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I clean my chain with kerosene and then lube it with gear oil. Works awesome.
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Apr 29, 2010 11:23
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sklnd posted:If that's the tankbag I think it is, it comes with a pouch to put a camelback bladder in it, there's a hole for the tube, and clips to keep the tube in place while you're riding. Despite my riding buddy, Tex, calling me gay for wanting a hydration pack I'm now sold on getting one. My tank bag has the clips and hole and everything. It was MEANT for this. :-) Sounds like I have to get or pack the following: - Zip Ties (Gots lots of these) - Extry Oil - Tire Repair kit with an inflator of some sort. - Noise canceling ear buds or something better than the stock apple ear buds - Flashlight (I have a LED small profile one that throws a ton of light) - Spare fuses - Something to clean the face shield - PAIN KILLERS and BEE PROTECTION - Camera (aww man... my iPhone isn't good enough?) I'm off to the gear thread to get recommendations on ear buds and tire repair kits.
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Apr 29, 2010 13:24
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How much you trust your bike will determine how many tools you take on an trip. For a 100+ mile trip, I carry everything up to and including circlip piers. How intense is everyone else's tool kit? (pictures would be be awesome, i'll lay it all out tonight when I get home)
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Apr 29, 2010 16:16
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UserNotFound posted:How much you trust your bike will determine how many tools you take on an trip. For a 100+ mile trip, I carry everything up to and including circlip piers. How intense is everyone else's tool kit? (pictures would be be awesome, i'll lay it all out tonight when I get home) 100 miles is a long trip? That's my commute to work. 
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Apr 29, 2010 16:21
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orthod0ks posted:My uncle wrecked his Harley when a bee got in his helmet. Luckily he had just passed an ambulance, but he still spent a few months with a full upper body cast and had to have my aunt wipe his rear end. Of course, he hopped right back on as soon as the cast was off. When I got stung, I had my visor only slightly cracked open because it was a really hot day. This loving bee made the perfect angle shot. I saw it come in from the left, miss my windshield and go right into the 2 inch open space from my visor. For a split second I though Well, maybe it was a big fly until I saw it doing that pissed off bee dance under my helmet. I flipped the visor up and started trying to scoop it out with my hand, but I realized that in doing so, I was swerving all over my lane and I was literally inches away from crashing. I straightened out and forced myself to calm down. Of course, at this point it felt like someone jammed a cigar into my chin and I knew it was done. I prayed again that it wasn't a wasp, and that's all it would be. I rode for a mile or two like that until there was a place I could pull over and take my helmet off. drat narrow country roads. Getting stung is way better than crashing. And yes, I am allergic, but luckily one sting won't kill me. I was good enough to get home and take an antihistamine.
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Apr 29, 2010 16:24
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UserNotFound posted:How much you trust your bike will determine how many tools you take on an trip. For a 100+ mile trip, I carry everything up to and including circlip piers. How intense is everyone else's tool kit? (pictures would be be awesome, i'll lay it all out tonight when I get home) Usually the stock toolkit carries almost everything you need for basic roadside maintenance. I've had to use them a few times. For the trip I'm taking this summer, I'll be carrying extra oil, chain lube, master links (for swapping sprockets for a trackday), clutch cable, and AAA.
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Apr 29, 2010 16:32
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Z3n posted:Usually the stock toolkit carries almost everything you need for basic roadside maintenance. I've had to use them a few times. My bike didn't even come with a toolkit  . I guess they either expect you to never break anything, or never take trips. Thanks, Honda.
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Apr 29, 2010 16:34
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Crayvex posted:I'm off to the gear thread to get recommendations on ear buds and tire repair kits. I carry one of these on my ST, under the seat in the tool storage area: http://www.stopngo.com/products/plugger/1001.asp It was about $45 at my local powersports store. On longer trips, I have a small Slime branded 12v compressor that I toss into the topbox as well.
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Apr 29, 2010 16:39
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I carry zipties, tape, a screwdriver, pliers, an allen key, and a spark plug wrench. This is all you need to fix almost anything on a 70's UJM.
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Apr 29, 2010 17:49
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8ender posted:I carry zipties, tape, a screwdriver, pliers, an allen key, and a spark plug wrench. This is all you need to fix almost anything on a 70's UJM. I knew I was forgetting something: Bailing/safety wire and a roll of duct tape wrapped around something small (so you don't have to lug around the cardboard center). Safety wire is good for for jumping broken connections and holding stuff together, and duct tape is...well...duct tape.
