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They Kymco Spade is a Grom-atmosphere descendant. It has a 150cc engine, which gives 70 mph. Slavvy said that the new Kymco isn't as good as the old one, though.
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Jan 1, 2022 20:04
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:11 |
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I tried draining my carbs this year, and I got one, but the other one seems to have accumulated gas tank rust silt to the point where it's completely clogged the drain port. Turn the screw and absolutely nothing comes out. Oh well. At least the fuel is stabilized. (I seem to remember this happening to me before with this bike...)
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Jan 26, 2022 18:23
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A reminder to loosen the cap of the reservoir before attempting to push the pistons back into their bores. They go in much easier. You shouldn't even need a special tool beyond a screwdriver or something. I speak from personal experience.
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Jan 26, 2022 20:39
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Back when I had a GS750, one of its carb's pilot screws lodged itself in its pilot hole and I had to drill it out, but even using the smallest drill bit I could use, I drilled too far and made the hole too big. From then on, that cylinder was fuel-rich, and its spark plug had to be periodically scrubbed clean. I don't think I'll ever forget the time when I actually figured this out, while on the road: the bike suddenly would not accelerate beyond a certain RPM, and was just bogging, like it was 100cc past like 55 mph. I pulled over and thought about it, and exchanged the spark plug on that cylinder with a spare one that I had. The acceleration was then so fierce, like I was discovering 750ccs for the first time.
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Feb 11, 2022 15:58
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I remember blipping the throttle on my 1982 320i (back when the "i" meant something in BMW nomenclature. In this case, Bosch K-Jet mechanical fuel injection) and something like a half-second would pass before the engine responded. It was in good nick, the throttle response on that system is just sllloooww.
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May 26, 2022 16:57
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This is reminding me of the time my clutch cable broke as I was riding home to New York from visiting Virginia. It broke as I was getting onto the Staten Island Expressway (notorious traffic) and I had to get to Queens. Clutchless upshifting was easy, downshifting was not, and how would you even accelerate from a stop, in traffic no less? It was pretty dicey--had to ride on the shoulder for short distances to avoid traffic (and to give myself time to downshift)--but I managed to make it home without stopping, until the traffic light on the offramp about 10 blocks from my home. This was on a 1978 GS750.
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Jul 17, 2022 04:15
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I accidentally started my '82 320i (car) in gear once, and it lurched forward, so maybe it can be done... gingerly. GS750 from that era also weighs like 515 lbs. wet; not sure I could jump on a rolling saddle, even though I used to do that with a bicycle. (The jog to get something that heavy up to speed would also be dire... but so's the situation, I guess!)
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Jul 18, 2022 03:16
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LimaBiker posted:And get some of these to avoid loving around with probes that you gotta keep in place in impossible ways while pushing the starter button and keeping the meter from sliding off the seat/whatever. LOL because I have had exactly this problem.
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Jul 19, 2022 16:29
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TotalLossBrain posted:The bars I like much better: Hey, how tall are you again? Every time I consider one of the new 125s, the thing that's always put me off of them is that they're scaled too small. They're not full-size bikes (I mean, as full-size as a 125 can be; the modern ones are just smaller than even that, especially in the wheels). Here, it looks like the bars are something like 4 inches lower than stock. Aren't you hunched over too far while riding??
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Aug 19, 2022 04:12
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That joke is Ariel groaner.
