Lone Wolf

I have those exact indicator lights on one of my bikes. Buddy riding behind me said he couldn't see the turn signals very well. If you are standing there looking at them after installation, sure, you can see them function and they look OK - but they are rather muted and dim. Even the OEM signals with incandescent bulbs on most bikes are easier to see in traffic than these, and I took them off. Replaced the rears with some from 12'Oclock labs, which were only a bit better, not great. As RaYzerman suggested https://www.superbrightleds.com/ may be the way to go if you have the older OEM signals and can replace the bulbs. I am considering that - they have so many choices I would have to call them.

In that article example it was, due to incompatible wheel bearing grease separating and running onto brake shoes of a boat trailer. I remember reading about a Yamaha FZ-07 that had steering head bearings fail prematurely, and upon disassembly they wondered if there was any grease at all from the factory. With steering bearings, swing arm bearings, I can see 3 levels of care: Do nothing. Let the parts eventually fail, or have excessive slop. Add more grease to what is there, confirming the new product is listed as compatible with OEM grease (Lithium in this case, very common). There may be some uncertainty if they get along, but at least it isn't going to be bone dry. Remove all historical lube and clean with solvent before new lube. Personally I tend to overdo and agree with you to remove all, but I wouldn't say it's mandatory. I suppose a compromise is to nuke all historical grease the first time, then you know what is there for the next time.

The term "soap" is so odd re: grease, that I did a deep dive on it a few years ago researching compatibility. The best description I could find was this one from Popular Mechanics: How To Choose The Correct Grease (popularmechanics.com) A primer about grease: It's basically nothing more than a heavy oil mixed with enough soap to make it stringy and clingy enough to remain in place as the bearing spins. This will ensure the bearing's rollers or balls are constantly covered in the oil. The soap is based on a variety of compounds, notably lithium or aluminum complexes for most of the greases used in cars, trucks and boats Bel-Ray and some others are superior to the basic grease, and will say OK for headstocks, wheel bearings, etc. Usually the container will clarify compatible (or not) with Lithium based grease that may already be present.

I had a job where I was out of town about 6 months of the year, for 12 years. The best luck I had was fully charging before going out of town, then DISCONNECTING cables. Did that for about 7 years. No problems. Ironically it was the tender that screwed me. With the older style wet battery (not AGM or lithium) I put a name brand "Battery Tender" on it, thinking it would sense when charged, go into trickle mode, etc. Came home to a dry battery, it was toast. Water boiled out of it. As a diagnostic, you figured out the parasitic draw was negligible. How long was it sitting and if it was a "wet" battery, did the level go down? Just curious.

Awesome. The good news is your charging system is strong. No more issues if you get a reputable battery.

I don't think that is killing your battery. Letting any vehicle sit unused will kill a battery...

I think this article is true for basically all motorcycles - The way to check is to remove the negative battery cable and place your volt-ohm meter in the current (amps) mode. With the key off, place the meters leads between the negative cable and the battery's negative terminal. The current draw should be zero, but a small drain on the order of a few milliamps is acceptable. A drain of an amp or more is reason for further investigation. https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/dead-motorcycle-battery/ Obviously you are going to have to research your meter, and get confident of the reading or else the number is useless. I had a family member Lexus that would drain batteries, drove me nuts. Finally heard an odd clicking sound, there was a CD changer that was "doing work" when ignition was off and it was a factory installed device. That fixed it. Countless times I have connected battery to various vehicles and seen a small spark, which "shouldn't" be there but it is the world we live in. Get a real, accurate, hard number on the actual ampere draw when ignition is off. That is the starting point. A milliamp is equal to one-thousandth of an ampere. Thus, one milliamp is equal to 0.001 amperes.

Reminds me of the time about 10 years ago when a Cycle Gear employee said their discounted chain was same as DID, rebranded. That chain was disposable, did not last at all. You are basically going to get what you pay for, especially with a battery.

When it comes to batteries, you have to aim high and pull the trigger. Shopping by price will put you back where you started.

That is really good for an OEM chain, and shows you maintain it. OEM chains (like OEM tires) are often lower quality than their brand name would suggest. The reason I switched to an automatic oiler is because I tend to neglect the ritual of chain lube, then too many miles have accumulated. At the end of the day we are preserving the O-rings and preventing stiff links. Hoping to keep the inner lube intact.

