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cursedshitbox posted:stick it in second gear. if it jumps, run the gently caress away. Why is this out of curiousity?
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Jan 19, 2015 03:26
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Some years of R6s had semi weak dogs on second gear and mad tyte stunting would tear them up a bit faster than other bikes. I didn't even think to ask about service history. I thought I was the only person beside BMW greybeards who kept service records. I haven't had to shop for a bike in forever that wasn't obviously beat to death (what I usually buy). This 'second hand but in nice shape' vehicle shopping is totally new to me. I do recon used Porsches at work so have a sharp eyeball when it comes to paint work or screws and fasteners that have been on and off in places where they shouldn't ever need to be removed unless there's been repairs in that area. VVV: I'll go give it a look and if it seems at all dodgy I'll pass. I plan on doing track days with it so if it's been beat before it's not in for an easier life with me, aside from actually getting regular maintenance. Bugdrvr fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Jan 19, 2015 |
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Jan 19, 2015 03:39
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I have no idea what just happened to my bike but it freaked me the gently caress out. doing about 40, started feeling vibration like I was going over that stepped concrete (the stuff you get on the approaches to some junctions to wake drivers up - imagine corduroy with a pitch of about an inch), and had to increase throttle to maintain speed. My first thought was "oh gently caress, engine's dying" and next twenty thoughts were "oh gently caress this is the worst possible place for it to happen" - it was at the lowest point of a tunnel with no hard shoulder and blind bends. This is almost 100% bearings - either you had a wheel bearing go to poo poo. Pop the wheels off, feel them for clickyness. If they do anything but move smoothly and cleanly with little resistance, you need to replace them. You can also look for weird wear patterns on the axle, in case the bearing seized and was spinning the race on the axle, rather than doing the bearing things it usually should. On that R6 - 40k is pretty high mileage, but if the bike was well cared for, it should be OK - either way, you'll know in about 10k, as under heavy abuse typical of a squid owner, the engine will blow at 40-50k. Basically it'll either do 50k or 150k.
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Jan 19, 2015 05:49
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For some reason the ninja 250 thread is locked so hopefully this doesnt get lost in this one which moves a lot faster. While taking the car out to get groceries i saw a guy obviously struggling on a ninja 250. looked like his first time on a bike as it kinda wobbled slowly around a turn and stopped on the side of the road. Looked like he stalled it but couldnt get it started again. I stopped to offer some help. It was in fact his first bike and he'd only ridden it twice. Second time he said it died like this and he pushed it home. I couldnt get it started and comfortably running. Eventually I told him we were killing the battery by trying, and since my apartment was just a block away, push it in there and i'd look at it where i had things like tools and a flashlight and a bike that works to jump it if necessary and the internet and a PDF of the service manual. This guy seems to be getting hosed hard by some PO bullshit. Like most 250s this thing has had a bit of a hard life. The scratches and damage from whenever it went down (on the left) really didnt look too bad though. But what really set off an alarm for me was that he had different keys for ignition and fuel/seat. The title he has matches the VIN on the frame though so it may have just been a repair after a theft or attempted theft. The mechanical issues are really puzzling though. I'm not even close to a mechanic, I'm just a guy that rides and has ridden and worked on a ninja 250 a bit and upholds the infallible revolutionary science of Marxism/Leninism and wanted to help a new rider out so his bike doesnt die in traffic and make him die. I wasnt really prepared to do a full teardown and top to bottom maintenance on some guy's PO disaster bike thats been riding for 20 minutes that I met at the side of the road but I did try to poke around a bit to try and help out. He said the PO claimed it had been sitting since summer. I saw some rust flakes in the tank. At first I thought AHA, all problems explained by some particles getting into the carb jets! Then I noticed PO had installed an inline fuel filter. I would think that would prevent that from happening. The bike needed full choke to start, even while completely warmed up. On full choke the bike would run around 7k RPM, I only remember mine getting to the 4-5 range on choke. The bike would usually sputter and die if I opened the throttle. But not always. If I had it at a decent idle for the moment and opened the throttle, sometimes it would race a bit and sometimes it would not rev at all, it would just drop RPM and die. If it did rev up, it didn't rev back down again quickly, it kinda ambled back down to idle, or to maybe 3k sometimes, like it was a sulking kid that didnt want to go along. Sometimes it would drop to whatever in the 1500 range i was able to get it to idle at for the moment, sometimes it would ease on down and decide that 3-4k was cool enough and gently caress you. If I raised the RPM using the choke it would do the same thing when i eased it off. The throttle seemed to open and snap shut sharply, exactly as you would expect. Somehow even with the throttle closed and the choke off the bike still held higher RPM and slowly revved down. I was never really able to get it to idle at a stable point. It almost always wandered. Now here's the fun one. At one point I did get it started and idling