New antifreeze for the PC800

Yet again I put new antifreeze into the PC800.  This time I put in Prestone Dex-Cool Extended Life.  It is orange.  Good thing there isn’t anything but Aluminum in my bike’s engine.  The IPCRC was pretty set against the generic NAPA brand antifreeze that I had filled the bike with 500 miles or so ago.  It seems that there is a high probability of that brand having silicates or borates in it.  With the PC800, any silicates or borates in the coolant will slowly eat away at the water pump until it doesn’t pump anymore and you end up stranded at the side of the road with an overheated bike on a hot day.

Many of the crowd on IPCRC only use the Honda brand pre-mixed motorcycle coolant.  I chose to get this Prestone stuff on the advice of a couple of the members.  It explicitly states that it doesn’t have any borates or silicates in it, it was much closer and easier to buy the Prestone brand, and it was cheaper.  I suppose I’ll find out if it was the right choice if my water pump goes out someday.  Hope it doesn’t!

This servicing was done at a few hundred miles shy of 45k.

In unrelated news,  my clutch is starting to slip when I really hammer on the throttle at high speeds and sometimes when trying to accelerate quickly through the gears.  Hopefully I won’t have to pull the clutch plates and service it until I get 3k to 5k miles out of the oil that is currently in the engine.  Probably around May I will do that job.

90 misty miles

I ditched studying and work for a bit to go for a quick motorcycle ride this afternoon.  The loop took me up through Kings Valley, Dallas, Rickreal, and Salem.  Then I turned south through Independence and Camp Adair back to Corvallis.  In total it was about 90 miles.

My Route Map

Afternoon ride through Kings Valley

This afternoon I took the PC800 out for a quick romp through Kings Valley via Airlie.  On the way there I filled up with gas.  It took 2.77 gallons of gas.  The last tank lasted 129.5 miles giving me a fuel economy of 46.75.  Not too bad considering I was having a lot of fun on the throttle all of those miles.  Tonight’s ride was about 46 miles total.

My Route Map