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Sep 2, 2022 18:33
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epswing posted:Any advice on refilling/bleeding a completely empty rear brake line, after a MC + caliper rebuild, in addition to or different from the FSM instructions? Sportsterpedia says "here's the book method, and also 73 other methods that could maybe also work" which is not confidence inspiring, and neither is the obvious air pocket the brake line routing appears to be designed for. Back when I rebuilt my GS750's front brake master cylinder, I had to reassemble with what I assumed were dry lines, and I could not get any brake fluid into the lines, no matter how I pumped. It would flow down into the bleed tube and then get sucked right back up again when I let go of the lever, even when I think I remembered doing the correct procedure of squeeze->squeeze->squeeze->hold->open bleed->close bleed->release. I ended up having to buy a check valve for the line, whereupon it was bled easily. I tried this again when I recently rebuilt my GN125's front caliper (all of the brake fluid had trickled out of the front master cylinder and brake line at that point). That time, the procedure worked. Either I performed it correctly this time, or, there was still enough fluid in the master cylinder to create some kind of resistance to the backflow. Either way, if you have difficulty, just buy a cheap vacuum line check valve for the bleeder hose.
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Sep 30, 2022 03:47
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For what it's worth, dying at the idle throttle position, even when having a speed greater than 0, is definitely possible, especially for bikes leaned-out to hell from the factory to pass emissions. Almost forgot to mention, this is especially true if you're just coming off of a constant higher engine speed, say, from traveling on the highway.
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Oct 15, 2022 13:24
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Check to make sure new/replacement carbs are even available before hitting the drill bits.
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Oct 17, 2022 18:43
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? What happened to universal recommendations for Rotella? Does Rotella suck now? (I mean, I think I posted in this very thread years ago about how the formulation changed, probably to meet new oil standards)
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Nov 3, 2022 04:29
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Arson Daily posted:Hincky
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Jan 19, 2023 21:40
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Sagebrush posted:It won't blow up on you or anything, and you're looking at Hondas which are the most reliable vehicles on the planet, so it's probably nothing you have to actually worry about. And in the worst case if the engine does wear out after 20,000 miles, it's a small Honda and parts are about as cheap as they get. I'm just being nitpicky Not to butt in here, but my 125 is a Suzuki ~of all things~ and it currently has 30,000 miles on the engine without a thought given to warming it up, even on recent 10-20 degree nights (which was dumb, because the clutch barely worked at those temps). Still going.
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Feb 13, 2023 19:19
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I have thoroughly investigated myself and I have discovered that I am not a license-shirking terrorist. *Adds photocopy of my terrorist license to immigration form* My motorcycle license is... in my other immigration form.
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Feb 15, 2023 23:47
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UCS Hellmaker posted:jesus god why??? the 650 is good as a beginner cruiser but keeping the weight and everything else the same but cutting it by 250 cc is criminal. Thing likely topped out at 50 and screamed when it was going Easy resale into a different tax classification for certain engine sizes. It's the whole reason you get bikes that are named things like ZX-6R and then, when you look on the engine case, the engine size imprint says 599 cc. instead of just being 600 cc. I actually don't know the different thresholds, but I do think 399 cc is one of them in Japan.
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Feb 26, 2023 15:04
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Thanks for the corrections on both counts. Although, I could've sworn that one model or size-class was for tax classification purposes...
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Feb 27, 2023 21:56
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Ulf posted:Had a weird one today. I remember one time I can back to an old apartment of mine in the middle of a forced relocation in order to exchange my beater bike for my other bike, temporarily. I had already put it away for the season and I hadn't touched it for a couple of months. When I turned the petcock to ON to get going, fuel was leaking. I had to abandon my plans for that night. When I came back after a couple of weeks with a replacement petcock that I had ordered, I got ready to exchange the petcocks, but I had to empty the gas tank. I started sucking on the vacuum line to get the gas to drain and quickly discovered that the petcock was not leaking any longer. Sometimes fuel moistens a gasket that has become too dry to seal, and revitalizes the seal. The next year, however, the petcock leaked again, and it didn't stop, so if I were you, I'd start looking for a new petcock, or a petcock rebuild, if it hasn't been replaced or refreshed recently.
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Mar 31, 2023 03:55
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Hanging idles are really annoying, because it also indicates how the engine will behave under deceleration. I used to have a really nice idle: rock solid, decelerated so nicely that I barely used my brakes. Now I've been leaned out for about a year with my idle set lower than it should be for the amount of deceleration that I get at speed (too little), which points to an air leak somewhere... Might be the 30-year-old carb-to-airbox boot.
