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It would be like $25 in hose parts, so you might as well. Otherwise, they become stiff and can crack over time, leading to unexpected leaks and annoying removal when they do have to be removed (such as when repairing/maintaining something else on the bike).
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Feb 6, 2018 15:32
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I could swear that my old GS750 had such bellows, or at least a rubber seal there. They only extend when the piston is really out there, never in a case where the brake pad is in the caliper. No room.
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Feb 12, 2018 15:01
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I've cut slots in stripped screws before. With a sawzall saw insert, because they can fit in tight places. Takes forever (like, 20 minutes with breaks, because of the boredom) but you feel like a king when that screw finally gets loose, so you can chuck it and put a nice new one in.
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Mar 16, 2018 02:04
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Someone just had a rear brake problem like that. It was a bleeding issue. Some models have rear brake master cylinders that are notorious to bleed correctly due to their mounting positions. If it were an issue with the seal, you'd eventually be seeing brake fluid all over something back there.
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Mar 24, 2018 06:26
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I use an old GS750 valve shim for those crankcase cover slot bolts. Works great.Fauxtool posted:but its printed right on there, "for butts only" Didn't you know? The crankcase is a motorcycle engine's butt
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Mar 26, 2018 01:47
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MomJeans420 posted:Other than the MSF class and riding a Harley around the block, I've only ridden my Daytona 675. I helped a new rider get his FZ-07 home yesterday, and I have to say it felt really odd turning on that bike. Almost like it wants to turn in at first, then pushes back? I understand it has a different geometry, but it was really not confidence inspiring. Probably didn't help that I really really didn't want to drop my friend's new (used) bike. Can someone who's ridden a lot of bikes explain this better than I am? Isn't the Daytona one of the most knife-edge turn-in bikes currently out there? It would be no wonder if you felt the turn-in were slow on the FZ.
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Apr 16, 2018 19:29
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I replaced my steering head bearings a couple of years ago. The best tip I would have given myself is to use a steel pipe instead of a plastic one, as a ram for the lower bearing inner race (the one that goes around the bottom of the steering stem). Plastic bounces too much and it isn't heavy enough. It'll also crack, eventually. As a reference, it took a few hours, with my PVC pipe ram and not having heated the bearings or frozen the stem. Like with tires, there's probably some technique to it.
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Apr 27, 2018 16:40
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I agree on the battery. A bad/discharged battery will power accessories, but as soon as the starter demands its much more taxing amps, the battery won't be up to it.
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May 5, 2018 13:23
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One of my EX250's previous owners converted them to those integrated turn signals. I put the original turn signals back on to avoid a cheap-rear end ticket, but I left all the wiring intact in the back, in case a future owner wants to switch back. In the US, the certain federally-lawful distance between the two turn signals necessitated those amber-lensed stalks that you see on most every bike here. But I bet they were original equipment in Japan. They had to have been—the holes for the bulbs are right there in the diagram.
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May 11, 2018 05:48
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Let's hope it's what happened to my XT350: The countershaft sprocket stripped all of its inner teeth.
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Jul 13, 2018 20:14
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In the early days of aftermarket car LEDs, I found that the problem was that the light would not reflect off of the internal reflector, because the bulb housing was too long or shot the light straight backward. Even if the light output is greater, an LED that does not utilize the reflector housing is much, much dimmer than an incandescent bulb.
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Jul 30, 2018 14:14
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That problem raises an interesting question, for me at least. Some people like to take all of the decals off of their motorcycles. If it's possible to take them off, are they covered by clearcoat at all?
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Aug 17, 2018 14:16
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Does anyone remember the different properties of adjusting intake/exhaust valves on the loose end or tight end? I seem to remember that adjusting them on the loose(?) end of the adjustment range gives better idling and starting characteristics, but I can't remember the specifics.
