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Nice cops there. Bummer about the bike.
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Feb 9, 2013 09:44
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nsaP posted:Nice cops there. Bummer about the bike. Fortunately it was just the right mirror, so it was still street-legal. And the fairing was mostly trash anyway, and I'm going to replace the front signals with fork-mounted. It was annoying on principle, but a good incentive to make it a really brutal streetfighter. So far I've got most all the plastic off, got engine bars for the front sides and going to get rear frame sliders for the back. Going to put on bar ends to get some protection for my levers. Just trying to figure out a bar-end mirror that either mounts just inside of the end weights, clamps higher up the bar, or just in some way is less likely to be damaged in a tip over. Any other brainstorms for making this a relatively undamageable bike? There's a lot of good accessories for dirt bikes, like guards around the levers and all, but presumably less gear for a Ninja 500.
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Feb 9, 2013 17:53
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There's always the Rhino-liner option for stuff you really don't want to have to worry about scratching or having to re-paint again. It literally is strong enough to buffer against an explosion. It could be potentially wet-sanded into a smooth matte finish too, if that's your thing.
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Feb 9, 2013 23:44
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:How vital is the front fender forward of the forks? The front half of my fender busted off when someone knocked the bike over; the cops saw it on the ground and righted it, but there were bits of fender, signal, and mirror everywhere. Does the front half of the fender prevent that much fling of water/mud? I'd be worried more about the wind getting under the remainder and pulling it off than any possible forward flinging of debris or water.
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Feb 10, 2013 02:32
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I'd be worried more about the wind getting under the remainder and pulling it off than any possible forward flinging of debris or water. Sounds like a self-solving problem in that case. I guess I'll just have to ride it a bit and see what happens. Though it it might come flying off that's all the more reason to file down the jaggedy bits on the front. I momentarily considered, if I put a full front fender back on, putting a "pedestrian cutter" front license plate holder on it, but that would probably look painfully pseudo-British. Other than just getting the carb cleaned, new fluid and batteries, etc., the main thing I need to do to get it street-legal is putting some front turn-signals onto it. The front bracket setup is going to eventually come off once I replace the headlight and instruments with ones attaching to the bars/forks, so what I'll need is some fork-mounted turn signals, ideally DOT-approved and reasonably functional. I'm finding surprisingly little info about this, given that it would seem to be something that people do on pretty much every streetfighter. All I need to do is either buy some used stalk headlights with fork mounts approximating 36mm (shim if mounts are a bit loose?), or buy new mounts and decent stalk/bullet turn signals, yes? For example, these are for a 37mm LS650, do these seem like something I could just bolt on and plug in: http://www.ebay.com/itm/97-Suzuki-S...70a132d&vxp=mtr (these also look promising since they're 3-wire, as the EX500 is, so I wouldn't loose the running-light feature).  Similarly, could I buy some beater HD lights (just since they're a brand that's often found in fork-mount format), get some cheap mounts, and plug them in (also three wire): http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-Harley...0257caa&vxp=mtr  Or should I just buy something like these (Drag specialties, $30, DOT-approved) and plug it into whatever inexpensive offshore mount off eBay? http://www.phatperformanceparts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DS-DOT-SIGNALS&CartID= Also appear to be 3-wire:  And bolt them into cheap fork mounts like these, around $15-20 on eBay:  EDIT: If at all possible, I would like signals that actually are visible, rather than purely a nod to legality. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 00:58
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You could always go with something like this, assuming you don't care how visible the signals are and are mostly doing it to comply with regulations: http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Corner-Signal-Marker-Light/dp/B006B3CML0 (they aren't bad, just not as intense as some of the other options)
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Feb 11, 2013 01:00
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A little bit of hesitation when you open the throttle quickly, combined with burbling and light popping when decelerating (and some little pops when attempting to start) means the mixture is lean, right? It's started happening since I took the carbs apart and retuned the bike, but it's very slight and only occurs from a totally closed throttle. Ie., it hesitates from a stoplight sometimes but there's no delay if I'm on the road and suddenly need a burst of speed. Stalled it today throttling up right as the light turned green, while waiting next to a car full of college kids. As they sped off I heard one yelling "staaaaaaaaalllllllllllll" I'm guessing that it's the idle air/fuel mixture screws, probably need to back them out another half turn, but just wanted to do a sanity check since I've overlooked obvious things before.
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Feb 11, 2013 04:56
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You really need to do plug chops to determine lean/rich. Usually a hesitation when opening the throttle means, IMO, a rich mixture, but the other symptoms mean lean.
