maximNikenGT

On 12/27/2021 at 7:24 PM, angrygirafe said:

The funny part is you’re  totally right. -40C = -40F, so in that range, it really doesn’t matter  😂

I'm curious as to what temperature does the LCD display no longer work because of the cold...?

Am interested in hearing what kind of electric heated gear everyone is using.

I'm currently using a Kanetsu Air vantage electric vest from Aerostich. I wish I bought one of these when I first started motorcycling - it makes that much of a comfort difference when riding in the cold.  It works great when paired with my Arboreal Systems Neutrino Aurora with dynamic temperature adjustment. 

https://www.aerostich.com/clothing/kanetsu-heated-gear/kanetsu-electrics/aerostich-kanetsu-airvantage-electric-vest.html 

In talking with some riders up in Canada, a few of the riders have recommended using electric helmets for snowmobiling for really cold conditions. Anyone here use or have used those?

https://www.snowmobile.com/parts-gear/five-of-the-best-modular-snowmobile-helmets 
 

Took a look at the outdoor temperature and it's showing 32 degrees F / 0 degrees Celsius. 

It's at least for me, officially too cold to be riding since I'm more concerned with ice on the roads vs how cold it is (I've got electric vest which makes a world of difference when temperatures drop). I've had two instances in my driving experience where I've gone offroad in cars due to black ice in otherwise safe conditions (daytime, full visibility, speeds under 35 mph / 56 kph) and even with the additional front-end confidence of the Niken it's a line I wouldn't normally cross. 

How cold does it have to be for you in order to winterize your bike for the season?

On 12/17/2021 at 8:34 PM, Heli ATP said:

What would it take to upgrade a Niken to a Niken GT?
Im guessing the taller windscreen, center stand and heated grips are straight forward. Can the stock side and top cases mounting hardware from the GT be added to the base model? Is the comfort seat taller? What else would be needed?

 

Dual power ports, cruise control.. The panniers and mounting brackets for the non GT are different. Plus you would want the Givi hard cases that fit the non  GT Nikens since the soft panniers for the GT are neither waterproof not very secure from thieves.  

Finally got a quart of motor oil and tested it out. After priming the line about 15 times since I had really long supply lines the oil started lubricating the chain and I took it out for a fifty mile test run on setting 3 (out of a max setting of 10). Will be taking notes to see if it has an effect on fuel economy and taking photos of the chain to see if it ends up being cleaner. 

This was my attempt at adding samurai style sword etching to the aluminum bracket using the bench grinder to make it look fancy. Definitely not Applebee's on a date night...

Alright, finally had some time to work on the aluminum bracket. Borrowed father's bench grinder to soften up the sharp edges and round off the corner cuts.   Used my headlamp to guide me through the final steps of attaching the Y nozzle to the custom fabricated aluminum bracket and ran all the necessary power cables and confirmed that the oil delivery line is indeed the one with the tube connected with the brass filter inside the oil bottle. Hat tip to Biggo for the confirmation! 😀

Powered everything up after reconnecting the motorcycle battery and set the new power port 6 to the Pro Oiler on the Arboreal Systems Neutrino Aurora. 

Everything fired up and got a primer indicator on the Pro Oiler control. Only thing now is to get some motor oil to fill the oil bottle. Funny that I finally got everything connected and I don't have any motor oil to prime the system and do a test run. 

I thought I had decent lighting until I stumbled across these guys on the Yamaha Niken Italian owners Facebook page who were rallying Nikens in what appears to be France. 

Facebook

Already continued the trimming of the aluminum piece using a metal saw on my jigsaw. Got the general cuts done but need to borrow someone's bench grinder to round off the edges and make it look proper. SAFETY TIP: Highly recommend you do this cutting in a well-ventilated area with eye protection and a breathing mask to keep from breathing in aluminum dust or having the dust particles go into your eyes. Also wear gloves and long clothes so that metal shavings won't accidentally cut/splinter you. 

In the meantime, I went ahead and tried to connect all the wiring to my Arboreal systems Neutrino power distribution unit. Hardest part was trying to adhere to the Pro-oiler guidelines of ensuring that the oil pump wasn't further than 40cm from the oil reservoir. Only way to do that and have the electronics hidden under the seat is to have the oil reservoir mounted somewhere outside of the seat. 

I was able to pack in the pump controller, the GPS unit as well as the pump in the cavity directly underneath the front of the pillion seat - which appears to be the only place one can put them without interfering with normal seat operation. 

