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We washed the woman's "brand new" 84 V30 Magna. That's a rad little ride. We found a pretty good score on one with 15k mi last weekend. I took it home 60 or so miles up Interstate 5. It gets up pretty good if you let it and it corners real nice for a "cruiser". Can barely hear it though, not used to that. I like a nice *blat* over my shoulder.
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Jun 10, 2009 05:57
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 16:31 |
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I BOUGHT my bike yesterday. A couple weeks ago my troublesome ol' Vulcan 88 died due to charging system failure. Since it had begun to be troublesome (2 hard runs to Sturgis will take its toll on an old Jap bike like that), I'd become reluctant to ride it any more than just a scoot, so a new one was inevitable. So yesterday I went to the dealer and asked him to get me into a brand new V Star 1300, and after a little working on his price, there I was signing paperwork. The picture isn't of mine, since mine is in a crate right now https://wi.somethingawful.com/f5/f5fb7dbe58f111df60955f6a6aa187ae418b88f6.jpg I should be able to pick it up this afternoon. The thing is sweet. 1300 liquid cooled EFI, belt final drive, dual front discs, floorboards, nice wide stock bars... The demo was smooth as silk compared with their 1100s and the riding position isn't so bunched up. All I need are a bug shield and some bags and I am set.
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Jul 29, 2009 18:23
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frozenphil posted:I broke the 100 mile mark on the odo. Working on 300 myself.
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Aug 2, 2009 06:00
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I debadged my bike completely yesterday. Took off the chromey rubber tank trim, the v star 1300 sticker on the airbox, the warning sticker on the tank, and the yamaha logo on the rear fender. Most noticeable is the visual improvement on the tank, now it looks like a real gas tank instead of a chinzed up toy.
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Aug 23, 2009 17:07
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My Vstar 1300 comes pretty much poorly tuned from the factory to meet EPA 2012 standards (ON A 07 MODEL). Practice makes perfect I guess. Imagine getting a perfectly good bike, then adding pod filters and free-flowing exhaust but skimping on the re-jet. That's how it rides straight out of the crate. Typical shenanigans include leaning out and losing combustion at light throttle, which basically means in turns, bad bogging at seemingly-realistic RPM, and popping on decel. So I bought this silly little hack that basically gives the O2 sensor circuit some extra resistance, thereby fooling the ECU into thinking it's running lean and adding more fuel via increased pulse width. The compromise between this and a traditional fuel pack or Power Commander is that it only does this while it's paying attention to the sensors. The good news is that it's pretty much any time I'm at <50% rpm and <100% throttle. It's also $50 and I got it in 3 business days. IT IS A MIRACLE DEVICE. Tunes out everything I don't like about riding on the bike. Throttle on/off transition is smooth as butter. Don't have to slip 2nd all the way to 40+mph to avoid bog and stutter, behaves as I approach stoplights, and widens the useful power band appreciably. That's what I did to my ride today.
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Jun 24, 2010 06:09
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Crayvex posted:Rode into work today and saw this beautiful machine in motorcycle parking. The Road King and the Glide are certainly sexy machi- oh you're talking about the BMW? 
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Jun 24, 2010 19:44
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Got pulled over leading a trio of cycles through Stevens Pass. My wife chose the perfect time to pull out of formation and pass at like 90mph: when there was a WSP officer coming up the other way. We were only doing like 70-75, which is flow of traffic for the section we were on. Unfortunately for me, the cop saw her doing whatever speed she was doing at the time on the Buell, interpreted it as ME doing 90, and gave me the biggest ticket out of all of us. I'm still not certain how you can get a reliable radar reading on 3 bikes inline all at the same time. Anyone know a good King County (Seattle area) traffic attorney?
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Jun 28, 2010 20:53
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Speaking of, on our way home from eastern WA over WA-20, we ran into 80 miles of solid rain from about 10 miles up from Newhalem to about Marysville. None of us had rain gear on, but fortunately for us, we were being followed by my friend with his Explorer full of camping gear which included my rain gear. As I was waving him into the parking lot we were in, now UNfortunately for us, he drives right by, looking right through me. Try to call on the cell, no service in bumfuck Whatcom County. Great, more miles of rain with nothing but my Bell shorty, mesh gloves (or fingerless, my choice!), jeans, and my leather. Oh and I took my windshield off cause we were only gonna be doing like 200 miles per day, half through desert, with a weather report of "slim chance of rain". I've braved Montana thunderstorms with a half helmet using the windshield + full-tuck method, this doesn't compare.
