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Renaissance Robot posted:Can you explain why it matters because you're posting like it's super important but I'm not seeing how bundling wires in heatshrink is significantly different than bundling them in electrical tape Idk how else to describe it looking and working like garbage. Electrical tape is factory wiring loom on many bikes and lasts decades if done right, most people just do it badly. HS ages really really badly and tends to randomly shrink up in various spots, it folds instead of bending, it cracks at the folds, it's just a terrible horrible thing to do on a par with twisting wires together. Simply the wrong tool for the job and it fucks me off when I see it. Like pick up a piece of heat shrink and pick up a piece of pvc sheath and you'll see immediately that they can't possibly interchange.
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Aug 25, 2021 23:38
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Fair enough, it is pretty stiff and does seem prone to crumble when bent.
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Aug 25, 2021 23:42
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You must have really lovely heat shrink. We literally use it unshrunk as sleeving in nuclear applications because it is easier to get with a certified chemical composition compared to PVC sleeving. We use it like this on vibe probes for massive pumps to prevent chafing. The shrinking property also acts as an indicator that something got hot and might need to be replaced. When I first read don’t shrink it I was confused but after going back in to remove/replace it I was sold. In this guys tail light wiring I’m sure it will be just fine. It’s not like he is covering an entire loom.
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Aug 26, 2021 00:09
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helno posted:You must have really lovely heat shrink. That sounds like a smart use of it but also nuclear plants don't move and vibrate and are generally indoors afaik. You can do what you want, I'm not your mum, I just know about bikes and what does and doesn't work through practical anecdotal experience.
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Aug 26, 2021 00:17
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Slavvy posted:That sounds like a smart use of it but also nuclear plants don't move and vibrate and are generally indoors afaik. The stool of a gigantic pump is not very nice environment for a connector to be in. Oil and vibration are a constant enemy. Remember that the context of this was a guy looking to cover two wires for his tail light.
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Aug 26, 2021 00:22
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helno posted:The stool of a gigantic pump is not very nice environment for a connector to be in. Oil and vibration are a constant enemy. I know. I just hate to see people do poo poo wrong even when it doesn't matter, which is basically always because we're all just voices on the internet. I think the here and now solution is to use electrical tape or just do nothing and let them dangle, not wait for things to turn up in the mail while the bike sits unridden.
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Aug 26, 2021 00:41
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The shrink tubing I've seen in nuclear-adjacent stuff has been nicer than the cheap harbor freight tubing I bought for a home project, and I'm guessing Slavvy runs into the latter more often. Similarly, I've used good 3M electrical tape that left much less residue than the unbranded stuff I found laying around. Also it's a DRZ, so if something works, don't overthink it and just ride it.
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Aug 26, 2021 02:09
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Deeters posted:The shrink tubing I've seen in nuclear-adjacent stuff has been nicer than the cheap harbor freight tubing I bought for a home project, and I'm guessing Slavvy runs into the latter more often. Similarly, I've used good 3M electrical tape that left much less residue than the unbranded stuff I found laying around. Some of the nuclear spec stuff is awful to use but that is because it has to meet some weird chemical spec. But yeah buying good quality heatshrink, zip ties, terminal connectors, and electrical tape make things go way better.
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Aug 26, 2021 02:27
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@slavvy I ended up doing exactly that, just wrapping it in electrical tape  I want desperately to avoid being “that guy” who does an awful electrical run so I tend to over-do everything. At first I ran everything with that braided lining and heat-shrunk all the ends and it looked amazing.. … except it didn’t route under the body work properly because it was now like 4x as thick as it needed to be. I stripped all the braided tube and just wrapped it in electrical tape and blam, it works and routes properly. And also the wires are run near the exhaust so I’m pretty sure that plastic braiding would have melted. I’ll have to check the clymers manual to see how this was routed originally because it’s weird to me that wires would be routed so near a hot area but who knows. Anyway, OEM tail installed. Just have to sort the bar-turn engine revs, zip-tie the dzus fastener until I get a replacement, and I just realized the PO put in some weird aftermarket low beam bulb that is WHINING like crazy. When I first turned on the bike I thought it was the fuel pump but no, it goes away when I click on the high beams. Going to source a stock bulb and see if there’s any other electrical fuckery going on in there. There’s a bunch of lighting stuff in the box of spare/original parts he gave me so maybe I’ll get lucky and can just revert back with what I have. Excited. I have 20 days to safety it before my temp tags run out so I’m going to marathon this. Too bad it’s like 400 degrees outside and unpleasant to work, and my workshop is enclosed, not air conditioned, and another 200 degrees higher than just being outside. E: To be clear, I still kind of want to re-do the wiring with a proper conduit once I have passed safety just to do it “right” because honestly I don’t like the look or feel of having electrical tape sitting there and getting sticky but you’re absolutely right — it can wait and isn’t going to materially affect anything right now. It works just fine and is safe so that should be good enough for anything that isn’t a spare-time project for a lazy winter day. My goal was to get the bike registered and safetied and ride it to get more confidence, not to spend all fall doing cool mods. Those can wait. E2: My two cents on heatshrink. It probably works fine enough as conduit but I find it looks unsightly and wrinkles very easily. Maybe it’s just the lovely spools of heatshrink I buy from china but unless I actually shrink it, it ALWAYS looks like a crinkly mess a week after it’s loose. So honestly when I put any effort into doing the wiring again I’ll just order the thing I know will get the job done. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Aug 26, 2021 |
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Aug 26, 2021 03:05
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Use "self-fusing silicone tape" if you don't want to deal with the sticky bullshit of cheap electrical tape. It's way more expensive though.
