After a week of unusually warm weather my dirt road thawed out enough to get a motorcycle down it to the highway below. I was just going to start the bike and put it through a heat cycle but the kid in me got the best of me and off I went in 40 degree F temperatures. The engine is transformed! I never gave it more than half throttle yet on grades it used to crawl up with the stock configuration it pulled with ease, I can only imagine what it will be like when it's broken in, without wringing the tits off it I think it will be joy to ride. The bike is also lighter without the starter and sprag, I could feel it just pushing it around today and on the road with more displacement and compression I'm sure I was feeling it there as well. Two other thing to note for this ride...I actually had brakes! Careful setup and new front shoes from H's made a world of difference. The other notable was the shifting, while I put in heavier clutch springs I think what was giving me more positive shifts was the ball bearing clutch release bearing I added in place of the stock piece, I think it really does reduce drag with the clutch disengaged between shifts. So for a chilly three mile ride when I got back home I was pretty pleased and looking forward to the next longer ride though snows in the forecast so it may be awhile. As of now no oil leaks, I'll see how long that lasts.
Topic: First Ride on the 535 (Read 800 times)