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nsaP posted:Sounds pretty cool man. For his bit of stubbornness, maybe try to explain that people drive differently here, and that the class helps teach you to prepare for the hazards of driving on the street here. Not only that, but it helps on insurance and getting your license, and it's just a refresher course. In my class there were 2 guys who hadn't ridden in a while and were getting back into it. Umm my dad is actually the one who told me to get into motorcycling, so now i'm owning da 4 bikes and I think hes just nostalgic. I think all the MSF courses within 25 miles of us are on weekends only.... and he wont listen, hes pretty stubborn like that. I have a feeling he'll mess up the DMV skills test, i'll let him use the GS500. If he crashes it horribly it just gives me an excuse to pickup a ninja 650r. Oh god I hope my dad gets gear. He doesn't mind the full helmet but the jacket/gloves thing seems to annoy him.
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Jul 21, 2011 10:27
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kylej posted:I use this. For bikes those work fine. If your doing cars frequently you owe it to yourself to get a pressurized bleeder (http://brakebleeders.com/brake-bleeder-kits/0100-european-brake-bleeder-kit). With one of those and speed bleeders I could bleed all four corners of my track car in under 5 minutes, flush the system completely in 10. Only downside is I've never seen them in-store, always have bought them online.
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Jul 21, 2011 13:56
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NitroSpazzz posted:For bikes those work fine. If your doing cars frequently you owe it to yourself to get a pressurized bleeder (http://brakebleeders.com/brake-bleeder-kits/0100-european-brake-bleeder-kit). I think cars with ABS don't work well with the vacuum pumps. I had to pump the brakes on mine manually for it to really do anything. Not sure on the pressurized ones.
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Jul 21, 2011 15:33
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kylej posted:I use this. I have one. I don't use it on the bikes though. It's already easy enough to do it by hand with speed bleeders. Geirskogul posted:Protip: in aquarium shops, you can get the clear tubing AND little T and X fittings for them in the perfect size for brake bleeding, so on multi-caliper setups that have individual nipples, you hook up one 2-foot piece of tubing to each, then connect them together for one main bleed hose. It looks a bit wonky, but you can then just pinch or clothespin the individual hoses for whichever area you want pressure out of. Plus, it's cheap enough you just make one for each setup and throw it in a bag or something when you're done. I have been using the same spool of tubing and c-clamps for YEARS now. I found a jar of these tiny c-clamps and a whole bunch of this clear tubing. I've never had to use the same tube twice. I just give it to whoever I bleed brakes for, when I'm done. lucky me 
GnarlyCharlie4u fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Jul 21, 2011 |
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Jul 21, 2011 15:45
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Drunk Pledge Driver posted:I think cars with ABS don't work well with the vacuum pumps. I had to pump the brakes on mine manually for it to really do anything. Not sure on the pressurized ones. That could be, the pressure system is all I've used on cars with ABS. One thing to be sure of is make sure your car doesn't have a vent tube for the brake fluid. We found out old Porsche's (1978) do...made a hell of a puddle.
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Jul 21, 2011 16:14
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What did I do? I have unearthed unobtainium! This, my friends, is an airbox for a 1980 Kawi KZ440A LTD (pictured below):  This particular piece of wonder was apparently made by a alchemic process involving transmutation of fairy farts into solid form. For a long time, it was thought to exist only in the imaginations of eBay scammers and the cold hearts of junkyard vultures. The search for this Grail was drat near interplanetary. At one point, the only solid lead I found wanted $295 plus shipping. That would be approximately half of what I paid for the entire bike (without the airbox, of course)... I found this airbox from a guy just down the road who is doing a cafe conversion for $40. Stick it, vulture! So now I can ditch the wonderfully lovely cheap-rear end pod filters the PO thought were such a great idea, and make the bike run like it was supposed to. All this just to get to baseline. Oy... Check back, next week we'll be hunting for a GL1200 left side cover! 
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Jul 21, 2011 18:37
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Installed a loobman.
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Jul 21, 2011 18:45
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The_Raven posted:What did I do? I have unearthed unobtainium! I've got extra GL1000 sidecovers if you want. I've also got a spare 440LTD cover should you need it. pm me.
