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I hope you don't like that plate...going to rattle itself to pieces pretty quickly mounted like that. I had two plates vibrate themselves apart (not the bolts loosen) on my DRZ with the plate mounted like that.
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Feb 22, 2013 16:15
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If you use a backing plate it would be OK
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Feb 22, 2013 16:53
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nsaP posted:Haha...nice dude. You, your buddy, and I had the same experience with the light... I'm sure he bought it from dev_usc. I made the same mistake busting plastic, the plastic pieces on the light housing are tender as hell. I busted the mount points for the aiming bracket as well. And fixed them with epoxy, just like you. It's worked out so far. The kit was alright and with a bit more warning and instruction it would have been easy, but I spend some time sorting it out. He definitely torqued the screw down--he's a huge dude who doesn't know his own strength. He also has money to throw around so he didn't care, and he's already traded the FZ6 in on a 'Busa. I'm just glad he didn't start with that pig. I was pretty happy to get rid of the crappy Acerbis dual foglight of dimness that I had. Every screw I take out, I loctite on this thing. The loctite in the chapstick tube is God's gift to supermoto. I'll definitely keep an eye on the tag, I was already thinking about a backing plate anyway. I've already drilled two extra holes in the tag, I guess another wouldn't hurt. I have enough scrap aluminum to make one, I think.
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Feb 22, 2013 17:10
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I hosed up the thread on my rear caliper when reinstalling it the other week. This lead to it being barely a mm off, but the disc would rub on the pads, so I had to pull it. Searching, and cursing my stupidity, for a $250 part, I found a used, '06 caliper for $20. Got it in the mail yesterday. Cleaned it up, inhaled my daily dose of fumes, replaced the rusted, crumbling apart pads, installed the caliper and flushed the brake fluid. Huzzah. I really need to buy an 8mm wrench for easier bleeding.
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Feb 22, 2013 19:36
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Made some progress on the GSX250F today after work. Drained tank, drained oil, cleaned carbs, started tested, fuel pump tested. Tomorrow it gets new oil and filter, plugs, new battery cables (PO  ) and some fresh gas then I see if I can make it run.I've had some back bikes as far as previous owners having mix n' match fasteners but holy poo poo this thing has some bad ones. No two bolts for the fairings match. Instead of buying a motorcycle battery he extended the battery cables with speaker wire and had a car battery in the storage area.
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Feb 23, 2013 02:34
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Wow that's pretty bad. My PO used blue rtv to shore up chafed cables and I thought that was annoying.
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Feb 23, 2013 03:01
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New (iridium) spark plugs on the VTR250. They were "still okay" when I got the bike serviced last, but given that they appeared to have been tightened with a rattlegun, I think the plan might have been to keep them in there long enough to prevent me from actually finding out their condition. Also adjusted the idle back up to 1100RPM. Not sure why the hell the shop decided to drop it to like 800, but at least now it doesn't die at zero throttle when the clutch is in.
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Feb 23, 2013 06:02
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NitroSpazzz posted:Made some progress on the GSX250F today after work. Drained tank, drained oil, cleaned carbs, started tested, fuel pump tested. Tomorrow it gets new oil and filter, plugs, new battery cables (PO HAHAHAHAAAA what? I'm genuinely amazed that this is possible. I once had a festiva with a goldwing/big BMW battery in it surrounded by blocks of wood and the wires were bolted to the terminals.
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Feb 23, 2013 07:31
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It's probably a little late in the season to fully enjoy them, but I put some oxford heated grips on the gixxer. I ordered the "sport" version with the diamond tread expecting it to be squishy like most sport grips. They are most definitely not. The inside part of the grips is hard plastic and the outside is a hard rubber. Also, if you put the grips on high for 5 minutes before you install them, it really helps get them on easier. As far as performance, they get really warm. Too hot to hold onto with bare hands warm, so job well done! I had to dremel quite a few plastic nubs and collars off the stock throttle tube to fit the grips. What the hell Suzuki?
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Feb 24, 2013 02:08
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Blew up the engine. gently caress my life.
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Feb 24, 2013 07:23
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Sagebrush posted:Blew up the engine. gently caress my life. Awwww! drat Sage, I knew you'd been having issues with it. Is it something you can fix or is it fubar'd?
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Feb 24, 2013 08:35
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Bummer dude. And on your Forum Birthday.
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Feb 24, 2013 08:39
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Sagebrush posted:Blew up the engine. gently caress my life. Noooooo  I'm sorry, man.
