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Has anyone ever added a helmet lock to their bike? My aprilia doesn't have one and the seat lock on my RD doesn't work any longer. If someone could like to one that'd be great because when I looked around for one I didn't have much luck.
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Mar 30, 2010 16:22
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n8r posted:Has anyone ever added a helmet lock to their bike? My aprilia doesn't have one and the seat lock on my RD doesn't work any longer. If someone could like to one that'd be great because when I looked around for one I didn't have much luck. Your aprilia doesn't have the passenger seat loop for a helmet? Cry For More Fish posted:Thanks for the feedback. The basic idea is that I want to learn how to handle roads of roughly these conditions: Eh, you'd probably be ok on a DR350, definitely would be ok on a DRZ400. Any significant freeway riding would be sketchy, but you could do it, you'd just be winding the hell out of the engine. Nice thing about the DR350 is the 6 speed gearbox, DRZ400 only has a 5 speed but has a fair bit more power, being water cooled and with some additional displacement.
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Mar 30, 2010 16:32
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sirbeefalot posted:Anyone in SoCal go to Johnson & Wood in North Hollywood that often? I'm hoping they'll have the oddball y-shaped carb boot I need for the Virago 250 for less than the $70+ everywhere online wants. I've gone from time to time. It's really hit or miss. Best to call them first before showing up. They have a grip of all sorts of different stuff there.
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Mar 30, 2010 19:48
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n8r posted:Has anyone ever added a helmet lock to their bike? My aprilia doesn't have one and the seat lock on my RD doesn't work any longer. If someone could like to one that'd be great because when I looked around for one I didn't have much luck. This one came on my SV from the previous owner http://www.bikebandit.com/motion-pro-helmet-lock Seemed to work good enough but there was a loop under the seat so I never used it. I've got one you can have for $5 or whatever shipping is, PM me. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Mar 30, 2010 |
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Mar 30, 2010 19:58
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hayden. posted:A thousand times, this. For any bike under $1000, add about $1000 in parts before you can safely ride it. I've fixed up a few old bikes and the the reality is that you'll always end up spending around 80% of what you would have spent for the same bike in good condition. My $300 bike ended up being around $1100 when all was said and done, which is about 80% of what a good condition KZ650 goes for. The benefit however, is that my bike was in excellent mechanical condition, had a new paint job and was full of new parts when I finished while a ~$1500 KZ650 would still be a crapshoot.
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Mar 31, 2010 13:36
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8ender posted:I've fixed up a few old bikes and the the reality is that you'll always end up spending around 80% of what you would have spent for the same bike in good condition. My $300 bike ended up being around $1100 when all was said and done, which is about 80% of what a good condition KZ650 goes for. So how many hours do you think you had into that bike? 
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Mar 31, 2010 17:19
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Bugdrvr posted:My 700 did the same thing until I dicked around with the idle screws a bit. It was mostly happy with them being at 2 turns out but started on two cylinders most of the time. I found which pipes were cold and turned the screws out a quarter turn each. This seemed to fix the problem. It only runs funny now for a few seconds if I let it set for weeks. I tried this and it didn't make any difference. My bike takes about a minute of cranking (spread out over 10-second intervals) before it fires up, and will only fire up if throttle is held wide open and even then, only the leftmost cylinders will run for about 20 seconds before the other two kick in.
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Mar 31, 2010 18:56
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I tried this and it didn't make any difference. My bike takes about a minute of cranking (spread out over 10-second intervals) before it fires up, and will only fire up if throttle is held wide open and even then, only the leftmost cylinders will run for about 20 seconds before the other two kick in. Are you using the choke? When was the last time you adjusted your valves?
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Mar 31, 2010 19:02
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I tried this and it didn't make any difference. My bike takes about a minute of cranking (spread out over 10-second intervals) before it fires up, and will only fire up if throttle is held wide open and even then, only the leftmost cylinders will run for about 20 seconds before the other two kick in. I've seen issues like this caused by bad vacuum petcocks or clogged regular ones. They just aren't opening all the way so the engine is always starved, it will be extra evident when starting cause you will have to crank the hell out of it to get enough vacuum to flow fuel to start and then only the left 2 will run due to gravity feeding them fuel first. If you have a prime setting see it it makes a difference but remember that Pri also means reserve on many bikes so you may have issues if you try to run it like that and use reserve to get to a gas station. my turn in the barrel fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Mar 31, 2010 |
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Mar 31, 2010 19:06
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I've been thinking about putting some fuel injector cleaner in my bike after it's burned through all the old gas with stabilizer in it. Just wondering if this would hurt the bike in any way? It's a Yamaha 2009 FZ6 in case that makes any difference.
