Farewell "Big Red" Welcome "Rhondda Red"!

[Dave48]

Had recently decided to downsize and bought an FZS 600 in April  as a possible replacement for my 52 plate 5LV1 Gen 1 thou. The 600 is a one previous owner bike but with 34000 miles up-mostly I would guess commuting in the southeast. Started to service bike from scratch as very little previous history-mainly a bunch of old MOTs indicating average annual mileage. Replaced brake lines with Goodridge ,  had gear pedal assembly rebushed & have had centre stand repaired.New front BTO23 tyre fitted & all the service jobs done,fluids & oil filter changed.
Studying sale/asking prices for early Gen 1s was dismayed to see how they have fallen in value/price fetched both here on forum & also ebay etc.
Last week I spoke to a Welsh 03 600 owner with an immaculate bike looking for a good Gen 1 thou. We exchanged pics/details & I rode down to meet him on Wednesday. We both liked what we saw, shook hands & swapped bikes ( so we both have bikes that any dealer would retail for a minimum of £2500).
Had a great ride home(having phoned insurance co first to cover new bike) apart from torrential rain between Hereford & Worcester.Having ridden the new (RED)600 its as good as it looks-the previous owner is an engineer and a bit OCD about bikes-like me!.
So I avoided all the hassle of advertising, daft offers, timewasters etc...........However I will be selling the Blue 03 600-which is a nice bike but the Red one is even better---oh Happy Grandad! :lol

[adeejaysdelight]

Picture please Dave!

[Exupnut]

Yeah....we wanna see how slow it looks hehe

[nick crisp]

"woke up this mornin', felt round for my shoes,
Knew by that I had them slow blue bike blues"  :lol

[Dave48]

Just waiting for the sun to come out so I can take some pics of  "Baby Blue" & "Rhondda Red". Will post pics as soon as..........

[alan sherman]

How do you re-bush the 600 gear lever?

[Dave48]

Alan-The gear pedal sits on the footpeg shoulder and is provided with a thin wave washer inboard to take up end float. However due to lack of lubrication the hole in the pedal had worn slightly oval causing allowing lateral movement of pedal instead of pure up & down, leading to sloppy gear changes.
My engineering friend bored out the hole to a larger diameter & installed a soft metal bush-which is a nice sliding fit on shaft. The wave washer had disintegrated so we took up end float with a suitable plain washer of the correct thickness. Sounds complicated but quite easy for someone with a lathe/pillar drill!

[alan sherman]

Good work, I hate the design, very cheap solution that doesn't wear very well.  After 62k miles mine is sloppy.  Was on the lookout for the Gilles rearsets but they never come up cheap!

[Dave48]

Cost £10 as a favour :lol