Still going strong? In action! GSX1200S oil-cooled Katana inspection, Deco-mainte, side stand repair and more

The year’s going to fly by at this rate.
We’ve got all sorts of small parts out of stock and delivery dates uncertain.

Lately I’m wondering if forged mag wheels will really arrive before year’s end—I’m getting a bit worried.

Anyway, the oil-cooled Katana fair is wrapping up for now.
So let’s get cracking on the work (*´ω｀*)

Free motorcycle appraisal and sale with the rumored KatieX—this is the new way to sell! (*´ω｀*)

The tires are degraded like I’ve never seen before

This isn’t just mild degradation. The manufacturing date is 2016—about eight years ago—so they’re done for.

Tires aside, the wheel runout and such look fine.

The wheel bearings and such should be okay for now.

Let’s finish up the details

Lately there’s been a trend of checking axle shaft thread sizes.
M 18–P1.5, that’s it. Most axle shafts have a pitch of 1.5.

Let’s clean up the brake calipers

I lifted the front and noticed something odd.
The right side is unusually oily. When I lifted the dust seal, fork oil had accumulated nicely inside.

The fork oil has soaked thoroughly into the brake pads, so that’s a no-go.

The rear caliper piston return is so-so, so we’ll overhaul it when the time is right.

The side stand pad came off, so let’s fix it

The pad broke clean off, apparently.

The side stand pad works like this: the farther away from the side stand bolt, the easier it deploys.
The closer you get to the bolt, the more “oomph” you need when extending the side stand,
so I personally prefer to keep it as far out as possible.

Since the side stand is something you use constantly, I think it’s important to deploy it smoothly and smartly.

Time flies, and that’s how I installed it.
I think it’s best to make it wide, sturdy, and easy to deploy.

Just slide your heel in like this to deploy the side stand.
It should come out super easily from this position.

Other work is on hold pending customer feedback.