The General Motorbikers Discussion Thread

American TG Man said:
*Strikes S1000RR off dream bike list*
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It gets better. Check out BMW's oh-so-very-typical reaction to the problem.

http://www.s1000rrforum.com/forum/maintenance/7273-gearbox-tooth-drain-plug-2.html#post102192

I also just found out what BMW in their infinite 'wisdom' decided to use as the oil drain bolt head. It's actually a countersunk allen bolt stuck in the front of the engine. So when the fastener inevitably rounds out, you have to resort to drilling. Brilliant!

OilDrainPlug.jpg

Not to mention it's difficult to rig for the "must have drilled and wired oil drain bolt" requirements more and more tracks have these days. BMW just didn't think this through at all.
 
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Compared to BMW, Yamaha's love of relays seems almost sort of minor.

*Sort of wants a current gen R1*
 
American TG Man said:
Compared to BMW, Yamaha's love of relays seems almost sort of minor.

*Sort of wants a current gen R1*
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No kidding. At least Yamaha pretty much tells you that their sportbike engines are tuned within an inch of their lives and will wear out faster than everyone else's (that being the price of power) - they still don't have gearbox teeth and chunks of engine coming out to say hello in the oil or a rod coming out of the block to give you greetings. And Yammie relay array problems are easy, if annoying, to fix.
 
Spectre said:
No kidding. At least Yamaha pretty much tells you that their sportbike engines are tuned within an inch of their lives and will wear out faster than everyone else's (that being the price of power) - they still don't have gearbox teeth and chunks of engine coming out to say hello in the oil or a rod coming out of the block to give you greetings. And Yammie relay array problems are easy, if annoying, to fix.
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Guess they can strike that off the disclosures and replace it with, "Will last longer than your buddy's new S1000RR."
 
So finally, got my first bike, a red 1993 Honda Nighthawk 750 (CB750). A friend also got into riding and his is a black 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 500.

Yesterday we took our bikes out for our very first ride. We rode to a local park and then rode to a large church parking lot, switched bikes, and then rode back. Total was about 40 miles. Definitely somewhat scary when I'm at a large, multi-lane intersection sitting at the light and then turns green and I try my best to find friction zone quickly and take off smoothly.

Good news is no accident and no dropped bikes! I already noticed an annoying behavior as I was riding down a residential road, a young girl on a cell phone in her red Civic was tailgating me for about a mile before she turned. I was much annoyed.

Also, I realized that one of the more difficult/challenging situation is starting from an uphill....and add to that...a tight, right-hand turn on an uphill. Definitely need alot of practice with throttle and clutch control and also use the rear brake pedal to help out.

We both took our MSF a couple of months ago at a community college about 30min up north of us. So next weekend is their last MSF and we plan to ride up there and visit our former Rider Coach and say hello and also to get our feet wet in highway speed riding. Then we plan to head up north a bit more and visit the Motorcycle Closeout retail store. I already have my gloves(Teknic Xcelerator) and helmet (Scorpion EXO 700). Still waiting for my jacket (Alpinestars Rod) and pants (Alpinestars A10 leather/textile hybrid pants) and boots (Alpinestars SMX Plus 2011) to arrive. Will likely also get a hi vis neon-green vest as well.

In a storage unit, no where else to store these two bikes.
http://img571.imageshack.**/img571/1664/img1920ft.jpg

8100 miles, overall in good condition.
http://img268.imageshack.**/img268/1826/img1935aw.jpg


http://img440.imageshack.**/img440/461/img1924r.jpg


http://img94.imageshack.**/img94/1874/img1925c.jpg

One of the issues. Brake pedal is very close to the right side crankcase/engine cover and seems to have scratched up the cover surface a bit. It's not touching right now but is very very close. I thought about replacing pedal but OEM part cost is like 88 bucks at bikebandit and 100 at the local Honda dealer. (Just drained some fluid from that little tube in the picture which apparently is a crankcase breather....no idea what that is)
http://img810.imageshack.**/img810/8563/img1930n.jpg

