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Failing floats or float needles will cause leaks or bad running or gas in the oil or any combination of the three, yes. If you trust the guy that worked on it, I'd go ahead and replace the floats and needles. They do often go bad at that age (early 80s?). If you know the petcock is bad too, fix or replace that. Carbs that old cannot be trusted to work well without a working petcock, even if the carbs are rebuilt.
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Mar 18, 2015 04:55
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Wizard of Smart posted:There was water in the carburetors from a rust hole in the old tank. This was fixed by taking the carbs apart and cleaning them. During this process I was told "you will need to replace your floats and needle valves." They fixed the rust hole in the old tank by rebuilding the carbs?
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Mar 18, 2015 05:09
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clutchpuck posted:They fixed the rust hole in the old tank by rebuilding the carbs? Yeah, not the part where he clearly said he replaced the tank or anything, nope. no sir.
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Mar 18, 2015 05:17
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Wizard of Smart posted:There was water in the carburetors from a rust hole in the old tank. This was fixed by taking the carbs apart and cleaning them. During this process I was told "you will need to replace your floats and needle valves." Needle valves are different than needles. They stop fuel from flowing out of the carb when the floats have reached the proper height. Needles are part of the pilot jet / needle / main jet system which regulates fuel flow to the engine. It sounds like at minimum you need to get a known good petcock and take the carbs off and inspect the floats. You should be able to see whether or not they have holes in them, but if they were full of water and they're metal floats they're probably rusted to poo poo.
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Mar 18, 2015 15:33
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What should I be looking for/budgeting if I'm a larger fellow? I'm 6 ft, 400 lbs and i've only ever sat on a (very broken) GS500 after I did a friend's fork oil and seals for him. Would most bikes need a serious suspension rework for me to ride them? I'm leaning towards an SV650 or the new yamaha SR400, are these likely to be no-go? I know the answer to this question is "lose weight, fatass", I'm working on that.
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Mar 18, 2015 18:09
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Pixelated posted:What should I be looking for/budgeting if I'm a larger fellow? I'm 6 ft, 400 lbs and i've only ever sat on a (very broken) GS500 after I did a friend's fork oil and seals for him. You'll be fine, almost every bike out there has a passenger weight limit of 425-450 lbs at least, since most bikes are designed to take a rider and one passenger. Besides, you can use the tank to rest your gunt on.
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Mar 18, 2015 18:15
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I think the SR400 is probably a no go, it's pretty gutless. Honestly, at that weight, even a goldwing is probably suitable. Also, as a previously fat, now chunky, getting more trim guy myself - http://www.dietdoctor.com/ [actual GP Doctor, free advice, free advice actually works, backed up by actual clinical data]
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Mar 18, 2015 18:17
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Pixelated posted:What should I be looking for/budgeting if I'm a larger fellow? I'm 6 ft, 400 lbs and i've only ever sat on a (very broken) GS500 after I did a friend's fork oil and seals for him. I'd be looking at Kawasaki KLR650s or BMW Funduros. Friend of mine is 6' and he looks like a grasshopper on his SV, it cannot be comfortable.
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Mar 18, 2015 18:32
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HotCanadianChick posted:You'll be fine, almost every bike out there has a passenger weight limit of 425-450 lbs at least, since most bikes are designed to take a rider and one passenger. I can assure you that a 400lb rider would likely bottom out factory SV forks just by sitting on the bike, and most bikes are hilariously under-sprung. The weight limit is just the physical amount of load the frame/tyres can take and most bikes ride like horse carts if you get near it. Your best course of action TBH is to sit on something you like the feel of, and just budget for aftermarket springs.
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Mar 18, 2015 18:54
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Yup, just respring whatever you get for your weight, ain't no thing. Dual sports are probably a good place to start if you're amenable to that.
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Mar 18, 2015 19:12
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HotCanadianChick posted:
 god drat lol
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Mar 18, 2015 19:31
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Pixelated posted:What should I be looking for/budgeting if I'm a larger fellow? I'm 6 ft, 400 lbs and i've only ever sat on a (very broken) GS500 after I did a friend's fork oil and seals for him. Wear full leather everything everywhere, no matter the heat. You'll slim down.
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Mar 18, 2015 19:46
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Chichevache posted:Wear full leather everything everywhere, no matter the heat. You'll slim down. I live in south Florida, this will be awesome. HotCanadianChick posted:Besides, you can use the tank to rest your gunt on. Gotta eke out those extra torques somehow to keep my fat rear end moving, keeping the fuel warm might help. To that end, what would be some recommended suspension options for standard/sport bikes? Lean Six Ligma fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Mar 18, 2015 |
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Mar 18, 2015 20:13
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There aren't really suspension options - you'll just purchase springs of the appropriate rate from just about anyone (race tech, ohlins, etc), and install them/have them installed.
