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BronYrAur posted:I seem to be getting worse than expected fuel mileage, ~30MPG. I was wondering what I could do to improve this with my limited tools and limited knowledge?
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Jun 2, 2009 11:38
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I'll also throw in check that the air filter is clean and that there's no leaks or old looking hoses in the fuel delivery system. Since it's a 600F I assume it's a newer model. It shouldn't drink all that much. A guy on a Norwegian bike forum bought a Desmosedici, he said it got 18 MPG. Before he lost his license that is.
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Jun 2, 2009 11:46
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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:my first thoughts are, how old are your spark plugs, when was the last time the carbs were cleaned out, and how much like a grandma do you ride? i'm not well familiar with that bike but i assume from the name that it's an i4 crotch rocket. they aren't known for their good mileage, despite the lies you see on craigslist. It could be old plugs, I have no idea when the last time they were changed was. The carbs were serviced about 3 years ago. Is changing the plugs particularly difficult? I ride like a normal person I figure. I'm not pegging the revs everywhere all the time just on sometimes usually keeping the revs about 5k as I go through traffic. I know I'm not going to get like 60 mpg out of it or anything but I figure I should be able to make like 45. Ola posted:I'll also throw in check that the air filter is clean and that there's no leaks or old looking hoses in the fuel delivery system. Since it's a 600F I assume it's a newer model. Checking hoses and air filters I can do, that sounds easy. It's actually a bit of an older bike. Almost 20 years actually. Thanks.
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Jun 2, 2009 13:02
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Anybody know where to find the brake pad retaining clip for a 1979 CB750? Pads don't come with the clip for some reason, and I'm missing mine (on both sides of the front!). This has worked fine for a year and a half of riding, but the brakes started squeaking today, and I remembered the clip at that point. Might not have anything to do with anything, but it'll be nice to have if I can get it. edit: also, the locknut for the clutch adjustment bolt (on the clutch handle). 
George RR Fartin fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Jun 2, 2009 |
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Jun 2, 2009 17:18
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BronYrAur posted:I ride like a normal person I figure. I'm not pegging the revs everywhere all the time just on sometimes usually keeping the revs about 5k as I go through traffic. I know I'm not going to get like 60 mpg out of it or anything but I figure I should be able to make like 45. On my Bandit, the gas mileage gets better as the revs go up. I find I get pretty good mileage if I keep it around 5K (which is fairly spooled up on the Bandit), and my mileage drops if I just fart around in the lower revs.
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Jun 2, 2009 18:37
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Phat_Albert posted:On my Bandit, the gas mileage gets better as the revs go up. I find I get pretty good mileage if I keep it around 5K (which is fairly spooled up on the Bandit), and my mileage drops if I just fart around in the lower revs. Totally anecdotal but I get the best mileage in my F4i if if I short shift in town at around 3-3.5k and keep the freeway speeds below 75. I get up to 47mpg this way as opposed to as low as 39-40mpg when I'm going balls out everywhere.
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Jun 2, 2009 21:36
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aventari posted:Totally anecdotal but I get the best mileage in my F4i if if I short shift in town at around 3-3.5k and keep the freeway speeds below 75. I get up to 47mpg this way as opposed to as low as 39-40mpg when I'm going balls out everywhere. I would think you'd experience a much more severe drop if you were wringing it out all the time. The F4i is a high-redline revver, right?
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Jun 2, 2009 21:55
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14k redline, but even when going fast on the street I don't hang out up there all the time. I haven't been able to calculate mileage during a trackday yet, I'm sure it's probably 25mpg or something
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Jun 2, 2009 22:06
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Whoa. Wife Turds posted:I would think you'd experience a much more severe drop if you were wringing it out all the time. The F4i is a high-redline revver, right? The biggest fuel drinkers at the track are the big twins, in my experience.