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Jun 28, 2010 22:22
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drat that's a hot KZP, what year is it?
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Jun 30, 2010 01:58
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Dropped the XVS1300 off at the shop this morning for its 8,000 mile service. Bought it new in July 09 and have put all but like 3 of those miles on it. I am having them omit the oil change cause I have some Mobil1 with 1,000 miles in it now, and the valve adjustment cause it just doesn't sound like it needs it, and it's 2 hours of labor out of a 4 hour service (I would go broke doing it by the book). I'll probably put another 1,000 miles on by August, at which point I need to change the oil in preparation for the Sturgis trip and cross my fingers that the valves aren't too noisy.
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Jul 2, 2010 21:08
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First I hole-saw'd the baffle plate out of my Star 13's muffler. Then I rode to Fred Meyer and bought a pair of Rubbermaid-type storage bins that fit in my saddlebags perfectly so that they retain their shape when empty. They look way better now and I won't have to worry about my sunglasses getting squished and scratched someplace in the corner of the bag. We also changed the wife's R1150R's crankcase oil out with fresh Mobil1 20w50 and took it for a spin.
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Jul 19, 2010 17:05
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I went to change the clutch cable on my Vstar 1300 and on the way over to my friend's house where I was gonna do it, it broke. I was able to ride it there, but that was it. Frayed as hell. Bad design, the adjuster nut thing was located by the steering neck or whatever, and all the torsion from moving the bars around made it crack where the cable connected to the adjuster piece and then it just wouldn't hold lube and wore down. New cable's adjuster piece is about 4 inches from the clutch lever. It's ugly but I feel better about it functionally. Shifts much smoother now, these past coupe weeks have been rough. 2 more tasks before Sturgis: belt tension/rear wheel align, and then an oil change. The trip will probably kill the factory Dunlops. I already have 9000 miles on them.
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Jul 29, 2010 07:16
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Last night I changed my oil and then washed the bike, giving the belt some special attention with the soapy water. Rolled it, washed more belt, repeat. It's whiney at low highway speeds and it's a little annoying. Took it into the reputable indie shop a couple blocks up the street and had him give it a quick once-over and ride test to make sure he didn't notice anything weird before I put 3000 miles on it next week. I asked him to look at the belt pulleys and check belt tension. After 20 minutes of poking and a ride around the block, he says: "I think you just need to ride the bike". So I'm ready to go to Sturgis. It's amazing how much somebody who knows what they're doing saying everything's cool can reduce the whine on the belt; shows how much of it is actually in my head.
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Aug 3, 2010 18:54
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The NonBornKing posted:Belts whine a little after they get wet. It should be fine. Have fun in Sturgis! Yeah, it's always whined, but I'm like a week out of the factory warranty and it started making a new whine, so I figured I'd cover my rear end before I get raped in podunk Wyoming. I do tend to be kind of an automotive hypochondriac, too, I will fully admit. The Harley dudes I hang out with were no help on the belt. "I dunno, it seems REALLY tight, I would loosen it up." Turns out Harley touring model belts are run real loose, I never knew. hayden. posted:Sounds like a joke - what do Harley belts and Harley riders have in common? I wouldn't know, I ride a Yamaha 
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Aug 4, 2010 21:39
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I rode it to court today to check the radar calibration records for this 90-in-a-60 ticket I got in June. Turns out they were 2 years and 3 months old at the time of infraction, and in Washington the certification is good for 2 years. That means if I don't get the case dismissed on some juristictional fuckup the officer made on his paperwork, I'll get it dismissed on lack of radar evidence. The other two people in my group who were ticketed plead guilty, like chumps. Ha!
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Aug 6, 2010 03:50
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I bought a pair of Harley-Davidson Road King Classic hard bags today. Posted a want at on Craigslist and got what I wanted for the price I wanted [which was approx half the going rate on Ebay]. I even shooped together a concept:  (my hosting, click it to make big)Cant wait to get these badboys on the bike. I think the bags are a little smaller than the scale in the composite photo there, which is A-OK, I intend to mount them as fore as possible, as close to the pipe as I am comfortable mounting a plastic bag. I have Easy Brackets already and a plan for a stabilizer bar across the rear, running under the fender. I gotta say these are probably the most solid "universal" bags I've encountered. Walls are thick, and the leather is high quality - they blow the Yamaha factory leather wrapped bags out of the drat water, and folks value these less than the Yammy units. The only hang-up is they're molded for the shocks on a Road King so that sacrifices some internal dimension. And with the Easy Brackets, they'll mount a little further off the fender [stupid Vstar has a WIDE rear end swing-arm so all the brackets made for the bike had some stupid wide offset].
