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Frosty- posted:Kawasaki didn't include a little wrench for adjusting rear preload in the stupid "tool kit" that came with the Z900RS. Are the diameters of these things fairly standardized? I was thinking I could just score something like that Motion Pro wrench on eBay for adjusting those rings without resorting to pounding on them with a screwdriver, which sounds like a bad idea and I have no idea why jerks on advrider think it's cute to suggest doing that instead of using a tool designed for the task. I got the motion pro tool to replace the Yamaha spanner. I had to take an angle grinder to it to deepen the slot so it would get more purchase on the preload collar, because it seemed to be designed for a shock with a smaller diameter collar. It worked but wasn’t 100% perfect. OTOH, the design of the motion pro spanner is superior and takes way less torque to use and can be done in a smaller space. Don’t know if that does anything to answer your question.
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Apr 3, 2019 03:47
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I found that one of those channel lock oil filter wrenches works ok in a pinch. It could definitely scratch up the finish though. I did this on my dead 40 year old shocks before replacing them with Progressives. I guess the other downside is that the oil wrench is much bigger than the spanner so it's not as easily stowed away in your tool set.
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Apr 3, 2019 14:04
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eBay sent me a $5 coupon code, so I grabbed one of the MP wrenches someone had up for $10. At that price it doesn't hurt enough to discourage me if the thing doesn't work out.
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Apr 4, 2019 00:33
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I'm really confused about my charge system in my grom. When it's running, the battery voltage stays about 11.5v, even when I rev it up. My assumption is that the battery isn't being charged? When I looked at two wires going to my trailtech RR, they were very hot when running, and one connector looks like this with a lot of corrosion. Also, the Trailtech RR is supposed to turn AC voltage into DC voltage on the bike. My LED headlight is flickering now, leading me to believe that whatever controls the AC signal isn't working. Is my RR bad? Something else?
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Apr 7, 2019 20:00
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I'd replace that toasty looking connector and go from there, if that doesn't fix it RR is the next suspect.
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Apr 7, 2019 20:03
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Test your stator as that's where that connector goes. My guess is the RR is cooked and dumping everything to earth, the stator is getting super hot as a result and that's made that terminal go go brown.
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Apr 7, 2019 20:10
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Thanks for the advise! I replaced the connector and then started following the wires from the RR. On one of the wires from the RR to the battery, there was fuse. I checked it and I tossed a 15A fuse i had around in there and I have 13.3 charge voltage and a non flickering headlight back!!!
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Apr 7, 2019 20:35
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Nice! Just keep an eye out, blown fuses and burnt connectors could be a sign of imminent failure
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Apr 7, 2019 20:59
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You really, really need to test your stator. If your stator is ok, start looking really suspiciously at your RR or wiring, especially lights or anything else with a big draw. Either something is drawing enough current to blow the fuse or the stator is poked; I have seen a poor soul pay a workshop to 'fix' this problem on his hyosung and they just bypassed the fuse and ran the RR direct to the battery positive. His bike caught on fire.
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Apr 7, 2019 21:14
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How do I test my stator? I'll keep an eye on things, though everything seems to be working properly now. That said, it's an indication that maybe something is wrong. To be quite honest, I suspect I may have blown the fuse myself doing #justPOthings trying to diagnose my bad battery last night. Slavvy posted:You really, really need to test your stator. If your stator is ok, start looking really suspiciously at your RR or wiring, especially lights or anything else with a big draw. Either something is drawing enough current to blow the fuse or the stator is poked; I have seen a poor soul pay a workshop to 'fix' this problem on his hyosung and they just bypassed the fuse and ran the RR direct to the battery positive. His bike caught on fire. That's hilarious. What did they think they would accomplish by bypassing the fuse? What did they think a fuse was for?
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Apr 7, 2019 23:34
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What's people's take on loose valve clearances, especially on low mileage engines? I just picked up a replacement motor for my 2004 tuono with a claimed 2,600km on it. The engine wear seems consistent with those numbers (ie: there's barely any). Checking the clearances before fitting the engine, I found all the exhaust valves in spec, albeit at the loose end. A couple of the intakes are overly loose. 0.20mm where the spec is 0.12 - 0.17mm. Should I adjust these or leave em? (It's a pain on this engine, fwiw).
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Apr 8, 2019 01:33
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prukinski posted:What's people's take on loose valve clearances, especially on low mileage engines? I'd leave them, those engines aren't particularly sensitive, it won't notice an extra . 3 on an intake especially when the factory specs are so loose.
