SV650

I'm writing the initial outline here on 2011-07-12 Tue, so the historical stuff is a bit fuzzy.

1. Purchase 2010-10-16 Sat. Now that I'm a good chunk into owning the bike, I can admit that my cousin was right; the accessories that it's missing (like the back seat) are stupidly expensive. I would have been better off picking up one of the other options that already had the rear seat and heated grips and stuff without the pretty orange stripe. But the stripe is pretty, so I picked this one. My next bike will be uglier, I promise. It's a fantastic ride.
2. Oil Change. 2010-11-20 Sat (?). Followed directions from bolty.net: How to change the oil in your sv650. My drain plug didn't have a crush washer washer; it was sealed with a regular flat one. I tried to use a crush washer and it leaked. I put the flat one back on, and it's been fine (through another change and ~8k miles).
3. Chain & Sprockets replaced by Pandora's 2010-12-04 Sat (?). Turns out I wasn't lubricating my chain frequently enough. Neither did the previous owner. They recommend chain wax, applied after wiping down the chain with rag every 300 miles. I've actually switched to using 90 weight gear oil to lubricate the chain, recommended by some folks on rideit.
4. Heated grip installation debacle by Pandora's 2011-01-15 Sat (?). Should have manned up and wrenched it, but I was intimidated. Stupidly expensive, and the grips are shit (Dual Stars). They literally don't work at all, which I don't think is Pandora's fault. I really regret paying for this installation.

   The front fork was a bit cockeyed, presumably from the time the previous owner crashed it. He described the fall as a low-speed drop, but probably ran into something in real life. It's not too bad, but did require loosening the clamps and twisting the front end straight. It's actually not quite perfect still, I'm going to straighten it out some more. I consider it additional motivation to upgrade the front suspension sometime.

5. Radiator flush by Pandora's 2011-03-11 Fri. Prep for my first track day!
6. Oil change 2011-03-12 Sat 20,500.
7. Hack job clutch handle replacement 2011-03-13 Sun. Kickstand down THEN get off the bike. Since the clutch cable was broken on the GZ anyway, Ty came over and helped me cannibalize it's clutch lever. It was kind of close to fitting, and he busted out the angle grinder to get it to fit the rest of the way. I had a gear lever already since I have, by this point in the story, dropped the SV at a stop twice. That clutch handle is still on there as of July.

   If you're watching the dates, you'll notice that this is also prep for the track day, and a botch job because I needed it running the next day.

8. Front brake fluid change 2011-07-09 Sat. Directions from bluepoof: SV650 bleeding brakes. As an aside, I really like the directions on this site, she explains everything clearly. One note, the master cyclinder has a three part lid: the metal cover, a plastic cover inside with a rubber seal, and a black rubber expandible flexy thing. The flexy thing goes on top of the fluid apparently is there to allow the fluid to go down without drawing air in. I spent an embarrassing amount of time pouring brake fluid on top of that thing and wondering why it wouldn't go through the lines.

   The brakes don't feel all that great, I think I probably didn't get all the air out of the system. Found brake bleeding 101 today in the rideit archives, so I'm going to take another crack at it. I'll do the rear brakes when I'm more confident that the front ones are correct.

I've got a motoport air mesh kevlar jacket and the pants are out for delivery today! More on that later.