This is a request for a GS1200SS in red and black with a Flat-Rate Motorcycle Inspection, wheel paint, wheel bearing maintenance, and more.
The paint work is done by Nishimura Coating. Even with broad masking instructions, the finish comes back solid and reliable.
When you trust an inexperienced shop with motorcycles, you run into problems: unwanted areas get painted, areas you wanted painted don’t, overspray lands where it shouldn’t. Choosing a shop based on price alone is really difficult.
“Lower price equals cutting corners”—that’s the only way it works. Think it through carefully and choose a finish you can trust.
The seal is so tight the wheel won’t spin on its own. You don’t need it that tight. The iron collar wears down and the oil seal gradually wears away before it finally seats properly—it’s really inefficient.
We ease it up a bit from the start. If you ride in heavy rain, you might want to skip this.
We clean it thoroughly, then seal a tiny bit of grease inside the lip. This makes the collar spin much more freely.
Wheel bearing construction is beautifully simple. When you tighten the axle, the inner race bottoms out completely and locks. To keep the bearing spinning freely without strain, the relationship between the bearing and the distance collar is critical.
Think about what happens if the distance collar is loose, or if it’s too tight—the answer becomes obvious.
From here on, it’s all smooth sailing. It’s a straightforward path, so we proceed carefully.
We replace the damper at the same time.
The air valve is usually the heaviest part, especially on aftermarket wheels, so care is needed. Since we can’t determine the wheel’s heavy spot, we combine the wheel’s heavy point with the tire’s light point when installing.
This isn’t absolute, but we often see fewer weights needed this way, so we do it this way.
You need to know whether tightening the axle causes any change in how it spins.
This is how the stock specs really come alive.
