went to clean my air filter (what a pain! who designed this thing?) and I noticed the connector on the exhaust didn't seem to be sealed properly - plus a lot of carbon blown back up on the engine top-end, weird right? I figured I'd re-seal it after I cleaned the filter.
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then I discovered this problem (which I'm guessing caused the first). one of the exhaust mount brackets is gone from the frame! seems like it rusted and snapped. but where'd the bolt go too?? Whatever - this probably introduced extra tension on the exhaust joint and caused the blow-out. Now I need a piece of scrap metal to weld back on their and properly mount the exhaust.
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also, anyone know the valve spec? I'm about 400km overdue for an adjustment and the bike definitely needs it.