Once I test fitted all the electronics, I then test fitted the routing of the oil line from the oil bottle to the pump and then from the pump to where the y-nozzle dispenser would ultimately be mounted. Ideally, instructions indicate that the breather line for the oil bottle needs to run lengthwise along the bike, and that the pump should not be too much higher or lower than the breather line. I would have thought one would want the bottle higher than the pump to take advantage of additional natural pressure and reduce the strain on the pump (e.g. fluid will want to go from higher to lower pressure in the tube). 

My one question is, which one of the tubes coming out of the oil bottle is the actual breather line and which one is suppose to actually run to the oil pump? The key difference between the two tubes is that one happens to have some kind of brass looking weight and additional tubing (assumably to siphon oil from the bottom of the bottle) - see picture. 

Welcome - what year is your bike? I'm not recalling my 2019 GT doing what you're suggesting since I've stalled it in first gear before by not applying enough gas. 

Just saw this video getting posted which implies whether traction control on the Nikens were to blame for two different Niken crashes within an hour of another. 

Anyone understand Italian enough to shed some light on why they think it's traction control related?

On 12/2/2021 at 8:37 PM, piotrek said:

I have Speed Bleeders on my FJ-09. Very convenient.

They are a bit of a pain when you want to flush the system to replace/upgrade the lines 🤐.

Can you clarify why it's painful to replace/upgrade the lines with speed bleeders on?

1 hour ago, piotrek said:

If you're interested... there is a photo of the OE bleeders and the speed bleeders that I put on the bike (by Goodridge) in this post .

Super helpful. Thanks. Will post photos of Niken specific installation. 

Also what do you all do with the used brake fluid?

I reached out to Whitney at Speed Bleeders.  https://store-speedbleeder-com.3dcartstores.com

Note: there are multiple companies that reference Speed Bleeders. My understanding is that this company is the original US one. 

The size(s) for your application is as follows:

Front..left SB8125L, right SB8125LL
Rear...SB8125L

I followed up with Whitney at Speed Bleeders to confirm this wasn't a typo since I expected the front left and front right bleeders  to be the same size with a different rear, but she confirmed the following:

"Yes that’s correct left SB8125L and right SB8125LL.  This part has a longer shank area, from the hex down is longer.  The bleed port must be deeper on the right side.  Both bleeders are M8 x 1.25 just one is longer than the other."

Thanks, Whitney

Speed Bleeder Products

888 879 7016

Has anyone installed a set of speed bleeders to help bleed their brakes on a Niken GT? 

10 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

I used a cutoff wheel on a Ryobi 18V grinder.  Not expensive if you already have batteries and good for stripping paint off steel with a wire wheel.  

I put my oil reservoir in one of the side pods (Tracer 900 GT), have to take the seat off to refill but that is not so often - maybe every oil change or less.

Do you have  a picture of how you mounted your oil reservoir? Am debating whether I want the reservoir that far out of reach under my seat since it would require me to unbolt my seats to access every time. 

Adding Finland to list of countries.

2018 Nikens =1532,

2019 Nikens=1553, and

2020 Nikens =2258

Still no serial numbers confirmed for 2021 Nikens. Current worldwide total of 5343!

Country representation so far includes:

Australia 55 (as of March 29, 2021, recall data)

Canada

China (estimated at 23-24)

Czechoslovakia

Finland

France

Hong Kong (estimated at ~20-30),

Hungary (1), 

Italy (estimated at <120),

Israel

Japan = 537 as of November 2020, recall data)

New Zealand (estimated at 14)

Philippines (1)

Portugal

Serbia

South Africa (1 2019 non-GT, #38)

Spain

Taiwan

Thailand (estimated at 10)

Turkey

UK (England/Northern Ireland/Scotland/Wales = 302, as of December 8,2020, recall data).

US 280 (all model year 2019, recall data. 

Did a test fitting of the oil reservoir, oddly enough there's actually enough space in front of the battery to fit the reservoir. Only downside is I'd have to take off the seat in order to check and refill the oil reservoir, but it works.  

24 minutes ago, PhotoAl said:

I mounted my Scottoiler Scorpion using a simple bracket and the hole on the swingarm for a rear spool.  The Scorpion is a dual outlet nozzle that puts oil on both sides of the sprocket.  It is more in position 2 and at a slight downward angle not as steep a slope as in the diagram.  Originally had a piece that hooked into the back of the swingarm but took it off before the last trip.  I actually fiddled with the oiler one day on the trip, easy to take off and adjust the nozzles - just one hex head bolt.  The rear bolt uses thread locker but the front is just tightened.  Has been in place for 6,500 miles with no issues thru heat cold and heavy rain.  

