BACK in the saddle again!

So...yeah...I've been riding to work on the 650's, yada yada. The big bike
has been in the shop, confusing the crap outta the mechanics.

To recap:

On a nice, 500 mile multi continental divide day, the bike started missing
towards the last 50 miles of the ride. While in the rain. I nursed it home,
then did some basic debugging ( felt like fouled plugs, and the plugs looked
bad as well ), and when the basics weren't it, I gave up after the required
30 minutes of wrenching around on what I was familiar with and gave it to
the shop before Thanksgiving.

They go through the carbs twice, noodle around with the needle changes I had
requested, and when they were done it was still missing on 1 and 2
cylinders. So then they checked all connections and such, and decided it
must be the carbs ( I think the gasoline smell was the giveaway ).

Then the guy who was doing the work got serious yesterday afternoon, and did
everything to the carbs, in the process discovering that 2 very small
o-rings were aged, and hard, and weren't allowing the float levels to run
exactly where they were supposed to be. 4 new o-rings, set the floats, idles
and runs great.

Heres my problem now. I want to RIDE the thing!! Am I CRAZY or what?

I fixed it to SELL. One little ride though, and I REMEMBER why I bought it.
Maybe I should plan another little trip, just to see? Maybe tow it down to
Big Bend with the KLR this winter, ride regular roads a little, ride some
dirt roads a little? Whats the weather like, say, between Houston and
Brownsville along the Gulf, in January? Tow to Houston, drop the van and
trailer, ride for 3 days, come back.

After the core problem was found, we reset the needle to a slightly leaner
position, I'm curious about gas mileage again. Playing with the carbs is
KEWL!

"TroytheTroll" <f4_boy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:g_6dnZBjuJd2hcvanZ2dnUVZ_qGknZ2d@giganews.com ...
> So...yeah...I've been riding to work on the 650's, yada yada. The big bike
> has been in the shop, confusing the crap outta the mechanics.
>
> To recap:
>
> On a nice, 500 mile multi continental divide day, the bike started missing
> towards the last 50 miles of the ride. While in the rain. I nursed it
> home, then did some basic debugging ( felt like fouled plugs, and the
> plugs looked bad as well ), and when the basics weren't it, I gave up
> after the required 30 minutes of wrenching around on what I was familiar
> with and gave it to the shop before Thanksgiving.
>
> They go through the carbs twice, noodle around with the needle changes I
> had requested, and when they were done it was still missing on 1 and 2
> cylinders. So then they checked all connections and such, and decided it
> must be the carbs ( I think the gasoline smell was the giveaway ).
>
> Then the guy who was doing the work got serious yesterday afternoon, and
> did everything to the carbs, in the process discovering that 2 very small
> o-rings were aged, and hard, and weren't allowing the float levels to run
> exactly where they were supposed to be. 4 new o-rings, set the floats,
> idles and runs great.
>
> Heres my problem now. I want to RIDE the thing!! Am I CRAZY or what?
>
> I fixed it to SELL. One little ride though, and I REMEMBER why I bought
> it.

IMHO, motorcycles are meant to be collected and never sold. They're usually
worth more to me than I can get for them anyway.

> Maybe I should plan another little trip, just to see? Maybe tow it down to
> Big Bend with the KLR this winter, ride regular roads a little, ride some
> dirt roads a little? Whats the weather like, say, between Houston and
> Brownsville along the Gulf, in January?

Lows - 40s, highs 60s, fairly dry.

> Tow to Houston, drop the van and trailer, ride for 3 days, come back.

Why TX and not PHX? Seems a long trip for 3 days of riding.
What kinda van ya got?

On Dec 4, 8:20 pm, "TroytheTroll" <f4_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> So...yeah...I've been riding to work on the 650's, yada yada. The big bike
> has been in the shop, confusing the crap outta the mechanics.
>
> To recap:
>
> On a nice, 500 mile multi continental divide day, the bike started missing
> towards the last 50 miles of the ride. While in the rain. I nursed it home,
> then did some basic debugging ( felt like fouled plugs, and the plugs looked
> bad as well ), and when the basics weren't it, I gave up after the required
> 30 minutes of wrenching around on what I was familiar with and gave it to
> the shop before Thanksgiving.
>
> They go through the carbs twice, noodle around with the needle changes I had
> requested, and when they were done it was still missing on 1 and 2
> cylinders. So then they checked all connections and such, and decided it
> must be the carbs ( I think the gasoline smell was the giveaway ).
>
> Then the guy who was doing the work got serious yesterday afternoon, and did
> everything to the carbs, in the process discovering that 2 very small
> o-rings were aged, and hard, and weren't allowing the float levels to run
> exactly where they were supposed to be. 4 new o-rings, set the floats, idles
> and runs great.
>
> Heres my problem now. I want to RIDE the thing!! Am I CRAZY or what?
>
> I fixed it to SELL.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I recall your trying to sell it on Craigs List or EBay but the deal
fell through or something. Wimyer in your neck of the woods would not
be a good time to get your money's worth out of it. BTW, my RZ-35o is
still in the shop. When I gry it back I'll deside whether it's worth
selling or not.