Some gear, oil drain pain, tools, generally random crap. Gloves pictured are mine: Teknic Xcelerator. The bigger box with yellow inside is my helmet: Scorpion EXO 700 in White/Chameleon Green. Friend got the same one except in black. Also a couple of crappy tire pressure gauges that don't work...ordered a decent one from Amazon.
http://img511.imageshack.**/img511/6306/img1933e.jpg

May be hard to see but another defect is that the right side turn signal housing has a crack in the little tab. Ordered replacement from bikebandit and hopefully replacement is quick and easy.
http://img638.imageshack.**/img638/291/img1937y.jpg

I tried to clean and then lubethe chain as best as I could. Sprocket looked to be in good condition. No hooking. Maybe some wear.
http://img42.imageshack.**/img42/127/img1939tj.jpg

Yes, she needs to be washed still.
http://img802.imageshack.**/img802/7494/img1940.jpg

Love the gauges and all the lights work as intended. Notice the steel-braided (I think) brake line. Looks to be a good sign (or could be bad sign, heh). Also got some brake fluid coming in and will be bleeding the system sometime next week.
http://img525.imageshack.**/img525/1553/img1941.jpg

Oh yeah so she does also have a V&H exhaust. I'm not sure if the carbs were jetted properly for that (previous owner did not know as he only had this for about 3 months and this was his first bike). But there has been no sign of power loss or backfiring or misfiring or weird noises. Does sound loud and aggressive. If I have time will need to pull out the carbs and check.
http://img714.imageshack.**/img714/1049/img1942ta.jpg

My friend's 2008 Vulcan 500.
http://img20.imageshack.**/img20/2769/img1943rt.jpg
 
Carefully bend the rear brake arm back out - that's a typical thing to bend when someone drops the bike.

The crankcase breather drain lets the mix of water, oil and muck that condenses in the bottom of the airbox out instead of having it build up until the watery mix gets ingested. It should be drained on schedule.

Also, get case guards right away.

Is that a solid steel hard line attached to the brake master??? That doesn't look right at all.
 
Spectre said:
Carefully bend the rear brake arm back out - that's a typical thing to bend when someone drops the bike.

The crankcase breather drain lets the mix of water, oil and muck that condenses in the bottom of the airbox out instead of having it build up until the watery mix gets ingested. It should be drained on schedule.

Also, get case guards right away.

Is that a solid steel hard line attached to the brake master??? That doesn't look right at all.
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Do you mean bend the actual rear brake pedal? Not sure what you mean by "rear brake arm." I figured that could be a sign of bike being dropped in the distant past, yikes.

Thanks for explanation on cracnkcakse breather tube. Bike came with a Clymer's manual and said to unplug and drain, so I did and a bit of random-fluid drained out.

After looking up cause guards, looks like someone already put them on my bike. In the pics you can see metal outlooping material on both sides. I think that looks like the case guards that I saw on ebay.

The brake line doesn't look like a solid steel pipe. It's flexible (although still quite rigid) and I think it looks like a steel-braided brake line.
Looks like this:
brake-lower.jpg


brake-upper.jpg


The picture makes it look like a solid but it's not.
 
Yeah, somehow I overlooked the crash guards. Good that you have them on it.

And yes, I mean the rear brake pedal; you can typically carefully bend that back outwards away from the engine case. Your new bike is a fairly close relative of my 700; in fact, the engine is a detuned version of mine. Anyway, the gouged cover and too-close brake pedal is a classic sign that someone dropped it.

I would see about rotating the brake line downwards so it doesn't kink at an angle like that. Don't forget to get a new set of crush washers for it when doing so and remember to protect your paint from the inevitable brake fluid spill while doing so.

I'd also suggest getting some sort of a chain oiler to reduce maintenance. :p
 
Alright will try to tackle those suggestions. Very interesting concept on the chain oiler, never heard of them before but looks like it can virtually eliminate the tedious task of cleaning and then lubing the chain! Quick google search turned up something called Socottoiler. The vaccuum-operated one is about $100 and I think it could be worth the investment and also helps to better lube the chain as well!
 