I have a drip press for the holes and a bench vice to bend.  Aluminum came from Home Depot and the corners were rounded with a angle grinder.  File works but takes longer.

 

I have a new appreciation for beautifully made brackets.   Your bracket is wonderfully done. Wish I  had a drill press and angle/bench grinder though.

Grinder would be great to round off the sharp corners. What kind of grinding wheel did you use?

Also your bends look great. How did you bend the aluminum so clean with a bench vise? My metal bends never  look that professional...🤔

Ok - while I'm taking a break from working with the aluminum I decided to tackle the wiring setup.

DRILLING HOLES IN THE CONTROL UNIT BOX: 

If you don't order the control unit pre-drilled with holes for the 4 sets of wires, then you'll need to break out your drill with bits (5/16" and 3/16" bits were what I used) to make three sets of holes. Two holes using the larger 5/16" bit, and one smaller 3/16" hole. The 5/16" holes I reserved for the controller cable for one hole, and then the other is to route the GPS cable along with the power and ground cables running to my Arboreal Systems power distribution unit. The smaller hole I reserved for the two cables needed to power the pump. 

WIRING CONFIGURATION OF CONTROL UNIT: 

You've got 3 different wiring options depending on whether you're using:

Option A: a reed switch+magnet option,

Option B: an electronic speedometer pulse option or 

Option C : the GPS unit. 

I've got the GPS unit option so I'll be configuring as follows:

Control box connection number and its wire connection:

1. GPS Green wire

2. Not used

3.Controller Unit black wire

4.Controller Unit blue wire

5. Controller Unit red wire

6. Controller Unit green wire 

7. Pump out (interchangeable)

8. Pump out (interchangeable)

9. Power distribution unit black (-) power cable + GPS blue wire

10. Power distribution unit red (+) power cable + GPS red wire

I went ahead and connected the pump, GPS and power distribution power cables, but held off on connecting the controller until I know where I plan on mounting it. Would like to mount it closer to the handlebars, but may end up keeping it under the seat since it's set it and leave it. Haven't decided yet. 

Will also need to figure out where to mount the oil reservoir and run the oil lines to the pump. Doesn't look there's any space under the seat to mount the oil reservoir..

4 hours ago, knyte said:

You may have already figured this out:

My g/f's Scottoiler has a simple tube running along the rear swingarm held in place with zip ties and dble sided tape (so as to be discrete, it's not horrid looking).  Not kidding.  In over 100,000 km's this has held up fine through all kinds of weather and road conditions with little fiddling.

Hers is situated like so - such that the end of the tube rubs on the sprocket - this bit of friction creates the right shape for the tip:

 

Idea being, it pumps out small amounts of oil right about there and flings outward from sprocket to the chain.  Ez pz.

Looks like you might have a more sophisticated setup.

I couldn't quite tell if it was supposed to be position 1 or position 2 since I've never seen anyone in person with one, but position 2 makes sense as far as positioning the y-nozzle further in from the gear teeth and just letting centrifugal force disperse the oil to the chains as they make contact. Super helpful. Thank you. 

Alright, finally had some time to work on the ProOiler install. Went to Lowes Home Improvement and bought a piece of 2' x 1.5" aluminum for about $11 USD. 

Using Biggo's design as a guideline, I cut the bar down to 1 foot and then tried to drill mounting holes for where the two rear mounting holes would go. To cut the aluminum, I used a Bosch jigsaw cutter with metal blade attachment. Then using a set of Nyko drill punches, I measured as close as possible to where the mounting holes were and used the drill punch to set a starter point in an attempt to minimize the amount of drill bit wandering when it came time to make holes. 

Through a lot of trial and error, I now understand why Biggo went with the pattern that he did for his mounting bracket. 

The hardest part was figuring out exactly where the aluminum bracket holes to mount to the rear swingarm should be as well as where the hole to mount the ProOiler bracket should be. The mounting holes located on the inside of the swingarm won't allow the straight bar to be mounted evenly because of the irregular shapes along the backside. So one has to mount the homemade bracket on the outside of the swingarm.  But now it becomes very difficult to try to even mark exactly where the holes need to be since there's not enough clearance on the backside to insert a pen/punch/marker to mark the exact hole locations. Incidentally, all three holes require the use of a 5/16 inch drill bit to accommodate the appropriate screws. 

