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Ola posted:Today I rode 40 km with my right pannier unlocked! Scattered three days of mail across the highways and byways of Bergen! Paying my bills has never been easier! Congratulations, you just passed the Detroit postal worker entrance exam. The "Things that fell off my bike" thread LIVES. Or maybe we need a new one for "flew out of." It seems wrong to make gravity the scapegoat...
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May 12, 2011 20:00
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Ola posted:Today I rode 40 km with my right pannier unlocked! Scattered three days of mail across the highways and byways of Bergen! Paying my bills has never been easier! The outdoors aint no place for no tax payin' city slicker like yous. 
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May 12, 2011 20:28
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Ola posted:Today I rode 40 km with my right pannier unlocked! Scattered three days of mail across the highways and byways of Bergen! Paying my bills has never been easier! I rode home last night with my brand new backpack unzipped. I think all I lost was some USB cables and junk though. drat lucky too, because I stuck my passport and checkbook in there for some reason.
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May 12, 2011 20:52
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I've got my ratty, paint-scratching tank bag tied to the pillion of the SV with some rope right now, so I have some luggage space while the Ninja sits awaiting a fuel smell diagnostic. I eagerly await the UV-accelerated failure of either the (presumably synthetic) rope or the nylon webbing holding the D-rings on the bag. I need to break down and just get a hard case for the SV. 
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May 12, 2011 21:15
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SlightlyMadman posted:I rode home last night with my brand new backpack unzipped. I think all I lost was some USB cables and junk though. drat lucky too, because I stuck my passport and checkbook in there for some reason. I know some people poo poo on the Mobile Edge Security backpack, but I love it because it can't be opened while you are wearing it!
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May 12, 2011 21:27
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WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL OF TTTTTEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTTTTTTT Yesterday I finished tuning my carburetor so it idled properly, and I replaced my battery (7AH SLA I have in the RH toolbox) because the battery decided to blow a cell. No big deal, carbs need tuning and batteries don't appreciate the Bullet's vibration. I understand that. Today, however, I would almost think it was intentional. I was travelling to a friend's house that's in a town 40 miles over. Easy riding, four lane highway with farmland on either side. The rain was pretty bad, but I've got wet weather gear and good tires, so that's not an issue either. Plus, the Bullet is my only vehicle, so I can't exactly take a cage when things get wet. Just past halfway to his house, my battery (the new one I put in yesterday) decides that both it's mount and the toolbox are too restrictive and stifling and makes a break for it, just as I crest a long, steep hill. Broke both the latch on the box and it's mount and just flew out at 65mph into nothingness. Now, I didn't know exactly what happened and thought my ignition switch was wonky, so I fiddled with the key and dropped through the gears, while I coasted down on the shoulder. When I stopped at the bottom and dismounted, I saw that the toolbox was open (latch broken) and the battery was nowhere to be found, so I started walking back up the exactly-one-mile-long hill (I stopped at a mile marker, and there was another one at the peak) to search for the battery. About halfway up, a highway trooper pulls over and I explained what happened. He and I then spent the next 45 minutes searching alongside the road and the steep embankment, while the rain continued to pour. We found nothing by the time we crested the hill, so he made sure I was okay and left. A ways back down the hill, I spotted a funny-lookin' rock about 10 meters past a barbed wire fence that separated the embankment and a field. As I head down the hill towards the fence, I remembered why these fields haven't been plowed yet this year; due to crazy rainfall, the mud is so deep that even tractors have gotten stuck. Dang. Eventually, I crossed the fence and retrieved my cracked, battered battery, and dragged my mud-soaked self back to the bike. After installing the battery and bungeeing the toolbox closed, I was surprised to find the bike started, and showed 13.5 volts! Jolly good. For a bit. Five or ten miles down the road, after the highway merges back into two lanes, my bike started puttering out intermittently, and all my lights went dark. I checked, and the battery was still there. I was getting about 50% of the spark that I should, so I putter along (25mph or so, I think, because my speedo had gone black) until I found another place to pull off to the side. Thankfully, a good chap pulled in behind me, and offered to help. He shut his car off, and connected his jumper cables to my bike just to make sure it wasn't a battery problem. Sadly, no, it wasn't. Even with his car connected, I still didn't get proper lights, and the speedo stayed dark. After stopping, I couldn't restart the bike, either. Strangely, when