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Stuff I've been doing to "my" 2001 Katana 600!
The bike actually belongs to my 21yr old nephew, but I'm the uncle (aka FREE motorcyle mechanic) with all the tools, know-how, and until mid May, the only one with a valid motorcycle license. He bought it last November, after I test drove it and then I trailered it home since it was way too cold to drive it.
Per my suggesting he's been riding a scooter for the last couple of years and will be taking the Motorcycle Safety course this coming weekend, in hopes of getting his license. For the time being, I've purposely kept the bike in my garage (2 hours away) and have been taking him to isolated roads to learn how to ride his "new" bike. He's a great hard-working kid and actually pre-paid for all of the necessary maintenance/upgrades the $1,600 bike needed. Hence, I've been keeping track of the budget, ordering parts, installing them, and then sending him pics of the progress. We normally work on his cars together, and he really would have liked to work on the bike too, but then that would have cost him so much missed riding time here in Illinois. He's a good mechanic, and I'll be going over everything with him, so that he know's how to work on it, as needed in the future.
Anyway, here's a list of everything I've done to it so far:
- New DID X-Ring chain.
- New Oil change and new filter.
- New brake fluid.
- New grips (*Do use compressed air to get grips on/off - Make's it so easy!)
- Replaced sparkplugs with OEM NGK's. I actually found 2 different pair of plugs in it, and they weren't even NGK's. It was really running rough and now I know why.
- Cleaned carbs.
- Adjusted Air/Fuel mixture.
- Installed frame sliders.
- Upgraded lights to H4 "Xenon filled" bulbs. I know these aren't HID lights but they give off a nice bright white light that light up the road really nice at night. I can finally drive it at night with confidence!
- Replaced all other factory bulbs with new ones. just wanted to do it while I had the whole bike apart.
- Replaced numerous hex fasteners with new ones. Not sure why but almost every fastener on this bike was stripped.
- Fixed the speedometer. The speed sensor rotor looked like a flat washer (and didn't have any raised tabs), so that's why the speedo wasn't working. Luckily, the part only cost $15 from Suzuki.
Future Upgrades (for later this week)!
My COATS 5060E tire changer broke down (need to fix the bead breaking air cylinder) and as soon as my new seals come in (and I install them), I'll be swapping out the mismatched tires with new Michelin Pilot Road 4's. I'm going to yank off the sticky weights and try dyna beads too (1 ounce in the front and 2 ounces in the rear).
That'll be it for this year. What's interesting about this bike is that it has a really nice power band at about 5,000+ RPM. It has a Stage 1 Kit and Yoshimura pipe with a stock 17 tooth front sprocket and an aftermarket 48T (not the stock 47T) in the rear. Kind of a weird set up, right??? Once he's been riding it for a few years, I might upgrade the front sprocket with a smaller one for better off the line performance. Until then, I think it's plenty fast for being his first ever motorcycle.
Omar
The bike actually belongs to my 21yr old nephew, but I'm the uncle (aka FREE motorcyle mechanic) with all the tools, know-how, and until mid May, the only one with a valid motorcycle license. He bought it last November, after I test drove it and then I trailered it home since it was way too cold to drive it.
Per my suggesting he's been riding a scooter for the last couple of years and will be taking the Motorcycle Safety course this coming weekend, in hopes of getting his license. For the time being, I've purposely kept the bike in my garage (2 hours away) and have been taking him to isolated roads to learn how to ride his "new" bike. He's a great hard-working kid and actually pre-paid for all of the necessary maintenance/upgrades the $1,600 bike needed. Hence, I've been keeping track of the budget, ordering parts, installing them, and then sending him pics of the progress. We normally work on his cars together, and he really would have liked to work on the bike too, but then that would have cost him so much missed riding time here in Illinois. He's a good mechanic, and I'll be going over everything with him, so that he know's how to work on it, as needed in the future.
Anyway, here's a list of everything I've done to it so far:
- New DID X-Ring chain.
- New Oil change and new filter.
- New brake fluid.
- New grips (*Do use compressed air to get grips on/off - Make's it so easy!)
- Replaced sparkplugs with OEM NGK's. I actually found 2 different pair of plugs in it, and they weren't even NGK's. It was really running rough and now I know why.
- Cleaned carbs.
- Adjusted Air/Fuel mixture.
- Installed frame sliders.
- Upgraded lights to H4 "Xenon filled" bulbs. I know these aren't HID lights but they give off a nice bright white light that light up the road really nice at night. I can finally drive it at night with confidence!
- Replaced all other factory bulbs with new ones. just wanted to do it while I had the whole bike apart.
- Replaced numerous hex fasteners with new ones. Not sure why but almost every fastener on this bike was stripped.
- Fixed the speedometer. The speed sensor rotor looked like a flat washer (and didn't have any raised tabs), so that's why the speedo wasn't working. Luckily, the part only cost $15 from Suzuki.
Future Upgrades (for later this week)!
My COATS 5060E tire changer broke down (need to fix the bead breaking air cylinder) and as soon as my new seals come in (and I install them), I'll be swapping out the mismatched tires with new Michelin Pilot Road 4's. I'm going to yank off the sticky weights and try dyna beads too (1 ounce in the front and 2 ounces in the rear).
That'll be it for this year. What's interesting about this bike is that it has a really nice power band at about 5,000+ RPM. It has a Stage 1 Kit and Yoshimura pipe with a stock 17 tooth front sprocket and an aftermarket 48T (not the stock 47T) in the rear. Kind of a weird set up, right??? Once he's been riding it for a few years, I might upgrade the front sprocket with a smaller one for better off the line performance. Until then, I think it's plenty fast for being his first ever motorcycle.
Omar
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