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Apr 29, 2010 17:57
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Z3n posted:Safety wire is good for for jumping broken connections and holding stuff together, and duct tape is...well...duct tape. I rode home with my throttle rigged up with a zip tie once after the cable broke. The throttle was stuck three quarters open and I controlled my speed with gears and the clutch.
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Apr 29, 2010 18:26
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8ender posted:I rode home with my throttle rigged up with a zip tie once after the cable broke. The throttle was stuck three quarters open and I controlled my speed with gears and the clutch. I've done the same at the track when my throttle cable slipped off the carbs...I managed to wedge it back in place but the bike was held at 9k constantly. 
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Apr 29, 2010 18:29
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So I've been having this starting issue with my bike forever now. It has an aftermarket exhaust, K&N filter, and has been rejetted accordingly. What it does is, it takes about 5 solid minutes of cranking (split up into smaller segments of course) to start. Also, it begins by cranking with no throttle, but then proceeds to only crank when I hold the throttle wide open, choke or not. When it does start, it sounds like it's starving for fuel for about 15 seconds or running rough. Fuel is reaching all four carbs, and all four carbs are loving spotless. The choke is hooked up properly but doesn't seem to make a huge difference when trying to start the bike. When started, the bike still needs some babysitting before it will run with no throttle and just choke, and finally will warm up and idle without choke. I get spark on all four plugs, none are fouled. When warm the bike starts easily. The only other symptom I noticed is that it tends to return to idle rather slowly, and idle is adjusted correctly. I can turn the idle way down and it revs more like it should, but then it dies of course because the idle is set at like 700rpm. Since I've eliminated fuel and spark as possiblities, it seems like the culprit is compression. Right now I'm having a local mechanic do a valve adjustment, which I read could cause compression issues (too loose, then tightens as the bike warms up, letting it run). Is this reasonable? Also, he said my valves looked pretty gummed-up despite my motor only having 12k on it. He recommended Seafoam and running the piss out of it - will this help clean the gunk in the valves? The only other thing is that the bike tends to crank rather slowly when cold. The battery is good, and I've tried hooking it up to a car and it gets the same effect. The starter is also good, as I replaced that with another one and it behaves the same. Could low compression cause slow cranking?
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Apr 29, 2010 18:31
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:Could low compression cause slow cranking? No, it would cause faster cranking if anything. I suppose. It's usually the battery or the battery's ability to feed the starter which causes slow cranking. I guess a closed throttle makes it harder for the starter to overcome the drag of the engine, as it has to pull a vacuum as well. How did your mechanic determine that your valves look gummed up? Seafoam can help against that, but I'm not so sure that's the cause. Poor valve clearances can be part of the problem, but as it heats up the tolerances get tighter, not looser, so the problems should get worse when hot. Also, choke should definitely have a bearing on how it runs when cold, if it doesn't you have not eliminated fuel as an issue. In fact, it should change how it runs at any temperature. Does your bike have a K&N filter that drops in the airbox or individual pods on the carbs? By the way, maybe someone will remember that I've been bitching about poor braking action in the wet. Well, I think the answer was simply dirty discs. I haven't gone to town properly with brake cleaner, but I thought it shouldn't matter as it was pretty good with the old pads. I was about to buy some sintered pads but came across a bit too many threads on various forums with people claiming wildly different things about the same material - this usually means they're just as dumb as I am and that the problem is elsewhere. So after the Kawasaki demo day, where all bikes had excellent braking performance, I decided to give my brakes some serious heat cycles. On my burger run, I purposely braked late, hard and often and the discs were quite hot to touch on various stops. That day was dry, but today it's pissing down again, bike's been sitting out in the rain and that usually means no brakes at all for the first few seconds. But lo and behold, not bad performance at all. There's still a curve to it, so my conclusion so far is that sintered schmintered, my pads are fine but the microscopic grooves in my discs have harbored some oily poo poo from the road which causes lovely braking. Perhaps the extra pad wear on the burger run helped clear it out, but I'm definitely taking some brake cleaner to them at the first opportunity.
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Apr 29, 2010 20:00
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Ola posted:No, it would cause faster cranking if anything. I suppose. It's usually the battery or the battery's ability to feed the starter which causes slow cranking. I guess a closed throttle makes it harder for the starter to overcome the drag of the engine, as it has to pull a vacuum as well. The bike cranks easily and starts easily when warm, though. When it's cold, it cranks more slowly. Even when hooked up to a car battery. And the battery is new! drat BIKE. The mechanic discovered gummed-up valves after opening the valve cover. Today he will be checking clearances and letting me know what he finds, so I suppose I find out tonight. I just don't see how it could possibly be fuel since A) the problem doesn't exist when the bike is warm and B) the carbs have been re-jetted and cleaned very thoroughly like 5 times in a row. The petcock works, all carbs get fuel.
