The Bike
My 2004 Honda Hornet, also known as the Honda 599, was my graduation present to myself. I studied hard, received my college degree and bought the bike in May of 2006. It was lightly used by the original owner: the odometer read 391 miles when I took it for a test ride. Other than the light coating of dust from storage, it looked great.
I took the bike home, changed the oil and put miles on it.
Modifications:
Highway pegs:
They give my poor knees a few more positions to be in on long stretches. Very worthwhile. All it cost me was some on-sale BMW bike pegs and some longer bolts.
I also replaced the turn signals and brake lights with LED units to draw less power than the stock incandescents.
To protect my rear shock, I installed an inexpensive fiberglass rear hugger:
In July of 2007 I installed some NOJ fork guards to extend the life of my fork seals:
At the same time, I installed some auxiliary lighting:
The switchgear, mounted temporarily and crookedly:
Maintenance:
There’s not a lot to worry about on this new bike. I change the oil every 5,000 miles or so with AMSOIL synthetic motorcycle oil. From all the other oils I’ve used and tested in motorcycles, it has performed the best according to my oil analysis reports. I use a cheap car oil filter that cross-references to first and second generation Mazda RX-7s and most Miatas.
The rest of the maintenance isn’t too interesting or frequent, but it happens as close to the book as I can.