The General Motorbikers Discussion Thread

[BlaRo]

So...I GOT THE BIKE!

It's a 1997 Yamaha XJ600S Seca II. Bright red, faded paint, cracked front fairing, encrusted dirt and bugs, and all sexiness. But riding it for the first time today was an EPIC FAIL of Top Gear proportions...

So I take it down the street after putting on the helmet that was included that was 3 sizes too big for me. And it's exhilarating! Power delivery is nice and linear, it never felt wily under me, and it was pretty balanced. So I'm toodling along for a good 20 minutes now, and I decide to tackle a hill. Biiiig mistake. It stalls from under me, and in the course of trying to moderate the clutch and throttle like a typical neophyte it stalls on me about 5 more times. Fortunately there aren't any cars bearing down on me as I fuck around like a dipshit...because on the 6th try, the engine won't start. Ambitious, but rubbish!

RRrrrRRrrrRRRrrr, the engine turned over a few times, then gave up.

Then, the clicking noise resonated from under my seat. Must be a starter problem. Sounded like an electric motor failing at life.

I was gutted. I had to push the damn thing back to my house - one mile away. I dropped it once, I'm embarrassed to say. Good motivation to ditch the fairing already and rig up a 6" headlight...somehow.

So I let it sit for about 4 hours, in the shade, then filled the tank up with gasoline, put the petcock in its regular position, and tried it again...to no avail. The headlight lights up, but the "clickclickclick" sound still goes. I'm afraid it's a busted starter, and now I'm gutted. Any ideas on how to fix it?



Also, SOME GODDAMN DRUNK BITCH WHORE SLUT DYKE KNOCKED MY BIKE OVER! She was apparently attracted by its redness, shouted "wheee!", and jumped on it, and the thing went down! Goddamnit, I just fuckin' bought it today and everything.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

So...I GOT THE BIKE!

It's a 1997 Yamaha XJ600S Seca II. Bright red, faded paint, cracked front fairing, encrusted dirt and bugs, and all sexiness. But riding it for the first time today was an EPIC FAIL of Top Gear proportions...

So I take it down the street after putting on the helmet that was included that was 3 sizes too big for me. And it's exhilarating! Power delivery is nice and linear, it never felt wily under me, and it was pretty balanced. So I'm toodling along for a good 20 minutes now, and I decide to tackle a hill. Biiiig mistake. It stalls from under me, and in the course of trying to moderate the clutch and throttle like a typical neophyte it stalls on me about 5 more times. Fortunately there aren't any cars bearing down on me as I fuck around like a dipshit...because on the 6th try, the engine won't start. Ambitious, but rubbish!

RRrrrRRrrrRRRrrr, the engine turned over a few times, then gave up.

Then, the clicking noise resonated from under my seat. Must be a starter problem. Sounded like an electric motor failing at life.

I was gutted. I had to push the damn thing back to my house - one mile away. I dropped it once, I'm embarrassed to say. Good motivation to ditch the fairing already and rig up a 6" headlight...somehow.

So I let it sit for about 4 hours, in the shade, then filled the tank up with gasoline, put the petcock in its regular position, and tried it again...to no avail. The headlight lights up, but the "clickclickclick" sound still goes. I'm afraid it's a busted starter, and now I'm gutted. Any ideas on how to fix it?



Also, SOME GODDAMN DRUNK BITCH WHORE SLUT DYKE KNOCKED MY BIKE OVER! She was apparently attracted by its redness, shouted "wheee!", and jumped on it, and the thing went down! Goddamnit, I just fuckin' bought it today and everything.

Did you catch her and get her name and info? Because it sounds like she'd be a pretty good person to soak for the damaged fairings and such... and if she was drunk, she'd never have noticed that the fairings were already damaged. Besides, she probably damaged them further.

Moral of story - get a cover and use the centerstand.

It's probably not a bad starter but more likely a discharged battery (bikes have problems keeping the battery charged up and many do not charge at all until 2-3K) or battery on the way out. Replace the battery (never a bad idea on a new-to-you bike) and charge it up with a charger, and see what you get. It is entirely possible to have the headlight on and look just fine and not have enough power in the old battery to start the bike.