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Sep 24, 2018 01:57
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For what it's worth, when I took the little snorkel off of my GN125's airbox, I got a gigantic flat spot above 4K revs. This led me to replace the 20-year-old, crumbling air filter, and a stumble that I had had around 5.5K revs (with the snorkel on) then went away. Bikes are really sensitive to air volume.
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Oct 2, 2018 13:51
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goddamnedtwisto posted:TBH it's probably too specific a question, has there ever been any motorbike ever made by any manufacturer that didn't inexplicably cheap out on one component? I'd like to see you try making 10,000 go-machines, Mr. smarty-smart.  Easy: Lawless third world market. Seasons are separated into "dry" and "flood" but populace doesn't differentiate between them. Bikes are not measured in cc's but in livestock transport capacity Difficult: Seasoned yet obligated home market, that also has bone fide seasons. Petrol and tax laws might favor you. Fuel is also called "petrol". Diesel is a road hazard and a brand of jeans Insane: Snotty first-world export market that doesn't need your 1,300 cc toy any more than it needs a designer cappuccino machine. Riders take form of inverse vampires, avoiding anything but 70-degree sunshine like the plague
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Dec 1, 2018 00:13
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It's easy to confuse them, since you get the same gearing effect by doing the opposite things to the front sprocket and rear sprocket. Make gearing taller (more spacing in between gears; better top speed, lower revs, more usable lower gears): Front sprocket: Increase size Rear sprocket: Decrease size Make gearing shorter (better acceleration/torque, worse top speed): Front: Decrease size Rear: Increase size
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Dec 19, 2018 05:12
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How is the choke actuated? I had a CB 250 that had its little choke plunger nestled underneath the clutch cable. One day, I started getting worse fuel economy and other overly-rich symptoms. Turns out that the cable that goes to the choke plunger was not returning fully to pushed OFF due to its cramped position, and the choke was always cracked open. Fussing with the plunger and tugging on the cable fixed it.
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Apr 14, 2019 19:24
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Y’all actin like you don’t test 9v batteries by licking them 18 years ago, I would check to make sure my 320i's distributor was giving spark by taking a spark plug boot off of a spark plug and holding a butter knife inside the boot, then cranking the engine.
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May 2, 2019 19:56
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Here in NYC it was, like, $120 to mount two tires off of the bike. Now that I have some experience, I do it myself. For the Ninja 250 (tubeless) I had to lay my body on top of the rear tire/wheel (sitting vertically) in order to get them to seal enough that air would start accumulating inside. This is with a small Home Depot air compressor that my father bought me something like 20 years ago. Had brief visions of those "what happens when you overinflate a truck tire" youtube videos, but in the end I saved 2-work-days-worth of money.
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Jul 26, 2019 13:27
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I made a gasket out of the proverbial cereal box top, for my GN125's cam chain tensioner. It's been about a year and it's leaking pretty badly now. Either that or the base gasket for the cylinder is the one leaking, anyway.
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Sep 8, 2019 16:24
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Martytoof posted:Question for everyone who started on a 125 or 250: How long before you found yourself wanting to upgrade? How long before you actually upgraded? What was your next jump? Started on a 250, went for 18,600 miles... before it was stolen. Bought a second bike while I still had the first one, a 1978 750... had it for about 6-7,000 miles. Bought another 250, had it for 4,200 miles, whereupon it was rearended. Bought a 350, had that for about 12,000 miles before the header broke and I did not want to fix it. Bought a 125, still have it. It's been about 13,000 miles. (Also have yet another 250 again, +7,000 miles) But I live in the city, where it's more practical to own small motorcycles.
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Oct 8, 2019 19:42
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Carbs on the GN125 have reached disposable levels, with cheap Chinese $20 Mikuni copies on ebay, brand new. I've had one for several years on my GN. The metal corrodes quickly, but otherwise, the carb works fine.