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Jun 2, 2009 22:18
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Allright, fuggit. I'm gonna spring, hehe pun, for some suspension upgrades. Front end gets cartridge emulators from http://www.racetech.com/ or a cheaper Chinese knock off if they can't get their act together and reply to a god drat email soon. Rear end gets a new shock, I think from these guys: http://www.hagon-shocks.co.uk/main1st.htm Nerobro, do you know any particular shock from another model that fits my bike? They say GSXR shocks go in there, but it's eye-clevis and mine's eye-eye (captain). Hagon can supply a brand new, made for my model solid rebuildable thing. But it's expensive, it would be cool to snag something off ebay. Sinking money into upgrades means I'm ditching my plans of upgrading the bike. Sensible thing as it works just fine. Winter project will be a motogadget gauge I think.
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Jun 3, 2009 10:03
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Luckily I can use Eye-clevis shocks on my 550's. If you can find a first gen GSXR shock you're in buisness. Otherwise you're out of luck. Jesus, hagon is expensive. Have a look at http://www.worksperformance.com/html/street.html They seem to be $200 cheaper than hagon. What do you know about chinese knockoffs of racetech emulators?
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Jun 3, 2009 10:11
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It was linked from either gsresources or advrider to some Yamaha site that sold non-brand fork valves for $50/pair. Tried looking for it again but can't find it. I'll stick with race tech of course. There a slight deal sweetener with Hagon, my money is better than your money towards the £, V.A.T. get knocked off and shipping from the UK is cheaper than US. But yeah, expensive nonetheless. fake edit: actually the cheapest shock from Works is $605 while I was quoted $400 from Hagon so it's $200 allright but vice versa. http://www.worksperformance.com/pdf/app_guide/street.pdf
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Jun 3, 2009 10:40
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By the way Nerobro, do you know anything about the shocks that Race Tech sells?
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Jun 3, 2009 10:48
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BlueBayou posted:brakes brakes augh I'm in the south bay, I don't know where you're at but I can at least take a look at any pictures you can take and show you exactly what you'd have to do. At times I'll be running all over the place and it just might be the case for me after class this Thursday or Friday. I'm usually good at finding damaged parts/areas and in-person diagnosis too, if you haven't figured out your non-brake related problem.
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Jun 3, 2009 10:52
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Sorry for the spamming, but I forgot to mention the other brand of emulators which are more expensive and does not require damper rod drilling. http://store.ricorshocks.com/ Looks pretty good.
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Jun 3, 2009 12:20
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Ola posted:By the way Nerobro, do you know anything about the shocks that Race Tech sells? I'm not Nero, but I do know about racetech shocks: If you break it down, any aftermarket shock will be better than any stock shock. You don't even really need to spring for the super adjustable one or anything because for street only riding, they'll have the valving close enough out of the box that it'll be fine. Give them your usage profile and weight, and they'll set something up with good valving for street use. The multi adjustables are great for track use, and generally useless everywhere else. Hell, even for track use, my Penske has been pretty much set and forget...I adjusted ride height on it at the last track weekend, but that's all I've done with the shock in the last 6 months. I've gone from being skeptical about Ricor Inimidator...intimis...initimiwhateverthefucks to pretty much a believer...one of the production guys went faster than a proddy bike has ever gone at infineon with a bike that had them. Plus, no drilling or cutting. They'd be at the top of my list if I were revamping the suspension on a bike at the moment. Plus supposedly they work best with the stock oil and springs, so bonus there as well.
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Jun 3, 2009 16:50
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How do they take over from the damper rod when it's otherwise unmodified? I don't understand those diagrams at all, poo poo is just flowing up and down. I thought Ricors worked by using thinner oil and this bypassing the stock rod, but that's probably wrong. Either way, I think I will go for Race Tech's - Ricor hasn't answered me if they have a pair in my size yet. Hagon get's my $400 for a shock. For an additional $165 I get hydraulic preload...waste of cash right?
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Jun 3, 2009 17:00
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Prelude Gundam posted:I'm in the south bay, I don't know where you're at but I can at least take a look at any pictures you can take and show you exactly what you'd have to do. At times I'll be running all over the place and it just might be the case for me after class this Thursday or Friday. I'm in SF. Still haven't figured out the non-brake issues despite an excellent email diagnosis from Z3n.