I put a Scottoiler on one of my bikes last year. Adjusted to 1 drop a minute, the chain looks slightly wet and stays clean because it is designed to fling off some oil with any grit and dirt. I had put a very expensive DID chain on, wanted it to last longer than the one I took off. I do get speckles of oil on the rim, but none where the "rubber meets the road". For me it is workable. Whenever it is time to replace that chain, I doubt there will be any "stiff links" and it will simply be worn along with the sprocket.

I see that on their site - they have it as a "Legacy" controller. https://www.warmnsafe.com/collections/heat-troller/products/single-portable-heat-troller-coax The newer controller has no wires, they say to velcro it onto something like a master cylinder where you can get to it. The newer controller talks to the heated gear that has a bluetooth receiver module, which is great but not if the batteries get weak and not noticed - then I would rather have your hard-wired version.

Right - for such an apparently simple device with 2 knobs, it kind of requires one's attention. When I turn a knob, the small LED blinks. The manual says if the battery is low, you get double blinks. I suppose if the batteries on the remote are dead, it is similar to "no remote" and the manual says "As a safety feature.. Every time the Receiver is plugged to power, it will self adjust to 1/3 power until you turn the Remote control on." (so if the batteries are dead, it is going to default to 1/3 power). My takeaway is to simply make sure the LED is blinking when I rotate the dial from "off" or to adjust temperature There is an article on their site explaining they did not want to rely on cell phone apps, and prefer analog knobs you can adjust while wearing gloves. They can't assume all customers will want cell phone mounted and running, in pouring rain, etc. So we get the knobs and blinking LED indicator. I'm OK with that.

Gotcha. Yesterday I rode without insulated liner to put my new heat shirt through it's paces. Riding in the low 40's, with controller at highest setting - I had to turn it down as way too hot. Set at 1/2 it was perfect. This review says my heat shirt is 48 watts, which is half of yours. The design may be different, close to the body.

The owner of W&S Mike C. saw this thread after my recent purchase, and sent me an Email last night. He rides motorcycles, and unlike most companies these days appears to genuinely care about things. He had some suggestions, and appears to be available to help anyone with their purchase. ...can you ask the guy that wrote this “I have a W&S 90W panel element reflective jacket liner (too). I should have gotten the higher watt jacket as in really cold weather it struggles.” What outer jacket does he have and what liner is it and how does he have it connected to the battery because I ride in leathers and a tee shirt and have ridden in the alps in October and never went over ¾ power but I was on a GTS1000 which actually cranks 15.25V when running. Thanks Mike Coan www.warmnsafe.com ========= Personally (Lone Wolf here) I was reading the literature and was amazed at how many features are built into the controller. I got the dual controller (2 simple knobs). If you get back on your bike within 30 minutes of shutting down it remembers your heat setting. But depending on how long you parked, you may need to turn the dial to off and rotate back on. Also if there is no controller connected and the gear is simply plugged in, I read that the heat defaults to something like 30 percent? I suppose it is a challenge to design that stuff. You don't want someone hard wiring without a controller then getting fried, so it defaults to a limp-mode which is not full output. That may be what is going on, as Mike was curious how it was connected to the battery. Their web site has a catalog PDF that sort of gathers the information that is scattered throughout the various write ups. https://www.warmnsafe.com/pages/warm-safe-catalog page 21 explains the controller, it's settings, connections. My controller has 2 little AAA batteries, may want to see if yours are holding a charge for the controller.

Today I received a Warm and Safe Heat layer shirt, and heated touring gloves with dual controller. Love them! the heat is within moments of plugging them in, and total control of heat level. These are the first online gloves I have bought that actually fit the first time, sizing chart is right on. I called the company with a question and someone actually answered the phone - the owner Mike. I am very impressed.