I hit the right turn signal, my brake light blinked, and when I hit the left turn signal, the ammeter showed full discharge (short). Dang, water must have gotten somewhere. As the gentleman who helped me pulled out, the EXACT SAME state trooper from before pulled in, and the first words out of his mouth were "You're not having a good day, are you?" No, sir, I am not. I ended up phoning a friend, who is willing to pick me up. Thankfully, last time I visited I inadvertently ended up leaving a spare battery at his place, in case one of our weekends of games and drinking ended with the Bullet flat. While I waited for him (about 1.5 hours total, his ex had the car, and she was hard to get a hold of), I disconnected everything that the bike didn't need to run. Speedo, speed sensor, whole rear taillight wire harness, clutch switch, neutral light, the front indicators, etc etc. I didn't know exactly where the water/short was, but I didn't want to have to go get a pickup and haul the bike back home. Also, by the time he arrived, the "60 MPH battery" had gone almost dead, either from me troubleshooting, or the fact that AGM cells were exposed to air for two hours. When he arrived, we put the spare battery in, and the Bullet started on the second or third kick. I ended up following his Prius (because my speedo still wasn't working) back to my place. Now it sits in the driveway, waiting for me to rewire the damned thing so this poo poo doesn't happen again. I guess the people who made my bike have never heard of waterproofing. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 07:41 on May 13, 2011 |
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May 13, 2011 07:30
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I've got a instruction manual and a new part, probably going to break my bike but gently caress it, gonna be a rainy weekend anyway. HNasty fucked around with this message at 15:30 on May 13, 2011 |
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May 13, 2011 15:23
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Couldn't download the manual here?
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May 14, 2011 06:51
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HNasty posted:I've got a instruction manual and a new part, probably going to break my bike but gently caress it, gonna be a rainy weekend anyway. Haha, you too?  I just picked up the DP one from Pro Italia as well. Was going to throw it on later today. It's fairly easy it looks like.
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May 14, 2011 19:06
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A Duck! posted:Haha, you too? Noice, what up hydraulic clutch buddy.
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May 14, 2011 22:55
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Greased the axles and control pivots, synced throttle bodies, inspected filter. Filter is looking pretty sad and it's only 1000 miles old. That's what I get for riding 1000 rain miles. Once I can afford a fuel controller I am totally getting a K&N. edit to add: I totally smell like Disney Land right now. mmm, axle grease. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 02:55 on May 15, 2011 |
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May 15, 2011 02:52
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I began stripping 2 screws holding on my electric starter, so I gave up there. Then I managed to break a screwdriver while trying to remove a screw holding on my transmission cover. Also, it rained while I was at work and now it's a bit difficult to get the key in the ignition or remove it once it's in there. Tomorrow: buy a new screwdriver, lubricate the keyhole and use easy-outs to hopefully remove the old screws. I want to either have my variator deregulated or my electric start cleaned and operable before Monday. But it's supposed to rain some more, so maybe not.
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May 15, 2011 10:36
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Yeah, it's a pretty simple process to swap them out. I think it took me an hour or so.
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May 16, 2011 08:59
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Welp, started fab on a new lock for my battery box/toolbox, and made a proper battery mount so it would stay in there even if there was NO door on the toolbox. I'll update this post as I complete things - need to do certain things this week but it's raining like a bitch. 1. Disassemble bike. Take. Apart. Everything! 2. Drill holes in backbone and base for wires. I don't like the gas tank squishing the harness. 3. Rewire the bike. This is the big one, I predict 12 hours, even for the simple Enfield. 4. Reassemble the bike. Don't forget to make proper mud/rain shields this time. EXTRA CREDIT: EC1: New brake pads on parent's pickup (2004 Ram) EC2: Oil change same pickup. Oil/filter already purchased. EC4: Make new front turn signals for Enfield. I ripped out the old ones in case they were shorted out on my last wall-o-text adventure a few posts back. While SWIM hasn't gone to college yet, SWIM has a small supply of Ritalin a friend gave that was left over after their finals. I'm thinking...wiring day. That's going to SSSSUUUUCCCKKKK no matter how you slice it. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 11:23 on May 19, 2011 |
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May 16, 2011 09:26
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New clutch slave, and a Ballistic Lithium Iron Phosphate battery.