Also, you may have just discovered the usual Yamaha Relay Fun®.

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by Spectre

Did you catch her and get her name and info? Because it sounds like she'd be a pretty good person to soak for the damaged fairings and such... and if she was drunk, she'd never have noticed that the fairings were already damaged. Besides, she probably damaged them further.

Moral of story - get a cover and use the centerstand.

It's probably not a bad starter but more likely a discharged battery (bikes have problems keeping the battery charged up and many do not charge at all until 2-3K) or battery on the way out. Replace the battery (never a bad idea on a new-to-you bike) and charge it up with a charger, and see what you get. It is entirely possible to have the headlight on and look just fine and not have enough power in the old battery to start the bike.


Also, you may have just discovered the usual Yamaha Relay Fun®.

I'll see if I can get a voltmeter and check the voltage across the batt; think a jump-start should be fine?

The fairing was already damaged before the stupid c*nt got to it. I don't think she could have caused any more harm than what I've done to it already.

[tigger]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

So...I GOT THE BIKE!

Congratulations, good sir . Sucks that it's already getting banged on, though.

I'd say your starting issue is just the battery being drained. My Ford does the same thing when the battery is low; it's just the solenoid clicking because of too little voltage. You don't have a kick starter on it, do you? If not, you can always try to roll start it.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

I'll see if I can get a voltmeter and check the voltage across the batt; think a jump-start should be fine?

Yes, but don't use a running car to do it. Just hook up the car battery with the car turned OFF.

The fairing was already damaged before the stupid c*nt got to it. I don't think she could have caused any more harm than what I've done to it already.

I am proposing that you make her pay for her drunken stupidity. Who knows, you might even get her to pay for a full fairing replacement.

Put it to you this way - someone knocks my bike over, they just "bought" all the damage on the side it fell on.

[hansvonaxion]

Agree with diagnosis: battery.

And as for starting riding at 21, thats the best time to start, you're less likely to kill yourself.

[Spectre]

BlaRo: Just flipped you a PM, found you some Seca II parts on eBay that might help. You might want to snag as many as you can; Seca II parts are harder to find on eBay than parts for my Nighthawk S and they made the Seca longer.

[Peter3hg]

You could always bump-start it (in 2nd) then give it a good ride for a few hours and see if it charges it up. Just don't stall it.

[hansvonaxion]

Battery chargers are pretty cheap too.
Have to say, buying one was a good investment.

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

Stay away! Mine! I saw her first!

In white please.

Originally Posted by tigger

Do they make those in white? Jebus ... I want one.

Of course they do!

Lovely!

[KaJuN]

BlaRo: First of all I'm glad to hear you got the bike. Welcome to the wonderful world of relays Yamahas! If it's any help I had a similar problem with my starter when I was going through the rebirthing process. It turns out that over the years the starter motor brushes had worn down to the wire and were no longer making contact. Tapping the starter with a hammer while pressing the start button helped diagnose this. So if the battery doesn't help that might be a good place to look next.

[avanti]

yes


no

[Ottobon]

If its stalling is their any chance that not only is the battery drained but the engine can't supply enough power for to fire the spark plugs? I've ran out of spark and i think my lights still worked, this was in a mki MR2 though.

I agree you should probably try to get some money out of the drunk chick, but that girl sounds hilarious.

[tigger]

Originally Posted by Redliner

Damn I love Triumph.

Originally Posted by Ottobon

If its stalling is their any chance that not only is the battery drained but the engine can't supply enough power for to fire the spark plugs?

I think the stalling was just BlaRo being a noob . I know some bikes utilize separate coils on the stator; one for lighting and accessories, another for the ignition. That way you don't even need a battery for it to run.

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by tigger

I think the stalling was just BlaRo being a noob . I know some bikes utilize separate coils on the stator; one for lighting and accessories, another for the ignition. That way you don't even need a battery for it to run.