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Jul 21, 2011 20:22
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I was just kidding about the GL1200 cover... I had one fly off on the road once, and it was a major pain in the rear end to find one that matched the original 2-tone blue paint, and expensive as hell once I found it. I've since sold the bike, which killed me to do, but I was out of work at the time, so you do whatcha gotta... Now I've got the two most finicky Kawasakis known to man. God, I miss my Hondas.
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Jul 21, 2011 20:56
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The_Raven posted:I was just kidding about the GL1200 cover... I had one fly off on the road once, and it was a major pain in the rear end to find one that matched the original 2-tone blue paint, and expensive as hell once I found it. I've since sold the bike, which killed me to do, but I was out of work at the time, so you do whatcha gotta... Now I've got the two most finicky Kawasakis known to man. God, I miss my Hondas. I love my hondas. 3 GL1000's 3 CB750's and a CB400F My buddy is having me build him a 750K right now and another friend and I are going to pick up a 750F for his project on sunday. That'll make a total of 11 bikes in my garage. All but 2 are Hondas. (the other two are xs650's)
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Jul 21, 2011 21:09
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The_Raven posted:1980 Kawi KZ440A LTD (pictured below): Very nice. That has to be an absolute blast to ride without the buckhorn sit up and beg handlebars they put on everything in those days.
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Jul 22, 2011 02:11
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Heh, I'll let you know when I actually get a chance to put some serious miles on her. I've done less than 100 miles since I got the bike last year. Let's just say it wasn't quite as turnkey as the PO made it out to be.
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Jul 22, 2011 20:27
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Put into redline for about 30 seconds.10.5k rpm in 5th = 75mph. Possibly slightly downhill. Suzuki GS125 if anyone wonders 
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Jul 22, 2011 23:35
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polystyrus posted:Put into redline for about 30 seconds.10.5k rpm in 5th = 75mph. It's not redline until the rev limiter kicks in! 
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Jul 23, 2011 00:15
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My Twinstar won't redline* in top gear**.  *The red line on the speedo indicating shift points. There's no tach. **4th
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Jul 23, 2011 01:27
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Put my girlfriends ls650 'savage' back together after taking it apart to fix an oil leak. I must've done something right because it started right up and ran a lot better than before I started loving with it. I've got a feeling I inadvertently fixed a vacuum leak or something because prior to this it wouldn't stay running even with the choke on, and took about 10 minutes before I could get it off choke without it stalling. I thought it was something to do with the carb and was getting ready to clean that. This time it started right up and ran like a champ from the get go. At this point I could care less if the leak starts back up.. Riser plates also arrived for the SV so I'll be putting those on tomorrow in anticipation for my next track day... in a month.. may as well get used to it on the street. Track days are an addiction.
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Jul 23, 2011 02:44
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Pulled the carb on the NX125 I picked up last night. Was full of poo poo in the float bowl and one of the jets needed to be drilled out. Guess that explains why it wasn't running great. Tomorrow I'm picking up front and rear tubes for it then it should be ready to ride.
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Jul 23, 2011 03:20
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One of 2 o-rings on my carburetor's slow jet corroded and sent bits of itself throughout the carburetor's nooks and crannies. I took it apart, cleaned it, and reinstalled the slow jet without the o-ring for now until I can find a replacement. It runs like dick, but it ran either like rear end or not at all, previously. So that's an improvement right there. Oh, and the air hose for my pump was apparently dry-rotted and broke in half as I was inflating one of the hermaphrobike's tires, causing turquoise-colored goo to spew out of the broken end until I could remove the nozzle, covering my arm in the process. Lovely. Rugoberta Munchu fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Jul 23, 2011 |
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Jul 23, 2011 03:24
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Not strictly "to your ride"... Had a breakthrough tonight with my TIG practice. I got tired of releasing radioactive dust in my garage by grinding thoriated tungsten, so I picked up a few lanthanated tungstens. Then I stumbled across a diagram showing how you need to flatten the tip of the ground point for steel welding. Holy poo poo- I can actually control the heat on 22ga sheet metal now! My bead on 22ga is ugly, but working on the low setting really allows me to make a tiny puddle, even near the to-be-welded joint, and just work it around until things start to come together. This practice is eventually going to be used to fix the crack in the eggshell-thin header pipe of the R100GS. It seems to be around the thickness of 22ga, but the cracked area has probably eroded to something less than that.