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Mar 18, 2015 20:57
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Doing so is also extremely simple and easy if you're accustomed to working on cars.
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Mar 18, 2015 22:27
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Pixelated posted:I live in south Florida, this will be awesome. You are being a very good sport about all of this.  clutchpuck posted:Yeah, so if the bike isn't starting and you have gas in the cylinder, then the fuel is probably not being stopped when the float bowl gets full and it's running down into your cylinder. The needle valve is what stops the flow of fuel. Sometimes, those needle valves simply stick - they get a little varnished or a piece of sand makes it through your tank and into the carb. Take the butt end of a screw driver and whack the float bowl on the carburetor a few times, that can dislodge it and then everything is hunky dory again without having to open everything up. I just changed all the oil. The DRZ is meant to have between 1.7-1.9 quarts of oil in it. I emptied over a gallon of fluid from the bike, and it was not viscous. Smelled like gas. Pulled the carb and I am going to start messing with it once I pick up some nice new screwdrivers. I can post pictures later, but the inside of my carb looks spotless to me.
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Mar 18, 2015 22:34
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You want to check your needle valve (NOT the needle jet, but good thing they have similar names!) and your float level. Honestly I'd just buy a new needle/float valve kit, they are not that expensive. This is the part that stops the flow of fuel into the carb when it is full. Looks like this-ish:  That o-ring on there can wear out and leak no matter how nice condition the brass bits are in. If you have an automatic vacuum fuel valve, see if you can swap that out for a manual one and turn off the fuel when you park the bike. I've seen a broken vacuum petcock leak right down to the engine through the vacuum line. I replaced that valve with a manual one and never had that particular problem again. I also emptied about 3x the volume of "petroleum product" than it should have had. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Mar 18, 2015 |
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Mar 18, 2015 23:21
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So technique question. I've been trying to figure out the best cornering technique for twisties/track, and there seems to be a lot of conflicting evidence everywhere. Some places seem to say put weight on the inside food, some the outside, some say switch from inside to outside on the apex. Some say to jam your outside leg against the tank. Which is it? I've been trying around, inside foot seems to be the best. Switching seems like way too much work, and outside seems to destabilise the bike but lets your inside leg move around. And how much weight are you supposed to place on the peg? I'm just going of what I'd do for mountainbiking or skiing.
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Mar 18, 2015 23:37
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clutchpuck posted:You want to check your needle valve (NOT the needle jet, but good thing they have similar names!) and your float level. Honestly I'd just buy a new needle/float valve kit, they are not that expensive. This is the part that stops the flow of fuel into the carb when it is full. Manual valve. I forgot to close it when I got back from a ride in the rainstorm. My pesky neighbor was waiting outside my garage to talk and I totally forgot to shut off the petcock. That was when all this trouble first started.
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Mar 18, 2015 23:49
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I never switch my weighting mid corner and I don't really think about which foot I'm weighting. Moving your feet and locking in with your outside heel/thigh/knee is the most stable but it gets tiring quick. I do know that if you have a lot of weight on your inside foot and are over-exaggerating your body position that as you begin to drag knee often you're going to get to a point where you drag knee hard but you can't draw your knee in for more lean angle and end up running off the outside of the track.  I don't stick my knee out anymore, just kinda come off the inside of the bike, lock myself in with the outside, use screwdriver grip (allows you to get your upper body lower/looser), keep my head down/body forward, and my inside knee able to move. I don't drag knee often anymore, but when I do it's at a lot of lean angle. I was dragging kickstand last trackday before changing my suspension setup. Old pictures of me with fubar BP  (foot locked in, still too much weight on the inside foot, not moved to screwdriver grip yet)  (before when I was reaching for the knee) BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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Mar 18, 2015 23:50
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BlackMK4 posted:I never switch my weighting mid corner and I don't really think about which foot I'm weighting. Moving your feet and locking in with your outside heel/thigh/knee is the most stable but it gets tiring quick. Thanks, that's pretty helpful. It was basically what I was doing last time I was on the track. I think the main thing I need to focus on is maybe locking my knee in a bit to get some weight off the inside.
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Mar 19, 2015 00:13
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If you work on taking weight off the saddle and leaning forward, peg weighting pretty much comes naturally without thinking about it.
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Mar 19, 2015 00:18
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What's 'screwdriver grip'?
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Mar 19, 2015 00:29
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Slavvy posted:What's 'screwdriver grip'? Holding the bars on your palm rather than in your hand, i.e. the difference when using a hammer vs screwdriver. Means you have a lot more fine control on the throttle in turns and end up more relaxed.