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Nov 30, 2020 21:42
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I got so annoyed at pinching tubes (it always happened) that I used the ziptie method, where you seal the tire carcass tightly closed using huge zipties, with the slightly-inflated tube inside. Then, you lever both lips into the wheel trough at once. Using pleeeeeeenty of lube. Then you cut the zipties and pull them out, freeing the tube into the wheel.
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Mar 12, 2021 14:48
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epswing posted:How worried should I be about a bit of weeping at the bottom of the rear cylinder? My bike's engine is absolutely slathered, just crusted in road grime from 3 or 4 oil leaks near the same area (cam chain tensioner, clutch pivot arm, tachometer cable connection, who knows what else), and it's been that way for like 7,000 miles. Only negative change to operation has been hot-oil-smell after a ride and needing to top up the oil every 1,000 miles.
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Apr 25, 2021 22:43
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As far as I remember, hydraulic valve lifters limit top end power because they don't do too well at the top end of a high-RPM rev range. Honda apparently fixed this with the Nighthawk 700S from the mid-eighties, which had hydraulic valve lifters and could rev beyond 10,000 RPM... But then, they went back? edit: valve lifters, not valve adjusters. And clarity. Slide Hammer fucked around with this message at 00:20 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 13:30
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epswing posted:1998 VT1100C not starting. Last ran with no problems 3 weeks ago, just sat since then, usually on the same battery tender jr its been on all winter. I was stranded recently when practically the same symptoms happened to me on my EX250. (Except, my bike completely died for a short while after pressing the starter button; no lights or anything.) Only, when I daisy-chained a car battery to my battery, it started easily. When I then disconnected the car battery after starting, the electrical got really weird and the bike would die again if I didn't rev it. A new battery fixed it. So, it might be the starter... The axiom is "explore the cheapest-to-fix diagnostic and then move on down to the more expensive ones."
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May 30, 2021 03:16
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so I'm going to try with my wife's, but even if that fails, if the battery is truly toast then it wouldn't matter, would it?)
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Looking up pictures of the 98 tail fairing, looks like ON is on the bottom. OFF is to the side, and RES is on top.
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Jun 6, 2021 06:00
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When I had an XT350, which is kickstart-only, there's supposedly some kind of plate inside the engine which, when you kick through, stops the kickstarter from hitting the footpeg on the downstroke. Eventually, I was just smashing that footpeg. Seems like this plate can break off and just lounge at the bottom of the sump forever. Didn't notice any adverse affects.
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Jun 11, 2021 13:57
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Years ago, my father purchased an old engine lift which we used to take the engine out of a Dodge Dart. When I had to work on my bike one day and discovered that my hydraulic jack no longer worked, I used the engine lift to hoist the bike up.
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Jun 15, 2021 03:26
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Same thing happened to me, but on the other stud. (Suzuki used bolts for the exhaust header later on.) It's still a nub. Exhaust header is held in with one bolt.
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Jun 21, 2021 01:50
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Dog Case posted:If all of my clutch action is at the very beginning of the lever throw even with a little slack in the cable that pretty much means it's time for new clutch plates, right? My GN has been the same way since I got it, 22,000 miles ago. The friction point is due to the design of the clutch.
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Jul 14, 2021 19:34
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My carburetor has a vent tube that runs up and over the airbox and just terminates into nothing.
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Aug 3, 2021 03:37
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All rain-repellent coatings have always made visibility worse for me. Just a continual, slight blur, even when dry. Rain is fine on its own, way better than repellents. It's mist/light drizzle that truly sucks because it doesn't run off of the visor on its own.
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Aug 14, 2021 03:23
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epswing posted:Is the DR650 just a bigger DRZ400 or are they fundamentally different bikes? Fundamentally different. Frame, engine... I can flat-foot a DR650. I don't even think the DR650 is water-cooled. It has an oil cooler instead.
