Warner
Member
Well, I got my wiring done - wired the switches for light, horn, kill, and ran a new wire for the tach/hour meter. It worked really well with the motorcycle style switch that I bought off of Ebay (cost me all of $8 including shipping!)
Then I decided to take the bike out for a quick spin. This was my first ride since upgrading to higher bars, threadless headset, front suspension forks, and front disc brake. Here's what I noticed:
1 - The upright riding position is much more comfortable, at least for the 1 mile ride I took.
2 - I don't really notice the front suspension much, but it does smooth out the ride overall. I also have a springy Cloud 9 seat and suspension seatpost.
3 - The front disc brake squeals. This was something that I hoped to get rid of that the rim brakes did. Maybe over time it will break in and stop squealing.....we'll see.
4 - The bike is FUN! I didn't ride it much last year, but hope to get some miles on it this year.
I also had trouble getting my 12v horn to work consistently when I was wiring it all up...and thought maybe my switch was flakey....until I tested it with my ohm meter and found the switch is fine. I figured maybe the horn died and was going to order a new one. When I started looking for a new one, I found an article about adjusting your horn. Apparently (and I never knew this) there is a screw on the back of the horn that you can turn to "tune" the horn. Apparently mine was screwed in to far to allow the coil to function. After I backed it off a few turns, the horn started working just fine again. Cool!
I've got a few more things to do and some tweaks to make....but the main things left to do for my winter "tune up" are getting my rear wheel trued up and make sure my drive chain is aligned properly....also need to tweak my front deraileur a bit.....
Warner
Then I decided to take the bike out for a quick spin. This was my first ride since upgrading to higher bars, threadless headset, front suspension forks, and front disc brake. Here's what I noticed:
1 - The upright riding position is much more comfortable, at least for the 1 mile ride I took.
2 - I don't really notice the front suspension much, but it does smooth out the ride overall. I also have a springy Cloud 9 seat and suspension seatpost.
3 - The front disc brake squeals. This was something that I hoped to get rid of that the rim brakes did. Maybe over time it will break in and stop squealing.....we'll see.
4 - The bike is FUN! I didn't ride it much last year, but hope to get some miles on it this year.
I also had trouble getting my 12v horn to work consistently when I was wiring it all up...and thought maybe my switch was flakey....until I tested it with my ohm meter and found the switch is fine. I figured maybe the horn died and was going to order a new one. When I started looking for a new one, I found an article about adjusting your horn. Apparently (and I never knew this) there is a screw on the back of the horn that you can turn to "tune" the horn. Apparently mine was screwed in to far to allow the coil to function. After I backed it off a few turns, the horn started working just fine again. Cool!
I've got a few more things to do and some tweaks to make....but the main things left to do for my winter "tune up" are getting my rear wheel trued up and make sure my drive chain is aligned properly....also need to tweak my front deraileur a bit.....
Warner