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Feb 11, 2013 05:00
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I already asked this over in the SV thread, but is there a decent instructional site out there for cleaning carbs of the type used by first gen SV650s, preferably with pictures?
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Feb 11, 2013 05:03
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Drain your tank, drain your carb bowls, and run a half-and-half mix of Seafoam and gas through it for a few minutes. Then let it sit for a while, restart, repeat. They'll be squeaky clean in no time, and you'll de-varnish the bottom portion of your fuel tank nicely. e: you might actually want to drain the float bowls after they'd been sitting the first cycle or two, that way you just remove the junk out of your fuel system rather than try to burn it and possibly foul your plugs up. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 07:03
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Kilersquirrel posted:Drain your tank, drain your carb bowls, and run a half-and-half mix of Seafoam and gas through it for a few minutes. Then let it sit for a while, restart, repeat. They'll be squeaky clean in no time, and you'll de-varnish the bottom portion of your fuel tank nicely. Sometimes you just need to take them apart and give them a good cleaning, especially in situations where you may have not run with a fuel filter for awhile, letting crap accumulate in the bowls that could clog jets if loosened and run through.
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Feb 11, 2013 07:31
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:How vital is the front fender forward of the forks? The front half of my fender busted off when someone knocked the bike over; the cops saw it on the ground and righted it, but there were bits of fender, signal, and mirror everywhere. Does the front half of the fender prevent that much fling of water/mud? You can run without a front fender, provided you address two issues. I have no front fender. First, you will enjoy a stream of water from every puddle that you ride through. Even a tiny fender helps redirect that away from you. I only ride for fun, not to commute. Without a lot of rainy riding, the water thing is NBD to me. YMMV Second, that fender helps brace the front fork. If you ditch it entirely, you'll need to make sure the front fork remains stable. A fork brace will work in lieu of that fender for stabilizing the front end.
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Feb 11, 2013 16:24
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Kilersquirrel posted:Drain your tank, drain your carb bowls, and run a half-and-half mix of Seafoam and gas through it for a few minutes. Then let it sit for a while, restart, repeat. They'll be squeaky clean in no time, and you'll de-varnish the bottom portion of your fuel tank nicely. If passages in the carbs are plugged then no amount of fuel additives will clean it (because no fuel flows through them).
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Feb 11, 2013 16:41
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Tamir Lenk posted:You can run without a front fender, provided you address two issues. I have no front fender. The wimpy little bracket that holds the fender to the bike doesn't do poo poo to stabilize the front end. Compare the build quality of any aftermarket fork brace to the tiny piece of bent metal that holds the fender on.
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Feb 11, 2013 18:53
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Sagebrush posted:A little bit of hesitation when you open the throttle quickly, combined with burbling and light popping when decelerating (and some little pops when attempting to start) means the mixture is lean, right? It's started happening since I took the carbs apart and retuned the bike, but it's very slight and only occurs from a totally closed throttle. Ie., it hesitates from a stoplight sometimes but there's no delay if I'm on the road and suddenly need a burst of speed. Stalled it today throttling up right as the light turned green, while waiting next to a car full of college kids. As they sped off I heard one yelling "staaaaaaaaalllllllllllll" You need to do something like this: http://eastbiker.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-set-pilot-screw.html
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Feb 11, 2013 19:40
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Looking into getting my first bike soon. I know that I want a cruiser, and I was originally planning on going for a Rebel or Shadow, but I don't like the feel of the Shadow for some reason and the Rebel just seems so...tiny. I sat on a Yamaha Vstar 650 and really liked it, would it be that bad of an idea to go for something like that for a beginner bike? I'm a pretty petite person (5'3, about 105 pounds soaking wet) but I had no problems flat footing it and holding it up. Obviously planning on taking the MSF before I take the plunge, and I've got a bunch of friends who ride and have offered to teach me the basics as well. Also, are there any decent books/beginner guides I can read? I'm in full on research/obsessively trawling craigslist to ogle bikes mode right now so any recommendations would be appreciated.
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Feb 11, 2013 20:00
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Vstar 650s make great beginner bikes. If you can hold it up at a stop and manage to keep it up while wiggling it around a bit, you should do ok. Everybody drops a bike though, so make sure if it doesn't have an engine guard, get it an engine guard - they keep pretty much the whole bike off the ground in a tip-over.