Look upthread - Scottoilers have been discussed here. :) I settled on one that was about $20 (IIRC) and just as effective.
 
Very interesting. I might stick with Scottoiler just because it's a bit more convenient and the vaccuum system is not incredibly expensive. The claim that a continual chain lube system can help chain and sprocket to last 2-7 times longer is very tempting and incredible to say the least. Will look into it when I have a bit more time on my hands. In the mean time I'll need to frequently clean and lube the chain....ha.

Another good thing is that we have a local grocery store that sells 87 octane pure gasoline with 0% ethanol. It is about the same price as mid-grade gas so not too expensive and I think 0% ethanol gasoline should be the best for my older bike.

edit: Also I'm thinking about changing the fork seals and replacing the fork oil. How critical is it to get one of those in-lbs torque wrenches for the fork oil drain bolt and possibly other bolts? The in-lbs torque wrenches look quite expensive on Amazon...
 
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nist7 said:
edit: Also I'm thinking about changing the fork seals and replacing the fork oil. How critical is it to get one of those in-lbs torque wrenches for the fork oil drain bolt and possibly other bolts? The in-lbs torque wrenches look quite expensive on Amazon...
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If you're not leaking fork oil then I wouldn't bother replacing the seals. It's a pain in the ass, unless you've got air tools and a torch. Replacing the fork oil is straightforward though. And an in-lbs torque wrench is nice but unnecessary so long as you exercise some common sense. I don't know what they go for on Amazon, but I bought a 3/8" click-style Craftsman one at Sears a few years ago for maybe $40. Works well and it's got a lifetime warranty for when I inevitably break it.

Heh, if you think surface streets in KCMO are fun just wait till you hit 435 in Johnson County.
 
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nist7 said:
Very interesting. I might stick with Scottoiler just because it's a bit more convenient and the vaccuum system is not incredibly expensive. The claim that a continual chain lube system can help chain and sprocket to last 2-7 times longer is very tempting and incredible to say the least. Will look into it when I have a bit more time on my hands. In the mean time I'll need to frequently clean and lube the chain....ha.

Another good thing is that we have a local grocery store that sells 87 octane pure gasoline with 0% ethanol. It is about the same price as mid-grade gas so not too expensive and I think 0% ethanol gasoline should be the best for my older bike.

edit: Also I'm thinking about changing the fork seals and replacing the fork oil. How critical is it to get one of those in-lbs torque wrenches for the fork oil drain bolt and possibly other bolts? The in-lbs torque wrenches look quite expensive on Amazon...
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It is very important, and you can get a surprisingly decent one from Harbor Freight for less than $40.

Yes, no ethanol is best for your fuel.

I'm with Tigger on this one - if you're not leaking, don't change the fork seals yet. However, you should change the fork oil, which does not require fork removal. 93's still have fork drain bolts (94's do not) - remember to get and install new sealing washers!
 
Alright. I do hear some minor squaking noise when I push down on the front handle bars though...so I will definitely change the fork oil. There is a harbor freight retail nearby so I'll stop by there and look around sometime.
 
Alright. I do hear some minor squaking noise when I push down on the front handle bars though...so I will definitely change the fork oil. There is a harbor freight retail nearby so I'll stop by there and look around sometime.
 
Congrats on the Cb750. I had one and even though mine was a ruined POS compared to yours, I still really enjoyed the short time I had it. It really is a great do it all machine.
 
Crazyjeeper said:
Congrats on the Cb750. I had one and even though mine was a ruined POS compared to yours, I still really enjoyed the short time I had it. It really is a great do it all machine.
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Thanks! It really is a nice looking bike and although it's not perfect, it's a fairly well taken care of bike. Just need a bit of TLC and she'll be great. I hope to have many miles with her. Now I can't wait to go out riding again!! Need the rest of my gear to be shipped here asap!!
 
Just remembered - it probably still has the original headlight bulb in it - jettison that aged thing and install a Sylvania Xtravision bulb for better night illumination.
 
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