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Apr 8, 2019 01:36
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Slavvy posted:I'd leave them, those engines aren't particularly sensitive, it won't notice an extra . 3 on an intake especially when the factory specs are so loose. Exxxcellent. I hate pulling the camshafts on this engine.
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Apr 8, 2019 01:51
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prukinski posted:Exxxcellent. I hate pulling the camshafts on this engine. Nonsense it's a piece of piss, just need to remove the frame beforehand!
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Apr 8, 2019 02:02
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prukinski posted:What's people's take on loose valve clearances, especially on low mileage engines? how long did your old motor go for? mine just rolled over 40k miles and i haven't checked the clearances in like 16k miles lol. at this point i think i'll just ride it til it dies
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Apr 8, 2019 04:28
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Razzled posted:how long did your old motor go for? It went at about 40k, but I think that's pretty rare. It's probably not a total loss, either - just beyond my ability to fix in a timely manner (there's something screwy in the bottom end) and Australian mechanics are so expensive that it's cheaper to just buy a new engine and then strip/part out the old one at my leisure. FWIW, the valves on the old motor hardly moved in the 25k km that I had it.
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Apr 8, 2019 04:51
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I have heard it said, though I haven't been informed as to why, that a flappy valve is a happy valve
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Apr 8, 2019 06:56
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I thought a clappy valve is a happy valve tho?
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Apr 8, 2019 07:03
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Ffs *South African accent* A SLEPPY TEPPY EES A HEPPY CHEPPIE, JA?
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Apr 8, 2019 07:19
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Slavvy, if you're unhappy you can slappy my chappie, ja?
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Apr 8, 2019 07:21
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Phy posted:I have heard it said, though I haven't been informed as to why, that a flappy valve is a happy valve All other things being equal, it's better for a valve to be too loose than too tight because if the clearances are too large the engine will just run kind of noisily and poorly, while if the clearances are too small then when the components heat up and expand the valves will get stuck open and burn up.
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Apr 8, 2019 07:32
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Ever since I've had this bike (it's my first) the front brake hasn't been quite right. It doesn't seem to build any pressure for the first 2/3 I squeeze the handle. It does brake past that but I can squeeze the handle all the way to the grip, it's exceedingly soft. I've tried everything I could think of and am at a loss what to try next. So far I've: Bled/refilled the brakes numerous times. Replaced the main cylinder piston and seals. Replaced the original old rubber lines with braided steel. Replaced the quite rusted caliper pistons and the seals. Both disc and pads are within spec. Bike is a DR800s which i bought for "a Euro per CC" from afellow student so I'm hesitant to spend a lot replacing the entire caliper or master cylinder unless I'm sure that's where the problem actually is.
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Apr 8, 2019 14:34
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There is a bubble in the line caliper somewhere still. Compress the brake overnight by strapping the lever to the bar, and this should help. Braided lines on my Dr was all I needed to give it really strong brakes. Really jelly of your Dr Big . Post pics.
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Apr 8, 2019 20:24
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AlexanderCA posted:Ever since I've had this bike (it's my first) the front brake hasn't been quite right. It doesn't seem to build any pressure for the first 2/3 I squeeze the handle. It does brake past that but I can squeeze the handle all the way to the grip, it's exceedingly soft. I've tried everything I could think of and am at a loss what to try next. Try this: Build up brake pressure and while holding the lever on, crack the banjo bolt at the master cylinder so that some fluid oozes out. Don't let go of the lever until you tighten the bolt back up. I have never failed to get a system completely bled by starting with this procedure, if air is trapped at the top of the MC it can make it impossible to bleed. Other stuff to look at: caliper slide pins stuck/damaged, pad shims in the caliper missing/damaged. Ultimately it's a big old enduro with one tiny front brake, those sorts of bikes often do just have rubbish brakes.
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Apr 8, 2019 20:46
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Long shot but maybe lever needs replacing?
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Apr 8, 2019 21:54
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mewse posted:Long shot but maybe lever needs replacing? This too, there's loads of levers out there that *almost* fit properly.
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Apr 9, 2019 00:26
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Coydog posted:There is a bubble in the line caliper somewhere still. Compress the brake overnight by strapping the lever to the bar, and this should help. Braided lines on my Dr was all I needed to give it really strong brakes. This seems to have at least reduced the play in the lever to 1/3 instead of 2/3. I'll chalk up the rest to the mentioned inherently bad brakes. Weird as I did this before and it didn't really help. But the combination with the new parts might've helped. Here's the bike in it's decrepit glory. 