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Aug 26, 2021 03:38
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40oz of fury posted:Use "self-fusing silicone tape" if you don't want to deal with the sticky bullshit of cheap electrical tape. It's way more expensive though. Self amalgamating tape is wonderful stuff if you need to keep water out. Still needs something for abrasion resistance if there is anything it will rub against.
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Aug 26, 2021 03:55
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It’s still a billion degrees out so my time with the DRZ is limited to going outside, turning a few bolts, and running back inside before heat stroke. Today I: Removed the lovely halogen/HID/whatever headlight mod the PO put in. Immediately felt better about my chances of passing safety. My list of things that I’m questioning may or may not pass are down to: - Fork boots are meh. I looked them over and they’re not actually cracked, they were just twisted so they bent in a “cracked” way. The bottom fork boot retainer which also holds the speedo cable is cracked though, so I’m pretty sure that’s not favourable. I could remove the boots entirely but then I’d still have to find a way to hold both the speedo cable and brake line to the forks so I might just go to the dealership and see if I can get the right retainer on short notice. - Some of my acerbis fairings are ziptied to the frame fastener holes. The acerbis tail isn’t 1:1 for mounting holes as far as I can tell, as in there’s a few fastener holes on the frame that are going unfilled. I hope they don’t do some letter of the law original parts must be in place bullshit. - I took off my passenger pegs mounts because the passenger pegs were already missing. As above, I hope it’s not a letter of the law “hey it came with passenger pegs so you fail” thing. If it comes down to that I’ll just buy some cheap passenger pegs I guess. - I’m still not sure how to gauge tread wear on semi kobby tires. I’ll post a pic later for opinion I suppose. Don’t really want to replace the tires but we’ll see. And I think that’s it! Aside from the actual cracked retainer I think there’s very little for me to do outside of just taking it in to the shop  e: Oh duh duh, and my throttle-opens-when-bars-turn issue. I forgot about that one, ironically the most important one. e2: I found the cable tightness. It's tied kind of tight to the front of the frame so I'm going to have to do a little research on how to fix it long term, but just kind of tugging at the cables seemed to solve the problem. Not at all confident this is a lasting solution but at least it let me lock the wheel fully without revving while I putted it back to the shed. Also the "banged up bike, don't care" effect is indeed paying off already. Dropped it maneuvering around my back patio and smashed the amber lens of my rear turn signal. Kind of sucks but I'll just throw an amazon special LED on there since it'll be way cheaper than sourcing an original lens. Guess I should get a LED flasher relay too I guess. But I did love how my reaction was "oops oh well let's just get this back up and who cares" some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Aug 26, 2021 |
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Aug 26, 2021 21:25
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40oz of fury posted:Use "self-fusing silicone tape" if you don't want to deal with the sticky bullshit of cheap electrical tape. It's way more expensive though. How about cloth electrical tape? ADVRider pointed me to this https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-cloth-adhesive-tape-genuine-bmw-61136902588.
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Aug 27, 2021 07:49
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Martytoof posted:It’s still a billion degrees out so my time with the DRZ is limited to going outside, turning a few bolts, and running back inside before heat stroke. Today I: I'm in MB rather than where you are (AB?) - I wouldn't be too concerned about the passenger pegs or the unfilled bolt holes for the rear fairings. The zip ties on the rear fairing would concern me - I doubt it would fail here but might get a comment that that's not advised. The turn signal lens would really concern me, I got OEM turn signal lenses just before my safety just to make sure they had the all important DOT markings on them, I don't know if it would have been a failure.. it passed with aliexpress brake lines which are also supposed to have DOT markings. Worst case you get a window to re-inspect, right?