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Jul 24, 2011 08:51
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Relocated my ECU on the 636.  Apparently the random shutting off problem I was having wasn't coolant related, as it came back along with bogging down after about 40 minutes of riding. On Kawiforums there is a 26 page thread about this problem where most came to the conclusion the problem is the ECU and its location in the tail, right above the exhaust. Repeated heat cycles eventually damage it and cause this problem. I wanted my bike in order by monday, so rather then blow $200-400 on a new ECU off ebay, I relocated mine in between the battery and fuel tank (as one guy in the thread did). Had to extend a few wires and it is a really tight fit but it seems to be fixed after an hours ride and extended idling. Hopefully I make it to work and back tomorrow. Really who makes a decision to put the ecu right on top of the exhaust anyway? Undertail exhausts seem really dumb all together; excess heat cooks the tail and the riders and adds extra weight too.
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Jul 25, 2011 03:41
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Gnaghi posted:Really who makes a decision to put the ecu right on top of the exhaust anyway? Undertail exhausts seem really dumb all together; excess heat cooks the tail and the riders and adds extra weight too. Guess no one thought of that when they redesigned the exhausts. My bike has the ECU in the same place but it's a side exhaust. I like the new tiny side exhausts they're doing on newer bikes now, although they all seem to have cats they hide behind the fairings.
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Jul 25, 2011 03:51
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Drunk Pledge Driver posted:I like the new tiny side exhausts they're doing on newer bikes now, although they all seem to have cats they hide behind the fairings. Agreed. I hope to one day get a Street Triple R and have the pleasure of going from this:  to this: 
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Jul 25, 2011 04:04
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Gnaghi posted:Agreed. I hope to one day get a Street Triple R and have the pleasure of going from this: I'd prefer a Speed Triple and a slash cut exhaust
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Jul 25, 2011 04:14
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Fixed the clutch issues I was having on my RS125. Basically, it'd never fully disengage the clutch, even with the lever pulled right back to the bar, which made changing from neutral into first or moving the bike backwards while sitting on it kind of a pain. Nothing I changed at the lever seemed to make any difference, so I cracked open the Haynes manual and went to do the adjustment on the clutch side. The instructions are pretty simple - remove an inspection cover, then use an 11mm box spanner to loosen the locknut, tighten down the bolt with a hex key, back it off half a turn, and tighten down the locknut again. I had a hell of a time even getting the nut loosened with the spanner from the toolkit, because someone had torqued the drat thing down way too tight and the spanner was pretty much made out of bronzed foil. Once I'd found an 11mm socket that'd fit into the inspection port and broken the tension on the nut, I adjusted it, re-tightened the locknut, and fired the bike up. It clicked into gear nicely and didn't try to roll forwards, but wouldn't go anywhere if I revved it, even with the clutch lever fully out. Adjusted it again, same thing. Got my dad to look at it, and it turns out that I was tightening it too far, so that it'd never engage at all. There's a point when you're turning the bolt where it goes from "quite easy to turn" to "slightly more difficult to turn", and that's the point where you need to stop and back it off. Apparently the manual's only really useful if you already know how to do the thing you're trying to do! Anyway, it's sorted now, and the bike's much better behaved. I made kind of a Guy Martin thing out of working on it, where I'd drink endless cups of tea and eat bacon sandwiches while growing my sideburns.
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Jul 25, 2011 04:29
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Gnaghi posted:Agreed. I hope to one day get a Street Triple R and have the pleasure of going from this: Nooooooo! They just look wrong with all that empty space between the seat and the wheel.
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Jul 25, 2011 04:31
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Shouting Melon posted:Nooooooo! They just look wrong with all that empty space between the seat and the wheel. Yeah the seats do end up higher than they need to be because of the underseat exhausts and the passenger pegs on the Speed Triples just look stupid too
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Jul 25, 2011 04:52
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Drunk Pledge Driver posted:Yeah the seats do end up higher than they need to be because of the underseat exhausts and the passenger pegs on the Speed Triples just look stupid too At least if you take the pillion pegs/brackets off the Speed there's blanking plates that can be fitted. The Street just gets to live with the cutouts in the seat fairing.
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Jul 25, 2011 06:24
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Finally rolled it over to 10k miles... during a big rain storm.