Also, when using your drill to make the mounting holes, be sure that you have appropriate drill bits that can drill through metal. Take safety precautions since the there will be some sharp metal shavings and the likelihood of metal dust as a byproduct is not something you want to inhale. Be sure to cut and drill the aluminum someplace that is well ventilated. 

Also, when trying to figure out where to mount the ProOiler bracket to the aluminum, ProOiler packages a set of about 5 plastic washers that you can use to adjust exactly where the oil Y nozzle dispenser needs to be. The problem is that plastic washers flex pretty bad when trying to just mount the arm to the aluminum and I was concerned that they won't hold up long term to adverse weather conditions.

I swapped the 5 plastic washers for 3 metal washers and was able to get the oil Y nozzle dispenser lined up exactly straight on both sides of the rear chain gear. Getting this to line up just right and not be a potential snag hazard on the rear chain was the hardest part. 

I also had to utilize a M6 coupling nut in addition to a longer length screw to mount the ProOiler bracket to the aluminum. M6 Long Rod Nut Hex Coupling Nut Straight Fitting Hex Rod Threaded Bar Rod Studding Hex Zinc Plated 10pcs(M6 X18mm): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific I used a M6x45mm length bolt. since the stock bolt was too short to do the job. Currently I've got a M6 coupling nut holding the backside together temporarily until I can do my final finishing touches on the aluminum bracket, but will ultimately replace the M6 coupling nut with a nylock nut. 

I started at about 7PM and by 11PM I had a reasonably decent bracket that appears as though it should do the job. Need to add some final finishing touches e.g. cut off the sharp corners for safety and cut out a notch between the two mounting points so that it doesn't interfere with swingarm chain adjustments in the future. These potential cutting points were marked using a grease pencil, and I plan on making the bare minimum of cuts necessary to not impede swingarm adjustments but maximizing safety (no sharp edges that could harm rider/passenger) and reducing unnecessary weight.

18 hours ago, daboo said:

Like others, I use Rotella T6, 5W-40.  It's not exactly per the spec viscosity, but after a minute or so, it's warmed up and no longer a thin 5 weight oil.  At 80,000 miles on this bike with no oil usage between changes, it seems to be okay.  

I look at the manufacturer's description of the reason for the oil to be a "motorcycle" oil, and to me it is just a bunch of marketing hype to get me to pay a lot more for a "motorcycle" oil, than engine oil.  My Subaru's turbocharged engine gets hot...probably just as hot as my motorcycle engine does.  And I can't believe the lubrication requirements on the turbocharged engine are any less than those on my motorcycle's engine are. 

One thing I've noticed over the years, is we motorcyclists tend to baby our motorcycles.  Got to check those valves right at the maintenance interval.  Got to have the perfect oil in it.  Etc.  But our cars?  Valves?  Who checks those?  Just get in the car and start it up.  Oil?  Whatever Jiffy Lube wants to put in it, is great.  And the cars commonly run 200K or more if we keep them long enough.

Chris

I thought the same thing for years since I agree that my car shouldn't be "hotter" than my motorcycle nor should it require different viscosity oil - except for the fact that the one thing that I finally realized was that my car has different oil requirements for transmission vs. engine oil. 

Ex. My 2018 Audi SQ5 has the following specs:

2018-2020 Audi SQ5 3.0L Turbo 24V models use VW 508 00 oil spec. Recommended engine oil is any synthetic oil with the following viscosity:

a. SAE 5W-40,

b. SAE 5W-30 or

c. SAE 0W-40. 

For the differential use a 75w90 for front and rear differential. 

Because motorcycles share the oil used for both the engine and the transmission each system has slightly different viscosity requirements for both as a shared system. Too high a viscosity (thick oil) and the engine won't get the optimized lubrication at where the engine oil needs to flow to (especially since motorcycle engines are much smaller than auto engines). Too low a viscosity (thin oil) and the transmission components may wear sooner since it requires a higher viscosity to operate optimally. Additionally the increased metal shavings in the transmission could cause additional damage to the engine since it's a shared lubrication system on a motorcycle. 

The balance is made more complex in that in general, the thinner the oil, the less the engine needs to work at speed resulting in higher efficiency/better mpg. 

Since I plan on keeping the Niken GT at least 8+ years, I'll be using dedicated motorcycle oils here on out. 

In case anyone is looking to do a mirror delete along with with replacement turn signals, stumbled across these guys in a Florida who make items specifically for the Niken.  

https://tstindustries.com/yamaha-niken-2018/