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Mar 31, 2010 20:30
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hayden. posted:A thousand times, this. For any bike under $1000, add about $1000 in parts before you can safely ride it. I can reiterate this. Guy wanted $1000 for my bike. Talked him down to $800. Was able to ride it home, but when I got it to the shop, it cost me about $750. Granted, I could have saved myself some cash by doing the work myself, but I'm a wrenching newbie, though I'll be attempting to do this in the future. There wasn't even a proper air filter in it... just what appeared to be aquarium filter replacement smashed in the box  .edit: Yes, I know a lot more about what to look at on a used bike now. orthod0ks fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Mar 31, 2010 |
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Mar 31, 2010 20:41
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Z3n posted:So how many hours do you think you had into that bike? Assuming I was being paid the same wages as a roadside mechanic working in rural Vietnam then I just about broke even
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Mar 31, 2010 20:46
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M4gic posted:I've been thinking about putting some fuel injector cleaner in my bike after it's burned through all the old gas with stabilizer in it. Just wondering if this would hurt the bike in any way? It's a Yamaha 2009 FZ6 in case that makes any difference. Nah, it'll be fine...I'd probably seafoam it just because I'm partial to seafoam. 8ender posted:Assuming I was being paid the same wages as a roadside mechanic working in rural Vietnam then I just about broke even I stopped counting after my hourly rate dropped below 10c an hour. 
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Mar 31, 2010 20:55
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hayden. posted:A thousand times, this. For any bike under $1000, add about $1000 in parts before you can safely ride it. I convinced a friend to buy a $650 ninja 500 from a towing yard. All we had to do was put brake fluid in the rear brake, and it worked fine. We did a full electrical rehal for $300 cause it had no working lights, but that's it. Later she bought a ZX-6R for $2000 and spent over $700 fixing it.
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Mar 31, 2010 21:20
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Pubic Lair posted:I've seen issues like this caused by bad vacuum petcocks or clogged regular ones. They just aren't opening all the way so the engine is always starved, it will be extra evident when starting cause you will have to crank the hell out of it to get enough vacuum to flow fuel to start and then only the left 2 will run due to gravity feeding them fuel first. The one thing I don't get about a potential petcock issue is that the bike restarts fine when warm, even hours after it was turned off. I have a petcock that doesn't use a vacuum hose. I know it flows plenty fine because I accidentally turned it on while it was not connected to the hose, and spilled poo poo everywhere. Whoops. The original F2 petcock uses a vacuum line, but mine was replaced by an F3 one at some point, which is gravity feed, I guess. I had to block off the vacuum line to stop the engine from getting an intake leak. quote:Are you using the choke? When was the last time you adjusted your valves? I'm using choke. It's even harder to start with no choke. Interestingly, my choke doesn't seem to work properly. At some settings it will make the bike die, at others, it will increase the revs as it should. I don't get it. Have no idea when valves had been done last. FuzzyWuzzyBear fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Mar 31, 2010 |
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Mar 31, 2010 21:36
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Z3n posted:I stopped counting after my hourly rate dropped below 10c an hour. I'm not a very good capitalist, but I refuse to factor my time into that kind of thing. If I wasn't wrenching on my bike or car, I'd be doing something stupid like playing a video game anyway, so it's not like it's a burden on my life.
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Mar 31, 2010 22:36
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What are the best solutions to clean in the interior of an oil can enough to be used for human consumption?
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Mar 31, 2010 23:03
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Jack the Smack posted:What are the best solutions to clean in the interior of an oil can enough to be used for human consumption? Bleach and hydrochloric acid. No seriously, what? Why?
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Mar 31, 2010 23:53
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Z3n posted:Bleach and hydrochloric acid. I wanna convert an empty bottle of 10w40 synthetic oil to a drink container.
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Mar 31, 2010 23:57
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Maybe if you call them they can mail you an empty one!