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Jul 25, 2011 06:47
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Gnaghi posted:Undertail exhausts seem really dumb all together; excess heat cooks the tail and the riders and adds extra weight too. I dunno, I love the look of an undertail exhaust and if I ever upgrade my SV650 it will be to a bike that has one. Maybe a carbon fiber can to lessen the heat problem.  Yesterday I replaced my rear shock with a ZX-10 shock and removed the forks so that the local motorcycle shop can install Traxxion's drop-in springs/emulators/damper rods kit. Due to the entire city being out of stock on 12mm hex wrenches, I got to ride my bike around for a while with the new rear shock installed and man does it feel good. Can't wait to ride it again once the forks are upgraded.
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Jul 25, 2011 07:33
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Over the weekend I put a new tube and tire on the rear of the nx125, front ended up holding air just fine. This is good because the PO decided to JB weld the valve stem to the wheel... Rode it around a bit Saturday and Sunday, good low and middle power but stumbles and sputters at the top. Running horribly rich so a jet kit is on the way. Since I possibly need a new front wheel anyway I'm considering picking up a set (<$50 eBay) and having some street tires I can swap out for mini supermoto fun.
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Jul 25, 2011 13:06
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Gnaghi posted:Relocated my ECU on the 636. Yikes. Do you know if carbon fiber exhausts help with this issue?
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Jul 25, 2011 14:08
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Cleaned and lubed my chain... the right way. Surprised how much easier it was to clean using kerosene and gear oil over spray cleaner and lube. Way less messy too. Any idea how to get light rust spots off the side of the chain?
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Jul 25, 2011 15:42
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xd posted:Cleaned and lubed my chain... the right way. Surprised how much easier it was to clean using kerosene and gear oil over spray cleaner and lube. Way less messy too. Any idea how to get light rust spots off the side of the chain? A coarse rag with gear oil on it and you can probably scrub them off. Or just keep lubing your chain with gear oil and it'll eventually polish it clean.
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Jul 25, 2011 16:55
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King Nothing posted:I dunno, I love the look of an undertail exhaust and if I ever upgrade my SV650 it will be to a bike that has one. Maybe a carbon fiber can to lessen the heat problem. I have that bike with the Devil Carbon exhaust: http://www.bici.co.uk/ProductImages/22015/BIG/BIG/BIG/22015.jpg And let me tell you, it does nothing, my rear end still sweats once the bike is warm
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Jul 25, 2011 19:46
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Practicalities be damned! Underseat exhausts are godly. If I could get a bike with the agressive and angular front end of an R6, with the tail and engine of a Daytona, I would pretty much have my dream bike.
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Jul 25, 2011 21:53
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I'll admit undertails look good on a lot of bikes, but for usability less heat and weight is what I'd want when I'm riding the thing. Don't worry though, I'm not throwing my sweet lazer exhaust in the dumpster or anything. the walkin dude posted:Yikes. Do you know if carbon fiber exhausts help with this issue? Stock exhausts seemed to fair better than aftermarket in that thread. I'd say get some heat shielding to go under the tail (metal or that roll on type) which might prevent it if done early on before it starts acting up. Today's ride to work was fine in decent heat and temps of 212-216, and the ride home in rain was fine too. No bucking or bullshit. I was a bit worried about the ecu getting wet in its new location, but since it's right in front of the battery hopefully it should continue to be ok. Kreiga R30 and Nelson Rigg rain suit worked perfect too.
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Jul 25, 2011 22:18
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If you can leave the stock heat shielding but get rid of the cat somehow, that's the best way to keep the heat down. Cats get stupid hot.
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Jul 25, 2011 22:50
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Z3n posted:If you can leave the stock heat shielding but get rid of the cat somehow, that's the best way to keep the heat down. Cats get stupid hot. The cats live in the header, so it wouldn't do much for the lemmiwinks living in his rear end.
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Jul 25, 2011 22:57
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I don't notice any exhaust heat on the 636 with the stock undertail exhaust. I've only read of it happening with Yamaha R1s and Ducatis.
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Jul 26, 2011 00:35
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The FZ6 gets warm, but the bonus is that I never have to worry about hot exhaust pipes. It is a bit annoying having a seat warmer in the summer, but if you ride any time below 60 degrees it's quite nice.
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Jul 26, 2011 00:38
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