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Apr 29, 2011 21:29
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I helped replace the drive belt on a Buell Ulysses. Took maybe 40 minutes start to finish. We spent more time than that making a bike lift cradle for the round muffler on the belly. That XB12 always surprises me with how easy it is to work on.
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May 2, 2011 16:00
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:I found out that I have a "parking" position that leaves the tail light on. I also got to figure out how to jumpstart my new bike. I also found out that my rear brake switch isn't attached, so blinking the rear brake to warn people I'm engine braking hasn't been working all day. This sounds like exactly my experience with the wife's new-to-her old Magna a couple seasons ago. Day 1: battery dead, taillight stays on in lock, what the heck, avoid locking it Day 2: brake light stays on all the time, switch out of adjustment, what the heck Hinshaw Honda
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May 3, 2011 16:56
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orthod0ks posted:Haha, that's awesome. You guys are hooliganing around on wet roads, and I'm afraid to ride on them. I guess I need to stop being so paranoid. Usually I tell folks that riding in wet is like riding in dry, just don't do a lot of hooligan poo poo and you are A-OK, hahah.
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May 3, 2011 17:13
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Looking forward to SR 20 opening this year? I did it once last year, east-to-west and got caught, completely unprepared, in a rainy western-WA day. This was almost immediately after being written a $247 speeding ticket eastbound on Stevens. Worst ride ever. Worst riding season in the lowlands, ever. I am cautiously optimistic for this year. [I did beat that ticket though] This is one of my favorite quick-ride destinations:  Mt. Erie, near Anacortes. I usually mosey up through Tulalip, take in the view, and then cut across to 9 on my way home. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 17:59 on May 3, 2011 |
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May 3, 2011 17:50
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I did the impossible: removed the carb rack from a V30 Magna. It was a tight squeeze but its off the bike and in the house. I think the boots on it were 27 years old. Will need new ones; I hope they're still made. Here's hoping the source of the leaking problem is obvious... What do you think the chances are of me being able to pull it off, replace seals, and put it back on without having to adjust the balance?
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May 5, 2011 15:49
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Yesterday I finally rode up to the Harley dealership to pick up an in-stock belt tension gauge. Since I took my wheels off to get re-tired, I eyeballed the whole alignment and belt tension process based on a poke at the belt and the hash marks on the axle pushers. I checked the tension [it was on the tight side of spec] so I loosened it to the loose side, presumably putting less load on the transmission bearings - just for peace of mind. Then I re-aligned the rear wheel using the spinning-wheel belt tracking method - manually turning the wheel and helping the belt to the center of the pulley and then watching which edge of the pulley it favors while spinning unmolested, adjusting the alignment as necessary. I've got this whole belt drive maintenance thing down to a science, assuming it doesn't break. Replacement means removing the swing arm.
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May 11, 2011 19:25
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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 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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Z3n posted: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. Its a Vstar 1300. They cleverly engineered it to require two special tools; a fancy set of feeler gauges attached to rods for better reach and angle, and a funky square-hole socket for turning the adjuster piece. The top end area of the bike is fairly cramped so things that hold coolant need to be disconnected and several little shiny bits from the top of the engine need to be removed, and clearance is pretty notoriously tight. At least it isn't the shim-and-bucket type. But $200 vs. 8 hours and bloody knuckles, to me, is kind of a wash. The wife's R1150, on the other hand...jesus. She'll finish those before I finish an oil change. It's pretty uncanny.
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May 19, 2011 23:33
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Called up my accessories dude asking for that Cobra Powrpro fuel controller thing. I really want it but Cobra keeps pushing back the release for my bike, and now it's looking like July 8th is the next time they'll announce a delay. M109R dudes can get it and seem pretty positive about it. So barring that, I ordered a new handlebar with more rise and pullback so my hands dont go numb after a couple hundred miles, and new Avon contour grips to go with them.
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Jun 10, 2011 16:51
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The wife and I bled the brakes on her BMW 1150, and I took the rear wheel off my Vstar only to discover TWO punctures instead of the one I was taking it off to get patched. $50 patch job beats a $200 tire. I don't think I ride fast enough to worry about the tire coming apart...
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Jun 19, 2011 04:50
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Wheel is back on the vstar. It holds air so I took it for a spin to shake down any alignment and belt tension noises. Gonna double check belt tension before I take off on my Iron Butt 1000/24 attempt but other than that I am pretty much ready.