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May 16, 2011 19:04
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I changed my sprockets. 
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May 17, 2011 07:18
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I wore out a drill bit attempting to make a pilot hole for a screw extractor. At this rate, I shall always have a busted starter button and a regulated variator.
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May 17, 2011 08:18
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-Inu- posted:I changed my sprockets. And chain too, right? But...did you never use lube or anything? Or high-performance wheelie-machining?
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May 17, 2011 08:52
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M4rg4r1ne posted:I wore out a drill bit attempting to make a pilot hole for a screw extractor. At this rate, I shall always have a busted starter button and a regulated variator. Get a cobalt bit, and keep it cool by drilling in small increments and cooling with some kind of thin oil, WD40 in a pinch.
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May 17, 2011 09:23
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Geirskogul posted:But...did you never use lube or anything? Or high-performance wheelie-machining?
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May 17, 2011 16:41
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Aluminum is softer than steel so it's really a terrible material for sprockets unless you're insane about saving unsprung/rotating weight.
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May 17, 2011 17:02
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Vortex uses 7075 T6 aluminum for their rear sprockets. Problem is their aluminum doesn't come from the same place, so there is huge variance in the quality of their stuff. A quality aluminum sprocket like the Driven that I replaced it with is made from GOOD aluminum from a single distributor. I have no problems running aluminum -- steel completely changes the way the bike responds, especially on the track.
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May 17, 2011 18:48
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ReelBigLizard posted:Get a cobalt bit, and keep it cool by drilling in small increments and cooling with some kind of thin oil, WD40 in a pinch.
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May 17, 2011 19:03
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Today I left the full lanyard on my keys and melted a bunch of (orange) stuff to one of my exhaust pipes. Sweet work Eddie. Sigh.
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May 17, 2011 19:14
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I was doing some light tune up work, put everything back together, then tightened too much and snapped a bolt in half. Oh the joys of having a 30 year old bike  Just put in an order for a new part, and won't ride for a few days. And I get to figure out how to the the second half out of the bike. What a poor design. NorskHotDog fucked around with this message at 20:06 on May 17, 2011 |
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May 17, 2011 19:57
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ChiTownEddie posted:Today I left the full lanyard on my keys and melted a bunch of (orange) stuff to one of my exhaust pipes. Sweet work Eddie. I did that a few weeks back. Went to put the lanyard back around my neck and went "wtf why is the plastic all sharp?"
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May 17, 2011 21:59
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Got a little package in the mail today.
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May 17, 2011 22:36
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-Inu- posted:Vortex uses 7075 T6 aluminum for their rear sprockets. Problem is their aluminum doesn't come from the same place, so there is huge variance in the quality of their stuff. A quality aluminum sprocket like the Driven that I replaced it with is made from GOOD aluminum from a single distributor. I have no problems running aluminum -- steel completely changes the way the bike responds, especially on the track. I've got an aluminium Driven sprocket on my 1000 and it's holding up pretty well.
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May 18, 2011 06:43
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pennywisdom posted:Got a little package in the mail today. What are you putting this on?
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May 18, 2011 19:03
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'06 600rr. I used to have a GPR for my 954, but ended up leaking all over the place. Figured I'd try the Scotts.
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May 18, 2011 19:05
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Yay! Broke the end of the screw extractor off inside the stuck screw. Tomorrow I'll try cutting a deeper groove in the head and turning it with a giant screwdriver before ramming it up my nose and then bashing my face against a table until I am dead.