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Apr 15, 2023 18:16
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So, uh... Is there anything that can cause a float valve to fail repeatedly, even if it you take apart a carburetor and it seems to be working. My poo poo has just been leaking gas continually; I take off the carburetor, take the float out, make sure it still floats, realign the float on the pin, fiddle with the float value (with its little spring-loaded bullshit that you can't even see have an effect), put it on, test it, it doesn't leak, a block later, it's leaking again...???
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May 22, 2023 02:55
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Thanks. I'll check those things. I also have two spare carburetors, so if worse comes to worst, I'll just swap them. I just don't get why it it would leak, then after fiddling with it, it would seal, and then it would leak again minutes afterwards. This isn't a bike that's been sitting, either. It's a commuter. It's also funny, because, if I really need to use it, I can just ride it with the fuel valve OFF and occasionally open it to fill the float bowl, and it runs fine that way.
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May 22, 2023 04:58
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Anyone know what could cause a carbed bike to run RICH at 1/3rd to full throttle? I recently fixed my leaking float valve, and in the process, decided to try fitting my stock carburetor that I had swapped out many years ago for an e-bay special. The stock carburetor is as its name suggests, stock. In doing so, the motorcycle would not pull above 1/3rd throttle. Sounded like a 2 stroke idling when I tried. I thought that this might be a lean condition, so to test this, I removed the air horn leading to the airbox, which has taught me in the past that this leans out the mixture going into the bike. To my surprise, the response and power immediately IMPROVED (could get to about 3/5ths throttle now). Which points to a rich condition. Which is baffling me. I have not modified this carburetor... Edit: The slide/diaphragm can be ruled out. In curiosity, I exchanged them with one of my other carburetors. When I used the ebay carb with this stock carb's slide/diaphragm, it pulls great, just as it always had with its own slide/diaphragm. Meanwhile, the stock carb sputtered and 2-stroked and could not reach full power, just like before. Slide Hammer fucked around with this message at 19:35 on May 26, 2023 |
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May 26, 2023 19:31
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To me, it seems like, if you just leave it in there, and the tire continues to wear down, the tack will get pushed farther and farther inward where it will eventually puncture the tube. If you just leave it in there and it has already punctured the tube, then, as the carcass flexes as you corner and go over bumps and stuff, you run the risk of having it dig in and make its hole too big to sustain its plug, and you lose pressure mid-corner or something else equally terrifying. All in all, it sucks, but I think it should come out. (A tubed tire, being on a tube, is just a skin for the tube, anyway. You wouldn't have to replace it the same way you'd be recommended to replace a tubeless tire. Not that I've done that either for plugged punctures before, myself.)
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Jun 2, 2023 13:21
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Phy posted:Having starting issues on the ZRX, not sure what the culprit is. My bike is outside all of the time, and the killswitch just recently needed to be jostled to allow current to pass through what are probably corroding contacts. No current going to the starter at all sounds like one of the safety mechanisms, like that loose kickstand bolt possibly misaligning the kickstand from the plunger switch it's supposed to hit when it's raised (sounds like the most likely culprit). I would check those contacts. When batteries are too weak to spin starters, they will actuate the solenoid (the starter click) and then not have enough power to actually turn the engine.
