Front Wheel
I had to dive right into the front wheel when my speedometer stopped working.  I removed the fitting from the back of the speedometer pod and spun the wheel.  the cable did not turn.  I tried grabbing the cable and giving it a spin.  I found that if I gave it a spin, while the front wheel was spinning, I was able to have the cable turn by itself.  It was as if there was a gear inside the front hub slipping and would catch if I gave it a little coaxing.  I pulled the entire cable out of it's sheath and had a look at it.  I thought mabey it was broken.  Nope, it was fine.  So I had to remove the front wheel and see what was going on inside the hub.

Tools:

- 12 mm socket
- 12 mm wrench
- 17 mm wrench with long, strong, hollow tube or a breaker bar with a 17 mm socket.
- Small slotted type screw driver
- Small needle-nose pliers
- Wheel and Bearing grease
- Several rags
- Old Toothbrush
- Small bucket
- Degreasing solvent
- Simple Green® cleaner
- Scissors Jack

Put the bike on the center stand.  Stand in front of the bike to get your orientation.  Using the 12 mm Socket and wrench remove the small bolt that secures the axle bolt.  use the same 12 mm socket to remove the brake caliper from the left side.

Place the scissors jack under the crank case of the bike.  Raise the jack so that it comes in contact with the bottom of the bike.  Place the 17 mm wrench on the axle bolt and slide your tube over the wrench or use the 17 mm socket and breaker bar.  remove the axle bolt.  Jack the bike up about 2 inches.  Slide front wheel out.  Remove the spacer from the left side of the wheel.  Place the wheel on your work bench with the speedometer hub assembly facing up.  Be sure NOT to touch the front brake handle.  If you think you might hit the lever, place a piece of wood in between the pads so they stay apart.  They will be very difficult to move apart when it comes time to replace the wheel again.
Remove the hub assembly and have a look inside.  You should see a bunch of dark grease.  beyond the grease there will be a ring, about 2 inches across with a metal 'ear' on either side.  The 'ears' mate with your wheel to spin the speedometer gears as your wheel turn.  On my bike the ears somehow had gotten bent downwards.  They weren't mating with my wheel anymore.  Remove the C-clip using some needle-nose pliers and a screw driver.  Be careful not to bend it out of shape as I had done.  I was able to squeeze it back into shape with my fingers but a lot of force was needed.  Be careful.

There will now be a washer and the ring with the ears on it now.  Be sure to take note of the disassembly procedure.  You will need to put it back together the same way.  Throw the whole mess into the bucket with the degreasing solvent.  Use the toothbrush to give everything a good scrubbing.  Afterwards dry everything off.  Look at the ring with the 'ears' side on.  Do the ears stick up farther than the main body of the ring?  They didn't on mine.  Use the needle-nose pliers to bend the 'ears' up a little.  This takes quite a bit of effort for a little return.  A little is all that is needed though.

Apply some wheel bearing grease inside the hub assembly and move the assembly around inside to distribute the lubricant.  Reassemble the 'ear' ring, washer and C-clip in that order.  Be sure the ears turn upwards to mate with the wheel.

Since you have the wheel off, now would be a good time to repack the bearings.  This should be done every year anyway.  The grease on my wheel was fine but I added a little anyway.  Just apply a small amount of wheel bearing grease to the exposed bearings on the wheel.  On the side of the wheel where the spacer came off is a rubber seal.  I wasn't able to get this seal off, I didn't try very hard though as I didn't want to risk damaging it.  I was able to squeeze some grease in under the seal though by poking it with a large slotted type screwdriver.  There was no grease left over when I was finished so I guess it got into the bearing ok.

Take a good look at the brake rotors.  If you got any oil, solvent or grease on them, even a little bit, use the Simple Green® cleaner and a clean rag to wipe the grease off.  I don't want to hear about you running a red light because your rotors were oiled.

Now it's just a matter of reassembling everything in the reverse of how it came off.  Be sure to re-insert the spacer and tighten the bolts good and tight.  While the wheel is off the ground, give it a spin, really fast.  Check the speedometer.  It should be registering a really slow speed.  It's hard to spin the front wheel fast enough using only your hands.  Get out there and drive it for a real test.

Be sure to really wind it out.  The Virago speedometer is designed to register up to 200 KPH (120 MPH)  Ok, ok, of course I'm kidding here.  Driving that fast does NOBODY any favors.  Cruiser bikes are just that.  Riding around town and country side, taking it easy and looking good doing it!  Leave the speed to the track.  We'll ALL live a lot longer and enjoy our riding that much more.


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