Easy Peasy Home Installation of the Vulcan Engine Guard

When I bought my new Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic, I ordered an engine guard from the dealer as an accessory, along with the Vulcan windshield. After waiting and calling for a month the windshield finally came in. They failed to call, so it was a couple weeks later that I called to find it had arrived. I installed the windshield and you can read about it here.

So, they assured me that when the engine guard came in I would again get a call. I finally called early this year and they had my part. They also had a bogus phone number for me. I drove the 40 miles or so and picked it up. When I got home and opened the box, there were two bolts in a plastic bag. One was stripped at the end.

They were a hex-flange bolt and a size you couldn't find just anywhere. We looked everywhere we could think of that sold bolts. Dave finally stopped at a place on his way home one day called ‘Tacoma Screw’. They had ‘almost’ the perfect bolt. The hex head was a little smaller, but it worked just fine.

I decided to install the guard last weekend, since it was way too cold to ride. I even closed the garage so it would be warmer inside while I worked. It was in the 30’s outside. As I worked with the icy-cold tubular chrome guard, my hands became very chilled. It was hard to feel the threads engage as I added each nut to its bolt and tried to finger-tighten it. I could hardly make my fingers do what I wanted them to do.

It’s a good thing that it was pretty easy and didn’t take a lot of work. Add a few bolts and clamps, tighten here and there, and then apply torque on 2 of them.

I think it looks good.



I came home at lunch today since I work only 15 minutes away. The sun was out and it was 39 degrees. It’s been nice and clear and sunny for days, but only in the low 30’s. I couldn’t bring myself to bundle up and get out there. Today I decided to go for it. The weather was as warm as it was going to get, and we have rain and snow in the forecast for the weekend.

I hadn’t tried out the bike since I added the engine guard. I’m always conscious of the added weight so was wondering if it would handle differently. I rode the Vulcan back to work and then home right before dark. I think it felt a little heavier on the turns, but otherwise I liked it and didn’t notice much difference in the way of handling.

Now that I’ve added enough accessories to the front of the bike, I will need to make some decisions about what I need on the rear to carry gear and stuff for a 3 or 4 day ride. I’m planning a ride down the coast this summer but have no way to carry anything on the bike. I find planning trips like this is very fun. I love poring over the maps and deciding what route we will take, having never been on any of the roads in question. That’s where the sense of adventure comes in.

Troubleshooting my motorcycle this weekend

It has come down to this. I am going to have to tear into my motorcycle this weekend and see what is going on with it.

About two months ago I was riding to work regularly when the weather was nice. I stopped at a red-light in town one morning and I was first in line. All of a sudden my bike just died. That had never happened before. I couldn’t start it up right away. It would just wind and wind but not turn over. Before the light turned green I rolled it over towards the sidewalk on the corner of the street. Now that I was out of traffic it still wouldn’t start. I looked across the side street and saw a parking lot. I assumed I would have to call someone. So I rolled across the street, luckily there was a slight downward slope. I parked it, waited a couple of minutes and finally wound it up, gave it a good rev and she started up. I went on to work from there, muttering to myself along the way.

I took it home and read the owners manual. I decided to adjust the idle screw because it didn’t seem to be idling fast enough to keep going. I turned it a little until I could hear the engine sound like it would keep running. It had been fine until yesterday.

The Suzuki had always been very dependable especially since I bought her new back in 2005. It’s a Boulevard S-40, the smallest in that series. I did have to fill up the brake fluid reservoir after about a year of riding. It turned out the front brake pads were down to nothing after only 1400 miles. I do shift down to slow the bike so I was pretty surprised to see them shot so soon. I bought new ones and put them on, with a little help from my husband. I then filled the fluid reservoir and they have been perfect ever since. I think the first ones were paper thin to start with….

The other thing I did was adjust the tension of my drive belt which I love because you never need to lube it. I’ve changed the air filter and, of course, added oil. I have all the stuff to change the oil so will be doing that soon. It’s due around 4000 miles and I’m at 3600 miles now.

Tomorrow I plan to check the spark plug, and look at the carburetor. The bike only has one spark plug, but it is under the gas tank. I’ll have to lift it up to get to the plug. The seat has to come off to get to everything else. I like working on the bike if I can figure out what to do. I always refer to the manual, which has been pretty helpful so far. Now I’m not sure what the problem is. The bike died again twice yesterday at stoplights on my way back to work after meeting friends for lunch. I adjusted the idle up once again to make sure I could get home.

The other thing it is doing is hesitating a little like a bucking bronco in lower gears. When I get up past 4th gear it seems Ok. It also backfires a lot more while going downhill. I am not sure what is going on but I ride it all year and use good gas always.

If anyone has a suggestion of what else I should try, let me know. I hate to take the bike to the Suzuki dealers. They don’t respect the smaller bikes and the last time they gave mine back to me with big greasy handprints all over my tank! As you can see its white – I was not happy. Grrrrrr. I take very good care of my ride and I’m proud of it. I will take it to a different dealer next time that I can’t do something myself.

Meanwhile, I’m having fun trying….