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Apr 29, 2010 20:06
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Have you checked all of the electrical connections to the starter/etc?
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Apr 29, 2010 20:09
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:
Ok, those aren't the parts of the valves that get covered with carbon and prevents proper compression but he's definitely pointed out a problem. Maybe your bike has been ridden without an oil change for long periods of time or with real poor quality oil and has sludge issues. That might make the engine real draggy when cold but then it loosens up when warm. This is all theorycrafting of course, but it does make some sense. What bike/year and how long have you owned it?
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Apr 29, 2010 20:31
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1994 CBR600F2, it was probably raced at some point because it has racing engine covers, safety wire, racing clip-ons, etc. I changed the oil and air filter and plugs when I bought it in February. Acted the same ever since I had it. I've checked the electrical connections to the starter pretty well. Push starting is equally hard so I'm guessing it's not related to the starter motor. I've gone over the electrical pretty thoroughly because it came with a bad R/R that hosed my battery along with various lights and even the CDI, so a bunch of poo poo got replaced. Still acted the same. It's pretty frustrating because I've owned three bikes now, and have learned A LOT about how they work, and I have no idea what's causing this. FuzzyWuzzyBear fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Apr 29, 2010 |
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Apr 29, 2010 21:54
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Curiosity... If my bike is jetted for sealevel, and I take it to 6000' altitude (Denver), it'll run rich because of the thinner air, yes? (Theorycrafting) What happens if I switch to individual pod aircleaners?
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Apr 29, 2010 22:54
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Jabs posted:Curiosity... Yes. You'll lose power. Depending on the bike, most of the time airboxes are designed the way they are for a reason, so by removing that, you kill a lot of power. There are some times when it's a good idea to mod airboxes, but only if you know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Pod filters could make you run richer or leaner in an area where you don't want to. If the bike runs nicely, don't gently caress with it.
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Apr 29, 2010 23:02
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Z3n posted:If the bike runs nicely, don't gently caress with it. (note: that doesn't mean they aren't running *adequately*... They're just not running like I would expect, necessarily.) Specifically, the bike that is supposed to have 34 HP feels more sluggish than the one what's supposed to have 17 HP. Tires on the SR250 + Replacing Main and Pilot jets on all three carbs is on the schedule for this weekend. (Really, what I want is a bike that isn't a drat '80's UJM 'fixer upper' - those Victorys that I rode last weekend were not my thing, but drat if it felt nice to just be able to get on and ride without the worry of knowing there were 5000 things I *COULD* fix...)
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Apr 29, 2010 23:12
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Your butt dyno isn't the most accurate thing around  Bikes that have a smoother flow of power can feel slower but be faster because they're making power more smoothly. It's why I always have to laugh when people slap on an exhaust with no tune, and then say "Oh man it hits so much harder at 6k rpm now!". Yeah, it hits harder because it's climbing out of the lean spot you just made worse. 40->80HP feels a lot faster than 65->80hp. It's easy to get spoofed on stuff like that  Go have a little race, you've got 2 riders and 2 bikes
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Apr 29, 2010 23:20
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Armacham posted:well you should be weighting the outside pegs for one thing, which from your description is what you are already doing. Either way don't be afraid to move around the bike. Yeah, I'm weighting the outside peg, and it feels much better, but I think the tire pressure is definitely something for me to check into. I don't have the stockers on there, tire-wise, I'm running Kenda K270's, street-legal knobs. I'm going out for a ride with some guys from ADV on sunday, so I'll see what they recommend.
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Apr 30, 2010 00:59
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Okay I'm using Shinko 244s which are basically the exact same tire. They are very sensitive to air pressure for me, so definitely drop it down to 20-21 when you hit off road. I usually ride them on the street at about 30.
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Apr 30, 2010 01:23
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Crayvex posted:Despite my riding buddy, Tex, calling me gay for wanting a hydration pack I'm now sold on getting one. My tank bag has the clips and hole and everything. It was MEANT for this. :-) Oh ya, I forgot. Carmex. UserNotFound posted:How much you trust your bike will determine how many tools you take on an trip. For a 100+ mile trip, I carry everything up to and including circlip piers. How intense is everyone else's tool kit? (pictures would be be awesome, i'll lay it all out tonight when I get home) The fun doesn't start till you hit 600miles 
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Apr 30, 2010 04:04
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Was locktite mentioned? For out of town trips I carry enough tools to do most things. This includes sockets for all the bolt sizes on the bike, wrenches of the same criteria, breaker bar, allen wrenches, big torque wrench, small torque wrench, screwdriver, pliers, channel locks. I'm also paranoid.
