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I'm planning to do the same thing soon, I'm just going to get one the generic cigarette light plug kits (Plug to 12v, Inline Fuse) , and either run it under the seat, or keep a long cable and run it into my tank bag.
Dubs fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Nov 13, 2008 |
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Nov 13, 2008 04:09
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wrong thread. whoops.
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Nov 13, 2008 07:39
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I have a question, and I'm hoping this is the right place considering its the questions thread. I've been looking into many different types of bikes lately. It seems I like a very specific type of bike, and I'm wondering if there is a classification for these specific bikes, or I'm just picky. They all seem to have similar characteristics. Up until recently I've always thought cruisers were those big ugly Harley type bikes, which I despise.(Sorry if its your thing, they just never appealed to me :P) But I've been learning (or at least trying to learn) more about bikes since I got my first about six months ago, my crappy chinese moped.  Click here for the full 800x500 image. I love this bike, hopefully one day I'll be able to afford one >>  Another bike that's peaked my interest. ... and finally  Click here for the full 800x637 image. Holy poo poo that is one awesome bike!!! They all seem to be somewhat cruiserish but I wouldn't even mention these in the same sentence as one of those Harleys. They all seem to have that flat seat and straighter handlebars. I know some of these can be classified as naked bikes, but when I think of naked bikes I think sv650 or Ducati's monster. And to those of you who may remember my posts about my old Honda bike I couldn't figure out, I had some professionals look into it and it turns out it was just bad clutch plates. Some new ones are on their way so I should be riding again soon.  Thanks for all the help.  Click here for the full 700x510 image. (I guess I'm a sucker for those flat seats..) philkop fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Nov 13, 2008 |
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Nov 13, 2008 16:51
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Those are standards, philkop. I'd call them retro standards, specifically, since they're built to look like bikes from the 60's and 70's. They're what bikes were before they started to speciate into more purpose-built applications, like sportbikes and big comfy couches and offroad. And they look awesome. (I get the feeling a lot of CA loves the retro standards)
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Nov 13, 2008 16:58
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Those would be classified as British standards, basically. Also, be sure to check out the Kawasaki W650. All those delicious vintage Euro looks with the reliability of a modern Japanese bike.
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Nov 13, 2008 16:58
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Thanks for the tip, I never would have found this looking at their new models >>. I'll check around used for one when I save up the dough for my next bike.
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Nov 13, 2008 17:06
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The kawasaki W650 is a great bike. I have 2 friends who own them as around town sort of bikes to compliment their sport or S/T rides, and they love them dearly.
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Nov 13, 2008 18:26
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My Monster 620 needs a bit of choke before it can idle on its own, and I know that is pretty standard. My question is this: Does it harm the engine to ride the bike before the temperature gauge indicates the oil temp is okay? The digital readout reads "lo" under 121 degrees, and it takes about 10 minutes of idling before it gets there. I'd love to feel comfortable riding it before its up to temp (so I don't have to build-in 10 minutes of warmup time everytime I want to take the bike someplace), but I'm concerned about the long-term health of the engine. Am I being too protective of it by waiting until it gets to 121 degrees?
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Nov 13, 2008 20:34
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You can ride it, just go easy. No full throttle burnouts and drag launches before its up to 121 degrees.
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Nov 13, 2008 20:42
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Phat_Albert posted:You can ride it, just go easy. No full throttle burnouts and drag launches before its up to 121 degrees. Hmm..well my 250r doesn't have a temperature gauge, just a light. I've been thinking about switching the oil to synthetic since it should perform better in the cold. I go to work at 5am and it's around 30-40 degrees lately when I head out. Currently I just choke it while I'm putting on my helmet and gloves. By the time I'm done it's sped up to over 2k rpms, so I put the choke at half way, start out, and then cut off the choke once I'm moving. I have a rather long driveway, so it's purring pretty nicely by the time I hit the road. I heard from several folks not to let the bike sit and idle for a long time, so that's why I started this routine. Probably wait till later on the oil change. I've heard 2500 miles is good and others say wait till 4k. I'm at a little over 1900 right now.
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Nov 13, 2008 21:16
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Does anyone know how to make cheap side-covers? I was thinking of using a thin plastic material or something; I pretty much only need them to cover the triangle of the frame containing the battery, and I'd paint them black if they're not molded. I'd buy some off ebay, but apparently the going price is $50 per side for a '79 CB750k, and screw that. Maybe I could buy a bunch of cheap pie-tins and use the thin aluminum...
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Nov 14, 2008 18:53
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Phat_Albert posted:Those would be classified as British standards, basically. Holy poo poo why have I never heard of these before? Time to peruse craigslist.