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Jun 3, 2009 18:02
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Ola posted:How do they take over from the damper rod when it's otherwise unmodified? I don't understand those diagrams at all, poo poo is just flowing up and down. It's because they're providing more compression and rebound damping than the stock damping rod will. So the damping rod is still in operation, but the restriction on the Ricor is much more significant, providing a lot more compression and rebound damping, and as a result, the flow limit (and compression or rebound damping) of the damping rod is never reached. The stock SV uses 5w fork oil, same as what Ricor recommends. Hydraulic preload is nice if you're going to be doing a lot of 2 up touring. Besides that, eh. I personally wouldn't bother.
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Jun 3, 2009 18:04
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Z3n posted:I've gone from being skeptical about Ricor Inimidator...intimis...initimiwhateverthefucks to pretty much a believer...one of the production guys went faster than a proddy bike has ever gone at infineon with a bike that had them. Plus, no drilling or cutting. They'd be at the top of my list if I were revamping the suspension on a bike at the moment. Plus supposedly they work best with the stock oil and springs, so bonus there as well. I've been considering the GSXR frontend swap for my SV; would you recommend the Intiminators over the swap? At this point, I'm strictly doing street riding. I haven't made my way to the track yet, but plan to at some point.
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Jun 3, 2009 18:29
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waptang posted:I've been considering the GSXR frontend swap for my SV; would you recommend the Intiminators over the swap? At this point, I'm strictly doing street riding. I haven't made my way to the track yet, but plan to at some point. Well, there's more to a GSX-R swap than just the front end suspension upgrade. It changes the geometry of the bike fairly significantly, as the GSX-R forks are a bit shorter than the stock ones, and it's also a huge upgrade on the brakes. The SV brakes are ok stock, and can be made good, but the GSX-R brakes are great stock, and can be made fantastic. My thoughts towards upgrade paths go like this: If you mostly commute with some twisties or a trackday every so often to spice it up, then go with the Intiminators and some new pads and SS lines. If you are planning on doing a fair bit of track riding, or you absolutely love the twisties and that's what you spend most of your time on and you commute on your bike as a sort of bonus round, go with the GSX-R conversion. Also, don't go to dedicated race pads if you're still riding on the street, they're unresponsive until they warm up, and they're downright horrible in the rain. A good aggressive street/track pad is fine. From everything I've seen, for a skilled rider the Intiminators can perform amazingly, but the convineient adjustability and the brake upgrade of the GSX-R front end is nice.
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Jun 3, 2009 19:25
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Z3n posted:It's because they're providing more compression and rebound damping than the stock damping rod will. So the damping rod is still in operation, but the restriction on the Ricor is much more significant, providing a lot more compression and rebound damping, and as a result, the flow limit (and compression or rebound damping) of the damping rod is never reached. The stock SV uses 5w fork oil, same as what Ricor recommends. But see, that would imply that all it does it harshen up your damping. It's supposed to be softer on the spiky bits where my current damping is too hard and firmer on the softer bits where my current damping is too loose. It could be that they tell you to use a thinner oil and that disables it.
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Jun 3, 2009 21:16
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Ola posted:But see, that would imply that all it does it harshen up your damping. It's supposed to be softer on the spiky bits where my current damping is too hard and firmer on the softer bits where my current damping is too loose. It could be that they tell you to use a thinner oil and that disables it. Sorry, I should have clarified: All of my experience with these is with the SV, which is too soft pretty much no matter what. I'm not sure if they're going to have a setup for your use directly. What size are your forks? Either way, the racetech stuff is still very, very good. I've ridden and tracked a bike with them, and they're worlds of improvement over the stock stuff. A little more work, but a lot of gain. It just looks like the ricor stuff is better in a dedicated track situation. I haven't found someone who's opinion I trust on their street riding characteristics just yet. I'd never want to ride my trackbike for any length of time on the street, as the setup to go fast is all wrong from the setup to ride comfortably at normal speeds. Also, they seem to have setups for a lot of bikes that would be too soft no matter what, so they may have some revised instructions for bikes that actually provide damping once they get around to developing for them.