Yeah, that's the thing about the later model Nighthawk 1991-2003. All of those issues were resolved. They tweaked the old bulletproof Honda 750, updated the charging system and moved it behind the crankshaft so the engine isn't 3 feet wide, and they simply don't have issues. Had you purchased the 700s that you lusted after, you would eventually have discovered they were prone to failure of the starter chain. (years 1984-1986) You see them on Craig's list, bike runs but has to be push-started. The fix requires pulling the engine, split cases - and replace the starter chain with the late model 1991-2003 part because they tweaked it by making a wider, stronger starter chain. The Nighthawk may not snap your neck, but I was glad I was riding it yesterday when I encountered gravel when leaned over a bit on a sweeping curve. If I had been going faster I would have low-sided, but as it was it just slipped out a bit and I saved it.

One of the reasons I keep my 1993 Nighthawk 750 is that 2nd and 3rd gear can give me the feeling of hauling ass on a motorcycle - yet I don't find myself going 90 to 100 on a public road (which happens all the time on the Yamaha). I know that sounds ridiculous, but at the age of 67 I have already gotten the thrills of several liter bikes, several close calls. I have sold bikes that just tempted me to ride too fast on public roads. If I had a $200,000 Ferrari, 99% of the miles would be on public roads, so WTF. I love fast cars, fast motorcycles, but also love wringing the neck out of a vintage motorcycle. My old Nighthawk is equal in performance to this Vincent, but I didn't pay as much and the parts are a little easier to find

I just did this last week, and it worked. The pins don't "rotate" until you remove them, then put them back in (rotated). Mess with it until there is zero gap anywhere.

As tires wear, they can go out of balance as well as the cupping. The rubber "goes away" and they are not going to retain the balance they had when new. An out of balance tire can cause wobble & shake. If you change your own tires, just for giggles check the balance before you pull the old tire off rim and it may be a learning experience. Just one of the reasons why new tires feel so awesome, plus the profile isn't jacked by wear on the sides (V-pattern) or flat spot for those who do a lot of straight line riding, resulting in odd turn in due to squared profile.

Nope. These older Universal Japanese Motorcycles were indestructible, before the days when they tried to lighten everything. I still have that model Nighthawk (they made it from 1991 to 2003) and I will agree that it is "boring" compared to my other bikes. That is the other thing the magazines referred to it as, boring. The interceptors and liter bikes of the day were not boring, I owned them as well. In the 1970's I had a Kawi Z1 and Honda 750. The bike that the magazines referred to as a parts bin special could also be looked at as a continuation of what was a good engine, etc. Not the fastest, but part of that is hydraulic valve adjusters that you never need to touch. Those bikes are bombproof and can go 100's of thousands of miles without pulling a valve cover. The Yamaha MT-09 (and MT-07) were introduced at an intoxicating low price to get sales, start excitement. Just because something was introduced at a low price does not mean it is a POS although it may have crappy suspension, etc. The Nighthawk did not stay at $3,999 price and with inflation you could compare that to the price the MT-09 was initially offered for.

There is a very good condition used one on Ebay right now for $65 (search "1983 honda nighthawk 550 cb550sc tension") That search also finds someone selling new springs for that cam chain tensioner for $33. Personally I have had great luck with vintage parts on Ebay if reputable seller history.

Take it for a ride - see if you bond with it. I had 3 sportsters over the years and there is something very visceral about the firing order. Kind of like an old rotary engine on a bi-plane, not cutting edge but something that I like. I have not owned that model, but that is the top of the food chain for sportsters. I have also had the big Harley's which I am no longer a fan. Heavy, scrape things, etc.

I put a center stand on mine as well, and there is a trick to getting that SUPER STIFF spring in place. You bend it, insert a couple of penny's, nickels. Bend it the other way, insert more coins. You keep doing that until it the spring is long enough to hook in place. I bet you have a tire badly out of balance causing the wobble. I replaced my head bearings at 35,000 so I don't think yours will need it at 20,000 that would be really rare. I did mine because of a slight detent, barely noticeable. I bought an old interceptor that did what you describe and a new front tire completely fixed it. On the turn signals, hopefully the OEM style has incandescent bulbs because the LED on this bike is more than just the resistors, the indicator bulb (instrumentation) has a gremlin that causes hyperflash even with resistors, causing you to get a new flasher unit specific for the LED signals. I say that because you are planning on selling it.

I got a speeding ticket on a Honda 90 when I was 16. My first "rush" was a lawnmower engine bolted to a bicycle frame - it didn't take much.