Lone Wolf

4 hours ago, Warchild said:

... They said  that in today's modern engines with high-powered ignition systems, you can't just 'look' at a plug to determine if it's good. The telltale indicator is the amount of internal resistance that has built up in the plug with use.

The reason you change them at 8K is that this is the mileage where they are seeing higher resistance built up. 

I have heard the term "resistor" spark plug, but never really thought that much about it. The stock plug for Tracer is NGK  CPR9EA-9 and the "R" stands for resistor.

A quick search = resistor to reduce radio interference, which doesn't really matter to me. But the following video by NGK explains that the interference they are blocking also relates to "computer controlled" engine components (ECU).

This is an interesting article by NGK

"Most resistor spark plugs use a monolithic resistor, generally made of graphite and glass materials, to filter the electrical voltage as it passes through the center electrode.

Since resistor type plugs actually “resist” some of the spark energy, non-resistor type plugs actually deliver a more powerful spark. It is for this reason that most racing plugs are non-resistor types. However, in most automotive applications, a resistor plug is required for proper vehicle operation. "

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My Chevy dealer told me the interval on my Tahoe was 100,000 miles and the original plugs were in there to 110,000 with no noticeable difference when changed.

I never really knew this was a thing, but research finds that spark plug resistors can develop too much resistance and that is something that can be measured. I had no idea.

2 hours ago, Turd Ferguson said:

to reduce lubricant sling. 

Great idea for auto-lube such as Scottoiler (awesome for the chain, but part of the design is to "fling off" grit and dirt with some of the oil)

11 hours ago, Darren69 said:

My worry is introducing a small hole to an alloy casting might cause fatigue cracking if not drilled and tapped in the correct place.

Yeah, if a pivot point or bearing didn't come with a grease fitting - the effort to create one would be about the same as dismantle to inspect and lube the bearing.

I just got curious why those fittings are known as a "Zerk fitting" - You can thank Oscar Zerk and his 1923 patent for a special fitting.

My old cars and trucks had Zerk fittings for everything, including the U-joints.

Here's an interesting article on lubricating U-joints that says:

Bottom line on wear life: A regularly greased greaseable joint will outlive a non-greaseable joint. But a non-greaseable joint will outlive a greaseable joint that does not get greased properly. 

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It's an interesting point for modern cars and trucks, because people just drive them. 

The plugs can last 100k miles. They don't have points and condenser's anymore. There is not that much maintenance going on.

They are lucky to get the oil changed. You have to reset the "change oil" message or it nags you.

So yeah, if no one is going to grease the joints on cars and trucks, they design the newer joints to hold lube in better than older styles. I suppose an analogy for motorcycles is O-rings on chains, my first motorcycles didn't have them.

On a motorcycle, I want to be able to rotate a wheel bearing to see how it feels when I pull the wheel to change a tire. And shoot some more lubricant past the "sealed bearing" plastic shield.

I want to be able to check for steering stem bearing play when the weight is off the front end. If there is an issue it is a pain to access the bearing to lube it - but then again that is the opportunity to inspect.

24 minutes ago, Darren69 said:

... sad that grease points gradually disappeared. 

Have not seen grease nipples on motorcycles, including my 30 year old Honda 750, or 70 year old Harley Panhead. Cars have lost some grease points. But on motorcycles, you pretty much have to gain access to the bearing.

I am also getting older... better than the alternative.

2 hours ago, RonZuidhoek said:

I (finally) did my exhaust cleaning.... used some acid-based cream, made for cleaning RVS-steal.

Awesome. Better than new!

You sent me on a research project, because the term "RVS" is not common in USA... and I see you are from Netherlands.   RVS stands for "Roestvrij staal" (stainless steel)

So you took off the original and put it back on?  I am not really following your question.

Maybe it would be easier to continue your original thread on sprockets

1 hour ago, Hoodoo said:

- Is there any change of the sprocket corroding to the drive shaft and making removal any more difficult?

