After a 3 week adventure to get to know my K100 better by taking the whole rear end apart and hoping I didn't screw anything up, I took it out for a 40 mile ride today. Compared to the 130 mile I originally took getting it home from the dealer, this ride is obviously much better.
The bike was in pretty good shape before, but running smoother because:
1. the 3 oil fill and drain from getting to the rear main seal with now Mobil 1 0-40W I had left over from my old Mercedes probably helped the smoothness.
2. new spark plugs
3. new fuel filter
4. no more old gas from 1999
5. spline lubed
6. new tires helped the bike to be more responsive
7. new fork oil up front and Progressive shock in the back are better than what it had before
8. new gear box oil.
Issue I have still:
1. I don't have bar ends, so the vibration around 4000 RPM really gets my hands numb. Unfortunately, in 5th gear, that's about 70-75 mph so it's really uncomfortable.
2. I still occasionally get false Neutral going from 4th to 5th if I'm not careful.
3. watch for possible leak from my rear main seal. I think I'll either see oil drip out of drain hole or have clutch slip. We'll see.
So I went to my local Cycle Gear and got this:
It's $11. looks kind of small on the bar end. But compared to $50-90 on the bar ends being sold at A&S or Bobs, I guess I'll try next weekend how this change the vibration.
what do you guys use?