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Jun 7, 2023 23:14
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KidDynamite posted:trying to remote diagnose. friend has a wr250 that won't start the day after it's been exposed to water. while it's raining will start up fine even after stopping for food for an hour. next day no go not even a bump start. he says it's cranking and he can hear the fuel pump just seems like it's not getting spark. what steps would you take to fix this? I had a small saga of my own similar to this. Bike would not start during rain or when it was wet. When I did manage to get it started, the engine would cut out if the RPMs were low enough. The problem, as suspected by others in the thread already, was water in the fuel. The water got into the fuel because the fuel line was old and cracked near its inlet, and it didn't have any kind of security, like a hose clamp, that would have closed off the cracks. So water was just seeping into these open cracks, even though they could barely be seen. Replacing the fuel line and giving it a nice wire clamp* solved the issue. *I'm not sure what they're called; they're like a hose clamp, but made out of three wires instead of a screw-cut metal band. You open it by using a pliers to pinch two tabs closer together, which increases the circumference of the clamp. Then, when you let go, the tension of the metal makes it spring back. SPRING CLAMPS. Is that it?
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Jun 19, 2023 03:09
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The GN125 has such awful stock mirrors that $5 ebay specials were an improvement. Less vibration, more surface area, not as tall, about the same amount of rust.
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Jul 5, 2023 14:04
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Geekboy posted:Is there any maintenance I should do to my Bonneville that I’m not thinking of? Have you checked the valve clearances? Usually you have to do them a few times when the bike is new, and then the intervals where you have to actually adjust them tend to get longer and longer. The Bonneville seems kinda old-tech; does it have screw adjusters, or shims?
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Jul 5, 2023 22:19
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Is it beneficial to clean the chain. I have NEVER in 20+ years cleaned a chain. One of my non-o-ring chains lasted for 25,000 miles just because I kept oiling it with every fill-up (about 150 miles) with just plain 80 weight or 130 weight gear oil. Although, I guess the definition of "lasted" here is "didn't snap" because it was definitely worn out. The bike also looks like a crude oil barge. ...Maybe this is an issue. On another bike that I have, I oil the chain in the same way (every fill-up), no cleaning, chain has about 2-3 inches of slack. It has not been adjusted in 13,000 miles. That's an o-ring chain, though. These are also small displacement bikes. But I'm not sure if cleaning a chain increases its lifespan.
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Aug 8, 2023 21:39
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Slavvy posted:I'm gonna go ahead and say 2-3 inches of slack is somewhere between suboptimal and deadly depending on the bike unless it's a dirt bike It isn't a dirt bike. That 25,000-mile chain did hop off the sprocket a few times. When that happens, it wedges itself in between the sprocket and the swingarm/chain guard, and the rear wheel jams. I should adjust that 10,000-mile chain, but, I need to buy new tires for that bike anyway...
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Aug 9, 2023 06:26
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I've thought about disassembling a replacement cap and just taking the seal off, and transplanting that to the old cap. I seem to remember that it's possible to do this without disturbing the pins in the lock.
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Aug 19, 2023 02:49
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Centerstands were a boon on mankind and their extirpation from the bike market in North America is the reason bean counters are going to HELL aka their cozy paid-off home with loving family and comfortable retirements, sigh
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Aug 20, 2023 03:28
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Extreme UV-ray damage has finally killed my front master cylinder (plastic). It's starting to crack to the point where it's darkening because fluid is leaking out. New master cylinder time. I wanted to order one of those little sleeves that go over the master cylinder to protect it. They're like $10 on ebay. So, aside from me being a cheapass of fine vintage, is there anything I can do otherwise to save myself from buying a $10 scrunchie.
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Aug 28, 2023 02:46
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Remy Marathe posted:How long does this degradation take, have I just been given an excuse to put a wristband on my bike? I last replaced this master cylinder about 7 years ago (one of the reservoir cap screws seized in the body and then snapped off when I tried to remove it). The replacement was new. This bike is always outside and uncovered. Over the years, the reservoir gradually became more and more opaque. Today, when I touched it to verify the thing was seeping, the plastic, which was pure white, crumbled. Might be worth noting that all of the paint and clearcoat on this bike is equally shot. Covering permanently-outdoors bikes can help. UV damage is real. Make sure to park them securely on their side stands though, because a cover can act like a sail in strong wind. Sagebrush posted:i have had the top of an old sock wrapped around my MC for uhhhhhh the better part of a decade Wait, it's not a special material? Wouldn't absorbent fabric retain too much water after rain, and rust the reservoir out? Edit: I mean, the master cylinder body. The reservoir is, as mentioned previously, plastic. Its retaining screws aren't, though...