One little ride though, and I REMEMBER why I bought it.
> Maybe I should plan another little trip, just to see? Maybe tow it down to
> Big Bend with the KLR this winter, ride regular roads a little, ride some
> dirt roads a little? Whats the weather like, say, between Houston and
> Brownsville along the Gulf, in January? Tow to Houston, drop the van and
> trailer, ride for 3 days, come back.
>
> After the core problem was found, we reset the needle to a slightly leaner
> position, I'm curious about gas mileage again. Playing with the carbs is
> KEWL!
^^^^^^^^^^^

Carbs are not fun to play with unless you're just tweaking the main,
slides or pilot jets. They may havr well completely rebuilt yours for
all the trouble you went through getting them right. Gimmi FI anytime.
My 06 SV-650 is not near as lurchy as the 00 was plus no choke. It
just fast idles for a few seconds & I'm gone.

Bob Nixon.

TroytheTroll wrote:

>Then the guy who was doing the work got serious yesterday afternoon, and did
>everything to the carbs, in the process discovering that 2 very small
>o-rings were aged, and hard, and weren't allowing the float levels to run
>exactly where they were supposed to be. 4 new o-rings, set the floats, idles
>and runs great.

If the o-rings behind the float valve seats leaked, the fuel shut off needles
wouldn't be able to control the fuel level in the bowls, so the engine vacuum
would easily be able to suck up excess fuel through the idle jet and run too
rich at small throttle openings.

>Heres my problem now. I want to RIDE the thing!! Am I CRAZY or what?

You are at least irrational. But we knew that.
>
>I fixed it to SELL.

That's symptomatic of a Class A personal. If something doesn't work, get rid
of it, if it suddenly works right again, be suspicious of it affecting your
social standing in the future.

--
Message posted via http://www.motorcyclekb.com

Bob Nixon <bigrex2005@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> all the trouble you went through getting them right. Gimmi FI anytime.
> My 06 SV-650 is not near as lurchy as the 00 was plus no choke. It
> just fast idles for a few seconds & I'm gone.

I was so disappointed when I noticed the RC51 had a "choke" knob. I mean,
what was the point of having a computer in the thing if it can't automagically
take care of that.

- Kurt

>> Maybe I should plan another little trip, just to see? Maybe tow it down
>> to Big Bend with the KLR this winter, ride regular roads a little, ride
>> some dirt roads a little? Whats the weather like, say, between Houston
>> and Brownsville along the Gulf, in January?
>
> Lows - 40s, highs 60s, fairly dry.
>
>> Tow to Houston, drop the van and trailer, ride for 3 days, come back.
>
> Why TX and not PHX? Seems a long trip for 3 days of riding.
> What kinda van ya got?

a toyota mini-van. Towing a trailer which can carry 2 bikes easy. Houston is
about 1000, Phoenix is like 900.

>> Heres my problem now. I want to RIDE the thing!! Am I CRAZY or what?
>>
>> I fixed it to SELL.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I recall your trying to sell it on Craigs List or EBay but the deal
> fell through or something.

Yup...both...but I couldn't get what I wanted for it, so I thought I would
wait to spring when activity picks up.


> One little ride though, and I REMEMBER why I bought it.
>> Maybe I should plan another little trip, just to see? Maybe tow it down
>> to
>> Big Bend with the KLR this winter, ride regular roads a little, ride some
>> dirt roads a little? Whats the weather like, say, between Houston and
>> Brownsville along the Gulf, in January? Tow to Houston, drop the van and
>> trailer, ride for 3 days, come back.
>>
>> After the core problem was found, we reset the needle to a slightly
>> leaner
>> position, I'm curious about gas mileage again. Playing with the carbs is
>> KEWL!
> ^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Carbs are not fun to play with unless you're just tweaking the main,
> slides or pilot jets. They may havr well completely rebuilt yours for
> all the trouble you went through getting them right.

