Today's ride w. central IL.

Thanks to the great info on this site, I changed the belt, final drive oil and the weights last night and went out for an epic 6 hour 140 mile ride today in W. central IL. Bike felt very smooth.Trip cost $14 in gas.
The trip was my "motorcycle church."
Rode from Macomb IL to Carthage, to Hamilton then N, up thru Nauvoo(fascinating place actually0 and rode along the Mississippi river to Ft. Madison IA, paid 50 cent toll bridge fee. Great old town. Funky old bridge. The old prison visible from the road would give anyone nightmares. It looks medieval. Wonderful downtown, and then back home after a double cheeseburger at the local diner in tiny LaHarpe IL. Saw lots of hawks, nice "ocean water " smell along the Mississippi. Hadn't had that in a long time.
Can't wait for another trip like that. The only downside was that the fudge factory in Nauvoo was closed.

Sounds like an awesome day! How was your weather? It's been warm down here, but obnoxiously windy. It doesn't ruin the riding, but you're definitely aware of it.

The maintenance items you listed are next on my list of things to do. Any pearls of wisdom to share, or is it all pretty straightforward as already covered here on the forums?

For the final drive oil, I went to my local farm store and bought a big animal syringe, no needle, and went to the tubing section and they had some that fit perfectly over the nozzle and was skinny enough to fit in the hole. Was like 3 bucks total. Worked great. Don't push too hard when you fill you could push off the end of the tubing and shoot oil all over(I was careful, and it did not happen fortunately)

The belt change was straight forward. I made the wooden tool(mentioned on the board) with the two bolts in (cost $2.50 for bolts, washers, nuts) and had an old piece of 1/2 inch board around and it worked great. Honda device for the job costs $40.

My belt looked fine, but I changed it because of age not mileage. Rollers were easy, but messy. YOu have to wash your hands a lot o keep things clean. I wore a mask for some things(cleaning the inside), not sure if that dust inside is anything you want to inhale.
Took maybe hour and a half and I went slow.

Rich,

Have you looked at the Pictorial Section to see how to do some of the maintenance? You can print it out or just take your lap top out to the garage when you work. But your hands will get dirty.

Techwisdom,

I'm from the very Northeastern part of Illinois but lived in Champaign for about 23 years and I have to say the riding in your part of central Illinois is more scenic. The central and eastern part of central Illinois is pretty flat. I usually ended up in Indiana when I wanted to go for some shorter rides. I love the Mississippi river road when I got the chance to get over that way.

Welcome to the forum. Isn't it nice to have all the tutorials from people who actually work on their bikes. You might want to doublecheck your rear shocks for the double cheeseburger and fudge factory setting. You sound like my kind of road captain for touring. :lol!: Enjoy the ride.