Yep.

I'm going to assume that the battery needs to be jump started, which is what I'm going to do tomorrow; after that, it could be anything ranging from the starter to the relays to the engine flooding. I hope not.

Also, AAA doesn't work on fuckin' motorcycles even though it's almost the same damn thing. Why the hell am I paying $76 to have cranky, ugly old fat bitches tell me that I'm fucked?

[tigger]

I'd say your battery is just fried. You could probably roll start it. Hah, do you live on a hill?

[godlikepagan]

Originally Posted by Epoq

I think the 650R is a fantastic machine. The steering is light and effortless--you often forget that it weighs almost 500 pounds. At least until you drop it and try picking it up. (I had to learn that one the hard way... )

Since I haven't rode the SV650 I certainly can't compare the two--I've heard some good things about the SV650 though. I would ask someone who's spent some time with both the 650R and SV650, and try visiting a dealer and sitting on both for a bit to see which one suits you best. I'm 6' and find the 650R fits my height perfectly. The sitting position is a bit more upright than the super sports as well, so long road-trips are a breeze.

And now the fun part... power. I think you'll find that the 650R doesn't disappoint in the power department and it easily puts a smile to my face. Actually, while it's not as crazy as the much bigger bikes it still has plenty of low-end torque. As long as you take it easy and don't get too throttle-happy though I think you'll be fine, especially since you mentioned you're already practicing on, I assume, a smaller CC bike right now?

And finally, it gets around 55 - 60 mpg if you ride casually, and it has very low emissions due to the way the exhaust is designed. So, it's more powerful and more "green" than a Prius, but it's tons more fun.

If you need any more details about the 650R, feel free to PM me.

Thank you very much Epoq, that was really helpful . I got to sit on the SV650 when I was at the dealership yesterday and I liked it a lot. A few of the people there had experience with ths SV650 and one had a 650R (too bad he didn't bring it). The only conclusion I really got from them is that the SV650 is cheaper and handles/brakes slightly better while the 650r is slightly more comfortable and has better wind protection. Otherwise, they all basically said the same thing about both bikes. So I guess its time to check out the Ninja . And I have been riding around on a BMW F650gs for a few months now. Same amount of CCs, just down a cylinder and 20 horsepower.

[British_Rover]

Originally Posted by smib

Well, I'm not a motorbiker(yet), but I am becoming increasingly obsessed with this:



I of course would start with something cheap and smaller, but I love this bike.

Originally Posted by tianluo

You have great taste sir. Saw one for sale the other day at £5k and also a 2002 Monster S4 for £2.8k. Going to take a test ride on both this weekend. If it is as good as it looks and what reviews say, I need to choose one and finance it.

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

Stay away! Mine! I saw her first!

In white please.

Originally Posted by tigger

You're definitely not too old, I didn't really start riding until I was 21. Then again, I did have a fair deal of experience with bicycles. You could try jumping right onto a bike, but you it might be better to get something like a mountain bike first and get comfortable on it before you get a motorcycle. The way a 2 wheeled vehicle feels and works in corners in completely different than a car.



Do they make those in white? Jebus ... I want one.

Originally Posted by Redliner

Of course they do!

Lovely!

Originally Posted by tigger

Damn I love Triumph.


I think the stalling was just BlaRo being a noob . I know some bikes utilize separate coils on the stator; one for lighting and accessories, another for the ignition. That way you don't even need a battery for it to run.

Oh we all have excellent taste.

See my original motorcycle thread

The Street Triple 675 is pretty fast so while it probably wouldn't make a good beginners bike it would make a fine intermediate bike.

[Censport]

My local Triumph dealer has a Speed Triple in white.

Do want.

Shame I can't afford to trade my FZ6 right now.

[Spectre]

Anyone need a new helmet? I just got this one from Motorcycle Closeouts - they're blowing out the $180 HJC CL-SP "Osiris" helmet (in various colors) for $80, with $9 shipping anywhere in the US.









Link: http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/s...snell+approved