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May 19, 2011 07:25
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Adjusted the valve clearance on my WR250R at 10K. Exhaust valves were borderline out of spec, intakes were at the lower end of spec. In other news, Japan's hate of the US for Hiroshima does not decrease with time if the serviceability of new motorcycles is anything to go by.
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May 19, 2011 07:55
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MotoMind posted:Adjusted the valve clearance on my WR250R at 10K. Exhaust valves were borderline out of spec, intakes were at the lower end of spec. Glad I convinced you to do that, Japanese foreign policy non-withstanding.  I rode the 690 in to work today. It's one of those motorcycles that leaves you kinda star struck every time you ride it, it's just so good. Back it in huge, hold a wheel in reserve over speedbumps, hard on the brakes and hit a pothole and it just soaks it up...the front wheel is off the ground on acceleration, and the rear wheel is off the ground (or sliding sideways) on deceleration. It's sooooo goddamn good I just can't ride it too regularly in the city because it's such an amazing hooligan bike and if anyone EVER saw me riding it I'd be screwed.
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May 19, 2011 16:43
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I rode my TW200 to the DMV and passed the driving test! no more expired permit for me. I then went for a short 60 mile ride.
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May 19, 2011 20:30
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MotoMind posted:Adjusted the valve clearance on my WR250R at 10K. Exhaust valves were borderline out of spec, intakes were at the lower end of spec. What is the history of the bike? So much for the claimed 26k mile valve check interval.
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May 19, 2011 21:45
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jdonz posted:What is the history of the bike? So much for the claimed 26k mile valve check interval. I love the 26k mile interval on Yamahas because it's pretty Yamaha saying "meh you're probably not going to ride this that long anyways". Sure, it'll work fine on many of the bikes, if people actually check them at 26k, but there are a LOT of bikes out there where not checking/adjusting the valves before that causes issues. If you end up on the tighter side of the spec from the factory, you are good and screwed by the time 26k is gonna hit. Most of them seem to start having issues (stalling, hard starting when hot) by around 12-15k if they're too tight. I've heard of at least 3 R6s falling victim to it. In the name of "cheap maintenance", they're just basically doubling the established service interval, knowing that the majority of time, if the valves are adjusted correctly to the loose end of the spec, they won't get tight enough to cause damage by the time 26k rolls around (although they'll be out of spec long before the interval comes up).
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May 19, 2011 21:55
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I have to adjust the valves on my bike every 500-1,000 miles. At least the adjusters are behind ONE BOLT. lovely bike but easy maintenance.
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May 19, 2011 22:07
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I have valve lash envy now. My Yamaha calls for it EVERY 4000. And it's a tank-off, drain-coolant, remove-a-bun-of-other-garbage sort of job. They say 2 hours shop labor, or like 8 hours the first time you try it yourself. Of course on the 2010 model, with no changes to the engine, Yamaha extended the interval to 16,000. After paying for three, at a couple hundred a pop, I've decided to just wait until they're noisy before I get em checked, or the 2010+ interval, whichever comes first. I don't actually meet many people with the same bike who are due for their 4000 valve check... it's pretty amazing how little people ride around here.
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May 19, 2011 22:42
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clutchpuck posted:I have valve lash envy now. My Yamaha calls for it EVERY 4000. And it's a tank-off, drain-coolant, remove-a-bun-of-other-garbage sort of job. They say 2 hours shop labor, or like 8 hours the first time you try it yourself. What are you riding? Valve checks aren't too difficult, adjustment is more of a pain, but you can always pull it apart and then take it to the dealership to get the adjustment...although by that point, you're already there so it's just a few more bolts and some careful measuring and you can adjust them on your own.
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May 19, 2011 22:54
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Geirskogul posted:I have to adjust the valves on my bike every 500-1,000 miles. At least the adjusters are behind ONE BOLT. lovely bike but easy maintenance. At least yours are adjustable. I have stupid shims, which means my bike sits with the valve cover off for weeks while I order +/- 5mm shims.
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May 19, 2011 23:00
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