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Feb 24, 2013 08:45
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Yeah I don't loving know what's going on. Had a blast today riding twisty mountain roads down by Lick Observatory -- ran into some friendly folks on KLRs with about the same experience level as me and followed them along. By the end of it, the valve noise was getting louder and quieter over and over again so I decided to go home. Halfway across the bridge (30 miles from home) got a sudden loss of power, then it came back. Then lost again 10 minutes later, and it didn't come back. Pulled over and the engine died, found an oil slick all down the right side of the bike and spraying onto the rear tire (jesus), white smoke pouring out of the crankcase breather tube. Surrounded by smoke, I called AAA and they said that if I was in a car, I could have gotten a tow, but since I was on a motorcycle I could only get a locksmith or a can of gas  Let the bike cool off, wiped off some oil, and managed to get it restarted, still massive loss of power like it's only running on one cylinder. Figured I'm going to need to rebuild it anyway so I took a deep breath and rode the thirty miles home at twenty miles an hour trailing smoke the whole way, and miraculously made it.Four weekends in a row I've fixed one problem after another only to have yet another one pop up. I'm done with this for a while, I think. And let it be a lesson that if something doesn't sound quite right, trust your first impression and don't second-guess and think "well it's probably normal and I'm just misremembering". Also, gently caress you to every car and the three motorcyclists that passed me stopped on the side of the road with smoke pouring out everywhere and my helmet behind the rear wheel and didn't even slow down. Every time I see a motorcycle stopped in a weird place I pull over just to check that everything's okay -- even once earlier today on the twisties -- but apparently no one passes it on. Ugh.
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Feb 24, 2013 09:06
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For what it's worth, best case is that it's just the funny valve adjuster I was having trouble with last weekend worked itself loose and quit opening the (intake) valve, and that cylinder stopped firing. Then all that I need to do is open up the head and replace the eccentric, check all the valves again and it should be working again. Worst case I guess I blew up something in the right cylinder and it'll need anything from replacement parts to a complete overbore and rebuild.
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Feb 24, 2013 09:09
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In the future, just say you're in a car and when the tow truck gets there just slip him $20 and he'll usually do it. That sucks though, dude.
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Feb 24, 2013 09:58
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That sucks man, and I know it can really damage your faith in riding an older motorcycle. Long story short after a string of annoying, yet minor, issues one of my carb membranes randomly failed and I had to get a tow. While waiting (safely in the breakdown lane), one nice dude on an old inline 4 bmw stopped to ask me if I was ok but a lot of cars actually honked at me.
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Feb 24, 2013 11:49
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Why on earth after it starts dying do you keep riding it? That's pretty dumb.
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Feb 24, 2013 16:10
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Sagebrush posted:Blew up the engine. gently caress my life. I was talking with Z3n about your mechanical woes on Monday and he said, "Poor guy. His bike is probably hosed and he doesn't know it yet." Edit: I say that in the best humor. Sorry to hear that your bike died, but it really sounded like its time had come. MotoMind fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Feb 24, 2013 17:38
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n8r posted:Why on earth after it starts dying do you keep riding it? That's pretty dumb. Because it started to lose power in spurts right in the middle of this thing, which is kind of a lovely loving place to stop on the side of the road  And then power came back and I made it another ten miles, and when it started to die again I did stop. I rode home on one cylinder on empty residential streets because AAA refused to tow and it was 10pm and I made the logical decision that I had tried literally everything to fix the valve noise except tearing apart the engine, so a rebuild was in my future regardless of what I did. If it died on the way back at least I'd be closer to home. Prick. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Feb 24, 2013 18:08
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Echoing the above, tell AAA your car died and request a flatbed, its up to the driver, either way its a mootmoot point now, but yeah. Also, for $50 a year or whatever AMA offers roadside assistance with 100 mile tows.
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Feb 24, 2013 19:06
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Yeah, to officially get bike tows on AAA you have to buy the RV+bike+boat+truck+poo poo package which is like double the price. Because people commuting on ninja 250s are obviously loving rich like people with $100,000 RVs towing Jeeps so they should have the same coverage package.
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Feb 24, 2013 19:21
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That is a really goofy policy. I can't believe they don't offer a la carte pricing, who the gently caress has /all/ those things vs maybe one or two of them. Why is it any more expensive for them to cover your motorcycle AND your car, its not like you could be physically using both at the same time.
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Feb 24, 2013 23:10
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Good reason to have an AMA membership.
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Feb 24, 2013 23:15
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Which is why I don't have AAA anymore. But Progressive (on my Subaru) and GEICO (on my motorcycle) will both tow my motorcycle up to 60 miles. I think I pay $15/year for the privilege on each policy. I'd say it is worth it.
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Feb 24, 2013 23:16
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Took the engine out of the frame. Nice to have a unit-construction non-stressed-member engine that only weighs about 100lbs -- take off all the extraneous pieces, undo eight bolts and pop, you have a rolling frame and a nicely encapsulated motor that you can heft around pretty easily by yourself. There's no compression on the left cylinder (the right one, which was making the funny valve noise, still pops my finger off just as powerfully as it used to -- weird) and there are tiny bits of aluminum powder in the bottom of the oil. The head looks perfectly fine, actually, so I guess I blew up a piston. Haven't dug any further yet to figure out exactly what the damage is. Looks like I'll be off the roads for a month or so (hopefully not too much longer) while I figure out how to repair and rebuild this, but hey, always a good time to learn something new. It'll give me a chance to dig into the wiring harness and figure out why my low beam keeps burning out, and drill and install the new bars/grips/mirrors I picked up too. e: z3n, I'm probably going to need to get this bored over somewhat. Can you recommend a place in the bay area? Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Feb 24, 2013 23:35
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If they were mine I'd ship them to APE. There's probably some good biz in the bay area that can do it though...check BARF, perhaps?
