Ok - so far the boos are winning.
yay = Middle of last week I get my F2 plastic repair done, all painting finished, wetsanding done and clear buffed back out. Everything goes back on the bike easier than expected, and I'm itching to ride.

boo = I have a work trip on the books for Thursday/Friday and I can't ride the bike on the 45mile trip, cause I get suckered into carrying some gear for the event.

yay = I'm on my way home Friday about 11am, beautiful fall day, and I'm like - I'm gonna go home, dump the truck, hop on the CBR and go ride for a few hours.

boo = on the way home, my truck drops either a transmission or rear end gear. and shudders to a stop 2 blocks from my house. spend the rest of the afternoon getting it towed and dropped at my mechanic's place. Not feeling like riding anymore.

yay = rained Saturday, but Sunday is nice and one of my cruiser-buddies wants to go for a PM ride.

boo = meet up @ outskirts of town to gas up, notice a nail dead center of my tread patch on the Continental Motion rear tire that has less than 500 miles on it. I ride anyway, since we're not charging - just a nice easy country ride. Get home, tire hasn't lost any pressure during the ride - actually built a lb. or 2. Still not brave enough to pull the nail out - hoping that the lack of leaking means I might have gotten lucky and it didn't go all the way thru.

boo = woke up this morning, it's pouring outside. Not riding to work in this - wake the wife up and make her take me to work before she goes to class.

boo = calling around - no shops in this area will plug the tire (not that I would feel extremely good about it - but this is a brand-freakin-new tire), all quoting insurance regs. None of the shops can get that specific tire anymore either - local distributor has stopped carrying continental. Of course I did the front/rear set at the same time, so I'm wanting to keep to a matched pair.

guess once I get home tonight, I'll pull the nail n see if it leaks. My shop has a FullBore M1 in 160/60/17 in stock, and I could get it installed for about $103 out the door. Or I have found a dealer in GA that has the Conti in stock, would cost me about $115 shipped and installed. I have a cool shop that installs tires for $10 if I only bring them the wheel, even if you don't buy the tire from him. so that's like a semi-yay, I guess.

Oh - and I still haven't heard about how bad my truck is fubared........to be continued.

 

Oh - here's the only pic I've taken so far - crappy nighttime cellphone shot - but, you get the general idea.

 

you could always go pick up a tire plugg kit at the store and do it yourself. that will run you about $10 total. the shop wont do anything special that you cant do at home.

 

I know - I've got a plug kit @ home, have used em on cars for years, never a failure. Just something makes me extremely nervous about plugging a bike tire that way, esp when the plug would be making almost constant contact due to it's location on the tread patch.

I'd prefer to use one of the ones that adhere from the inside of the tire and are pulled through the hole to the outside.

 

update - rear diff carrier bearing disintegrated, causing the carrier to fall out of place, break, and everything else in the pumpkin grenaded in the process to the tune of about $1200.

so, that's a boo.

 

had that happen to my cobra years ago.. 1700 later the stang hauled.. good luck man just experience some truck trouble of my own. blew out a valve.

 

Dude, you should double the yays for how the bike turned out. It looks dam good.

The rest sucks, tho. Maybe find a secondhand rear from a wreck? I've done that before.
And I'd just plug the tire up, but I suppose that's a personal choice.

 

Dude you could find an almost new used rear axle for less than the cost of rebuilding that rear diff.

 

i dont blame ya idk that i would do that myself, not on the cbr at least.

 

Unfortunately that's not an option - as I need the truck fixed by Thursday. also finding the rear axle has to be from a 2000+ Chevy Blazer, and the normal S-10 rear ends won't swap in without some fabbing due to the blazers having discs in the rear. Then I have to find a 3.42 gear ratio rear end, since mine's 4x4 and that's what's in the front diff.

I looked locally and couldn't find anything that was going to work for me before letting my mechanic source it for me. Ebay was all in the $300-500 range before shipping, and then, I still don't know the condition of the internals. It's more than I would like to pay - I usually work on all my own stuff, but circumstances just don't allow me the luxury of taking that route here.

Hey - Truck's been paid for since 2007 - 117,000 miles. $1200/year in serious unplanned maintenance vs. a $300-400/mo car note - I'm not complaining too much.