While its apart.. I might as well

Just so everyone knows the backstory, and who I am blah blah blah. My name is Tommy(Valin), I live in NYC and I'm a freelance photographer. I'm good friends with the infamous Sakurama, and Flanny, I'm sure you're all familiar with their build threads. Obviously, I was influenced to get a 07 990 adventure about a little over a year ago now by them. Something I havent experianced in a while happened to me this past winter/early spring.

I kept a bike more than a year. Not to say there weren't temptations. There defiantly were, in the form of a little spunky Italian in red. I met with a guy who wanted to trade me his ducati hypermotard for my ADV straight up. It went so far as to ride each others bikes.I was so close to giving her up, letting a stranger ride her! Luckily for me, the hypermotard S wasn't an actual S :huh. So it was easier to let it go. I have to say though I was happy to get back on the ADV and take her home.

So, looks like this 990 will be with me for a little bit now! I have to say, I was a little confused at what to do now. After being around Sakurama's bike and watching what happens when your just going to "clean it" maybe a fresh coat of paint. I wasn't going to have any part in that. I mean, I bought an adventure to ride, right? Its just a big dirt bike. It should always be covered in dirt, never clean! Since i decided to keep her around for awhile she was looking a little neglected. Especially when compared to the guys I usually ride with. Just some preventative maintenance thats all I needed to do to keep this bike going strong. ADVRider forums helped play a part in spoiling my KISS (Keep it simple stupid) approach, to what has now become quite involved.

There was always a couple of parts on the Want to own list. First being the Rottweiler intake system. I never wanted to pay the price for it though. One day it pop'd up on ADV forum I snatched that up right away. To say the least that was the beginning of the end. Now I have a storage box full of fancy parts waiting to go on the bike. I won't name everything right now, but lets just say I don't think I can get anything else for it at this point. To back up though, this did start as what was suppose to be having my bike apart for maybe the weekend at most.

So a couple of weeks ago I had all my how to Pdf's and manuals uploaded on my iPad ready to work. I was lucky enough to talk Sakurama(Gregor) into coming out to my garage one night and help me do my waterpump rebuild. This is where it all started to go wrong haha . Or maybe I should say right, That was about 3 weeks ago now haha. The Quote of that night, and the weeks to follow was, "well its apart.... I might as well"...... the list goes on. I've also enlisted the help of my garage mate and fellow Adv owner Jconly on this build. His bike was also what pushed me to do more to mine seeing it in the garage. He did a lot to his last year before riding it to Florida. Nearly all off road I believe. He talked me into doing the Valves while my bike was apart. Which I thank him for pushing me to do this, kinda dumb not to when its already so far apart. So valves are the first thing to be finished. Just to fill you in on the waiting list now.... I'm waiting for Forks to come back from SPS. Also all my parts to come back from the powdercoater.



While I had the swing arm off I remembered to drill out the bottom to let water out. I didn't have any water in mine. There was a bunch of sand though :eek1

My problem with working on this last year is because I had a rs125 as my second bike. I couldn't really take that for little trips here and there. Since it was only for the track. I solved that problem this year.... New track bike with street option. Not as fun as the adv on road by any means, but it will do for now.

This is from the last "ride" I did with her in its current state. You can't really see mine much, far left. But that crazy Italian in the foreground and forget it Gregors bike next to mine. Plus being a regular audience to the Flanny vision build threads. I had all ideas and inspiration I needed. Plus, always a little fun competition. That I will, no Doubt lose! haha



Before Picture.... Lets see what happens :huh:eek1 stay tuned

I'm in the exact same boat. Going on 5 weeks apart for mine. Started the reassembly process today. Side stand relocation, Water pump, Flapendectomy, sas removal (cannisterectomy), 2-3 gear timing eliminator, side stand length adjustment, rework to make a bigger foot, fuel task vent lines rework, air box elimination, courtesy of a member here on adv. Added mechanical oil, temp, and voltage gauges. Front shock seal replacement. Highway pegs.

The list just keeps on going. I need to stop looking around on here.


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Also I'm curious what the difference in the ride will be, after you get yours back together... suspension wise...I mean.


I've been threatening to look for wheels, (19 & 17) as I'm mostly on roads.

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Spoiler, this bike will get new paint just have to decide on what its going to look like. Thoughts and comments welcome.