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Mar 19, 2015 00:30
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Hi all, I received a lot of good, helpful input here when considering purchasing a motorcycle a few months back. I've since bought one, but because I'm an idiot I bought one that already had a problem. I didn't notice until I had it halfway home that the speedometer wasn't registering anything. The tachometer works just fine. No idea if it was like that during my test ride, but I can only imagine that it was and I didn't think to check. When I contacted him about it, the previous owner promised that it was working when he last rode it during the prior summer, but who knows. I'm hoping that someone here can give me some insight as to how to diagnose this. It's a 2009 Vstrom 650, if that makes any difference. The Suzuki shop manual is not particularly helpful to me in this instance, as a relative neophyte. The most complicated thing I've done to a motor vehicle in the past was change the oil and spark plugs. I'm fairly comfortable with basic hand tools from working on bicycles, though. This is what the shop manual had to say: quote:If the speedometer, odometer or trip meter does not function properly, inspect the speed sensor and connection of coupler. If the speed sensor and connection are all right, replace the meter with a new one. There's a bad, grainy picture of the coupler they mention in the manual as well, but I can't really tell where it is in relation to anything else.  After some research online, I've found just a few potential reasons for something like this, it seems like the most common thing is a problem with the wiring between the speed sensor and the display. I inspected the portions that I could see, and did find that it looks pretty messed up near where the wires come out of the sensor.  That black rubber sheath looks like it originally covered the wires all the way into the speed sensor. The wires all looked intact to my eyes, but I didn't have a great viewing angle, so I could have missed something. Is this likely to be the problem? If not, should I start taking bits off so I can trace the course of the wiring further and look for issues in it, or should I try testing the speed sensor? There's an explanation of how to do that in the manual too, which I could probably muddle through if necessary. One other thing that I know for sure is that the display does the initial sweep when I turn power on.
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Mar 19, 2015 00:33
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e: ^^^^ If the speedo does it's test sweep then the cluster probably isn't your problem. I would get a multimeter (you DO have a multimeter, don't you?) and test the sensor as per the manual. I'd also unplug the connector going to the sensor and the one on the instrument cluster and test all the wires for continuity. If the manual stipulates impedance tests or signal testing, it's worth doing it from the plug at the cluster rather than the plug closer to the sensor as this can rule out/highlight faulty wiring straight away.Barnsy posted:Holding the bars on your palm rather than in your hand, i.e. the difference when using a hammer vs screwdriver. Means you have a lot more fine control on the throttle in turns and end up more relaxed. I don't understand. My palm can't hold poo poo, my fingers do the holding. The difference between a screwdriver and a hammer is where the thumb goes; I can't imagine how I'm supposed to apply this to handlebars. e #2: vvvvvvv oh. Seems like something you can only do on a bike with clip-ons; I've seen a bunch of magazine pics with the test rider guy holding the bars in that manner and I figured it was just personal preference, I didn't realise it was something that's actually taught. Slavvy fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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Mar 19, 2015 00:38
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Holding the throttle like you hold a screwdriver, so your elbow ends up roughly in line with the bar. Good for dragging elbow, if that's your thing - like so: Weighting the inside peg will encourage the bike to slide the rear end, weighting the outside will help it hook up. I lock in with my outside knee, hang off with very little weight on the inside, and relax my inside leg so it folds up as I increase lean angle. I don't do the screwdriver grip thing cause I ride really crossed up. 
Z3n fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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Mar 19, 2015 00:38
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Ben Spies used to be a good example of that, he got his nickname from how his elbows stuck out with the way he gripped the bars. I do it sometimes because with that grip I can go WOT on the stock throttle without regripping or really lowering my arm and wrist. 
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Mar 19, 2015 00:57
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Z3n posted:I don't do the screwdriver grip thing cause I ride really crossed up. *middle finger* you too pal!
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Mar 19, 2015 01:19
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Slavvy posted:e: ^^^^ If the speedo does it's test sweep then the cluster probably isn't your problem. I would get a multimeter (you DO have a multimeter, don't you?) and test the sensor as per the manual. I'd also unplug the connector going to the sensor and the one on the instrument cluster and test all the wires for continuity. If the manual stipulates impedance tests or signal testing, it's worth doing it from the plug at the cluster rather than the plug closer to the sensor as this can rule out/highlight faulty wiring straight away. Makes sense, thanks. I think I have an old multimeter lying around from some EE classes in college, if I can't find it I'm sure I can buy a cheap one. The manual also mentions that I should connect "four 1.5 V dry cells, 10 kQ resistance" while testing. I assume I can just put four standard AA batteries in series, and probably buy a little resistor kit or something at the same place as I'd get a multimeter?