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Jun 3, 2009 22:04
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Are my fork seals okay? When I pump the front suspension, it looks like there's a light film coating the fork. It doesn't look quite like oil, and there are no droplets visible, but it doesn't feel exactly the same as bare metal when you run your finger over it.
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Jun 3, 2009 22:25
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Yeah Z3n, I'll see what they say when they reply. My forks are 37 mm OD. Uncle Ivan, you could be developing a minor leak. Don't worry about it until you start seeing a definite line of black grime forming where your dust seal tops out. In the mean time you can always read up on how to swap seals or get garage quotes.
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Jun 3, 2009 22:40
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Uncle Ivan posted:Are my fork seals okay? When I pump the front suspension, it looks like there's a light film coating the fork. It doesn't look quite like oil, and there are no droplets visible, but it doesn't feel exactly the same as bare metal when you run your finger over it. Could just have some dirt in there...try cleaning the fork seals with something. People have used everything from 35mm film to buisness cards. Motion pro makes a tool: http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/tools/seal_mate/ Also, sometimes they'll weep a little if it hasn't been ridden in awhile. Ola, I'm curious as to what they'll say. Either way, the racetech stuff or that would be a great improvement over stock, I'm sure. Racetech does need to be paired with the appropriate springs, although I'm sure you're already aware of that.
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Jun 3, 2009 23:09
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Yeah, but on my current budget and the new rear shock, I'm saying fuggit. I've got some wiggle room with preload and I'll go with that. If it sucks, I can swap springs later on. Many have good results with stock springs. If the deal is really good I'll jump on it I suppose. Hehe jump. Boing boing.
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Jun 3, 2009 23:23
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Ola posted:How do they take over from the damper rod when it's otherwise unmodified? I don't understand those diagrams at all, poo poo is just flowing up and down. what size are your forks? i have a pair of racetech emulators from an sv if they're any good to you edit: just saw you said 37mm, so mine are no good, sorry
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Jun 3, 2009 23:57
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I tested my Rectifier/Regulator it's bad so I will be replacing it. I also got around to testing my headlight and my left hand control is bad so I will also be replacing it!
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Jun 4, 2009 01:17
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BlueBayou posted:I'm in SF. Still haven't figured out the non-brake issues despite an excellent email diagnosis from Z3n. I'm guessing it's a mid '90s ZX-6, tell me if I'm wrong. It definitely sounds like it might be an issue with the clutch actuation linkage and/or something causing an air/fuel mixture problem. What does it idle at with the choke when it's cold? Warmed up? How far above/below does it allow you to adjust the speed without dying? (I don't know what else to ask since I'm not very good at figuring these things out without actually seeing what's going on.  Hey, at least I'm trying!)The brakes look like a simple job, seems just as if you have to unbolt the caliper brackets and slide them off to clear the pads, then again I don't know for sure what model your bike is. Pics would help. Also, I can't seem to email you so I guess just try to hit me up instead. I might be picking up something and working on a friend's car not too far from Stonestown/Lake Merced in the near future.
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Jun 4, 2009 11:19
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Prelude Gundam posted:I'm guessing it's a mid '90s ZX-6 Pretty sure it's a new-ish streetfightered 250 Ninja.
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Jun 4, 2009 14:32
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What the hell kind of oil would you guys run in a dirtbike? A Honda XR200 for example. I'm going to stop by AutoZone or something on the way home and just grab some of the Valvoline 20W50 motorcycle oil. I thought I had a quart in the garage but I could only find the quart of OFFICIAL HARLEY DAVIDSON OIL that I have sitting on my shelf just for looks, so I wasn't going to use that.