something reasonable around 1500. Turned the handlebars each way to check cable routing/tightness, no wander, good. Leaned the bike left with handlebars straight, idle increases to about 2k. Lean the bike right and idle drops to 1k. At one point when it was running OK-ish i tried to do a test ride around the block. The bike would not rev out. WFO in second and it stopped about 9krpm. Coming back, WFO in first, same thing, ran straight up to 9k, grumbled a bit, twitched up to 10 and kinda held there, seemed like it maybe was thinking of going higher but didnt. Eventually all the trying to get the bike started wore the battery down to where it wouldnt even try, I tested it out to like 11.5 but thats not unexpected since it had just been cranking the bike over and over again. I jumped it off my ninja 650, started fine. When I got it running I tried to ride it back to his place and it was sorta working but as soon as I let RPM drop because I was making a right turn, it stalled out and wouldnt start again. Walked it to his place and I offered to help really dig into it later. He still needs to take the MSF and get licensed and it registered anyway. I dumped a few shots of seafoam in his tank and explained the italian tuneup theory but the bike honestly can't even stay running long enough to pull that stuff through the fuel hoses. The Odometer in the instrument cluster on the bike showed 12k. I make no assumptions that is the odo that was attached when the bike was built. I do assume naturally that the maintenance done since then has consisted of nothing but an alleged oil change by the PO, although the tires were newerish, they looked like '12 vintage and it was a first gen ninjette. OK so Fuel, Air, Spark. Spark...The bike started, the lights all seemed in good enough order, the battery was a tad low when I put the multimeter to it but thats kinda expected after sitting there trying to start it over and over again. Both cylinders definitely firing any time it did get started, vapor coming out both pipes. I did not pull his plugs. Guessing they were never done. I may replace them for him if I go look at it again. Air...it's a carbed bike, the air filter didnt look bad at all. Dry but not dirty. Nothing crazy like pod filters or removing the airbox. Fuel...OK so once I took the seat off to start getting a look at Things, things Got Interesting. - First of all none of the fuel tank bolts were even finger tight, they were all loose. - second, one of the 3 (vent/vapor) hoses (CA model apparently) coming out of the tank had a hole in it. Another one seemed wet with gasoline on the outside. I cut them down so there were no holes leaking gasoline fumes and vent/vacuum/whatever into the battery and air box, but this did not appear to remedy anything - In retrospect after looking at the hose diagram on ninja250.org, i'm not convinced they were routed properly. http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Hose_routing_for_California_emissions/3_line_fuel_tanks I think the rightmost one went to the atmosphere, i think the left 2 both went into the top of the can but this is from memory and I'll have to look again to be sure. My main theories right now are: Dead battery that can be charged up enough to start the bike. Bad battery may explain why problems are intermittent and kinda random. This could also possibly explain the idle changing when the bike leaned, maybe fluid sloshing in the battery i don't even know wtf basically gently caress electricity. Vent hoses to the gas tank possibly switched around or misrouted somehow causing some pressure weirdness? poo poo in the carb jets Probably needs new plugs but the bike can be started and run so idk if this is really the root of it. What else would cause a bike to be difficult but possible to start, idle to wander drunkenly, randomly die instead of revving at all with the application of throttle, vary idle by leaning with no other input, and randomly drop dead?
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Jan 20, 2015 08:54
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That is a hell of a megapost but I would tend to say it's all in the carbs. Needing full choke to run -- clogged pilot jets. No fuel is getting through unless you deliberately enrich it with the choke. Stalling out when you open the throttle -- PO tried to fix the clogged pilots by messing with the mixture and idle screws, so now it's running mega rich (check the plugs to be sure). Open the throttle and it richens out so far that it dies. Random idle and stalling -- the idle screw is set wrong and the bike is idling on fuel leaked by the butterfly. Because this is less precise than the pilot jet, it's unstable. Idle varies when tilting the bike back and forth -- bizarre as hell, but it almost certainly has to do with fuel delivery. Something's clogged when it should be open, or open when it should be sealed, and the mixture is changing as the fuel moves around and various little pipes get exposed to the air or whatever. Also, take out the inline filter because I hear those are bad for delivery. Consider that you only have like four or five inches of fuel under gravity providing all of the pressure in your fuel system -- anything in the line that interferes with the flow could cause fueling issues lower down. There should be a mesh filter in the petcock that is all the filtering you need...if that's repeatedly getting clogged with rust flakes, you need to remove and clean the whole tank. Charging the battery and replacing the spark plugs couldn't hurt, but given that both cylinders fire and the other electricals work (the headlight isn't mega dim or anything, is it?) it sounds more like a fuel thing to me. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 09:20 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 09:16
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Sagebrush posted:That is a hell of a megapost but I would tend to say it's all in the carbs. Sage covered everything perfectly. All I can think to add is about the bolded part: float levels all hosed up yo.