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Feb 11, 2013 20:11
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http://msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm?spl=2&action=display&pagename=Library That should be a good resource for beginner reading, especially the Basic RiderCourse Handbook that's about halfway down the page. That's what they use for the classroom instruction of the MSF and it's great for intros. There's some other small cruisers out there you could be looking at as well, but I can't speak too much to their quality. I had a friend get a Yamaha Virago 535 and it's a pretty good first bike for a cruiser. It's not too quick but it's pretty small and has a low seat height. He got his for real cheap. Rebel 250s are ridiculously tiny. I briefly test rode one and the handlebars hit my knees.
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Feb 11, 2013 20:40
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Buy/check out from the library/etc this (Street Smarts v1-3): http://www.amazon.com/Street-Smarts-Motorcycle-DVD-Volumes/dp/B000TK5TVQ And, if you want another, this one is good. It's called "Ride Like a Pro" and is all about clutch control and confidently riding slowly/in confined areas. And he does it all on a full dresser HD: http://www.amazon.com/The-NEW-Ride-Like-Pro/dp/B008J5EE7S Watch them, get one of your friends to show you how the whole clutch/brakes thing works (if you don't know already) and see if they'll let you putter around in a parking lot. You'll have a leg-up during the MSF and be more confident.
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Feb 11, 2013 22:23
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Z3n posted:The wimpy little bracket that holds the fender to the bike doesn't do poo poo to stabilize the front end. Compare the build quality of any aftermarket fork brace to the tiny piece of bent metal that holds the fender on. They're not that wimpy. I can tell the difference.
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Feb 11, 2013 23:09
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I've never noticed the difference with them there or not. The ones on my older supersports were always pretty flimsy and made a negligible difference, but I could see it making a difference on the older ones where the forks were really spindly.
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Feb 11, 2013 23:16
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Z3n posted:I've never noticed the difference with them there or not. The ones on my older supersports were always pretty flimsy and made a negligible difference, but I could see it making a difference on the older ones where the forks were really spindly. A PO ditched the fender on my bike, so I have no comparison. More than one person suggested I watch out for any wobbling at higher speeds, since whatever flimsy bracing that fender supplied was gone. I never did encounter any shaking or wobbles. Living pretty deep in the city, I don't get much highway or other riding at sustained speeds >40 mph or so. Maybe it would have wobbled on the highway. Maybe not. Ultimately, I added the fork brace to mine (actually Nerobro did when I turned my back for a second). My point is that he should make sure the front remains stable sans fender, not "OH GOD. OH GOD. YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY FIGHT TANK-SLAPPERS AND DIE WITHOUT A FORK BRACE." v0v
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Feb 11, 2013 23:51
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I'm sneaky like that. And I never saw any high speed stability issues with, or without the fender in place. However I could feel the difference while cornering.
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Feb 12, 2013 00:16
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clutchpuck posted:Vstar 650s make great beginner bikes. If you can hold it up at a stop and manage to keep it up while wiggling it around a bit, you should do ok. Everybody drops a bike though, so make sure if it doesn't have an engine guard, get it an engine guard - they keep pretty much the whole bike off the ground in a tip-over. nsaP posted:http://msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm?spl=2&action=display&pagename=Library thylacine posted:Buy/check out from the library/etc this (Street Smarts v1-3): Thanks guys! Hopefully in the next week or two I'll be able to go parking lot puttering on my roommate's bike, it's just been blustery cold rain the past week or so. I can't wait to be on two wheels, it's rapidly becoming an obsession.
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Feb 12, 2013 01:08
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n8r posted:You need to do something like this: Thanks -- I've heard that general procedure described before, but seeing it laid out like that is helpful. When I rebuilt the bike the first time I just took the settings (fuel screw 1.5-1.75 turns out) from the shop manual, and those seemed to be pretty spot-on, but I like the idea of actually tuning it juuuuust right.
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Feb 12, 2013 02:02
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A really obvious question, but my first bike was a 2-stroke where you had to mix the oil in the with the has as you fueled: when I'm checking the oil on my XLR250 (4 stroke), it's normal for there to be a lot more oil on the bottom as it flows down the dipstick, and just a little that comes off on the rag near the top? Or am I reading a false positive and need to add more oil? It burns a fair amount of oil and the PO advised me to check it after every ride.
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Feb 12, 2013 06:49
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Normal. Pesky gravity. It'll be bubbled up at the bottom and thins as it goes up the dipstick, but it should still be a the right height to read it right after you take it out.
