Since 'Golden Brown' will be reaching it's adulthood early next year (turning 18). I've decided it's time to give it a birthday celebration by stripping the plastic off and replacing the carby rubbers, coolant hoses, vacuum hoses, fuel hoses and timing belt as well as doing the valve clearances. I may even get carried away and replace the swingarm and steering head bearings while it's all apart.
While some would say this is a bit drastic, particularly when the speedo is still just 100,000kms, I reckon if I do everything now while parts aren't too hard to obtain I can ride confidently for many years to come. The bike did sit doing very little for a number of years and this showed in a relatively early water pump failure so preempting other common problems is, to me, a worthwhile exercise.
The cost won't be too much but the risk of a failure somewhere out in the middle of nowhere will be drastically reduced and I hope to be riding this bike for many years to come.
