YamahaLarry

Here are a few pics from in the paint booth of my '99 RSV from this morning, prior to applying the candy coating. Those pics will come later. The lighting in the booth does not do the candy color justice and will wait til I can get them in sunlight to take some pics. What a RSV looks like in the booth. First base coat, HOK BC01 Orion Silver 2nd base coat, HOK BC10 Pavo Purple. This purple, along with the base coat, is for the late Princess Emma Mitchell who lost her life last September 15th to childhood cancer at the age of 6 years old. I love you forever my sweet princess. 2nd base coat unmasked, prior to the candy of course. And, my design on the hood. This is for every child (my super heroes) have suffered and are currently suffering from pediatric cancer. I love them all and they have become a huge part of my life.

So sorry to hear this and my heart goes out to you. I have gotten close to a few of these kids that ended up losing their life to this horrid disease. I thought I knew about childhood cancer, or at least knew of it's existence, but it wasn't until I met a 6 year old boy everyone called Superman (Thimas J. Sullivan of Ashville, AL) that I really understood that this is not a rare disease, and understood the agony that the families and the patients go thru. It continues to amaze me how these little super heroes face their battles with a smile. This is not a rare disease, and what many don't realize, it is the #1 non-accidental cause of death to children under the age of 19. I can't even begin to pretend, or imagine, what you have gone thru and the reality you face each day. God bless you!!!

Wow! That's just crazy. Glad everyone escaped injury. Must admit, that is a first for me, hearing of a house fire starting from a transformer via grass.

Wish you nothing but the best and prayers are with you during this phase. After reading all of that, makes me realized that all the stress I have been going thru with this repaint job is very frivolous. Take care of yourself!!!

As many of you know, I started this process more than 2 weeks ago in honor of a very special princess:2132: that we lost last September due to childhood cancer. The tear down of the bike took me 3 solid nights. I had to do repair work to the lower left faring (a crack and broken off nut holder) and a couple minor dents in the gas tank. All the body work has been done, primed where needed and all parts have been sanded with 320 grit as recommended by House of Kolor. The pinstriping had to be sanded off and a primer coat went on in those areas. Yamaha replaced my trunk base with a new one at no cost, but still waiting on a plate and I guess fasteners to come in from Japan. Trunk base has also been sanded and pinstripe removed. The paint process was supposed to have started last night, but when the sealer arrived yesterday, the container had been punctured and a new quart sent overnight. Got it this morning. So now, painting won't begin until Thursday night. This is cutting it close. I MUST have the bike 100% completed before the 22nd for the 2nd Annual Princess Emma bike ride (I am the one hosting the ride). It is not a must that I ride in the ride, but the plan is to unveil the bike at registration with Emma's family present. So Thursday night, we have to lay 2 coats of sealer, 2 coats of base coat (two-tone), 5 coats of candy paint, airbrush some graphics, and then 3 or so coats of clear. Gonna be a long night. Then on Friday, we will apply painted pinstripes and then a clear coat over that to lock it in. If all goes well, I can begin reassembly sometime Saturday. I am excited, but my nerves are shot. This is way more stress than I need. Oh, and another problem I had right out of the gate, HOK no longer can supply their UK17 Violette candy due to unable to get whatever they need for the pigments. Had to go with UK22 Voodoo Voilette. Don't know if I can handle any more obstacles.

Unless I am going to be running over around 70 mph and not going up/down a lot of hills, I never hit 5th gear. Bike performs well and mpg is better. I have read some say that you can hit 100 mph in 4th. I am not willing to test that, but it would not surprise me at all.

While my bike is down, doing a little preventative maintenance while parts are out to be painted. Although they still have a few miles left on them, I have decided to go ahead and replace my brake pads and been looking at the options. On my last bike, I installed the EBC sintered brakes. They claim to have better stopping power and longevity. Was really hard to tell if I gained very much in stopping, but thought that I could tell a little difference and didn't keep the bike long enough to know if the sintered brakes actually last longer. Thoughts? Sintered or not and where is the best place online that you have found for 2nd Gen pads?

Colors have been selected and scheduled to begin prep work on Wednesday. With any luck, I will have the pieces back in 7 to 10 days. Fingers crossed. I must have all parts back NLT the 16th to have it reassembled for 'the ride' on 8/22. The ride is the one in memory of the little girl that my bike is being painted for, in her memory. Anyhow, below are the colors to be used for the paint, and the pinstriping will be red metallic, blue metallic and gold metallic stripes (Superman colors in memory of another child that died from childhood cancer). The top image is the basecoat to be used where my RSV is now silver, The next image is the basecoat to be used where my RSV is now gray (except for the trunk, we are flipping the colors). And the lower color is the candy coat that will be applied to the entire bike. Will post a few more pics in a few days of parts actually being painted, or at least I hope in a few days. HOK BC02 - Orion Silver HOK BC10 - Pavo Purple HOK UK17 - Violette (color sample actually over the BC02 Orion Silver)

Exactly where I mounted my stebel nautilus.