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Jun 4, 2009 14:40
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x-post from thgsresources.com, Instrument console project idea. This is what I have today:  The familiar Big Box o'Gauges. The speedo is quite inaccurate and the rev counter is acting sloppy as well. I'm thinking about swapping it for some sleek, high tech German stuff from http://www.motogadget.com/  Looks cool no? Accurate speedo, accurate and beautiful rev counter, looks old school but contains cool stuff like ambient temp, oil temp, auto-measured 0-100 kph times and so on. It's not a non-functional to functional kind of swap, it's for looks, nerd functions and general coolness. It has a gear indicator, but it's one of those where it calculates the gear from speed/rev math. But my current gear indicators works really really well, it won't light up the lamp if I get a false neutral for instance. So I want to keep that. There is also no provision for fuel gauge on the motogadget thing, so I need to roll my own or source a suitably round-housed replacement. Some bikes came with round fuel gauges, I figure I can just pick one up on ebay given that the ohm values match. If I find a bike with different ohm range, can I tweak it with resistors? Also, weren't there some bikes that had gear position displayed as an LCD style number in a single box? Mine has individual lamps that light up, but a single box would allow me to put it in the same type of housing as the fuel gauge, thereby completing the symmetry. Sort of like this oOo with the Motogadget in the middle and gas/gear indicator on either side. Like it? The wiring will take a while, fabricating the bracket will also be new ground for me, but all in all a fun little project. Ideas? Inputs? Tips I'd really like is which bikes to source gear position / fuel gauge from, also alternative solutions of course.
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Jun 4, 2009 15:16
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Ola posted:x-post from thgsresources.com, Instrument console project idea. That is gorgeous. Sooooo expensive though. If you want a round fuel gauge with a black face, look at the Suzuki Bandit (1st-gen 97-00). They look like this: http://www.andersbrink.se/rebuild/gauges.jpg Being a Suzuki, and being in the GS line, I would be surprised if it wasnt a bolt-on affair for your bike. I'm sure you can snag them on eBay for cheap. Beve Stuscemi fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Jun 4, 2009 |
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Jun 4, 2009 15:25
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Prelude Gundam posted:I'm guessing it's a mid '90s ZX-6, tell me if I'm wrong. It definitely sounds like it might be an issue with the clutch actuation linkage and/or something causing an air/fuel mixture problem. What does it idle at with the choke when it's cold? Warmed up? How far above/below does it allow you to adjust the speed without dying? (I don't know what else to ask since I'm not very good at figuring these things out without actually seeing what's going on. Yeah like Simkin said, I have a street fightered ex250. Well really, I like to think of it as being cafe'd. I don't have a tach, so I can't really tell what the idle is. All I have is a speedo. The guys on BARF suggested i clean the air filter, but I'm reluctant to take the tank off since my seat isn't stock and I'm not sure how to get it off. Sorry bout the lack of email, my gmail is justcallmeblue And a pic, I can get closeups if needed: 
BlueBayou fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Jun 4, 2009 |
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Jun 4, 2009 16:44
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BlueBayou posted:And a pic, I can get closeups if needed: From that pic it looks like you'll have to take the whole rear plastic off, and the seat will come with it. It should only be a few bolts and screws. Once the seat's off, should be one bolt to release the tank, make sure the petcock is set to OFF, disconnect the hoses connecting the tank to the carbs. e: your bike is adorable 
teknicolor fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jun 4, 2009 |
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Jun 4, 2009 17:34
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After you get the seat off, ninja250.org has a pretty good walk though of the process. http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_do_I_clean_the_air_filter(s)%3F
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Jun 4, 2009 17:39
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blugu64 posted:After you get the seat off, ninja250.org has a pretty good walk though of the process. Wow those pics look nothing like my bike guess they're not as similar as I thought after all!
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Jun 4, 2009 17:43
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Yeah i think I'll drain the float bowls first, see if that does the trick. My oil level doesn't seem to be lower than before, so i am reluctant to think that my airbox is chock full of oil. Plus if the filter were soaked, why would it have made it the 15 or so miles back to my place before having issues? I keep my bike covered, so no rain, but I did ride it through the fog. I guess I'll have a look at the fuses too. Thanks for all the continued advice. Its kinda fun to sort this out on my own.
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Jun 4, 2009 17:57
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What's a good amount of miles to put on new tires before taking them through the wringer? I'm getting my Pirelli's put on as we speak. I'm pretty excited for traction!
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Jun 4, 2009 18:08
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