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Aug 27, 2021 10:34
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I’m in ON but I think that’s all applicable. I think you get a week so if I can line that up with when my temp tags expire I’ll cover all my bases. I just want to avoid having to rent a trailer or van to shuttle it instead of riding it in. Not too worried about the lens itself, I just ordered wholesale replacement turn signal stalks. They come in packs of four so I’ll swap out the rear stalks and still have two left over for when they inevitably explode because of a drop. Not sure if they’re DOT but my Ninja 250 passed with those on so I’ll gamble it. The only zipties left are at the very rear of the tail where the tabs just don’t really line up, and the one missing dzus fastener that I can explain my way out of (hopefully) if the replacement doesn’t arrive on time. Ultimately I’ll just see how they feel about it, I might remove the zipties to make it less obvious since I think they’re pretty unnecessary at this point. The plastic doesn’t budge at all, even if forcibly pushed, so we’ll see. I think some of this will be a gamble but most of it I’m confident in 
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Aug 27, 2021 11:52
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Martytoof posted:I’m in ON but I think that’s all applicable.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:31
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Fitted my 3D printed boot holders. It's scary how well something I downloaded off the internet and printed in 4 hours fits. Literally no difference between it and the OEM part. Longevity of resin is probably not great but if it breaks I'll just print another or remove the boots altogether.
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Aug 28, 2021 01:04
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Martytoof posted:Fitted my 3D printed boot holders. It's scary how well something I downloaded off the internet and printed in 4 hours fits. Literally no difference between it and the OEM part. Longevity of resin is probably not great but if it breaks I'll just print another or remove the boots altogether. I printed myself a custom clip for my helite rip cord to park it when not in use. It's so nice to be able to do that and not rely on overpriced factory parts that barely fit a use case.
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Aug 28, 2021 04:41
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Finally got some time to play with the future side car rig. Removed all the old adjustable stays to the sidecar and found some PO fun. None of the castellated nuts had safety wire in them, and one nut was replaced with a normal one..  I got a full set of new stays/bolts/nuts.
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Aug 28, 2021 17:36
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Martytoof posted:- I took off my passenger pegs mounts because the passenger pegs were already missing. As above, I hope it’s not a letter of the law “hey it came with passenger pegs so you fail” thing. If it comes down to that I’ll just buy some cheap passenger pegs I guess.
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Aug 28, 2021 18:19
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I installed Oxford heated grips on my otherwise bone stock cbr300r today. It was a bit more involved than I had hoped. I had to file down a bunch of protrusions on the throttle tube, and getting the body panels off for cable routing was a bit tricky - bike wrenching is new to me, sport bikes even more so. The technical manual I had managed to download was extremely brief on the subject but still helpful. I also manage to spill some CA glue on a body panel because I'm dumb. Anyways it's done and the wiring is all tucked away as neat as I could do it without stripping the bike way down. The control box looks like poo poo where I put it but at least I can reach it easily as long as I'm not turning sharply to the left. First impression is I'm very happy with the function of the grips. Maybe full blast is good when it's well below freezing but 2/5 was plenty warm today. I'll try my thin gloves next time it's not raining and see how they do. While I was in there I inspected the air filter which looked pristine, also super easy to get to. The bike only has 5000km on it and the only other things I've done to it was cleaning and lubing the chain, inflating the tires to spec and increasing the rear shock preload a bit right after I bought it last weekend.
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Aug 28, 2021 18:29
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Chris Knight posted:Yeah you don't have to worry about that, it's not part of a safety in Ontario. Cool thanks. Yeah I was just kind of glancing through the lawyer-speak list of things the ministry considers during the safety and I think I saw a bunch of “where originally installed” but I didn’t really stop to examine so I guess that’s for more important or safety-minded stuff like reflectors, if the shop really wants to be anal.
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Aug 28, 2021 19:10
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For Oxford heated grips I mod the included bracket to fit on a screw/mirror fastener etc. My preference is having the control pod reachable by left thumb while hand is still touching the left grip.   
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Aug 28, 2021 19:28
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^^^^That's cool. My handlebars are tiny to I just slapped it on some bodywork. If it's no good I'll just have to move it but it seems to work fine. I'll definitely look into modding the bracket if a move were to happen or fabbing a stainless bracket of my own worst case. A clutch handle pinch bolt seems like the obvious place. Oh and you can totally see the CA glue i spilled just to the right of the clutch lever. Don't want to use acetone for fear of dissolving the paint. Maybe a razor blade. Knowing myself I'll probably just ignore it until it's time to sell the bike, hoping the elements and the very occasional sponge bath will get rid of it in time.