No problem. I suppose you meant "chance" of sprocket corroding to shaft, no, not really.

14 minutes ago, Hoodoo said:

...Last year I installed a new sprocket set from sprocket center.  Front and rear came off easily

...Is it best to take the sprocket off and replace it?

I thought you did take the sprocket off and replaced it - right?

9 minutes ago, Ride On said:

I like the electrical tape idea someone else mentioned here.  That may be my first attempt at a solution.

I tried tape on the upper visor a few years ago - then decided to put tape on top of the retractable sunglasses in my Shoei GT Air. I used blue painters tape. 

My shield is tinted, only pull the retractable sunglasses down when the sun angle is bad, then the tape is there so you can focus on the road and a bit above the road. Otherwise, no obstruction to view when sunglasses are retracted.

32 minutes ago, Doct0r said:

... I've looked at lowering links...  But are there other things I can adjust too?

I'm 5'7" with a 30 inside leg, so quite short.

Cheapest way to do that is " logger boots" (like Chippewa with 2" heels). I experimented with that by getting near mint condition ones in my size from Ebay, they were a bit loose so put some height increasing inserts in (cheap on Amazon). It is like walking on stilts compared to barefoot.

They have very thick leather and are a pain to lace up, so they will definitely stay in place in the event of accident.

Wind deflectors, Laminar Lips, they help reduce turbulence and lift the air.

If a windshield is good, they make it better.
Also his is shorter than Heli ATP's Madstad.
Great solution if you don't want to look through a tall windshield.

On 3/18/2023 at 8:10 PM, Dave Clark said:

VERDICT: I'm very happy with all the ergonomic changes EXCEPT the Parabellum Flyscreen. While it's a big improvement over stock, it still puts too much rumbling air around my helmet over 55MPH,

I put this cheap $30 deflector at high position, set so that I see over it. (it is a knock off, low quality)

at 5' 8" tall the top of the deflector appears in my sight about 40 feet down the road. It pulls the air up and over my visor area, and the wind that does hit top of helmet is a much less turbulent flow than stock windshield.

To get rid of turbulance, you either have to go really low (gets old after a while) or clean air over you. A deflector is the way to get that clean air without a huge shield that you have to look through.

Bobbins - It's a floating rotor thing

58 minutes ago, PhotoAl said:

Scrubbed the rotors with scotch brite and brake cleaner and maybe isopropyl alcohol.  Replaced the pads at that time.  Brakes worked perfectly.

... No clue what caused it.  

One of the potential causes is when someone brakes hard and comes to a complete stop, there can be a deposit of brake pad material at that point on the rotor (where someone stopped completely). That can cause a pulsating feel in the lever.

If someone really wanted to nail down the cause, they would do one thing at a time (for example leave the bobbins alone, and just see if doing the disc clean and new pads made the pulsing go away).

Guidance when bedding in new pads is to do several controlled braking cycles but DON'T come to a complete stop, for this reason. Especially important when transferring fresh pad material to a fresh rotor (or cleaned rotor).

Once bedded in, we should be able to come to a complete stop without putting a gob of pad material down, but if they are pulsing that is one of the remedies to consider to fix it.

5 hours ago, Seawatcher said:

... an advisory for slight brake drag on his front discs.

My first thought would be to clean the caliper pistons (remove them, clean seals, all new fluids)

They are designed to extend during braking, then retract (and crud build up may be inhibiting that)

I don't think the bobbins require maintenance. 

15 hours ago, Smokamoto said:

Thick-soled boots?

Cheapest way to do that is "logger boots" (like Chippewa with 2" heels).

I experimented with that by getting near mint condition ones in my size from Ebay, they were a bit loose so put some height increasing inserts in (cheap on Amazon). It is like walking on stilts compared to barefoot.

1 hour ago, GainingTheCOVID19 said:

... buffeting above 60mph ...Even with a windscreen extender/deflector.