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Feb 12, 2013 06:56
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Pompous Rhombus posted:A really obvious question, but my first bike was a 2-stroke where you had to mix the oil in the with the has as you fueled: when I'm checking the oil on my XLR250 (4 stroke), it's normal for there to be a lot more oil on the bottom as it flows down the dipstick, and just a little that comes off on the rag near the top? Or am I reading a false positive and need to add more oil? It burns a fair amount of oil and the PO advised me to check it after every ride. Also remember to check the oil with the bike upright, not on the stand. That's how a hornet 900 swallows 4 liters of oil without being even half full...
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Feb 12, 2013 10:03
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Slavvy posted:Also remember to check the oil with the bike upright, not on the stand. That's how a hornet 900 swallows 4 liters of oil without being even half full... Yeah, he mentioned that, so I leaned it up against a post. nsaP posted:Normal. Pesky gravity. It'll be bubbled up at the bottom and thins as it goes up the dipstick, but it should still be a the right height to read it right after you take it out. Cool, thanks!
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Feb 12, 2013 11:26
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Slavvy posted:Also remember to check the oil with the bike upright, not on the stand. That's how a hornet 900 swallows 4 liters of oil without being even half full... Not true for all models. Best to check the manual.
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Feb 12, 2013 17:11
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clutchpuck posted:Not true for all models. Best to check the manual. It'd be all in moonspeak, if I had it  Took the bike out for a quick hoon before work this morning (today's my work-from-home day, woo) and checked it when I got back, lookin' good. Thanks thread!
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Feb 13, 2013 00:59
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Help me diagnose this stupid squeaky chattering please. 1. It happens when the bike is rolling. 2. It's not the engine; I can kill it and it still happens as I coast along. 3. It sounds like it's coming from the front end somewhere(but maybe not) and I might feel it vibrate through the handlebars, but it's probably my imagination. 4. The front wheel bearings feel nice and smooth and good. 5. It it the chain?  Share with me your wisdoms.
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Feb 13, 2013 04:32
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Legerdemain posted:Help me diagnose this stupid squeaky chattering please. Probably. The only squeaking noise I heard in your clip seemed to vary with engine speed. If you could make a recording while coasting, that might be better. Oil your chain and see what happens.
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Feb 13, 2013 04:52
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How do you guys get an engine looking nice and clean/shiny? My 79 Honda isn't filthy, but it's a little rough and a little dirty. I guess WD-40 should help get random oil off, but what about getting some nice looking cooling fins? Wire brush?
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Feb 13, 2013 05:01
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You don't actually want to polish the fins until they're shiny. Shiny means the surface is smooth, which means it has less surface area, which means it doesn't cool as effectively. A nice satiny clean finish is best, and you can get that pretty quickly with nothing more than water and a scotch-brite pad.
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Feb 13, 2013 05:05
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Legerdemain posted:Help me diagnose this stupid squeaky chattering please. It kind of sounded like rubber hitting plastic intermittently to me, but tough to say with that recording and description. Something like the spinning tire occasionally coming into contact with another part of the bike? edit: after finding headphones to listen with I'm not so sure of that....weird sound.
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Feb 13, 2013 05:08
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Safety Dance posted:Probably. The only squeaking noise I heard in your clip seemed to vary with engine speed. If you could make a recording while coasting, that might be better. Here it is without the engine noise. I will say that the chain roller is a little worse for wear, with some deep grooves cut in it. But it's still rubber contacting the chain and it spins freely. I guess the chain slack could be taken in a bit. I'm going to give the entire final drive a good working over tomorrow and see if it helps. 
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Feb 13, 2013 05:56
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Legerdemain posted:Here it is without the engine noise. I will say that the chain roller is a little worse for wear, with some deep grooves cut in it. But it's still rubber contacting the chain and it spins freely. I guess the chain slack could be taken in a bit. I'm going to give the entire final drive a good working over tomorrow and see if it helps. That sounds like a really loose chain. My VFR had a completely flogged chain that flapped around like mad even with the adjuster fully tightened.
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Feb 13, 2013 06:22
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Slavvy posted:That sounds like a really loose chain. My VFR had a completely flogged chain that flapped around like mad even with the adjuster fully tightened. I thought it might be too, but it has 5 cm of play and spec says 40-50 mm. I'll tighten it up a little bit like I said. I think the thinning of the roller is letting it slap around a bit, as well, but I'm not sure it's causing the sound in question.
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Feb 13, 2013 06:39
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Legerdemain posted:I thought it might be too, but it has 5 cm of play and spec says 40-50 mm. I'll tighten it up a little bit like I said. I think the thinning of the roller is letting it slap around a bit, as well, but I'm not sure it's causing the sound in question. 50mm seems pretty high, what sort of bike are we talking here?
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Feb 13, 2013 07:24
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