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Nov 14, 2008 19:00
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FluffGrenade posted:Does anyone know how to make cheap side-covers? I was thinking of using a thin plastic material or something; I pretty much only need them to cover the triangle of the frame containing the battery, and I'd paint them black if they're not molded. Cut out some cardboard in the shape you want then cover it with some fiberglass cloth and slather on the resin. Never tried this, just talking out of my rear end, but fiberglass repair kits are cheap from hardware stores. Does anyone know a good resource online for repairing and maintaining 2 stroke engines? How-tos for common problems, jetting issues, maintenance, tuning that sort of thing.
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Nov 14, 2008 19:05
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Lord Zuthulu posted:Cut out some cardboard in the shape you want then cover it with some fiberglass cloth and slather on the resin. Never tried this, just talking out of my rear end, but fiberglass repair kits are cheap from hardware stores. Actually this is a fair answer. Fiberglass is fun stuff to play with. :-) If you're really smart, you'll find someone with good covers, and ask to take molds. That is one of my projects this winter for my GS550. Left side GS550 covers are super rare. AS for the 2 stroke stuff.. whatever site covers your particular bike. Or here.
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Nov 14, 2008 19:34
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So yeah i'm an idiot and put too much fuel stabilizer in my gas tank now my bike won't start. What do i do?
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Nov 14, 2008 20:05
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Silky Thighs posted:So yeah i'm an idiot and put too much fuel stabilizer in my gas tank now my bike won't start. What do i do? Drain the tank and throw in gas instead? If you don't want to do the by mouth method of siphoning, you can use a turkey baster pretty easily. I removed 10 year old gas from a friend's scooter once by mouth and its really not as delicious as it sounds. Might need to drain the carbs also depending on the bike.
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Nov 14, 2008 20:14
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Anyone know how to rewind a 6v stator to make it 12V? Is this even possible?
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Nov 14, 2008 20:25
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Nerobro posted:Actually this is a fair answer. Fiberglass is fun stuff to play with. :-) If you're really smart, you'll find someone with good covers, and ask to take molds. That is one of my projects this winter for my GS550. Left side GS550 covers are super rare. I actually HAVE two sidecovers; I just didn't want to paint them black for the other bodywork (it's not like the 10th anniversary CB750 is worth anything, but I'd prefer not to crud up some good covers just for the sake of my vanity, if that makes sense). How does one go about making a mold? Do I get a bunch of clay and shove the cover into it?
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Nov 14, 2008 20:31
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Phat_Albert posted:Anyone know how to rewind a 6v stator to make it 12V? Is this even possible? ya know... you ask like "I" won't be the one to respond. Yes, it's possible. Easy even. You just put twice as many turns on the stator. You'll need to go with smaller gauge wire, and we'll need to take a guess as to what will be correct on that. FluffGrenade posted:How does one go about making a mold? Do I get a bunch of clay and shove the cover into it?
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Nov 14, 2008 21:08
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Cool. Let's see what those A's in highschool art got me insofar as practical talent...
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Nov 14, 2008 22:05
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Nerobro posted:ya know... you ask like "I" won't be the one to respond. Yes, it's possible. Easy even. You just put twice as many turns on the stator. You'll need to go with smaller gauge wire, and we'll need to take a guess as to what will be correct on that. Yeah, I figured you would be the one to respond, but I thought I'd give the world at large a crack at beating you to it. Its really just as easy as going to a smaller wire and doing 2x the turns?
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Nov 14, 2008 23:21
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it's really that easy. I don't think you'll get any more wattage out of the system, but you'll get the higher voltage.
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Nov 14, 2008 23:42
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Hmm, I'm assuming there is a separate lighting and ignition coil, so I could just do the lighting coil, and keep the 6V ignition, correct?
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Nov 14, 2008 23:46
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pr0zac posted:Drain the tank and throw in gas instead? If you don't want to do the by mouth method of siphoning, you can use a turkey baster pretty easily. I removed 10 year old gas from a friend's scooter once by mouth and its really not as delicious as it sounds. Might need to drain the carbs also depending on the bike. I let it sit for a while, and i was able to turn it on just now. Thankfully i didn't have to drain it. I put in 4oz, and that much is definitely not required. I'm just going to let it sit for now, and drain the carbs and the tank when the season starts again. Or should i just leave the gas in when the season starts and not bother draining it if it's turning on no problem? I definitely put in more fuel stabilizer than necessary.
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Nov 15, 2008 01:03
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I had a 250 Ninja in the late 90s for about 3 years, riding almost daily as it was my only transportation. When people talk about putting weight on the outside/inside pegs or counter-steering, for example, it confuses me. I don't remember doing this at all. I "just rode". Maybe its my built-in self-doubt, but was I riding incorrectly or doing all this subconsciously? Don't you pretty much have to counter-steer to turn? The only riding technique I remember doing consciously was looking where I wanted to go to avoid target fixation. I'm going to be riding again soon (YSR, bitches! Ride AND die!) and have gone a couple times down the street at night. I'm a little rusty, but it's nice to be back.