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Aug 29, 2021 12:47
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Try laquer cutting/polishing compound. Something like Commandant Cleaner no. 4. You might be able to polish through the glue layer, with the rest of the paint being only very slightly affected. Some 1200 or 2000 grain wet sand paper does the same thing.
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Aug 29, 2021 16:18
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Finally got this job done, like a year after I originally meant to:  Everything still needs to be reassembled and there's the baffles to put in, but de-rusting the headers was the biggest pain in the rear end and that's out of the way. e/ my work stand is an old kitchen bin with 10kg of freeweights in the bottom and it's actually worked really well Renaissance Robot fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Aug 29, 2021 |
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Aug 29, 2021 16:23
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LimaBiker posted:Try laquer cutting/polishing compound. Thanks, I will when/if it's time to make the bike look pretty. I tested acetone on an invisible piece of plastic and it did nothing at all to it, so I got rid of the crazy glue that way. There's some some slight discoloration left from where the glue sat (not from the acetone thankfully) but I think it'll buff out and wax over should I ever be bothered. Odds are I'll layer Dan and ruin her looks completely anyway. It is a cheap learner bike after all. A 300cc sport bike will never make a good tourer but I'm increasingly longing for a top box for a bit of commuting/errand practicality. There are brackets available but since I'm pretty broke right now I'm half tempted to just make one. I have steel and all sorts of metal working tools available, up to and including a lathe and a mill.   This doesn't look like rocket surgery. Also if I make my own I can include a beefy grab handle like what's on there now since I need to manhandle the bike pretty severely to slide the rear wheel around if I want to park it indoors in my shed (no real garage sadly). Edit: Now I really wish I had that powder coating gun I've been wanting for a while. Which will cost more than just buying the bracket but such is the madness of amateur fabrication. Invalido fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Aug 29, 2021 |
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Aug 29, 2021 18:37
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I got around to compression testing the tenere 600. Should be around 156psi according to the manual.  Yeah, there is a problem. Around 95psi And a small amount of engine oil down the spark plug hole leads to this.  Around 145 psi. So it's the bore/piston/rings. I also saw some seepage around the carb -> engine boots, one of them looks more crackly than the other. I'll postpone the sidecar setup until I get the engine sorted. Carb and the PO hosed over exhaust gotta come off anyway. So I'll get it working with new proper parts.
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Aug 29, 2021 21:06
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Re: top box mount Yep if you can weld especially they're not that tricky to make. To make it a little easier on yourself if you're going with a Givi monokey box, you might want to pony up for the plastic universal plate and then mount it to the flat plate of your rack, since that's the trickiest part to reproduce: https://giviusa.com/products/e251-monokey-plate-universal If you want it strong enough to grab and lift the bike you'll need multiple mounting points using the passenger peg mount holes.
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Aug 29, 2021 21:12
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Pipes back on: gently caress knows if the patches on the cross link will hold, it's a right mess down there. Won't find out until tomorrow afternoon unfortunately, I need to let the gunk set.
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Aug 30, 2021 17:33
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Went for it a little early because I couldn't wait. Bit of a rocky start as it just did this for about five minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrPX8NRHNn4 But whatever was wrong cleared itself up after a few cranking attempts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr_9lX74qrQ Man I forgot how quiet this thing is with the baffles in, right behind it is actually the quietest place to stand. Out on the motorway the loudest noise at 6000rpm is valve clatter. It's bloody brilliant. Patching up the holes next to the O2 sensor also fixed the throttle response, it had been really snatchy at low speed for a while now, especially when rolling off, now it's dead smooth. I wouldn't have imagined an exhaust leak could do that but in hindsight it makes sense.
