Billy Golightly
04-01-2007, 04:53 PM
Well I'm pretty sure everyone has seen my '85 R that is my flat tracker, but at the same time when I bought the 85 back in August I got this 86 too (Can't believe its been that long ago already!). It had mostly maier plastic originally, and a kinda faded red tank. I put the rear maier fenders on the flat tracker because I was worried about breaking the really nice OEM fenders that were on it originally. So I had been swapping back and fourth the seat and fenders whenever I wanted to ride this one, but I have the cut down seat on the 85 now and its not very comfortable to ride for long periods of time. So I took the old desert seat and nice OEM fenders and put on the 86. I also a while back traded a nice OEM black gas tank to Louis Mielke for the black IMS 4 gallon tank because this is mostly a trail trike and some of the riding we do down in Ocala national forest is 45-50 miles in a day, the extra fuel is a nice thing to have. I also used the OEM original Honda air scoops on the desert tank because the maiers that were on the old red tank were in kinda bad shape, and they didn't fit the IMS tank very well. I'll tell yeah, Maier is great for the price and use but there ain't nothing like the fit and finish of Honda plastic :drool:
I also re-did the suspension on it because it needed it badly. In the front I replaced the one right side fork that had a bad dent (which was weird) and a bend right below the dent (not so weird) with another one that looked to be pretty straight. I changed the oil, and dust seals in both forks with OEM Honda parts from Mid West Action Cycles (MAC). I replaced the stock fork springs with new progressive springs also from MAC. The bushings in the forks looked like they needed replaced too but I didn't mess with them, I will change them out in the future hopefully. I finished up the front forks with some ATF to fill them.
On the rear, I had recently bought a freshly recharged and revalved trx250R shock from ebay. I discovered a host of differences between the ATC and TRX shock (see the mad scientists forum for a reference post with more info). I ended up resolving most of these after losing about 3/4 of the oil that was in the shock and probably 50lbs of nitrogen charge. Its much softer then it was before I put it on, but its still better then the old one thats on there. One of these days I'm gonna learn how to rebuild them things myself.
I've changed the kick starter shaft seal with a new one out of a Moose brand oil seal kit, I'm probably going to change the shifting shaft and maybe even the sprocket shaft one if I get a chance to as I'm pretty sure they were both leaking on the last ride. This thing was pretty damn ratty looking the last time I had it out at the ONF ride and most of the guys were probably embarassed to have me riding with them :lol:. Its in much better shape now and the ride is very nice between the suspension changes and the desert seat. Now if I can only get use to the feeling of riding spread eagle from that oversize gastank...
I also re-did the suspension on it because it needed it badly. In the front I replaced the one right side fork that had a bad dent (which was weird) and a bend right below the dent (not so weird) with another one that looked to be pretty straight. I changed the oil, and dust seals in both forks with OEM Honda parts from Mid West Action Cycles (MAC). I replaced the stock fork springs with new progressive springs also from MAC. The bushings in the forks looked like they needed replaced too but I didn't mess with them, I will change them out in the future hopefully. I finished up the front forks with some ATF to fill them.
On the rear, I had recently bought a freshly recharged and revalved trx250R shock from ebay. I discovered a host of differences between the ATC and TRX shock (see the mad scientists forum for a reference post with more info). I ended up resolving most of these after losing about 3/4 of the oil that was in the shock and probably 50lbs of nitrogen charge. Its much softer then it was before I put it on, but its still better then the old one thats on there. One of these days I'm gonna learn how to rebuild them things myself.
I've changed the kick starter shaft seal with a new one out of a Moose brand oil seal kit, I'm probably going to change the shifting shaft and maybe even the sprocket shaft one if I get a chance to as I'm pretty sure they were both leaking on the last ride. This thing was pretty damn ratty looking the last time I had it out at the ONF ride and most of the guys were probably embarassed to have me riding with them :lol:. Its in much better shape now and the ride is very nice between the suspension changes and the desert seat. Now if I can only get use to the feeling of riding spread eagle from that oversize gastank...