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ReelBigLizard posted:Also, I need some speed bleeders How often do you guys bleed your brakes? I'm about to turn 10k miles and I've never done it.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:07
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In theory every few years to get any water that has snuck in out of the system.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:37
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I did my first two water crossings on the Hyperstrada today, who would have guessed it would be in suburban Scottsdale. Two flooded areas of Scottsdale road from the rain this morning, I probably shouldn't have taken the bike. On the upside, it was about 80 degrees instead of the 110+ it usually is.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:03
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hot sauce posted:How often do you guys bleed your brakes? I'm about to turn 10k miles and I've never done it. Once every couple years, or 20,000ish miles.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:04
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clutchpuck posted:Once every couple years, or 20,000ish miles. This period may be considerably shorter depending on local conditions, etc. It's not a bad idea to do them when you change the pads, as you're there, and as that is a fairly regular "Time to do things with my brakes!" marker. FWIW my mostly-urban, all-weather riding means it's a good idea to bleed about every 5k miles (which is about how long my pads last). There's not *much* noticeable degradation to the fluid in that time (it's more honey-coloured than syrup-coloured by that point, and the brake performance is about the same) but it'd certainly go off if I stuck to the manual's 12k miles/1 year recommendation.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:17
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hot sauce posted:How often do you guys bleed your brakes? I'm about to turn 10k miles and I've never done it. Before every trackday, any time I get the tiniest bit of fade - out of pure paranoia, or every couple months otherwise.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:28
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goddamnedtwisto posted:This period may be considerably shorter depending on local conditions, etc. It's not a bad idea to do them when you change the pads, as you're there, and as that is a fairly regular "Time to do things with my brakes!" marker. Every auto manufacturer I've seen recommends replacing fluid every 30,000km/two years. Bikes have less fluid and more exposed reservoirs so I think a year isn't unreasonable.
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Aug 19, 2014 19:55
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Since we're talking about bleeding/flushing brake lines (my rule is "when the fluid looks brown, go to town") have any of you bled/flushed an ABS equipped bike? Is this something you can do on your own, or is this like early ABS cars where you have to cycle the ABS computer to truly get things correct? I want an ABS bike, but I also want to make sure I can work on it. gently caress giving a mechanic a hundred bucks to half-rear end a job when I can just half-rear end it myself, etc. etc.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:32
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Depends on the ABS system - some need to prime on the ABS pump, others don't. The 1290, as long as you're flushing it (not completely draining the system) doesn't need a computer to cycle the ABS for you.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:48
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hot sauce posted:How often do you guys bleed your brakes? I'm about to turn 10k miles and I've never done it. 6 months to a year I guess. I'll often do them just because I happen to be doing other work on the bike. The KTM is a really basic single calliper system so it's easy to do. I like my lever stiff, not spongy. 
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Aug 20, 2014 12:39
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Dropped it  I parked it for a second maybe a meter further down the driveway than normal and the grade was just enough for the bike to roll forward in neutral and fold up the sidestand. The shame Luckily the cases were on and took 90% of the impact so the casualties were limited to a lost peg feeler, 1/3 of my clutch lever, and some minor fairing scratches. Half the paint was ripped off the case though I guess I shouldn't complain too much, in five years of riding damage has been limited to: DRZ: 1) Driveway drop, casualty one clutch lever VFR: 2) Back yard drop pulling out of shed, casualty one clutch lever, one mirror 2) Driveway incident, casualty one clutch lever and some paint touchups I should start buying clutch levers in bulk.
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Aug 20, 2014 15:22
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Niven posted:the grade was just enough for the bike to roll forward I don't think it counts as one-upmanship if you do something twice as stupid as the next guy, but I had this happen on a well-traveled road in the middle of the day. Nice mix of panic, amazement, and luck. Panic because I didn't want it to injure anyone, and amazement at how far the thing rolled on its own. I was able catch up, sort of grab it from the left side and fight gravity just enough to keep the porcine thing from destroying itself. Might have tweaked the bars and banged up my leg in the process. Please note: This stunt happened while retrieving a $1 map case. It's only a layer dan if you're seated prior to said layer.
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Aug 21, 2014 03:04
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I left the key in the ignition until the battery died! On the up side I got to see if my portable battery jumpstart thing would work. It did!
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Aug 21, 2014 17:14
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Lexorin posted:I left the key in the ignition until the battery died! Been there done that. Battery chargers are a handy thing.
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Aug 22, 2014 02:32
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Pshaw. Bumpstart or get out.
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Aug 22, 2014 02:56
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M42 posted:Pshaw. Bumpstart or get out. I once left the grips on on my ZRX. I decided gently caress it, wasn't gonna jump-start it with my car when I've got this perfectly good steep-as-gently caress driveway. After I descended the driveway fruitlessly locking up the wheel on the wet leaves, sticks and other storm detritus from the day before, I had to trudge back up in my riding gear to get my car. I slipped and fell along the way. Then shuffle the car down, jump start, shuffle it back up, walk down. I decided it would be more efficient to do this without taking any gear off, including helmet. By the time I actually got on the bike and went to leave my face was so hot and sweaty my visor simply wouldn't de-fog.
