think I will stick with oil and filter changes at every 2-3k. It is about time to clean and lubricate the chain though (every ~600 miles), so I will do that as well.

I also picked up a new set of front indicators. Since I have the small flush-mount indicators in the rear, I wanted something of a similar size for the front. I will probably install them in the next few days.

1.14.04
After one rainy ride to work, I realized that my rear tire was completely flat :( A quick check revealed a screw in the tire, so I plugged the tire for temporary use. I purchased a new tire, though went with basically the same tire that was on there (Metzeler ME Z4, 160/60ZR-17). I am now slowly breaking in the new tire. Since there was plenty of tread on the old tire, I will patch it from the inside and keep it for a back-up.

12.16.03
I received my ring-watch. I need a clock for my display, and the only thing that I thought would fit well was a ring-watch. This one has a nice simple design and seems to be of good quality. Now I will start the project of modifying it (removing the band/flattening the base) and mounting it somewhere around the cluster. I may also figure out some type of temporary mounting (or on the key?) so that it does not get pried off if the bike is left unattended. I also do not know how water resistant the watch is...

10.13.03
I decided to order a Holeshot high-mount pipe and fender eliminator kit, as well as a Clear Alternatives LED taillight. Most of the high-mount pipes required the removal of the rear foot pegs, which is why I went with the Holeshot (well, that and people had good things to say about it :) I installed them along with the brake lines a week or so later.

I have not added the carb shims yet, though I plan to do that soon. The exhaust is rather loud, though does have a nice sound when really getting on the throttle. At low rpms it seems a bit "poppy," which I am hoping the shims or a re-jet will help resolve. The fender eliminator kit was fairly simple, though I wish some form of template was provided for placement of the flush-mount indicators. Now I would like to get some smaller indicators for the front, to balance it out a bit.

The brakes seem really responsive with the new lines. When I bled the them I used ATE SuperBlue, which is what I have used on my car with good success.

The LED lights are nice, though I was expecting something different. I guess I was expecting a complete replacement light assembly, not just the LED light sets (which fit in the bulb sockets) and a clear lens.

10.2.03
I purchased a set of Galfer stainless steel brake lines, which I hope to install soon.

9.5.03
I finished my first few modifications. I cut away part of the rear fender, cleaning up the rear section a bit. I also added IRP frame sliders, just in case the bike ever goes down.

8.16.03
I finished my MSF training class. Although I think the execution of some of the exercises was a little strange, I do think the class was a good experience. It is nice to get a bit of training on emergency and evasive maneuvers.

8.9.03
I picked up a new leather jacket and some riding boots. They are both Alpinestars, the jacket being a Stunt and the boots being Effex. I took the "armor" out of the jacket for a while, to give myself a chance to get used to just the jacket. It is all back in now, and it only took a short time to get used to it. It is a really nice feeling to be riding with the proper gear.

8.2.03
I had a Bell helmet that I had purchased for autocrossing, though I decided to get something a bit more comfortable. I ended up with an Arai Quantum/f. I also picked up a dark tinted visor, which I *really* like! I definitely recommend getting one. The only problem is making sure you are back home before nightfall :) I also picked up an anti-fog film for my clear visor, which works great.

6.30.03
I finally decided to pick up a motorcycle for commuting to work and fun on weekends. After plenty of research and annoying all my motorcycle friends, I ended up purchasing a 2001 Suzuki SV 650. The bike had 1017 miles on it when I purchased it and it looks brand new.

I am still just getting used to the bike as-is, though I will eventually make a few modifications to it. I want to replace the existing rubber brake lines with stainless steel braided lines, and I would also like to go with an aftermarket slip-on exhaust pipe. The existing Metzeler tires that are on it are great for now, though they are also something that I will eventually want to replace.