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Nov 15, 2008 06:39
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Phat_Albert posted:Also, be sure to check out the Kawasaki W650. All those delicious vintage Euro looks with the reliability of a modern Japanese bike. ...and bevel drive! I'm actually considering the W650 as my next bike. Good enough to go to work on, and enough guts for a hoon on the weekends.
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Nov 15, 2008 07:38
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Lord Zuthulu posted:I had a 250 Ninja in the late 90s for about 3 years, riding almost daily as it was my only transportation. When people talk about putting weight on the outside/inside pegs or counter-steering, for example, it confuses me. I don't remember doing this at all. I "just rode". Maybe its my built-in self-doubt, but was I riding incorrectly or doing all this subconsciously? Don't you pretty much have to counter-steer to turn? Well I thought riding my 250r was pretty natural as well. I was worried a bit about making curves before I got on it, but once I got to a curve I just leaned through it without any thought. I didn't really counter steer so much as just lean...or if I was counter steering it wasn't conscious. I rode bicycles pretty much all the time when I was younger, so leaning to turn sharper wasn't a new thing. I've been messing around with counter steering lately since I've gotten faster. It mostly just makes it easier to get the bike to lean while using less weight. I'd imagine on a heavier bike that's harder to shift with just your weight it becomes more important. Or the faster you go.
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Nov 15, 2008 11:25
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QnoisX posted:...or if I was counter steering it wasn't conscious. Ding ding ding! There is no other way to turn a bike at speed. Weight shifting helps the bike, but the primary steering input is countersteering.
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Nov 15, 2008 19:54
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^^^Yeah I was reading about counter-steering on the other page and thinking how weird it is before realizing "Oh, it's what I've been doing all along."
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Nov 15, 2008 20:47
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I've got a Yamaha XT 225 with a few issues now I think. I bought it and rode it around for a bit, then I tried cold starting it for a while and I think I drained the battery. The next day I jump started it from a car battery (car engine off) and it didn't hold the charge at all. I tried push starting it then and that worked. Now when I turn the ignition nothing happens most of the time. Sometimes if I shake the bike they come on full power, sometimes just really dimly. The bike won't start by push starting anymore. There's probably a loose connection somewhere but I can't find it anywhere. I'd appreciate any help I can get, or if anyone knows a good bike repair place in San Diego I'm really not sure if I'll be able to do this myself at this point. It's a 1994 model so I'm not sure if just anywhere would work on it or if dealers mostly do newer bikes. Edit: Also, is it safe to jump start a bike from a non running car? I've heard as long as the car engine is off it's okay, but the dealer I got a new battery from said it looked like the old battery cell exploded from jump starting off a car. Lawn fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 02:10
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Sounds to me like you may just need a new battery.
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Nov 16, 2008 02:29
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Lawn posted:
Yes. Don't start the car though.
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Nov 16, 2008 03:22
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It's already got a new battery, unless the new one isn't charged or something. Also, wouldn't it push start fine with a dead battery? Edit: Okay, I jump started it from a car and it worked. I think the battery probably wasn't charged, but after riding it around it doesn't seem to be holding a charge either. Lawn fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 05:30
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93 Kawasaki EX500 5500 miles Went for a beautiful ride to the pacific today. About 10 minutes from home I ran into problems. Engine started bogging, lost power, tach started jumping around. I pulled over and it sounded like only one cylinder was firing. Later confirmed a strong gas smell like it wasn't getting spark on that side. Electrics all seem fine. Bright lights, starts on it's own, runs on it's own. Since it is only on one cylinder it will die on idle. The tach jumping around seems to be informative. According to the wiring diagram, the tach and the #1 ignition coil are both attached to the same wire to the IC igniter. I have deduced that this is the ignition signal and therefore have narrowed it down to: #1 ignition coil shorting out Failed IC igniter Failed pickup coil Any of the wires/connectors that connect these things Any advice before I start ripping things apart? Edit: Would I be able to measure the ignition signal with a volt meter or do I need an oscilloscope for that? By ignition signal I mean from the ignition coil igniter, not after the ignition coil - I'm going to do the spark test for that. darknrgy fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 07:35