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Jan 20, 2015 09:52
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The idle changing is probably the throttle cables being overly tight.
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Jan 20, 2015 14:37
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Thanks. My main line of thinking had been that it was carbs and specifically plugged jets because of the rust spotting but with it being random and inconsistent, that just made me think electrical because that stuff is just wizard magic. At least pulling the carbs on a ninja 250 is fun and cool and easy and not an exercise in trying to remember how many languages I can remember profanity in. I was messing with the idle screw trying to get it to a right level but it just wouldnt stay where I wanted it. The carb should have the mixture screw sealed but its possible to drill it out to adjust it. I'm guessing then, that whatever is blocking it is big enough that it moves around causing the problems to vary, partially disappear or show up in weird ways. I'm inclined to leave to leave the filter on if I can get the carb cleaned out, just as a band-aid. If he wants to deal with cleaning out the tank he's welcome to it. The underside of the filler flap also had some corrosion. The throttle didnt feel tight, the movement felt good and when I was leaning the bike I was holding the bars straight. didnt change while turning the bar, at all. My old 250 I did pinch one of the cables under the gas tank and it would change when turned left until I fixed that.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:21
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Agreed w/sage. Carbs super nasty inside, idle/fuel mix/sync screws all hosed up. Bet the floats are at different heights, too. Poor lil ninja
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Jan 20, 2015 16:29
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What are the other avenues for selling a bike I may be missing besides CL, ebay, Cycle Trader and model-specific forums? Edit: vvv Sorry in the U.S. Springfield Fatts fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 19:48
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http://kijiji.ca is great if you live in or near an igloo 
epswing fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 19:54
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Springfield Fatts posted:What are the other avenues for selling a bike I may be missing besides CL, ebay, Cycle Trader and model-specific forums? Grocery store billboard, and some local motorcycle shops let you post things for the hyper-local market. If it's a Harley you can carve your number in a truckstop bathroom stall.
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Jan 20, 2015 21:25
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How much chain slack is too much? How much is too little? I ask this because every time I set the tension on my NT650, I use the gauge and set it at the tightest it's supposed to be according to the manual, but it always feels too loose. There's nearly two inches of up-and down slack at the loosest part, and the bottom run of the chain is always sliding along the center-stand mounts and leaving a buildup of oil and dirt. The top run is also loose enough that it rides along the top of the swingarm, but there's a rubber piece there clearly designed to have the chain running along it, so maybe that's intentional. Furthermore, I always feel a little jerk when I transition to engine braking and the slack is taken up. Is this normal? You can see at the beginning of this video how the chain looks on my bike -- it clearly does the same thing where it exits the front sprocket at one angle, then bends around the center stand mount and goes to the rear sprocket at a steeper angle. This guy makes it pretty clear that the intention is to set the tension so that it never binds even with full compression, but given that I don't want to take off the wheel and disassemble the suspension, his method doesn't really help me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPI11B_f8mg Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 23:30
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My gs500 does the same thing. My center stand looks like a coprophagists dream. You do want some chain slack but not enough that it will come off the sprockets. Too tight of a chain will put too much pressure on the output shaft bearings and other nice parts that you don't want to get bent.
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Jan 20, 2015 23:44
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On my DT, I used ratchet straps to compress the suspension. Also, you probably don't necessarily want to do it at full compression - you just want it where the axle is furthest from the pulley.
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Jan 21, 2015 00:17
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Sagebrush posted:How much chain slack is too much? How much is too little? What I do is have it slack enough that if I pull the bottom run as far upwards toward the swingarm as I can, it only just touches the rubbing pad on the underside of the swingarm. That way you have enough slack to account for travel but not so much that your shifts are all fucky.
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Jan 21, 2015 00:40
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Sagebrush posted:How much chain slack is too much? How much is too little? Slacker is better than too tight, and almost all old bikes have some degree of driveline lash. Comedy question: Did you replace the cush drives?  Also what do you want to do with your CL350, I realized the carbs are probably clogged now, sigh. Slavvy posted:What I do is have it slack enough that if I pull the bottom run as far upwards toward the swingarm as I can, it only just touches the rubbing pad on the underside of the swingarm. That way you have enough slack to account for travel but not so much that your shifts are all fucky. If this is enough is going to vary depending on the bike.