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Feb 25, 2013 00:12
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Turns out replacing the oil filter on the GSX250F requires removing the exhaust or at least removing the engine mount bolts so you can slide the filter between the headers and the engine...WTF  Anyway did that, tossed in new plugs and fresh gas.Had to lay it over on some tires and pull the side cover because the starter wasn't engaging but after that it fired up with a bit of starting fluid. Once warm idles perfect and revs pretty good. Won't rev over 10.5k so I think I have some junk in the carbs that needs to be looked at. Rode it around the neighborhood a bit and it runs good but doesn't want to pull above 8k. https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=4516838731258 Not ready to ride to work yet but I'm pretty happy with it for a couple hours work Friday and a few today.
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Feb 25, 2013 01:56
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Installed some luggage, changed the engine oil and filter, and changed the final drive oil (which was the nastiest shade of grey).
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Feb 25, 2013 02:07
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Heard my SV run for the first time  It was off starter fluid, but I should be able to tool around my neighborhood tomorrow when my clutch actuator comes in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezb2U8fV8KE lol at the muffler-less burble Now I just need to cobble together the rest of the street parts I need.
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Feb 25, 2013 02:54
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AncientTV posted:Heard my SV run for the first time Be careful with the starter fluid, it can seriously mess poo poo up.
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Feb 25, 2013 04:14
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In what way? I've never heard of any specific issues concerning its use. Either way, it was just those couple ignitions, I definitely wasn't constantly spraying the poo poo in to keep it running or anything.
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Feb 25, 2013 04:20
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AncientTV posted:In what way? I've never heard of any specific issues concerning its use. It can cook pistons, it's a serious possibility if you're not very careful. I use a small squirt of WD-40 rather than starter fluid if I have to.
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Feb 25, 2013 04:24
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Ether (starter fluid) explodes violently, versus gasoline burning gently. It also does so at a much higher temperature. If an engine is on "the edge," it can ruin bearings or even bend cranks. There's a reason every post in my post history referring to starter fluid calls it "piston-killer." That being said, every post in my history is also in regards to me using it pretty much exclusively to resurrect a 1979 CB650 from the grave. I ran that engine for probably 45-60 solid minutes on pure, straight starter fluid through the airbox (in three sessions of 5-25 minutes apiece), squirting it in as the engine died. I let the engine cool in-between sessions, but doing that freed up the carburetor jets enough that I could continue tuning using gasoline, only using the starter fluid to get it started in the cold during the initial tuning period (of course, since the bike is now fixed, I don't need to use it at all anymore). That also being said, I didn't care about the engine much at the time, and it was more of an experiment to see if I could resurrect the engine, while the real thing I wanted from the bike purchase was the frame alone. So, if it did kill it, I didn't care. Since the experiment was a success and the engine revived, though, I wish I would have just dug into the carbs first instead of using starter fluid at all because of the potential damage I may have caused already that may only become apparent a few thousand miles from now.
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Feb 25, 2013 04:50
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The only engines I would hesitate to use starter fluid on is two strokes.
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Feb 25, 2013 05:02
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Nidhg00670000 posted:The only engines I would hesitate to use starter fluid on is diesels.
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Feb 25, 2013 05:49
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Sorry to hear about your cylinder, that sucks. Regarding starting fluid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU0r99fyD0U&t=201s I've always been told it was dicey to use, so this video gives me chills (the bad kind). But eventually it delivers the good kind of chills. Anyway... I made a boo boo back in December. I had been running distilled water in the Goldwing since reassembling it in August. I never got around to swapping in real coolant when the first cold snap hit. I kind of panicked and decided to just drain it and fill it up later. Turns out this didn't prevent a problem. When I started it last week it leaked coolant from the coolant tube on top of the engine. I don't see any coming from the head, just to tube on top. So I'm hoping for the best. Luckily it looks like the seals can be replaced without dropping the engine. Hopefully there's no coolant in the oil.
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Feb 25, 2013 09:42
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Huh, that's apparently common knowledge according to some Googling and these posts. I've never heard anything of the sort, but it makes sense. Color me informed.
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Feb 25, 2013 16:45
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Bought a battery for the Ulysses yesterday, took it for a ride. Still the best bike in the world. Was bummed when my ethanol-free go-to station had a "Contains up to 10% ethanol" stickers on the pumps now...
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Feb 25, 2013 18:50
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clutchpuck posted:Bought a battery for the Ulysses yesterday, took it for a ride. Still the best bike in the world. Was bummed when my ethanol-free go-to station had a "Contains up to 10% ethanol" stickers on the pumps now... The closest station to my house was an ethanol free place until a few weeks ago. Now I've got to drive a bit / go out of my way for ethanol free (I probably won't go to the hassle).
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Feb 25, 2013 19:11
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