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darknrgy posted:93 Kawasaki EX500 5500 miles Swap the coils. If you swap them and the cylinder that's misfiring switches sides (or the bike doesn't run at all because you fouled the #1 plug) then you know that the coil is bad. Does your bike have independent pickup coils for each cylinder? If it does, figure out which wire it is and check what voltage (AC) you're getting off the pickup. If it's wildly divergent on the #1 side, then you've probably got a bad pickup coil. But with all that said...component failure is rarely the issue here. I'd doubt that it's the IC Igniter or Pickup, because those are much more uncommon. I'd bet  that you've got a short somewhere, or a corroded/vibration loosened connector between the 2. Check that you're getting power and signal to the coil once you have it torn down, and go from there. I'd also pull both of the plugs and ground them on the head and see if the #1 plug will even spark anymore due to being run 10 miles without firing. Could be gone on that alone. Z3n fucked around with this message at 07:52 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 07:41
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great! thanks, Zen Electrical diagram shows a single unit for pickup: 4 wires: Y, BK/R, BL, BK/W. Hmmm, so if it is a single unit this probably means a failure would cause full ignition failure, right? Did you see my edit about measuring the signal from the ignition coil igniter? I'm guessing its a short 12v pulse at a frequency relative to the rpms. Edit: yeah first things first is to check spark. darknrgy fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 07:48
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If you only have a single pickup, then failure at that point would probably cause both cylinders to stop firing. But the easy way to check is disconnect it and see if the bike fires, right?  Ahem. The bike should feed a constant 12v to the coil and then ground the other side to spark it. If you're not getting 12v to the coil, then you've got some problem there...probably a damaged connector or frayed wire. Resistance builds up in connectors and they eventually melt and fry themselves, causing no end of issues. If you are getting 12v to the coil, then you need to check that the wire on the other side isn't broken...easiest way is to check resistance from the plug that connects to the coil and the corresponding spot on the plug that goes into the IC unit. If you're getting resistance, you're good to go. In the end, the best way to go about electricals is to check the stuff that you can check for free first. Testing IC Ignitors, pickup coils, and ignition coils can be hit or miss unless you can swap parts on a known working bike. Sometimes working ones will pass the tests in the manual, sometimes they won't, sometimes non-working ones will pass tests, sometimes they won't. It's a clusterfuck, and usually both working and non-working parts won't pass the tests. So: Check first for broken or melted connectors. Pull the connectors apart, look for damage, plug them back in. Then turn the bike on, check that you're getting power at the coils. Then check that there's no break in the wire that goes from the negative terminal of the coil to ground. From there, you've established that the framework is good, and you can start troubleshooting parts knowing that your issue is somewhere in the parts. First step that I would take is swap coils and see if you can get the #1 coil to fire on #2. If so, you've established that your coils are good. Then your points of failure are hopefully just the IC unit, and you can find one for cheap. But that relies on you checking EVERYTHING ELSE out correctly. The loving worst is intermitant shorts or fraying hidden in the wiring harness...I had that happen when I was fixing the turn signal on the Z1000...internal short on my replacement part. Drove me up the loving wall. Electical stuff is a PITA, but if you're methodical about it, you will find the problem. Edit: Sorry if you know some of this or it's redundant, I'm never sure how much knowledge people have on electrical stuff. I hate it with a passion. Z3n fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 08:03
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drat, and I was getting excited about tests I just found in my Haynes. btw, remember my rpm gauge started dancing around and showing very low values. So for the most part I've ruled out an engine/plug issue. Maybe that is not the right conclusion although it doesn't matter because I'll be taking a look anyway. Thanks very much for the advice. I fit squarely in the "knows enough to get into trouble" bracket. Not enough hands on experience. drat, all I can really do tonight is start taking things apart because of the time of day. also, we are edit whores
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Nov 16, 2008 08:19
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darknrgy posted:drat, and I was getting excited about tests I just found in my Haynes. Yeah, I got excited about those tests the first time I found them too...Checked my "Bad" ECU, determined that it was a piece of poo poo, checked my ebay ECU, determined that...it too was a piece of poo poo! Then I swapped them on to a friend's bike and both of them worked.  You know, if at all possible, I'd try disconnecting the part of the wiring harness that leads to the gauges and see if it sparks then, preferably as early in the circuit as possible. If the only connector on that set is to the gauges, then just disconnect the gauges. If you have a friend with an EX500, too, it helps to beg the bike for a little while and swap parts before you go out and buy stuff. Then you can determine beyond a shadow of a doubt if it's the problem or not. Component failure is much rarer than people think it is...and usually there's a bunch of documented cases when parts do fail. Regulators are pretty much the only parts that I can think of that fail with any sort of regularity ( ) on a modern bike...and most of that is poo poo design choices. And yes, I am an edit whore. Z3n fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Nov 16, 2008 |
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Nov 16, 2008 08:31
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| # ? May 15, 2024 10:18 |
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will do. edit: re gauges :P edit edit edit
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Nov 16, 2008 08:36
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