Apr 24 – Today is National Change Your Air Filter Day...Eh?

I think I’d mentioned in a previous posting one of the remaining items on my to-do list was to change out the Ninja’s air filter. After listening to me whine about the complexity of it Jerry Smith had volunteered to help with the task so today I emailed him and as promised, he showed up.

Prior to his arrival I’d printed out the instructions on the changing procedure and had everything at the ready when he arrived. Unlike a lot of bikes that have easy access to the filter, this one requires draining and removal of the fuel tank and a few associated items. As it turned out it wasn’t as bad as it sounded and in fact after doing it we realized we could have skipped draining the tank altogether. We spent the most time on getting the stubborn electrical connector unplugged after which everything else went quickly. Once exposed it was a simple one-screw operation to release the old filter and pop in the new one. I was surprised at how clean the original one was, especially since I’d ridden the Ninja to Alaska and had never cleaned the filter.

After we finished we hopped on our bikes and headed into Bandon for burgers & coffee at the Bandon Coffee Café in Old Town, then it was time to head home for lawn mowing duty.

Oddly enough the guard dogs seemed to confuse Jerry with someone they knew and greeted him with wagging tails instead of bared teeth… What’s that all about?