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Aug 31, 2021 09:30
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Ugh still working through little DRZ things that might flag safety that I didn't notice. Speedo cable had a visible tear in the rubber sheath down to metal housing that I just assume would fail a sufficiently strict inspector, probably rubbed against the tire for a ride or something. Bought a replacement online just waiting for it to arrive. Pulled the skidplate and spent 45 minutes just degreasing, scraping, and blasing what amounts to probably ten years of muck and grease. Frame definitely has more rust spots than I was hoping in places that I didn't inspect because they were hidden but it all looks surface still. Once the season is over I'll probably tear it down a little and wire wheel the bad stuff that's easily accessible, slather on some rust-converter, then grab some touch-up paint. Ordered a bolt kit because I was super annoyed at the mish-mash of screws holding everything together. So far at least everything still appears to be original thread and nothing's been tapped or cross-threaded so that's good. For now it's just annoying to pull out a socket for some body panels, a philips for others, etc. I took some wd-40 and 0000 steel wool to some of the tiny pitted rust spots on my forks and everything is back to shiny. Don't expect it's a permanent fix but for now it'll do. I'm not sure the PO had ever washed the bike TBH. I got it for a steal but there's definitely work to get it looking nice again. No matter how much I scrub, degrease, rinse, there's always more greasy caked on dirt. The plastic and rubber bits look shiny and clean when I wipe them down but then show chalky dirt as soon as they dry. I'm not concerned about the "cleanliness" of the bike since it's supposed to be my beater bike, but I'd be lying if it wasn't my long term goal to turn it into a nice shiny beater None of this is keeping me from ripping it around the neighborhood until I get it safetied. The only thing keeping me from doing that is the temp tag that expires today since I haven't been able to do the safety yet. If I don't get all my remaining parts in a week I'll have to trailer it to the garage for the certificate but hopefully it doesn't come to that.
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Sep 1, 2021 13:28
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Martytoof posted:Ugh still working through little DRZ things that might flag safety that I didn't notice. Speedo cable had a visible tear in the rubber sheath down to metal housing that I just assume would fail a sufficiently strict inspector, probably rubbed against the tire for a ride or something. Bought a replacement online just waiting for it to arrive. For breaking down that greasy grimy dirt get a small container of kerosene and a parts cleaning brush. I keep some in a coffee can and just re-use it, I also use it for chain cleaning.
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Sep 1, 2021 13:44
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I'm not sure why that didn't immediately come to mind but better believe I'm getting a jug after work today. Thanks!
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Sep 1, 2021 13:49
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I cleaned the hell out of Bob yesterday. WD-40 is so handy for cleaning off grime. I started with a rince, then foam shampoo, rinse, concentrated shampoo, scrub with a sponge, rinse, which cleaned the bike good but resulted in no grime from the exhaust being removed. I then WD-40ed the exhaust and sponge scrub, which removed 95% of the grease. Rinsed again after that, then dried via my compressor's air gun, and re XCP Rust Proofer-ed it (both the orange and clear variety, the latter for shinier bits). Took a long time to do yesterday. I used an entirely new sponge for cleaning the tank and the rear fender's top, so as not to damage any paint with any dirt particles. Pro tip: buy a bigger compressor. Whatever one you are thinking of, get a bigger one.
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Sep 1, 2021 14:18
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I'm waiting for a good compressor to show up on kijiji. It seems like one of those "cry once buy once" situations where I just need to wait for a 60+ gallon unit that will give me 18+ CFM at 90PSI in case I ever want to spray paint or something. Only downside is that these tend to be fixed in place so I guess I'd be limited to my garage. If there's a good one on wheels then I guess that would be ideal but I expect that'll have a premium price tag attached. Decisions decisions 
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Sep 1, 2021 14:47
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Aye, bigger is better. I spent more time waiting for this little baby compressor to get more air in it than I did blowing air out of it to dry the bike: 
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Sep 1, 2021 16:46
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Any compressor with an air tank is better than no compressor though. You won't paint with anything bigger than an airbrush or run any air tools for more than five seconds (sometimes a single BRRRRT is all you need) which sucks but how do people without compressors clean the pocket lint out of their phone charging ports or properly clean their bike chains? Edit: I decided not to fabricate a top box mount after all. There's too many other metal projects on my to-do list and shop time is at a premium right now. I got it for about €100 shipped. Might buy the box second hand though if I can find one of a reasonable size locally. As long as it holds a helmet and rain gear I'm happy I think. Invalido fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Sep 1, 2021 |
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Sep 1, 2021 17:33
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Invalido posted:Any compressor with an air tank is better than no compressor though. Oh 100% agreed. Though if I had waited till today, the blazing hot sunshine would have done the job for me. I want to go for a ride but feeling tired and have a bit of a headache.
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Sep 1, 2021 17:40
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I have a 20gal compressor and I can't imagine life without it.  The way I got it is actually kind of funny. Home Depot hosed up the pricing for the SKU on the compressor, so when it was scanned, it read as $1. Me and a couple buddies went around buying as many of these things as we could find. We only found one store near us that had any (they had 4), and it took about a half hour for Home Depot staff to realize there was nothing they could do but sell us $1200 worth of air compressors for $4 because in their system, the SKU only came back as $1.
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Sep 1, 2021 20:09
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