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Apr 9, 2019 19:40
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 the DR BIG
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Apr 9, 2019 20:10
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What is considered 'high' mileage for sportbikes? I'm seeing a lot of '06-'10 GSX-Rs on AutoTrader at suspiciously low prices. One has 'never been dropped' but is sitting at 35,000kms. Is that high?
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Apr 9, 2019 20:41
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Mister Speaker posted:What is considered 'high' mileage for sportbikes? I'm seeing a lot of '06-'10 GSX-Rs on AutoTrader at suspiciously low prices. One has 'never been dropped' but is sitting at 35,000kms. Is that high? No. The bikes are very well made and can easily go through 100k. But they tend to get owned by pretty ...umm, characterful owners. And I mean owned like pwned. '06 - '10 is starting to get very long in the tooth, no wonder the prices are low. If it starts easily, idles smoothly and revs sharply, there's probably not much wrong with it. For a GSX-R older than 2010 with 35k, I would ask question like where was the bike stored while the owner was in prison?
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Apr 9, 2019 20:52
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Ola posted:For a GSX-R older than 2010 with 35k, I would ask question like where was the bike stored while the owner was in prison?  I remember reading stories of how bulletproof these bikes tend to be (something about one sunk in a lake, dredged up, airbox cleaned of mud and started just fine), so I figured as much. But, like you so eloquently put, they are the bike of choice of jabronis. Thanks for your response.
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Apr 9, 2019 20:58
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Mister Speaker posted:
Some Finnish dudes took a GSX-R 1000, turned it into a "snow bike" aka snow machine/snowmobile with a single ski up front, took it out on a lake to race a SkiDoo, tried shifting gears to go faster and submarined the whole thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOf0wjOXek
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Apr 9, 2019 22:28
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:
Idgi
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Apr 9, 2019 23:22
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AlexanderCA posted:Idgi That’s what they’re called and you never see the 800cc versions.
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Apr 9, 2019 23:42
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I bought these bar end mirrors for my 2018 Yamaha XSR700. To get them to fit I had to buy small diameter bar end adapters and of course these are cheap aluminum instead of weighted like the previous bar ends. Now I get enough vibration on the throttle that hand fatigue is a problem at high speeds. Not a huge deal but I live in California and ride year round. Sometimes that means 30-40 miles on the freeway and it's really noticeable there. Short of gluing lead weights or something to the inside of my handlebars, is there another solution that doesn't involve putting my stock mirrors back on and not using my fancy bar end ones?
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Apr 10, 2019 00:38
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Nostalgia4Ass posted:I bought these bar end mirrors for my 2018 Yamaha XSR700. To get them to fit I had to buy small diameter bar end adapters and of course these are cheap aluminum instead of weighted like the previous bar ends. Now I get enough vibration on the throttle that hand fatigue is a problem at high speeds. Not a huge deal but I live in California and ride year round. Sometimes that means 30-40 miles on the freeway and it's really noticeable there. Can you run sand and/or lead shot through the bar? EDIT: I guess thats the same as "gluing lead weights" really, but its something people have done to help handlebar buzz. tjones fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 00:44
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tjones posted:Can you run sand and/or lead shot through the bar? I guess I can take a look at that and see if it's doable. Just fill all the dead space with sand or lead shot and that should help then?
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Apr 10, 2019 00:59
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Jazzzzz posted:Some Finnish dudes took a GSX-R 1000, turned it into a "snow bike" aka snow machine/snowmobile with a single ski up front, took it out on a lake to race a SkiDoo, tried shifting gears to go faster and submarined the whole thing. My knowledge of Finland is limited to The Dudesons, Hydraulic Press Channel, some F1 drivers, and now these guys. What a magical place.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:31
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Mister Speaker posted:What is considered 'high' mileage for sportbikes? I'm seeing a lot of '06-'10 GSX-Rs on AutoTrader at suspiciously low prices. One has 'never been dropped' but is sitting at 35,000kms. Is that high? Motorcycle engines generally do not last anywhere near as long as cars. They are also not commonly ridden as much as folks drive cars. Both of these create much lower expectations re: mileage and then folks get all leeeey for no good reason when a reliable bike has a reasonable number of miles. tjones posted:Can you run sand and/or lead shot through the bar? Yeah, just cut up some bike tire tubes and fill them with sand and tie the ends up and put those in your bars.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:37
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What builds character said. Enclose it in tubing so it stays stationary and will help with removal in case you want it out later.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:48
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