First ride thoughts

[parocket]

Well, I just picked up my 04 LT, black with 6k on the clock. Its a pretty as can be and I took a half day off to chew up some miles. Its getting cold this week so it was worth a little lost vacation time.

Coming from a 05 FJR for my sport touring ride..the LT felt huge for the first but with a few miles it loosened up.

Some of the stand out items..
Brakes - I guess I got to get a better feel there. Over shot a few places and nearly whiplashed myself in other. I'm really accustomed to jumping on them in the last minute.

Low hanging metal- lots of dragging on my first ride. I cranked a bunch preload into it and that helped but going to the right I got scrapping every time.

Gearing - took some adjusting but I was able to quickly find the "groove" the bike wanted to be in..and I found the 4500rpm "noise"

Ride - Well there is no comparsion. The LT felt great on the road, much less jolting.

Louder than my fjr.

Pain - used some different muscles..odd but I was a little sore.

In the saddle - pegs are way different and you need to think where you put your fet down so I'm more stable...its not taller its wider.

2up - my wife cried when the FJR went down the road..alto of good memories on it. We put nearly 45K in two summers on it. BUT after coming home last night from dinner with the sun down and it was 17 degrees cooler..the heated seat may have won her over.

2nd bike - being a bit of a squid still, the LT is not going to wheelie as desired..but maybe a cheap duc will cover that...almost too nice to ride. I'd never take it in a LD type rally..

ISSUES
1. Radio has no reception..anyone have the correct thread on this?
2. Rear brake pedal - when I hit it 2 up it made some squeal/clunk. Pads are good, everything seemed tight.
3. No warrenty
4. Need HID
5. Need more vacation to ride... :think:

[Zotter]

1 - antenna.
these things have a known issue with the whip not making good contact with the inards in the mount. Clean it up - get a contact - all is well again.

2 - Rear disc is a floating type, but the OEM anti-rattle spacers are a bad joke. After about that many miles they tend to simply 'disappear' and you not only get clunk, but cow bell effect too. IF that's what you're hearing - do a search on 'cow bell'. There are a couple fixes about. One is to replace the whole rotor with an after market rotor that doesn't have this problem, another is to stuff some goo into your existing rotor.

Check it out, you could have something else loose back there instead. Don't get surprised down the road, k?

Check the rear shock pre-load. Under your seat. If you can spin the adjuster with no resistance near the 'full out' posistion, you may wanna add some jack oil to the adjuster. That'll help get your rear end up and out of the grindage zone. Maybe. Depends on how aggressively you reach for grindage <g>

Check your tire pressures too! 42 front, 48 rear is the usual 'round these parts.

Enjoy!!