Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Thu, 13 Jul 2006

Front end, here I come

The new fork springs arrived today, and the Gold Valve Emulators arrived earlier this week, so I'm set to fix up the front end on the Ninja 250. I still need to pick up some fork oil, but that's just down the street and under $10. Hopefully I can spend part of Saturday getting my front end set up for less dive and more control.

Now, if only the rear shock would show up, I would be perfectly set.

Posted at 22:39 permanent link category: /motorcycle


Why'd they put that hole there, anyway?

In the rear fender of every Ninja 250 is a hole, exactly 1" across. Through it passes the wire which runs to the license plate light. The wire is about 1/4" across.

The rear fender is the piece which keeps anything flung up by the rear tire -- water, sand, mud, glass, road apples, whatever -- contained and restricted from the rest of the bike. So, why did Kawasaki, in their infinite wisdom, put a 1" hole (and it's exactly one inch) in the rear fender, leading into the underseat storage area?

Who knows. It's rather bizarre, and frustrated me on the last bike, since anything I put back there (there's precious little storage on a Ninja 250) would invariably get soaked and caked with grit.

Finally, years after I noticed the problem, I found the solution. Since the hole is 1" across, it perfectly fits a 1" hole plug. That's this sort of round plastic widget which snaps into holes to cover them up and, well, plug them. They cost less than a dollar each. Perfect!

I spent about 5 minutes with a small round file and a sharp knife making a hole just large enough to pass the wire. The plug popped right into place, and doesn't look like it'll ever move from there unless I want it to. 50 cents, 5 minutes, and problem solved. Finally.

Posted at 22:36 permanent link category: /motorcycle


Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater