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TrialsRiderParticipant
The horn draws a lot of power, second only to the headlight and starter motor. If the starter draws more power than the battery can handle, spark plug performance will suffer. Indication of this is when it’s cranking and then it tries to fire only at the instant you let off on the starter button.
Inspect the battery for an accumulation of sediment, if the crap is up to the plates it’s toast, if it looks reasonable, make certain the battery fluid levels are up. Max charging rate is 1.4A and charging time is determined by the age of the battery. The mfg. date is on the side of the battery (month, date, year) if the battery is over 12 months old they call for a 60 hour charge time at the 1.4 amp rate.
You can hydrometer test the battery fluid, if you have the tools; The electrolyte specific gravity should be 1.28 at 20 degrees C
…hope this helps someTrialsRiderParticipantHow about one of each
A very well designed fairing will save fuel, improve high speed performance and keep you mostly dry in a light rain. They are great at buffering the wind effect from on-comming transport truck traffic, deflecting flying rocks and assorted road debris. I personally don’t like handlebar mounted fairings as they directly transfer wind energy into your steering controls . The ideal fairing design is one developed in a wind tunnel with a rider on, some bikes were obviously designed to be wind slippery without a rider, which is kind of like being a wing walker.
Cafe racers look better naked, ( I won’t say what I really wanted to say about that ; )TrialsRiderParticipantOtherwise agreed, I think you’re about to learn how to clean out a carburetor, or at the very least drain the float bowls, watch for rust particles and water accumulation from condensation in the fuel tank, if you are able to collect the fuel you drain from the float bowls. Might be a dumb suggestion; but I think there is a kill switch on both the clutch lever and the side stand, best test is to see if there is any spark.
Is that a Boxer dog I see on your avatar?TrialsRiderParticipantPersonally I like the pre unit 1940’s 3H model Speed Twin.
In 2001 Triumph would have to equip with CV carbs to meet the emission standards of the time, so now I understand; they are trying to preserve the look of a 9 year old bike that was patterned to look like a 30 year old bike. BTW, improved low through mid-range power and precise throttle control is where EFI really shines, not full throttle.TrialsRiderParticipantTook a look at the Triumph EFI offering after reading your ride un-impression, is it possible performance was not the primary design criteria? …brilliant marketing concept; manufacture an EFI unit that squeezes out Euro III emission standards and looks like a carb. Just, why did they make that look like a CV carb??? I’d spot that a mile away, classic Triumphs never had CV carbs , so why didn’t they spend your money to make it look like an Amal Mk1 ? P.S. not trying to flame the brand, I know how passionate you guys can be over the T120 look
February 24, 2010 at 12:26 pm in reply to: Love my bike, but are all chains this much trouble? #24648TrialsRiderParticipantChains are cheap and easy to install. The only time I’ve heard a chain make clunking noise is; when it was terribly out of alignment, had a seized up link, or when the previous owner had fitted it with a half link.
Bikes are relatively easy to work on, unlike cars, everything on them is there for a reason and they aren’t coated in rust.
The best riders all work on their own bikes.
TrialsRiderParticipantPossibly moot points, definitely not deal breakers but worthy of mention;
No fuel tap required …ever pulled out into traffic only to realize you forgot to turn on the fuel?More than just altitude sensitive …I’ve owned several carb bikes that religiously required needle position adjustments seasonally, spring, summer and fall, admittedly these were all competition 2 strokes.
Rev limiting …it’s much harder to blow up an engine that shuts down at the manufacturers prescribed red line, or when it finds itself running up-side down.
I’ve experienced both of these conditionsGo easy on the cold start and go: The greatest danger from not warming up a 4 stroke engine and then operating it very, very hard is to the valves, tappets piston and rings. If it uses oil pressure dependent bottom end bearings, the oil needs to achieve a low enough viscosity or some babbitt bearing damage is inevitable. 2 stroke engines are far less affected by the cold start, with the biggest danger being, catching a ring on the edge of a scavenging port, 2 strokes all have roller bearing crank and con rods.
TrialsRiderParticipantDownload the service manual at http://copronymous.com/images/M50-MANUAL.pdf …not sure if it’s the right model year for your ride, but there is a checklist for the exact problem you described.
February 19, 2010 at 4:23 am in reply to: Love my bike, but are all chains this much trouble? #24591TrialsRiderParticipantPointers on chain adjustment and maintenance.
If you are needing to adjust the chain every time you ride, it’s time to get back to basics, you are possibly over tightening the chain to start.
