My recent carb swap was so successful that I was inspired to do a bit more work on the Duke. I finally fixed the broken left rear signal that’s been dangling there for months. The stalk breaks easily when swinging your leg over the bike - it’s just in the right place to knock it on the way over. I pulled the old part out and had a look - the replacement wasn’t _exactly_ the same… The new part had a much shorter shaft that fits inside the tailpiece, and I had to run to the hardware store for a 10mm 1.25 pitch bolt - hopefully it’ll do the trick in there, with the help of a bunch of Locktite.

Since I had to pull the plate bracket off to drop the mufflers to get to the tailpiece to replace the signal, it was a perfect time to do Team Incomplete’s Duke Plate Relocation. The plate bracket is cast junk and was already cracked in several places anyhow, so it wasn’t a difficult decision to scrap it. I did cut it down as they suggest and threw a ziptie around what was left of it, in an attempt to hold the remains together a little while longer. Basically all that is left of the bracket is the spacer between the upper and lower sets of bolts that hold the rear ends of the mufflers up under the tailpiece. The “industrial strength” Velcro that I got fit the plate perfectly, and the plate itself again fits perfectly up onto the airbox, as you can see in the pic. Sweet!

I’ve had a new Keihin FCR 41mm carb sitting on my desk for a couple of months, waiting for me to get around to putting it in the Duke. I finally got around to doing the swap a week or so ago, and then Friday got a new rear tire (Metzler Sportec to match the front - they seem to work plenty well) and fresh oil. The carb went in incredibly easily, and really makes a noticeable difference. Lots more power, and a cool little hisssss from the accelerator pump. Henry and I went for a ride on Saturday up over Tam, up to Olema (my favorite stretch, the banked uphill curves on the way from Bolinas to Dogtown), and then out thru Pt Reyes to Marshall, in to Petaluma, and then back over the mountain to Novato via “D” Street. Great ride, in part because the weather was just bad enough to keep the weekenders off the roads. I’ve had a fair number of bikes, and the Duke just keeps impressing me - what a great bike.