Saturday, March 6, 2010
Headlights
Between refereeing on weekday afternoons during the high school soccer season and SoCal's unusually heavy rainfall this winter, the FJR hasn't gotten a lot of work in the last few months. On the few times I've taken her out lately, I noticed that both high-beams were out. It seemed weird that the high-beams in both lights would go at the same time, but it happens. I chose the high-output bulbs for the last change, and bulb life is inversely proportional to light output.
I bought replacement bulbs a few weeks back, but work has been especially heavy lately, and I just got to it this morning. Removing the dash panels becomes second nature after a while — the A and D panels don't even come off the bike anymore unless I'm doing something directly underneath them. I've added a lot of wiring under my panels which adds to the standard hassle of removing the bulbs, but they eventually came out.
I put the new right bulb in, and hooked it up for a test that was successful. The left bulb was the same. Before I could put the boots on and close everything up, a rain shower rolled through, so I moved the bike back into the garage behind Carole's car. When the rain stops, I'll put the boots on, reconnect the plugs, retest everything, then put the dash panels back on.
I'm hoping to get in a long-ish ride on Sunday, so if the weather cooperates today I'll probably mount my hydration base too. Doug and I are planning for an in-state SS1K later this month, and I need a few rides of increasing distance to prepare. (The SS1K is itself a prep ride. I'm prepping for my long-planned/oft-postponed BBG, and Doug [the lucky dog] is prepping for the IBA5000 later this year.)
I also have some audio issues to work on. If I plug my e2c's directly into the Zumo cradle, the sound is good, but if I plug into the audio mixer the sounds is messed up in a weird way. I've already replaced the M-F patch cable that runs out from under the seat, so I may need to either replace the cable that runs under the tank from the cradle to the mixer, or possibly even replace the mixer itself.