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Apr 1, 2010 00:00
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I'm going to be changing the oil in my bike this weekend and I've never done something like this before! Anyway, it's a Ninja 250 and ninja250.org say that I MUST have a torque wrench. Is that true? From what I know they are pretty drat expensive.
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Apr 1, 2010 00:28
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shaitan posted:I'm going to be changing the oil in my bike this weekend and I've never done something like this before! Anyway, it's a Ninja 250 and ninja250.org say that I MUST have a torque wrench. Is that true? From what I know they are pretty drat expensive. How sensitive a job is this? A cheapo harbor freight $20 should do the job well enough for this. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=239
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Apr 1, 2010 00:31
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shaitan posted:I'm going to be changing the oil in my bike this weekend and I've never done something like this before! Anyway, it's a Ninja 250 and ninja250.org say that I MUST have a torque wrench. Is that true? From what I know they are pretty drat expensive. You can get away with using a beam type one to ballpark it. The torque spec is 14.5 ft/pounds though so you can't use the one that's linked. Beam type ones are cheap.
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Apr 1, 2010 00:34
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shaitan posted:I'm going to be changing the oil in my bike this weekend and I've never done something like this before! Anyway, it's a Ninja 250 and ninja250.org say that I MUST have a torque wrench. Is that true? From what I know they are pretty drat expensive. You don't strictly-speaking need a torque wrench, as long as you can manage tightening the drain/filter bolts without over-torquing them. That said, a torque wrench is a handy thing to have, and the beam-deflection ones are both cheap and durable (ie they won't go out of calibration as easily as similarly-priced click-type ones). Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/KR-Tools-50810-Torque-Wrench/dp/B001G61588 or this craftsman, which you should be able to easily replace even if it breaks: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...921x00003a#desc
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Apr 1, 2010 00:42
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sectoidman posted:You don't strictly-speaking need a torque wrench, as long as you can manage tightening the drain/filter bolts without over-torquing them. That said, a torque wrench is a handy thing to have, and the beam-deflection ones are both cheap and durable (ie they won't go out of calibration as easily as similarly-priced click-type ones). Thanks guys! I can swing $25, what I was seeing was more in the $80 range. I'll stop by Sears tomorrow.
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Apr 1, 2010 00:48
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I rock an old craftsman beam torque wrench. Its good enough for when you need to ballpark things, if you need to get exact, it can be tough.
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Apr 1, 2010 02:30
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Last spring when I changed the oil, the old one was black, the new one was light for five entire minutes and promptly turned black as well the moment I turned on the bike. It was rather reminiscent of a winter day. That reminds me, the winter killed my loving thread.  Are car engine cleaning additives suitable for bikes? I don't want to pour some nice expensive mobil 1 stuff in and later find out that I have soap on my clutch. I mean the additives that you pour into the old oil and let run for five minutes before changing the oil (and gawking at all the crap that was in it). Also, should I change the filter? I only ran it 1000km with the old-new oil so I don't want to. I get a strange feeling like I've asked this before but I need to post anyway so I could click the question mark. Duuk fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Apr 2, 2010 |
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Apr 1, 2010 19:53
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shaitan posted:Thanks guys! I can swing $25, what I was seeing was more in the $80 range. I'll stop by Sears tomorrow. Just sayin', if you have the cash to spare for a few hours/days, you can usually hit up a Pep-Boys/Autozone/Kragen etc. auto parts store and "rent" one for the cost of it as a deposit. I paid about $100, used the wrench to change my oil, brought it back and they refunded the entire amount. So, free. If you literally have $25 in your name, then this may not work for you.  e; This is actually something they do, I'm not saying "buy one and then shadily return it later." Just ask if they loan out torque wrenches.
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Apr 2, 2010 16:31
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Duuk posted:Are car engine cleaning additives suitable for bikes? I don't want to pour some nice expensive mobil 1 stuff in and later find out that I have soap on my clutch. I mean the additives that you pour into the old oil and let run for five minutes before changing the oil (and gawking at all the crap that was in it). I have been notified that car engine cleaning additives are not recommended for bikes. Just change your oil more often you lazy bum. Or don't buy a bike from a lazy bum. Le sigh.