Try raising your deflector. I am also 5'8" and this cheap $30 deflector works great for me at high setting. 

I have clean air up to the top of my visor. If I wear earplugs and close top vent on helmet it is very quiet, with top vent open there is more noise but no buffeting. Previously it was impossibly bad with buffeting.

I can see over this, with the top of deflector lining up about 40 feet in front of the bike which works well for most windscreens. I don't like to look through them. This should "pull" the air up higher than a typical windshield, where the oncoming air blasts down the air coming up from the windscreen to turbulent garbage.

On 2/20/2023 at 5:43 PM, manimal said:

... chain slack varies as you rotate the wheel.  The best theory I've heard regarding this phenomenon is that the rear sprocket is off-center, creating a high spot, and a low spot 180deg opposite (with some variation due to tolerances in the chain bushings/pins). 

It's not the sprocket, it is the 2nd thing you mentioned about the chain.

If you put on any brand new sprocket and chain, it will be consistent throughout and have zero tight spots. So it isn't an off-center sprocket, that would be poor machining, and just doesn't happen.

The cause for tight spots, usually on a well used chain, can be isolated links that are not moving freely and uneven wear for whatever reason (lord knows after 10,000 miles). And it is going to be a small difference, nothing huge - but conventional advice is to "find the tight spot" and adjust for that to be your slack.

Unlike high school, there may not be a tight spot...

45 minutes ago, howie333 said:

... but id have to either pull rear shock bolt out or compress shock to align swingarm as shown in diagram

I suppose you could have someone sit on the bike while the front wheel is in a stand.

Or you could do what betony said "flick the chain up and down to make sure its not tight and forget about it."

If you watch Dave Moss videos when he is checking the chain on various bikes, that is EXACTLY what he does. It is not like measuring the clearance of a bearing to the thousandths of an inch, there is an acceptable range and you generally want it on the looser end of the spectrum because as the suspension compresses it will hit that tightest part of the range.

Notice that there is no tape measure being used in this video. With experience, you can tell if it is tighter than a 12 year old, or way too loose.

9 hours ago, howie333 said:

 where the chain slack feels right w/ wheel raised and then bike dropped to floor is very different.  

Don't focus on that.

Keep it simple, the tightest spot will be when this stuff lines up - whatever stand you use to achieve that.

The center stand is going to let the suspension fully extend vs. side stand vs. rear stand (Pit Bull)

The settings noted in the manual are too tight. If you have had other motorcycles and adjusted their chain, the slack on this one will be similar and you don't want it too tight. 

Gotcha - and I have never let a fuel injected engine sit long enough to have an issue.

"...as daunting as that sounds, it's actually pretty easy..." <completely dismantles motorbike>

On the VFR forums I remember someone purchased a low-mile awesome VFR that had not been ridden, but discovered everything in the fuel system was gummed up, injectors, fuel rail, tank rusted, etc.

Here's another one that only sat for one year https://stevelarsen.net/used-or-abused/

1 hour ago, Campsaw said:

Removing 100% of the fuel is the best method but not practical on snowmobiles and most motorcycles.

I also grew up working on small engines, and am now 67 years old. I drain carbs on stored engines.

For Fuel Injected do you recommend "stabilizers and start stored equipment at least once a month."

5 hours ago, knyte said:

They did it with a 'busa - why not a Tracer

or MT-09

https://www.fz09.org/threads/fz-09-snowbike.63542/

27 minutes ago, dazzler24 said:

... and yes, that is while being viewed from a distance of around 20-30M on my property.  Does that make them acceptable though?... the jury is still out and if they still aren't up to scratch then I'll be shopping again.

The ones I got from Amazon (identical to yours) it was the rear's that appeared muted in bright daylight situations. The fronts were better, but still not great. I want something PIERCING that is going to Bitch-slap oncoming traffic.