My farkling of 'Annie the Tranny' continues. The standard handlebars were starting to look second hand so they got replaced by a set of Renthal thick wall aluminium bars, which raised some interesting 'issues'. I didn't know that Honda drill small holes into it's bars into which little lugs on the handlebar furniture fitted, ensuring accurate location - but I do now. But I didn't want to weaken the new Renthal bars, so drilling them was not an option. The alternative was to break out the Dremel and its selection of attachments to remove the lugs. I'd bought new heated grips, but couldn't get them into the correct position on the right-hand grip. Turns out the throttle tube as standard has a ridge about an inch from the outer end that prevents the tube itself sliding on to the position I needed it to locate at - so again it was Dremel time. Then the connectors for the grips didn't match up to those on the grips they were replacing, so wire snips and soldering solved that issue. If this is starting to sound like a saga to you dear reader, then imagine how I felt... I was expecting this to be a straightforward swap. Anyway, the swap was completed in about 4 hours of suck-it and see engineering based on 'if it looks right and feels right and works right then it is right.
The final bit of bar work was to replace a pair of 'universal' hand guards with a pair on Bark Busters. These are really heavy duty and hopefully overkill for the use I have for the bike, but they look the part and offer me protection both from rain and cold and from physical attacks to the hands by bushes, trees, car door mirrors, etc...
Today was the next step. A trip to see Tim Booth at MTS Nottingham for some new tyres. The Bridgestone BW501/502 combination seemed to work well enough but the rear was already squared off when I bought the bike and had just got more so, while the front had worn rather more evenly and was getting close to the wear indicators. My decision was to pre-order a pair of Michelin Anakee III tyres and today was fitting day. While the rear wheel was out I had Tim replace the front sprocket, going up from a standard 15 tooth to a 16 tooth giving a higher gear ratio across the final drive. This is to move the vibration that I experience at 'motorway cruising speeds' and first impressions are good. On the way home I noticed that 4,000 rpm now equates to an indicated 63 mph where it had previously equated to 58 mph. More extended riding is needed for a definitive conclusion but first indicators are good. Acceleration is slightly blunted but I can always use a lower gear to overcome that on the road. The ride home felt good despite the greasy roads and blustery gusts of wind.
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