<a href="https://thomasliggett.smugmug.com/Other/ADVRIDER/28773668_P4sqnj#!i=2499532445&k=SGdMbtx&lb=1&s=A" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"><img src="https://thomasliggett.smugmug.com/Other/ADVRIDER/i-SGdMbtx/0/L/Blackorange-L.jpg" title="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug" alt="Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug"></a>

Just the right amount of Black, just the right amount of Metal finish, just the right amount of Rally Blue, and a splash of Orange in just the right places. All mixed together and blended at high speed!

With each passing year the ole 04 becomes just a bit better with age.

What a great ride.

Looking forward to this as I do all the redo threads. But let me get this straight-you took your bike apart in spring? Isn't that what the winter is for?

+1 :huh

:huh It wasn't suppose to be apart for as long as it has been. Things are on their way back to me though, soon........I hope

Your bike is so clean looks nice

Damn ipad.

I just wrote this big reply and lost it trying to get a link. Mostly it was a rant about how fucked you are and you'll never ride the bike again, and haven't I taught you anything. But I digress.

Black will never be wrong. Just wont. BUT you have the chance to do something unique especially with your buddy doing it who has some real talent. How about a black and gray Chuck Close type omage? Or a dot matrix fade? Or pointillism?

Go big man.

Oh, and you're fucked.

Gregor

Powdercoated mine a while back. Most of it is still on. Still looks sick to this day. I went as far as doing bolts and washers and the oem skid plate. It came out awesome IMO. Next I will powdercoat the rims and hubs black and the spokes safety orange. Since I was just rearended by a 16 yr old girl I will have time to tear it all down and go for it.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=691627

Since we have the same bike & the same bad influence (Gregor) I guess I better subscribe...

Yep. Never moving to New York. Ya'll have something in the water that makes you take apart perfectly functional bikes, lay them out, and never finish putting them back together.

"Welcome to New York - The Patron State of Mission Creep"

Well, I did find several things out when I took it apart. Signs of water in the oil. Bunch of parts in the forks in need of replacing. Some bearings in need of replacing.

I can understand the mission creep thing though. NYC is the worst, my bike isn't a quick walk out of my house into the garage. It's a 25 minute bike ride to my garage . I think this helps the missions creep along so well.

I vote for #4 above on the color scheme! Me likey.

1 & 2 look great, but the spider-webby triangle graphic they use is sort of an ornamental graphic without really expressing anything about the form of the bike. I'm with Gregor, if you're doing a color scheme that feels "design-y" you should go bigger & more expressive. Either make it art or just highlight some nice angle of the lines & keep it simple.

I love white.
Cheers

Yesterday I had the chance to run to the powder coater and pick up my parts. Jack was a super nice guy. I'll be bringing the parts to my xs650 to him for sure.



I've got a little busy these past two weeks. Which is awesome because this bike is costing me way to much money. As I've been in my studio the Ups, USPS, and Fed ex guys have become my new best friends. . I finally had a little time today to make it up to my garage and bring all the parts with me. Oh the Joys of your garage being on the other side of town.


I had to run over to my garage for more reasons than just dropping off my parts. I had to take the wheels off my 600. I have a track day coming up next week. Tomorrow I'm switching out the tires. I thought it was going to be a quick trip show up throw my parts in the garage, take off the wheels throw them back in the van and then head home for dinner. When my Girlfriend texted me and said she was going to meet up with a friend and she wasnt going to be home for a little while. ahhhh hah that meant wrenching time! Excellent With so much to do I didn't know where to start. I don't know if I shared but here is a picture of the Bike as she sits now.

I decided with the time I had I could probably get the new seal and shaft in the water pump.

This meant I got to use a new tool; I just picked up. When I picked up that parts from the powder coater I ran by sears. I knew I had to get some better snap ring pliers. The cheap ones I had from harbor freight just weren't cutting it.

Worked great. Shaft and seal are now installed. I also found that I misplaced one of those dowels for the engine case . I know its somewhere. I was so careful in putting all the parts that came off the bag in little ziplock bags. gezz oh well.

Man, she looks sad sitting on that crate - hardly any motorcycle there at all.

Looking good man. I'm curious to see what you come up with for paint.

Gregor