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Aug 15, 2021 13:35
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But Not Tonight posted:I can't figure out what's causing my DRZ's turn signals to not work. A while back I noticed my left rear turn signal was loose, signals still functioned except for this one. I wiggled and messed with it enough to where I ripped the leads out. Cue none of them working now. All I get is a quick flick of light on the turn signal indicator in the cluster (once per startup, won't do it more than once per), no signals work at all. I replaced the turn signals and the relay behind the cowl, STILL nothing. I have no clue, I suck at electrical problems and I'm kind of a poo poo newbie mechanic. Any ideas? I'd rather figure this out with some help instead of taking it to the dealership and letting them charge me however much for what is probably something insignificant. Turn signal relays operate off of the amount of electrical resistance in the circuit. If it's off, it will blink too quickly, or not at all. My bike had its signals rewired into the taillight housing (where, in Japan, they were originally) and the signals blink too quickly, even though they seem otherwise normal. They did this even when I moved the signals back to their US positions. This might even be caused just by too much wiring that isn't being used... or, who knows what. Whatever it is, it's confusing the relay. I "fixed" it by buying one of those electronic turn signal relays that you need to buy for LED blinkers. These turn signal relays don't go off of the amount of resistance in the circuit and will just blink at the same rate every time, because they're microprocessor-controlled. (Because of this, though, you wouldn't be able to tell when a turn signal has gone out if you're not looking at the signal.) So, that might be worth a shot. Otherwise, check all connections, making sure no wires are internally broken, and that all connectors are snug. (And that no bulbs are out, of course.)
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Aug 26, 2021 13:34
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Heard a very scary noise from my bike the other day. A low/medium-volume, high-pitched, rapid winch kind of sound keyed to engine speed. At first, it went away with a gentle rev, but it appeared a few more times for up to a half a minute as I went into a parking lot to inspect the oil level. It was half full, so I got home (without any other noise) and filled it up. Noise hasn't reappeared since. So, my question is, what kind of noise does a spun bearing make.
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Aug 28, 2021 18:50
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Sagebrush posted:e: do you actually mean "winch?" I figured that was a typo for "whine" because I don't know what you mean by a winch noise. Yeah, a winch noise. A noise like, if you were to grab the hook end of a winch and pull, unwinding it and making the gears of a winch make a rapid, uh, unwinding sound. As an example, my father owned a small boat when I was young, and when you'd launch the boat, you'd back the trailer into the water and reverse the winch lock, and just push the boat down off of its rollers with the winch hook still attached to the eye in the boat's bow. The spool of rope would unwind from the winch rapidly (turning the winch handle into a flail—watch out) as the boat was pushed. That's the sound I was thinking of. I'm not sure if it were the primary drive gear as suggested, because it seemed to be coming from the left side of the engine. It definitely appeared out of nowhere (change of noise without change of environment) and then disappeared into the ether when it wanted to. Maybe it was what Slavvy mentioned—something related to the starter gear—because I know that that's on the left side of the engine.
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Aug 28, 2021 22:07
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Slavvy posted:If it's a cable driven tacho, the cable is on its way out. How do you service speedo/tach cables. I've owned like 4 bikes where the original tach cables are solid for years, then that one fails and its replacements need to be replaced every year.
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Sep 2, 2021 00:35
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Slavvy posted:Problem with magneto is it restricts you to a fixed/barely variable spark advance. While I like the elegance and mechanical simplicity, the resulting engine is never fun or characterful, they all just feel like you're riding various sizes of lawn mower. Points are the next step up but they're horrible and janky, I would rather a serviceable CDI where I can swap out individual blown components. Wait a second... what about those really old motorcycles that had an ADVANCE/RETARD setting right on the handlebar? If that hand control could just be automated, wouldn't it be possible to have variable ignition timing in a magneto system?
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Sep 21, 2021 03:00
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Yeah, you have to be careful with those screws. The tip can shear off in the pilot hole, plugging it. (This happened to me, and I have no idea how)
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Oct 23, 2021 17:53
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