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Jan 21, 2015 00:44
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The theoretical ideal way to do it is to compress the suspension so that the axes of the two sprockets and swingarm pivot are all in a straight line, which is where the chain will be tightest, then adjust the chain so it's just barely less than taut at that point.
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Jan 21, 2015 03:34
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Z3n posted:This is almost 100% bearings - either you had a wheel bearing go to poo poo. Pop the wheels off, feel them for clickyness. If they do anything but move smoothly and cleanly with little resistance, you need to replace them. You can also look for weird wear patterns on the axle, in case the bearing seized and was spinning the race on the axle, rather than doing the bearing things it usually should. Thanks for the reply but it turns out it was actually just the brakes. The right outside caliper was jamming full on thanks to crap building up on the dust seals and oxidation in the calipers - the mechanic wasn't sure what might have been causing the vibes but thought it might have been the disk reaching the limit of its travel, until the pad material wore away enough to free it. Certainly the bearings are fine and he couldn't find any other issues elsewhere on the front of the bike. As a precaution he stripped and cleaned both calipers and replaced all the dust seals (which, helpfully, Aprilia don't sell as spares, but he put some generic ones on) - of the 8 pistons 3 were sticking slightly and 2 were jammed solid so that's a decision I'm happy with. It's amazing and worrying how much better the brakes feel now, and makes me realise just how bad things can get without noticing if they happen slowly enough. Also of course one of the pads is now glazed to gently caress, he roughed it up a bit but advised me to heat-cycle it ASAP, so that's my weekend sorted.
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Jan 21, 2015 08:36
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Thanks for the reply but it turns out it was actually just the brakes. The right outside caliper was jamming full on thanks to crap building up on the dust seals and oxidation in the calipers - the mechanic wasn't sure what might have been causing the vibes but thought it might have been the disk reaching the limit of its travel, until the pad material wore away enough to free it. Certainly the bearings are fine and he couldn't find any other issues elsewhere on the front of the bike. Well, I'm glad you got it sorted. I see frozen brakes so rarely out here (weather's good, no salt) that it's not exactly near the top of my troubleshooting list 
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Jan 21, 2015 20:20
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Z3n posted:Well, I'm glad you got it sorted. I see frozen brakes so rarely out here (weather's good, no salt) that it's not exactly near the top of my troubleshooting list I'll be honest it was my first thought too - I've had seized brakes before but they'd never felt like that. Ho hum, such is life. Or a I've already mentioned the owner of the garage I used told me "I love you guys who ride Italian bikes through the winter, you're paying for my mansion in Poland".
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Jan 21, 2015 22:00
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Sagebrush posted:Idle varies when tilting the bike back and forth -- bizarre as hell, but it almost certainly has to do with fuel delivery. Something's clogged when it should be open, or open when it should be sealed, and the mixture is changing as the fuel moves around and various little pipes get exposed to the air or whatever. The rubber carb boots could be leaking air.
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Jan 23, 2015 04:23
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Schroeder91 posted:I was lubing my chain and noticed a small rubber ring coming out of the master link. I pulled it out because it was obviously torn, but I've never seen this before. The chain only has a couple thousand on it. Don't recall what kind of chain it is, bought and installed at shop. I lube and clean every couple hundred miles. Is this a big problem? The chain feels fine. Probably the shop slightly over-peened the rivet and it was too tight on the o-ring, squeezing it out. Getting the right level of peen on the rivets of the master is something that takes a little finesse, you basically creep up on it, tightening the tool until it has roughly the same resistance as the other links. Maybe they palmed it off to the Saturday boy. It's why my positive terminal cover looks like a dog chewed it  peen.
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Jan 23, 2015 14:32
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my Honda is watercooled, is it normal that the radiator fan doesn't kick on until the temp gauge reads pretty high? When I'm moving, the thermostat is clearly open earlier, pegging the temp gauge at the high side of the indentation (see picture, if that makes sense), but if i'm in stop and go, or idleing, the temp will rise up near the "H" marker before kicking in. It does seem to cool it down easily once it's on fwiw. pic of where the fan kicks in: 
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Jan 25, 2015 03:45
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Totally normal.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:09
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The fan on my Yamaha doesn't kick in until it hits 215 F or so and turns off once it gets down to around 190 F. It's pretty normal.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:25
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Yeah, that's correct. It's still well within' normal operating temperature there.