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Apr 30, 2010 04:23
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I suspect my KLRs alternator isn't working. Voltage with the engine off is 12.4 and with it running is only 13.2 at 5k rpm. Could this come from the engine mass not being connected to the frame mass properly?
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Apr 30, 2010 10:09
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niethan posted:I suspect my KLRs alternator isn't working. Voltage with the engine off is 12.4 and with it running is only 13.2 at 5k rpm. Could this come from the engine mass not being connected to the frame mass properly? Do you have the manual for the bike? If so, I'd follow that and test the alternator output asap. If you don't have the manual, there's bound to be tons of KLR info somewhere online.
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Apr 30, 2010 10:17
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Realtime update: rectifier works.
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Apr 30, 2010 11:04
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I ran these tests ( my results in bold):quote:Here's a procedure to check out the charging system: So rectifier and stator output are good it seems. I also did some more voltage measurements at the battery: Everything off: 12.2V Key on on position, lights off: 12.0V Key on on position, lights on: 11.8V 1.5krpm, lights off: 12.9V 1.5krpm, lights on: 12.4V Also during all this testing and riding to buy the voltmeter i started the bike like ten times in twenty miles, so that indicates that there is no problem at all and I was imagining things, probably my battery was still kinda weak from the winter?
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Apr 30, 2010 11:35
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niethan posted:
Yeah, looks like you just have a weak battery. It should be charged up by riding, but since it isn't 12.8-ish after that, it might need replacement. If you have a trickle charger you can leave it on over night. If you don't have a trickle charger, but have some spare money, get one as they are nice to have. And also sleep well at night knowing your charging system is working perfectly and you learned how to check it!
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Apr 30, 2010 11:49
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sklnd posted:Was locktite mentioned? I think it was Doc Zero that once said, "Hey man, you're not going into space! You don't have to bring everything with you!" With that said, I'll be bringing all the necessary tools. Didn't someone post some doohickey that's like a mini stand for bikes? Cleaning and oiling the chain on this trip is going to suck.
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Apr 30, 2010 15:10
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Crayvex posted:Cleaning and oiling the chain on this trip is going to suck. If you're badass, you just lift the rear slightly up and to the left so the bike is resting on the sidestand and the front wheel. Prop up with knee, spin wheel with one hand, lube with other. If you're not so badass, or if you're tried being badass once and tipped the bike over, clean accessible parts of chain, roll bike slightly forward, repeat, apply same method to lubing.
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Apr 30, 2010 15:41
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Ola posted:If you're badass, you just lift the rear slightly up and to the left so the bike is resting on the sidestand and the front wheel. Prop up with knee, spin wheel with one hand, lube with other. Or you do method 1 with a friend...
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Apr 30, 2010 15:49
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Touring with friends is nice but bringing a complete human being just for chain lube duty is a heavy logistical load to bear.
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Apr 30, 2010 15:54
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This isn't the one that I've seen posted here before, but same idea basically. The other one was even better; because of the way it folded in the middle, all you did was put it under the spool/axle nut and lock it open. No rocking of the bike required. Also I don't know if this one is terribly easy to get the bike down with. I guess you could just roll forward.
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Apr 30, 2010 16:00
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Crayvex posted:I think it was Doc Zero that once said, "Hey man, you're not going into space! You don't have to bring everything with you!" Meh, I'm sure we can figure something out. I have cargo straps and a car jack. 
Doctor Zero fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Apr 30, 2010 |
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Apr 30, 2010 16:02
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Ola posted:If you're badass, you just lift the rear slightly up and to the left so the bike is resting on the sidestand and the front wheel. Prop up with knee, spin wheel with one hand, lube with other. You can also lift it onto the sidestand and then rotate the bike so that the rear swingarm is resting on the corner of a seat of a picnic table. It looks weird and dangerous but it works. Also picnic tables are common in camp grounds.
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Apr 30, 2010 16:08
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Sigh. My valves were all in spec, so my hard starting issue is not caused by them. YOU STUPID MOTORCYCLE, I'VE EXHAUSTED EVERY POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD BE WRONG WITH YOU You get spark. You get fuel. You don't have intake leaks. You run fine when you're actually started. You start easily when warm, too.
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Apr 30, 2010 23:35
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:Sigh. My valves were all in spec, so my hard starting issue is not caused by them. YOU STUPID MOTORCYCLE, I'VE EXHAUSTED EVERY POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD BE WRONG WITH YOU Have you tried painting it a different color?
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May 1, 2010 00:00
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