Chain cleaning and lubrication: ( this applies to regular roller chains not those expensive, wide, o-ring chains ) Dirty chains run tighter than a clean and properly lubricated chain ! Find yourself an old plastic oil container, the 4 liter (1 gallon) containers are the perfect size, put about 1 cup of liquid WD-40 or similar solvent into the jug along with your chain,. Put the lid on and shake it up good. Now recover your chain from the container, ( you might need to cut the top off the plastic jug, as they go in easier than they com out ) Wipe off the chain with a clean rag and hang it up to drain off the excess solvent. ( dispose of the used, dirty solvent in an appropriate manor.) Re-install the chain on your bike and lubricate it with a good quality chain lube. ( one that goes on like blue foam and clings like grease is best )
Never over tighten a chain or you will do significant damage to your chain, wheel bearings and swing arm bushings. Frequently inspect the wheel bearings for any play and replace them if they are not perfect. They are not difficult to replace, they are very inexpensive and available from any bearing supply. Swing arm bushings or bearings should also be cleaned and greased regularly and replaced if they are not perfect. They are harder to source outside of the OEM dealership.
How tight is too tight? Because the vast majority of motorcycles have a swing arm pivot point which is not concentric with the drive sprocket, the chain tension changes, as the swing arm travels through it’s range of motion. The critical position is the point at which the drive sprocket, swing arm pivot and axle are all aligned in a single plane. At that point the chain should still remain slightly relaxed, not taut, or your chain will stretch like crazy from the tremendous leverage and strain imposed on it.
If you are unsure of how to adjust the chain after consulting the owners manual, that is maybe because it was badly written ! The virago owner manual I downloaded says: “Spin the wheel several times and find the tightest position of the chain”, which BTW is totally absurd as it is the swing arm travel that tightens the chain, NOT the rotation of the wheel. …duh !
Have someone sit on the bike and inspect the chain tension, when the chain is at it’s tightest position. If your assistant is not heavy enough to compress the springs to achieve that aspect, you can remove one shock and this will make the suspension settle very easily. Just make certain you are inspecting the chain tension at it’s tightest point of the swing-arm travel !!!
If your rear wheel is drum brake equipped you need to loosen the brake “tension bar”
( item 1 on page 8-38 of the manual ) when adjusting the chain.
Make sure your chain adjusters are in their proper position and tighten the axle nut significantly tighter than you might think appropriate. At one time I observed the Spanish Trials Team Mechanics chain adjusting for the top world rider at that time, They used 2 massive spanner wrenches to tighten the axle and I was shocked by how much torque they put on the rear axle nut. ( The Virago manual calls for 76 ft-lb ) for comparison purpose the Virago manual calls for only 43 ft-lb on the front axle, so in simple terms the rear wheel needs to be almost twice as tight as the front axle !
And make sure you tighten that rear brake “tension bar” and re-adjust your brake before riding !!! Brakes are very important sometimes.
Sorry this is such a long read! … see why my street bikes are shaft driveTrialsRiderParticipantNo worries
Just take it super easy coming into loose gravel corners, do all your braking in a straight line before you commit the turns, road bikes are amazing fast on straight line, hard packed gravel. Watch out for spring thaw if you live in a cold climate, also deep sand, more so with heavy bikes; any road surface that does not support the full weight of the bike will affect directional stability badly, road tires sink into a soft road surface and will make the bike squirm and wiggle like you have never experienced on a full knobby equipped dirt bike with wide handle bars.
One last thing; watch out for rural wildlife. Country roads seldom provide a clear line of sight and a deer, dog or coyote is only one step from being in your direct path. Straight line brake, hard as you dare to avoid impacting large animals, but anything small is on his own, never, never, swerve to miss a ground hog, you won’t even feel it if you run over the poor little bugger.
That’s a sweet first bike, keep it clean, back off from the road dust and keep the air filter and drive chain clean.TrialsRiderParticipantHusqvarna 2 stroke for sure, looks like 2009 graphics, the chain is on the right side making it a 250 or 300 cc engine. Motocross models are CR designation which is Close Ratio gearbox, WR is Wide Ratio as normally found on their enduros.
TrialsRiderParticipantMost will never experience the extreme fuel heat that I did, but I could easy prove it seeing as I still regularly ride that same bike. The circumstance on that particular day was; mid day record breaking high temps, stuck in clutch slipping, creep ahead traffic, westbound QEW near downtown Toronto. The bike engine is fully faired, longitudinal inline 4 cylinder engine where the cylinders lay flat along the left side of the bike, the fuel rail runs the entire length of the engine cylinders and within 1/2″ of the heads and barrels. The tank was less than half full, partly because I had been stuck in traffic for so long and the bike was nearly new. Considering this bike is a 1986 model (BMWK100RS) it represents possibly the earliest example of production EFI equipped technology and in typical BMW overkill fashion the fuel pump is huge in comparison to the one on my 4RT trials bikes. As recent as last fall my tank became so hot on the legs that I did fill up with nice cold fuel, simply because, as your mechanic suggested the fuel temperature is much lower given the full 5 gallon capacity. I live in Canada eh;) so I know about cold riding and regularly warm my freezing cold hands on that toasty warm tank Everything except the rubber, oil, filters, battery, fork seals, break pads and muffler is original and it has never stranded me in that many years!