Well, they did the work REAL cheap because while I didn't spec a rebuild
when I took it in originally, I did specify a complete go-through with
permission to replace anything needed. So the final issue was something they
sorta felt they should have caught the first time around.


> Gimmi FI anytime.

Yeah, but my old antique POS's don't have it, and my new bike was designed
20+ years ago, and they didn't update the carbs with the new design. To save
money no doubt.


> My 06 SV-650 is not near as lurchy as the 00 was plus no choke. It
> just fast idles for a few seconds & I'm gone.

Yeah....mine does much better at altitude, lurchy wise, than sea level.

"Albrecht via MotorcycleKB.com" <u33665@uwe> wrote in message
news:7c3d083285b4e@uwe...
> TroytheTroll wrote:
>
>>Then the guy who was doing the work got serious yesterday afternoon, and
>>did
>>everything to the carbs, in the process discovering that 2 very small
>>o-rings were aged, and hard, and weren't allowing the float levels to run
>>exactly where they were supposed to be. 4 new o-rings, set the floats,
>>idles
>>and runs great.
>
> If the o-rings behind the float valve seats leaked, the fuel shut off
> needles
> wouldn't be able to control the fuel level in the bowls, so the engine
> vacuum
> would easily be able to suck up excess fuel through the idle jet and run
> too
> rich at small throttle openings.

Krusty, YOU DA MAN!!! Damn orings anyhow....they found it when trying to set
the float levels. Runs much more like a regular bike now, before, it started
everywhere, all the time, no choke, sea level or altitude. Now, it needs
just a wee bit-o choke to start when 35F and cold, by 100 yards I can put
the choke all the way off, and by 1/4 mile it idles slightly lower than
normal, and by a minute later its up to full warm idle. Still runs like an
out of control steamroller.....which I really like about it.


>
>>Heres my problem now. I want to RIDE the thing!! Am I CRAZY or what?
>
> You are at least irrational. But we knew that.
>>
>>I fixed it to SELL.
>
> That's symptomatic of a Class A personal. If something doesn't work, get
> rid
> of it, if it suddenly works right again, be suspicious of it affecting
> your
> social standing in the future.

While I appreciate the amateur psychiatric evaluation, I had decided to get
rid of it only AFTER I was satisfied it was 100% functioning just as I
expected, and tried to sell it in August. It started getting wonky in
September. I couldn't sell it until it was back to its old self, but now
that it is, and I commuted to work on it today, I'm already developing "next
summer-itis" during which time I think big thoughts and wish I had more
vacation time to randomly wander around.

On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:54:06 -0700, TroytheTroll wrote:

>> I recall your trying to sell it on Craigs List or EBay but the deal
>> fell through or something.

> Yup...both...but I couldn't get what I wanted for it, so I thought I would
> wait to spring when activity picks up.

Well I'm ready myself to get a Ninja 600. Only thing is in Florida sales
aren't nearly as seasonal. The buyers market should be better but not
much. Thankfully I live in central Florida where it does get somewhat
cold. Miami is always warm enough.

BTW, I want to take a 450 mile trip (900 round trip). Never have done
more than a 160 mile trip and am wondering about preparation.

I'd like to put it in the shop for a "road worthiness" check up. Also
thinking about what to carry in terms of emergency repair tools or
supplies

Anyway any guides or tip lists you know of that I could check out?

--
Email - rsgibson@verizon.borg
Replace borg with net

> BTW, I want to take a 450 mile trip (900 round trip). Never have done
> more than a 160 mile trip and am wondering about preparation.
>
> I'd like to put it in the shop for a "road worthiness" check up. Also
> thinking about what to carry in terms of emergency repair tools or
> supplies
>
> Anyway any guides or tip lists you know of that I could check out?

When I decided to try this "touring" thing 2 years ago, the suggestions
around here were voluminous, ranging from "get saddlebags and go camping and
don't forget lots of water" and "raingear and a credit card ought to cover
it".

While I didn't go with the "credit card only" routine, here's my packing for
3 days.

http://ohiohoopys.com/bikes/s10.JPG

I could have gone 5 with the same gear. Maybe even a week. With a credit
card refill, maybe even a month!

Half that pack was tools and more junk I could dump if I was really willing
to stop worrying about silly little crap. Most of the important stuff was in
the tankbag.