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Jun 20, 2011 06:18
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Got a new handlebar half installed last night. It was too late to start lifting the tank before I decided I needed more slack on the throttle cables, so I will do that today. I really should have washed the bike first. 1000+ miles worth of huge bugs. Yuck.
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Jun 29, 2011 21:16
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Bars, grips installed. Its subtly lower and wider but it makes a big difference. I also tweaked the lever positions to be a tough higher and it's pretty much perfect. Tomorrow, it gets a bath and new rear turn signals to accommodate the Harley saddlebags.
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Jun 30, 2011 05:33
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Changed out my turn signals with lower profile jobs to make clearance for the saddle bags I need to mount up before my trip to Yellowstone.
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Jul 10, 2011 04:17
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 Added Road King Classic bags to the ol' vstar today. Had to run a support brace across the rear between em under the fender to stiffen things up, should be a perfect mount for wicked huge red running lights.
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Jul 17, 2011 05:52
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After I got my bike back from Idaho [see: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3405422&pagenumber=6#post394545274 for a brief ride report], I did an oil change and a headlight bulb replacement. New bulb is a gently caress you bright Sylvania Silverstar Ultra because everybody I ride with says they can't see the stock low beam during the day. Ended up burning out the high beam so I had to get a new bulb. Gonna make sure to ride tonight and see how bright it really is! My Mobil1 10w40 went up in price at Autozone. Used to be like $9.95/qt, now it's $10.95 or something. At least I can still get it at Autozone. I prefer not dealing with motorcycle parts counters just to get oil change stuff.
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Aug 17, 2011 20:41
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SaNChEzZ posted:Why not just buy a gallon of the Shell Rotella T for $25? It's never occurred to me to put anything else in it.
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Aug 17, 2011 21:04
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Rode the XL175, transferred the title to me. Was disappointed by the rain and lack of daylight, I was going to hoon around under the power lines in Lake Stevens. Added inline fuel filter to the DT175, did wheelies. The DT is running a little better each time I ride it. I assume the seafoam I put in the tank is helping unclog the carb a bit as I run the gas through it. This time it took two kicks to start it, which was nice. I also realized the choke doesn't work at all, it will idle at 3k cold, choke or no. I know it's supposed to be peaky but I still think it should be making a little more oomph from 5k to 7k. Shifting from redline puts the tach right at 5k and by 3rd gear it doesn't have enough to push to the next gear. The usable power band is only 500 rpm between 7k and redline. Gonna take them both out tomorrow to play in the dirt. After that, carb comes off.
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Jan 7, 2012 02:06
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I can hear my Buell's fuel pump over the Jardine can. That's how you know it's working!
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Feb 16, 2012 20:54
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As if I can actually afford it, I bought a pair of Pilot Road 2s for the ol' Ulysses. The Battlax I have on it is pretty dangerously low. I'm only going to ride them to the shop to have the tires swapped. Actually I think I'm coming in pretty low on cost; 10% coupon code at motorcyclesuperstore (thanks whoever posted that!) brought the pair down to like $243, and Ducati Bellevue seem to like doing tires 'cause they only charge $60 to do it including wheel removal and reinstall. I think I can finally use the handy-dandy triple tail to help secure the tires to the pillion for the trip in
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Feb 24, 2012 21:01
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I didn't realize the clutch cable on the DT175 was so far gone until I replaced it today. I couldn't slack it enough to remove from the lever on the engine case so I had to cut it to get it off. Oiled the new cable up as much as possible because I figure you can't over-oil the thing, and installed it. Went on without trouble, didn't even need to lift the tank. Also cleaned and oiled the chain, topped up the gearbox oil, and re-positioned the handlebar by tilting it aft by like 1 inch. It's going to be a different bike! On the downside, I discovered that I'll need a new throttle cable as well.
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Feb 29, 2012 05:07
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Mcqueen posted:Today it was snowing. Boooo. While I wait for less poo poo weather and new tires I put on some New Grips because the stock Tuono ones feel poo poo slick and thin. Hm, those mirrors look like mine. A quick GIS says I may have just figured out where in the heck the mirrors on my Ulysses came from. I thought they may have been fleabay generics at first, but they work too well.
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Feb 29, 2012 19:56
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 16:31 |
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slidebite posted:That's kind of interesting. I ran on high octane for a while on my vstar with that attitude. Then, in a jam I put some 87 in (like the manual recommends). It ran better and got like 20 more miles before reserve. That answered it for me, stick with 87.
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Mar 12, 2012 18:59
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