Mondial almost ready.

The Mondial 175 Turismo Veloce is starting to look ready. Here's what I've done for this years event (so far):

• Rear Wheel Inspected
• New rear 2.50 x 19 tire and tube.
• New rear wheel bearings
• Rear brake pads OK
• Checked rear spokes 

• Front wheel inspected
• Tire OK
• Wheel bearings OK
• Brake pads OK
• Added grease to speedo drive / spacer.

• Lubed brake and clutch cables with Tri-Flo
• Lubed throttle cable and greased throttle chain
• Drained old fuel and replaced. Fuel line and filter OK
• Lubed chain
• New front headlamp bulb
• New Powersonic PS-6120ToyTS Battery (Perfect SLA AGM for this bike, and cheap. Just don't charge it with too high a voltage: check your regulator)
• Tested the charging system regulator output

 Then I mounted and checked my rally instrumentation. This consists of two roll chart holders, one for the route and the other for the roll chart. The first lets you find your way and the second helps you to stay on schedule. Thus there is also a watch mounted properly nearby. The big gizmo with buttons is a ICO rally computer. It's a bit complicated but combines a speedometer and odometer with some other potentially useful functions.

Then I was off for a test ride!

Besides new leathers, there is lots to remember on the Mondial. The shift pattern (heel down toe up), the manual ignition advance, how to operate the ICO computer, etc. And of course the obvious stuff that modern riders forget, like the manual fuel taps, choke, funky headlamp switch, and the need to unplug the battery at stops, just in case the ignition switch is sticky. I need a couple more rides to get completely back in the roll with things...