Had posted about this previously. As with many, my trunk base has cracks. Had read that since there was a previous service bulletin, that Yamaha would still honor it. So, I called them last week, explained that I had it all torn down for a repaint, and could not carry it to the dealer for dealer warranty work. Normally, that would be the process according to the young man I had on the phone. They ran my VIN, and it had never had the replacement work done (which I already knew since there was no 'plate' that is part of the service bulletin). Short story, they didn't have the trunk base for a '99 in my color and said they would sent one with maroon graphic set. Don't care, I am repainting. Part came in today and is at the dealer here in Bham for me to pick up tomorrow. Color me impressed. Any of you out there that have a cracked trunk, you may want to give this a try if you are considering trying to repair the cracks. I did go ahead and repair the cracks on mine this past weekend, just in case the guy at Yamaha was yanking my chain. I reckon I have a spare now.

I did go ahead and repack them. Bearings looked good and function smoothly, still had grease, although black.

Sounds like you handled it well and glad all is ok. And love the name Leroy.

Thanks. Was hoping for an easier way, but at least I'm almost there. Inner and outer faring are not on bike. Just a bunch of wires.

for paint job. However, there appears to be a small bar in the slots of the nut and jamb nut that I would think needs to be removed. Do I have to loosen forks to perform this task? I have read where others simply adjust and no mentions of anY disassembly other than splitting faring.

Actually, I had just completed washing all the pieces (getting ready for paint job) twice, once with Purple Power and again with dishwashing liquid to remove all the grime, oils and waxes. Now for the minor repairs, sanding, 2 coats of base, 5 coats of candy and 3 coats of clear.

My front is the 130. It seems much lighter handling at slow speeds than the 150. I have had the Michelin tire before. Sold the bike before I got very many miles on it, but was supposed to be a great wearing tire. The last Shinko tires I owned were on a VStar. Back wore out at 9k, which is close to being right for a VStar. Front was on it when I sold it at 10k+ and looked not even half worn.

As do those.

I have Shinko 777 WW on my bike. Used them for varying reasons. Have used them before. While they perform well, I didn't get as many miles from them as I do some of the more expensive tires such as Michelin. But, I wanted to try WW and went with 777 because I have had experience with them before and for the price.

You are a stronger man than me. It would probably have taken me 62 miles to get it pointed in the right direction.

Inner faring. Out. Fun figuring it out. Have to remove cassette, instrument panel and speakers, but I'm calling it as done. Took 2-1/2 hours. First 30 or so was removing front half and windshield. Had to remove running lights before I could pull faring clear. Time for a break.

I wasn't sure how well I would like them, so went with the lesser expensive Shinko WW tires. Have had Shinko before, and while they performed well, they just didn't last as long as some of the other brands I have owned. Have had these tires for a couple thousand miles and pleased so far.

Yeah, I love the WW tires too. I think they drastically improve the looks of the RSVs that are in the same color range as my bike. I am concerned as how they are going to look on the bike after the change of color. But being an almost old guy, I tend to love the vintage appearances.

Yeah, something doesn't sound right if you smell like exhaust. I, for the most part, run my 99 RSV practically every day on the interstate at avg of around 80mph. A couple weeks ago, I make the 15 mile ride between 95 and 105 mph most all the way, chasing an idiot young lady that tried to literally run me over at 70 mph. I wanted to express my thoughts to her and she tried to outrun me in a Gallant. Anyhow, I record every expense, including fill ups, and keep a running record of mph current, month, year, etc, and my average over the last 13k miles or so is a little over 38 mpg. Sometimes I had 42+ mpg, sometimes 36 or so, and never have I smelled like exhaust. I would think that you are definitely running on the rich side for some reason.

BOOYAH!!!! Brad from Yamaha just called me to inform me that Yamaha is replacing the lower half of the trunk along with a kit that consists of a base plate, rubber dampers, etc. The lower half is being shipped out of Kennesaw, GA today, and the other parts out of Japan. So, I will have the major piece I need before my parts actually are scheduled to be painted and the remaining parts will be in well before time for reassembly. Could not be happier!!! Thank you YAMAHA.

After reading a post from JDaniel that was dated in 2013 concerning Yamaha replacing the cracked trunk even 14 years later, I called Yamaha this morning. Some of you may have read that I am in the process of a tear down to repaint the bike. After removing the trunk base last night, I have more cracks that I initially thought. Both of the back holes have multiple cracks around the circumference (sort of star like) and 1 of the cracks goes all the way to the back of the trunk and up a little to where it was visible from the back of the bike (that was the only 1 that I thought I had). So, I called Yamaha, gave them all the info on the bike. The guy found the bulletin and called me back and it sounds like they are going to replace the part. There are some obstacles though. First, not available in my color or year, but in a newer year and in maroon, which is ok since we are repainting. Next, I need the parts in a little less than 1-1/2 weeks and it is in Japan. And the bigger issue, is to do the warranty, it is supposed to be serviced by an authorized Yamaha dealer and they would need the bike to order the parts. Well, my bike is stripped from the tank back and I can't carry it to the dealer. I could carry the cracked base. The rep is in the process now of speaking with the dealer here in Birmingham to see if there is a way to work around it. Evidently, there is more parts they will be replacing than just the ABS bottom half of the trunk. In standby mode to see if they are going to be able to help me in time, while working out the logistics.