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Jan 25, 2015 06:20
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Thanks, wasn't used to it, in every auto I've been in, temp gauge just pegs at "middle." Probably a fake reading just to keep me happy
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Jan 25, 2015 12:41
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Question from a friend - his Striple is pulling to the right under braking. I'm fairly sure this is a psychosomatic thing because the only thing I can think of that would cause that on a bike is really gross damage to the suspension or head bearings but he's had it from new and it's never so much as been dropped. Any thoughts?
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Jan 25, 2015 14:11
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Question from a friend - his Striple is pulling to the right under braking. I'm fairly sure this is a psychosomatic thing because the only thing I can think of that would cause that on a bike is really gross damage to the suspension or head bearings but he's had it from new and it's never so much as been dropped. Any thoughts? Rear wheel out of alignment maybe? It would be pulling without braking as well, but maybe braking makes it more apparent.
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Jan 25, 2015 14:37
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Sticking right brake is an option. Ride a bit, brake a bit, and touch the rotors. If your skin sticks to it when you remove your hand, you might need medical attention and a good cleaning of the caliper.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:27
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KARMA! posted:Sticking right brake is an option. Ride a bit, brake a bit, and touch the rotors. If your skin sticks to it when you remove your hand, you might need medical attention and a good cleaning of the caliper. Braking a single side of a double disc won't turn the forks, will it? Otherwise all single disc bikes would pull to one side.
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Jan 25, 2015 16:58
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Ola posted:Braking a single side of a double disc won't turn the forks, will it? Otherwise all single disc bikes would pull to one side. Correct. What's the last thing that was worked on on the bike? I'd start there.
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Jan 25, 2015 17:56
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HotCanadianChick posted:The fan on my Yamaha doesn't kick in until it hits 215 F or so and turns off once it gets down to around 190 F. It's pretty normal.
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Jan 25, 2015 18:07
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Z3n posted:Correct. What's the last thing that was worked on on the bike? I'd start there. Yeah, I literally just had a stuck right brake and all that happened was the bike was slower (and vibrated a bit) - he asked me about it because of this. He doesn't work on the bike himself at all apart from bolting ridiculous lights to it, I'm going to suggest he check his tyre pressures and then bring it round to me to see if I can feel it.
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Jan 25, 2015 18:37
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Low-Pass Filter posted:Thanks, wasn't used to it, in every auto I've been in, temp gauge just pegs at "middle." Probably a fake reading just to keep me happy Cars usually have 90 degrees or thereabouts at the middle of the gauge because they're able to regulate the engine temp much more accurately than a bike. Bikes have really broad operating ranges because the engine is exposed to so much airflow at speed, as well as having more 'honest' gauges because bike people care a lot more about what the engine is doing than the majority of car owners. I don't get why every oil cooled bike I've seen had no oil pressure light. Ola posted:Braking a single side of a double disc won't turn the forks, will it? Otherwise all single disc bikes would pull to one side. Isn't the entire purpose of the ZTL brake to stop the pull to one side you normally get with a single front brake? The issue in question sounds a lot more like something fucky with the forks or alignment though.
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Jan 25, 2015 21:24
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I was going to suggest maybe exaggerated road crowning but as you're in the UK the pull would be to the other side, yeah? I'd say the problem is probably between the ears but I'd still give it a ride and see.
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Jan 25, 2015 21:38
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Slavvy posted:Isn't the entire purpose of the ZTL brake to stop the pull to one side you normally get with a single front brake? Nah it's to save weight by making the load path from the brake disc to the ground shorter.
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Jan 25, 2015 22:46
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passed my endorsement test today, holy poo poo that was easy. they had to send one lady away because she kept panicking and was clearly just not comfortable on the bike at all. She was super sweet, but it was clear that her husband pressured her into taking the class (both around 70 AFAIK). HOPEFULLY she won't be on some big dumb harley anyways soon. Rode by dad bike as a celebration until I get my official new license, and a whine developed in what sounds like the speedo cable. IS this something that needs to be fixed immediately, or can I live with it for a week or so? SO GLAD I got into this, so much goddamn fun.
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Jan 25, 2015 22:51
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The speedo whine is a simple fix. If you wear earplugs while riding you won't hear all of the weird sounds that bikes make, then you won't worry about them. Seriously...if it's really bad then check it out, but if it seems 'a bit louder than normal' or something to that effect, it's probably in your head. I still freak out about weird smells on the road, from other vehicles, that have nothing to do with my bike. Also if you chill on IRC irc.synirc.net #bieks
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Jan 25, 2015 23:01
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