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Aug 22, 2014 03:03
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If the battery is completely flat you're going to need a hell of a hill to bump start a bike (or a car). Usually you have power, just not enough to keep the bike electrics going while using the starter. From totally dead would mean you'd need to get the generator spinning fast enough to make the ~11-12V needed to get whatever electrics need power to kind of come alive.
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Aug 22, 2014 03:11
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And then only if you have a permanent magnet alternator. Excited winding need not apply.
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Aug 22, 2014 03:51
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EFI bikes gotta have enough juice to prime the fuel too.
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Aug 22, 2014 04:53
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Slavvy posted:I once left the grips on on my ZRX. I decided gently caress it, wasn't gonna jump-start it with my car when I've got this perfectly good steep-as-gently caress driveway. Why did you wire the grips to something that cuts power when the bike is turned off?
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Aug 22, 2014 14:23
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I once fell over on my DRZ while sitting cross legged on the seat trying to talk to someone on the phone. I should pay more attention to road crown while parking in unfamiliar places I guess. It was really funny and I even managed to nail the horn on the way down. Zeta guards and sliders saved everything. Edit: I was in first. Which just makes it better. Yerok fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Aug 22, 2014 |
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Aug 22, 2014 15:53
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All you people should stop parking in neutral. Gosh.
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Aug 22, 2014 16:20
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n8r posted:Why did you wire the grips to something that cuts power when the bike is turned off? Because I'm incredibly lazy, they came with eye terminals pre-wired into them, and I convinced myself that I'd remember to switch them off every time because they have this helpful LED that lights up to say they're on! So I just bolted them to the battery terminals and called it a day. Needless to say, I jump/bump started that bike many, many times.
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Aug 22, 2014 22:47
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I got a thing for them to go in.
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Aug 26, 2014 05:58
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Replaced the front fluid, bled the lines, and cleaned the whole front caliper assembly. Took forever, but it wasn't too difficult. It was the first time I've done it in the more than a year I've had the bike, and the junk in there attested to all of the POs never doing it either.
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Aug 26, 2014 06:07
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Replaced the handlebar risers, removed old handlebar mounted speedo, replaced broken console mounted speedo, replaced front foot pegs, and gear shift/front break peg, replaced the semi busted switch, short circuited the bike, got stuck in the middle of the road on the way to work, took the console apart, found the short circuit, fixed it with a piece of bubblegum (I kid you not) and went on to the office. Guess I will have to work a bit more on that short circuit 
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Aug 26, 2014 09:55
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Been painting the cover panels off the Goldwing: Wet sanding after each coat, probably going to do one more color coat, polish, then do a couple layers of clear.
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Aug 27, 2014 22:09
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And then: wizard riding a dragon airbrush.
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Aug 27, 2014 23:03
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Finally fixed the rattling clutch handle. It's amazing what a difference that little piece of plastic makes.
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Aug 28, 2014 10:29
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Slavvy posted:And then: wizard riding a dragon airbrush. Seconded. Wait, what about a wizard fighting a dragon? Also the wizards staff is a massive bong.
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Aug 28, 2014 12:38
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HotCanadianChick posted:Been painting the cover panels off the Goldwing: What kind of paint?
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Aug 28, 2014 15:32
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Before:  After:  Now, if anyone in the phoenix area needs to borrow a carbtune, I've got one on tap.
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Aug 28, 2014 22:58
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clutchpuck posted:What kind of paint? Only the finest Ford Sonic Blue Mica rattlecans from Autozone. 
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Aug 29, 2014 00:21
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Lacquer? When I sprayed my plastics with acrylic enamel, I didn't need to sand between coats. Just piled up a few color coats and like twice as much clear coats than I figured I'd need, let it dry a day, wet sanded it down, and polished. The reason I asked was to suggest using more clear than you think you'll need.
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Aug 29, 2014 00:37
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Geirskogul posted:Before: Carbtune buddies 
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Aug 29, 2014 04:33
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I replaced this With this  (Pilot Road 3 to Pilot Road 4) I actually replaced both front and back. The rear had lots of tread left but the front was close to needing replacement anyway. Three years and 23000 km on the old tires.
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Aug 29, 2014 11:40
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I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how they compare. What do you ride?
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Aug 29, 2014 14:20
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The bike is a 2007 FZ6n S2. I'll post some first impressions in a couple of days but the comparison will be sort of biased by the fact that the old rear tire have had a pronounced flat spot for the last 5000 km and felt really wobbly at certain lean angles.
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Aug 29, 2014 17:42
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slidebite posted:I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how they compare. What do you ride? I went from a bike with new PR3's to a new PR4 on my next bike. They feel pretty much the same, except the PR4 seems to be slightly sharper and less sluggish on turn-in. But different bikes, so who knows.
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Aug 29, 2014 23:49
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Pretty tough to improve the PR3, great tires as they were, mine were worn after about 12000 miles on the VFR, replaced them both with PR4s, they feel mostly the same, Michelin claims a bit better mileage outta them. I think my Pirelli Angel was pretty worn on the rear of my BMW...  Front Angel was still in good shape, so I only replaced the rear with a new Angel GT, normally I would've gone with the Michelins but didn't really want to mix up tire makes/models, I normally don't buy Pirelli.  
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Aug 30, 2014 01:44
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