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Mar 19, 2015 02:08
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Motorcycle Questions: You DO Have a Multimeter, DON'T You?
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Mar 19, 2015 02:16
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SaNChEzZ posted:*middle finger* you too pal! Ready to Offend™
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Mar 19, 2015 02:38
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So here's a question. It's long as gently caress. 07 Suz DR650se. 80k miles. 1) Starts having problems starting, but only when the engine is warm. If it's not been run in a few hours, it starts right up, no probs. 2) finally just decides to not start. Cranks just fine, eventually smells flooded. 3) I push it to the local bike shop. 4) They say no spark, they say it's the charging system, needs a new stator. Stator gets there, stator cover gasket takes more than a month to arrive, for reasons of weather on the east coast and union poo poo at the docks in Long Beach, God only knows. 5) new stator is in, the bike has spark, but no starty. Compression is low, they adjust the valves (first valve job in 80k miles, lol), compression is (not great but) better, but still no starty. 6) They say, maybe it's the CDI box but there's no way to be sure, only thing we can do is get a new $600 cdi box/used $400 cdi box and see what loving happens. At this point they've had my god drat DR650 for 2.5 months. Are my mechanics incompetent or crooks or both? Chopsy fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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Mar 19, 2015 03:06
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trebuchet_tom posted:Makes sense, thanks. I think I have an old multimeter lying around from some EE classes in college, if I can't find it I'm sure I can buy a cheap one. The manual also mentions that I should connect "four 1.5 V dry cells, 10 kQ resistance" while testing. I assume I can just put four standard AA batteries in series, and probably buy a little resistor kit or something at the same place as I'd get a multimeter? Are you able to copy the relevant page in the manual? I'm pretty sure that's just to replicate the ~5v signal from the cluster. You should be able to get around needing to do that by just unpinning the signal wires, plugging the connector in so the power/earth wires are connected to the cluster as normal, then do your test. Nate Falls posted:At this point they've had my god drat DR650 for 2.5 months. Are my mechanics incompetent or crooks or both? They're incompetent.
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Mar 19, 2015 03:11
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Slavvy posted:Are you able to copy the relevant page in the manual? I'm pretty sure that's just to replicate the ~5v signal from the cluster. You should be able to get around needing to do that by just unpinning the signal wires, plugging the connector in so the power/earth wires are connected to the cluster as normal, then do your test. http://i.imgur.com/X4tIfbP.png Is this what you need to see? If the test fails, that means that EITHER the sensor has gone bad, or there is a wiring issue between the sensor and the cluster, correct? And then at that point, I want to start testing the wires for continuity between each connector? And if they all pass that test, the sensor itself is likely the culprit?
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Mar 19, 2015 03:42
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It's probably the sensor, ebay should sell you one for cheap enough to justify part swapping rather than diagnosing it. Nate Falls posted:So here's a question. It's long as gently caress. They're incompetent and you burned the valves by running it so long with such tight valves. Engine swap or ebay another head with valves, hope it's not broken, slap it on and ride away. Like this is diagnosis 101 and they've dicked it up real good. gently caress 'em, start a thread, DIY it, we'll get ya through. Z3n fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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Mar 19, 2015 04:40
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trebuchet_tom posted:http://i.imgur.com/X4tIfbP.png Yes. Looks like you can't do what I said because it's only a 3 wire sensor, so go ahead and buy batteries and a resistor and set it up like the diagram. If the test fails, it's overwhelmingly likely to be the sensor itself but definitely do a quick continuity check on the wires just to be sure before condemning it. Z3n posted:Like this is diagnosis 101 and they've dicked it up real good. gently caress 'em, start a thread, DIY it, we'll get ya through. This.
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Mar 19, 2015 04:53
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Cycle Asylum > Motorcycle Question Thread II: Proof of Multimeter ownership required to postZ3n posted:Like this is diagnosis 101 and they've dicked it up real good. gently caress 'em, start a thread, DIY it, we'll get ya through. Yeah this. There is an amazing bike mechanic in your area somewhere, but the effects of Quantum Bike Mechanics are such that by the time you've heard about (and observed) them they've turned to poo poo.
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Mar 19, 2015 09:53
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Do we need a dedicated CA multimeter thread? YOU MUST POST PICS FOR ASSISTANCE. 
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Mar 19, 2015 11:25
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This isn't really a motorcycle question, but we've got so many Euros in here I'm going to ask anyway. 1. How insulted would a Brit be if I mistook him for an Australian? 2. How the gently caress come a Liverpool accent sounds Australian?  3. Why was he dressed like a bogan?
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Mar 19, 2015 15:11
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