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Apr 3, 2010 18:20
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I got a new carb for my KLR650 installed today and it's finally running well. I noticed the center tube of the triple tree, the one that actually connects to the frame and is the point where the handlebars turn, seems to be pretty loose. When I brake it jiggles around inside the hole of the frame. Any idea what's going on here? Is something hosed? hayden. fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Apr 3, 2010 |
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Apr 3, 2010 23:04
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hayden. posted:I got a new carb for my KLR650 installed today and it's finally running well. Needs to be tightened. They loosen up as they break in and wear.
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Apr 3, 2010 23:16
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What gets tightened? The only thing I see is the big bolt on top at the triple tree. Is that it?
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Apr 3, 2010 23:49
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There's a spanner nut underneath that sets the bearing preload. Found an adjustment writeup here. Good luck!
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Apr 4, 2010 00:04
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Awesome thanks. I didn't really know what to search for.
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Apr 4, 2010 00:08
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I hope this is a good place to admit i'm a dumbass, because here it comes. I did the first oil/filter change on my '83 KZ440 yesterday. I had a new filter cover bolt, drain plug, o-rings, and spring/washer ready just in case anything looked suspect. According to my clymer manual the first two steps were "1. unscrew the filter cover bolt. Remove the spring and washer. 2. Remove the cover and filter, discard the filter." Followed by the steps of putting it back together. "6. Insert the bolt into the cover and install the spring and washer. Insert the filter and reinstall into the crankcase." This confused the poo poo out of me becase A) I'm a dumbass. B) It wasn't clear on if the spring and washer were above the filter on the bolt, or below. So when i removed the cover and old filter there was NO spring or washer present. Any thoughts of putting it back together based on what it looked like when it came apart went right out the window. So i put it back in the was i thought it should go, and guess what? according to this diagram I put it in backwards.  Click here for the full 580x707 image. I put the spring on top of the filter instead of underneath it, huzzah. I went for a ride today and all seemed fine except for a bolt in the rear hub assembly that sheared off at some point. While looking for the bolt size i came across this diagram. How bad of a gently caress up is this? Am i basically running with reduced filter efficiency because of the adjusted location? The oil pressure light never came on so i don't think the engine was starved at any point, although I did push it hard a few times. Should I get a new filter and more oil and do a whole new oil change when i fix it? I did use castrol GTX 10w-40 for the change as it was recommended in multiple kawa forums for these older bikes.
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Apr 4, 2010 02:19
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Quick question: I bought a replacement carb for my KLR 650 from a guy, but when it showed up it didn't have the bracket that holds the throttle wires in place. It's essentially useless without this part, and the only place I've found it for sale is bikebandit where it's $40. The carb itself was $70. I told him this and all he replied was that he didn't have it. Do you think I should ask for $40 back? It seems like a pretty lovely thing to do. update: did paypal dispute for $40 (being fair, not even asking for additional shipping costs) and forwarded the guys tantrum to the admins on the KLR forum hayden. fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Apr 4, 2010 |
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Apr 4, 2010 03:16
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Jeff Gerber posted:backward filter How long was your ride? If it was fairly short (say, <50 miles) then I wouldn't sweat it. Definitely change the oil and filter; it's cheap insurance. Your oil was going around the filter rather than through it, and the filter may have been damaged by being incorrectly installed. E: If the spring and washer weren't in there to begin with, you were already in that boat. The PO didn't kill it, so I'm sure you did no harm. Kudos on having all the necessary spare parts on hand. Dagen H fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Apr 4, 2010 |
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Apr 4, 2010 04:49
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Question about Seafoam (prompted by this thread): How do people use it on their bikes? Just dump a bunch into the fuel tank and oil? Is it possibly to suck it into the engine using vacuum like the how-to video shows on a bike? I don't think my bike's got any engine vacuum hoses (doesn't need any emissions gear).
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Apr 4, 2010 05:10
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 Your bike has a fuel hose from the gas tank into the carburetor/FI unit.As I understand it, Seafoam is for blowing out carbon buildup from incomplete combustion. Cars may benefit from this, as they typically go 100,000 miles at relatively low RPMs. This should never be the case for your typical motorbike, which will probably be wound out regularly and then get crashed, parked or parted out by 30k. Half a dozen goons will probably follow up this post with stories of how Seafoam alone resurrected their old CB350s.
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Apr 4, 2010 05:26
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Seafoam is also a carb cleaner and gas stabalizer when put into your gas tank. It made a huge difference on my 77 CB750k. I usually put in one ounce in a full tank a couple of times per season.
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Apr 4, 2010 14:49
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