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Aug 28, 2023 04:58
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I had problems with my front brake master cylinder reservoir being damaged by UV light to the point of cracking. I installed a new one recently, bleeding the brakes as best I could. Now I have a stupid problem: My front brake lever pull is too hard. Typically, it's bad when the pull is too soft, and people want a harder pull. But I think that there's too much pressure in the lines now. My front brake had a period where it was dragging a little today. How to introduce a tiny amount of air? This also happened to me many years ago, back when I owned a 1978 GS750. With that bike, it turned out that the little return hole in the reservoir that relieved pressure in the lines was getting clogged with gunk. Replacing the innards of the front master cylinder (new piston and seals, cleaning it out) fixed it. I thought about this problem with my bike now, but, this master cylinder is brand new.
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Sep 16, 2023 03:28
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I've been riding it for a few days of commuting, and it seems to mostly be a non-issue... will mess around with bleeding the brakes again, and will look in the reservoir for that tiny hole. I can't imagine I'll find much on a new master cylinder. Instead, I'd like to ask a different question now: can messing around with the float suddenly increase a bike's fuel economy by 20 mpg? Because this happened to me recently, also. I went from 10+ years of 72 mpg to suddenly getting 90 mpg after screwing around with the float, in response to when my carb suddenly started to piss fuel everywhere out of the overflow. I think I posted about that earlier upthread. I replaced the float valve (fixed it, even though the old part and the new part looked identical) and I also adjusted the float; As I needed the bike operational for my commute later that day, I was just throwing things at the wall at that point and seeing what stuck. Well, 20 mpg stuck... I haven't noticed a loss in performance. Can adjusting a float actually have this big of an impact? I think I adjusted it from where the float touches the needle at a 45-degree angle to the mating surface of the float bowl, down to less than half that. 20, or 15 degrees. I have noticed some significant bluing on the new exhaust I fitted recently, replacing the old rusted one.
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Sep 19, 2023 03:34
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I had a similar issue with my EX250. I diagnosed it by connecting the terminals of the bike battery to my mother's car's battery. When I would do this, it would run fine. Replacing the battery fixed it. Assumed that it was a short in the old battery. Batteries should be replaced every 5 years. I'm on year 6 of a glass-mat battery (ad copy is that "they last longer") that I should also replace soon, to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
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Oct 21, 2023 03:52
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knuthgrush posted:i didn't do any winterizing for my xr-150 or my ruckus because i didn't have a car and expected to ride these through the winter. in a turn of events, i was given a van (hell yeah) but i still intend to ride these bikes this winter. what should i do to keep them in a good state? should i let them idle occasionally or what? it'll be a couple weeks between rides i'm sure, especially when the snow comes. Wait, how recent are these bikes? The XR-150 probably has a carburetor, but aren't recent Ruckuses fuel injected? You don't have to worry about winterizing fuel injected bikes, unless you're thinking old-timer stuff like rubbing oil on exposed chrome parts (can't even think of any of that on the Ruckus).
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Dec 27, 2023 14:39
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:11 |
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hit the bricks pal! posted:Finally got around to opening up my carb and I'm not seeing anything immediately problematic. I have the parts so I can replace the float valve anyway but is there something obvious that I'm missing that would point to the problem? Seems pretty clean in there. In my experience, carb blockages have been microscopic. Not to say that problems themselves are microscopic, just that, you can't see them. I would take apart my bike's carb, poke and lightly scrub appropriately-sized wires through every orifice, look for residues, find nothing, put it back together, and it would run better than before.
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Apr 7, 2024 18:36
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