I buy lawn tractor batteries because our winters are devastating on OEM batteries at three times the price, they are exactly the same size, except the poles are on the opposite ends. If the battery is flat it will not bump start even going down a huge hill, and with the engine spinning at that speed the alternator will still not produce enough electricity to achieve fuel pressure, but I can jumper cable start it and ride home on that same dead battery.Now for the opposite end of the EFI spectrum; …sorry but this is gonna kill your no battery no spark theory! My 2008 fuel injected Montesa/Honda 4RT has no battery. How do they do that? …a super efficient alternator ( inside the left engine casing, bathed in oil ) and an extremely small efficient fuel pump, which incidentally takes up much of the space inside it’s 2 liter fuel tank, (that’s a mere 67 ounce fuel capacity), so needless to say it only has a few ounces of fuel to work with much of the time. ..in events I fuel that bike every 1 or 2 loops, also in part to keep the fuel temperature down.
BTW idle speed setting on the 4RT is critical, it will not start if you touch the throttle at all during start-up. It requires a nice slow continuous kick, starting at compression and if you jump on it hard and fast it simply won’t fire. If it isn’t operating perfect, you let it run at idle for about 5 minutes and the computer sorts itself outTrialsRiderParticipantIn my experience simple carburetors are easy enough to work on which is a good thing, because they tend to be the highest maintenance dependent parts on a bike. Particularly since the advent of non-leaded fuel, todays high price, lower octane gasoline has an extremely short shelf life and left to sit for extended periods, will completely gum up the carburetors float bowls and tiny passageways.
The most complex carburetor design is the CV (Constant Velocity) type, occasionally referred to as an OE type carb. Motivation for manufactures to install CV carbs on modern bikes is an economical way to increase fuel efficiency, control pollution, and ‘smooth’ throttle response. The down side is; CV carbs are considerably more complex and difficult to tune, they have many more parts, including rubber vacuum hoses, o-rings and bladders that must not leak any vacuum, sometimes accelerator pumps, and possibly even electric sensors.EFI while not particularly simple or economical, is far the best performer of the bunch. It mostly works perfect or not and servicing equals replace parts. There are relatively few parts and nearly anybody can replace parts, right? …so EFI is my favorite. On the plus side; in addition to sometimes incredible performance gains, EFI provides better fuel economy, non affected by altitude change and better pollution control. It also heats the fuel in your tank, which is nice for keeping your legs warm in cold weather. On the down side; on a hot day stuck in traffic, it can actually heat the fuel to a boiling point ! …once experienced that very scary thing myself Because the fuel constantly circulates through your motor under considerable pressure, fuel filters are larger metal canisters making them more expensive, and leaks in the pressurized filter, pump or fuel lines will result in crap performance, but not necessarily strand you Also you can’t bump start most EFI equipped motorcycles …if you hear the fuel pump hum before it starts, that bike requires a good battery, or jumper cables to run.
February 9, 2010 at 3:16 am in reply to: Trying to convince the “BOSS” that bikes aren’t as scary and dangerous as she thinks!! #24467TrialsRiderParticipantIf it helps, tell the Boss I said; Bikes aren’t scary or dangerous, it’s the mini-vans you really need to watch out for, most tailgate and drive with their foot to the floor.
I’ve been in a few vehicle accidents myself and the one that caused me the most physical injury, started with me in the back seat of a car! Mind you, that was a VW bug crashing head on with a full size 60’s Dodge, pre seat belts, …but I did sustain the least significant injuries of three passengers after flying through the front windshield and sliding along the pavement, at least on a motorcycle you’ll be wearing a helmet hmmmm, on second thought, maybe you shouldn’t mention crashing at all
How about this; when I wanted a dog it took 2 full years of; “can I have a dog? can I have a dog? can I have a dog? can I have a dog?” and now I have a Dog! …so that worksYour wish list indicates that you are very open minded on styles, one almost dual purpose, CV carburetor equipped thumper and several fuel injected road only twins, do you plan on riding much gravel road?
Fuel injection is much easier to self service on a bike that is parked for half the year, you can’t push start most fuel injected bikes as they need fuel pressure to run, but you can jumper cable start them.
Looks sounds important to you but as one other writer suggested, you can swap out a high front fender real easy if it doesn’t suit and I agree it doesn’t, not on a bike with semi knobby tires, a windshield fairing and wide radiator body panels. The original concept of a high fender is to reduce unsprung weight and prevent clog up with rocks and mud.
Forget the 2010 Buell Blast their advertisement is a 2009 Blast that has been put through a car crusher NOT a real intelligent advertising scheme and it begs the question, what model will they crush for 2011?You’re a big guy at 5’10, 275 lbs. Madjak so you should be able to toss a mid weight bike around Alberta with ease. If price is no object check out the BMW dealer before you make a decision, either way, cost the insurance on various models first.
Good luck & hope you get that bike, what ever it is you’re going to love it
TrialsRiderParticipantYou might need to copy and paste the string: ” http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/prototype-spy-concept/2010-BMW-Concept6f.jpg ” the site hosts several high res pics of the BMW 6 concept bike …hope this works for you.
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