SilveradoCA

I think V&H Monster Ovals are the best sounding bagger pipes out there, and I assume the round ones are similar. @Semi-retired: I hadn't thought to take a pic, but I'll do that the next day I get her Majesty out. I took Friday off and the weather is looking good-ish.

Finally installed the Baron's 1.5" riser extensions that I've been staring at for 2 months. Here's a tip if you're going to do it: install the right one from the 4 o'clock position, initially angled out to the right, and the left from the 8 o'clock position, likewise tilted out to the left to start. That's the only way you can get them into their place past the bar, which is probably sitting on a towel on top of the tank. (Someone here suggested hanging the bar from a couple of straps off the ceiling or garage door tracks, but I'm far too impatient for that kind of cleverness.) There is enough slack in the lines and cables to sit in the new position, but... you need the bar another 3/4" or so FURTHER toward you to clear the extensions before the bar sits in its notch. You need to tilt the extension in place, while tilting the bar away in the opposite direction, hold it in place with one top screw, then do the other one. It took me a few tries to get the Tetris just right on this, but there you have it. Otherwise, it's just 4 - 6mm allen head screws, and adjusting the mirrors afterward. After I had a 130 width tire mounted on the front last summer, I said "this is how the bike should have come from Yamaha", and I'll say it again after this simple mod. YaMoCo could have achieved this just in the length of the bars, but this position is absolutely perfect. The longest day I've put in the saddle was about 9 hours; now I'm sure 12 hours would be no problem. That 1.5" is the difference between having your arms comfortably extended, and having to r e a c h for them. It does also raise the bars a little, but you can counter that by tilting them back down a bit before you torque the screws all the way tight. The same day the risers were delivered, I also recieved a MUCH smaller windscreen: 8" height, standard width, dark tint. I put that on right away. I've gone from the stock screen which was hilariously tall, to a Show Chrome 13" extra wide model (which I'm positive is exactly the same as the OEM short touring screen), to this one. It is a FAR better experience looking well over the top of the screen, rather than through it. The wind shear now hits me right about on the vent atop my helmet, and I do get bugs on my shield (and shoulders LOL), but it is just so much better seeing the road clearly. I would prefer if this weren't tinted so dark, but I couldn't find one short enough that was also clear or lightly tinted. Wind buffetting is extremely minimal, and gentle. No added fatigue at all. This is the way.

Archimedes was on to something. "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

I had a 130/90-16 tire (Michelin Commander II) mounted on the front last summer, and it completely improved the handling manners of the bike at low speed. I would say that stability in curves or wind above 130Km/h is slightly reduced with that tire size, but mounting a smaller windscreen helped with the latter part. Has anyone removed the tape deck, amp and speakers from their fairing? How did it change the bike's handling?

Funny... I'm 5'5" and wear size 9's, but... I'm going to cut the heel half of the shifter off on mine too. That heel shifter is only good for getting in the way, catching on your jeans, and sometimes making an unwanted shift into neutral on very sharp switchbacks.

Last year I replaced both front and rear donuts on my '08. I went with the smaller front size - 130/90-16, and stock 150/90-15 in the rear. Both tires are Michelin Commander II's, and they are EXCELLENT. The slightly narrower front tire completely changed the character of the bike at low speed, with the only penalty being a slightly more noticeable effect from strong gusty crosswinds acting on the fairing. It is not a big difference. I have about 3000Km on them now, and while the 'chicken strips' are only about 3/4" wide, both tires still have the little casting whiskers on them. I expect these to last a long, long time. Traction in rain is phenomenal. Dry traction is excellent. Road feedback is great, but these tires REFUSE to tramline on running cracks in the road. They go where you point them. I've never, ever been disappointed in a set of Michelin tires (except for their 10-ply pickup truck tires... those are dangerous garbage). This is the 3rd motorcycle I've shod with Michelins, and 2 cars. I think if you tried this tire, you'd not be tempted to look at a Dunlop or Metzler again.

Gracias, eh. I mean to replace the front brakes with upgraded calipers/rotors/MC from a Road Star this year, along with a bunch of other work (I'll start a thread on all of it); I hadn't intended to get into the bottom end or trans, but would you say this indicates that I need new seals somewhere down there? Or is rebuilding a slave(release) cylinder a thing? I've rebuilt a master cylinder once before, on an old van. I think I might flush the brakes right away though, now that you fellas mention it.

Thanks for the laugh!

Got my headlight switch soldered back together on Sunday, and yesterday I bled the clutch; the fluid was low and dirty, and the clutch was engaging almost immediately when releasing the lever from full retraction. I ran enough fluid through it that clean clear fluid was coming out the tube before I stopped. Feels much better now. Questions: can you guys always pull your clutch lever all the way to the bar? And... when the fluid gets low, where has it gone? Is it leaking from the slave cylinder into the trans? It's not leaking externally... How does it get dirty in a sealed system?

Thanks to all who responded with help and advice here. I did get the repair done on Sunday; it's not pretty, but it works. Seems sturdy enough, everything tucked back into the switch housing neatly, and I only melted the plastic a little bit LOL! HI beam, CHECK. LO beam, CHECK. Running lights, CHECK. That's a win. Thank you again friends.

I know! I'm looking for a nice match in a tail light. The square plastic hunk that's on there now is not pretty. I also have an idea to work up a totally cool set of throw-over bags. Stay tuned on that.

This thread has become a fun stream-of-consciousness exercise! Taryn Manning (the name that stuck to this bike, because only a monster names a Zuk Suzy) continues her rehab, getting over bad decisions made by her prior rider. He was enthusiastic and cheerful, and it seemed just clever enough to be dangerous, so we'll call him Mr. Bean. As you can well imagine, a low bike wearing OEM junk rear shocks with ~2" of travel is not particularly comfy to ride through dystopian industrial parks on a Friday night, what with the expertly maintained roads thereabouts. I noticed on day 1 that the bike only had about 1/2" of static sag with this hobbit sitting in the saddle; Mr. Bean had the preload set almost all the way up, and the tires were as overinflated as Kanye West's ego. With both issues rectified, hooliganism is a slightly more comfortable endeavour. (As an aside, I adjust the tire pressure in my truck quite regularly, and being used to that endeavour, I had forgotten how fast a little skinny tire picks up and loses pressure. There's just not a lot of air inside them, and if you so much as sneeze, you can overshoot your mark by about 5psi.) I'm on the hunt for a set of Progressive 412's that someone has ripped off a Sportster. (Speaking of which, Suzuki missed a HUGE opportunity by not naming this model the Thumpster). After spending some time edifying myself on this model, I've taken to carrying a little screwdriver with me everywhere. This is because Mr. Bean re-jetted the carb to go along with the K&N filter and HD pipe. This is a common practice, and seems to be well documented. However, on doing so, he proceeded to tune the pilot circuit so lean it could pass for Kate Moss in the early 90's. I've managed to get the backfire on decel down to sub-sonic .22 levels, but on the forum for these bikes that is every bit the fine match to venturerider.org, I've learned that the TEV (throttle enrichment valve, anti-backfire valve, air cut valve) needs attention frequently, so that's later today. However, with the pilot tuned to a more sensible state, this bike is otherwise running well. Part throttle cruising at ~3200rpm, and she is happy, happy, happy! Horsepower only comes packaged three ways: enough, not enough, and more than enough. With the mods in place, according to some dyno charts I've seen, Taryn Manning should be making about 33-34, and notionally about 40 torques. That places her solidly in the 'enough' range for her intended mission. A roll on from 80Km/h toward a buck twenty proves that should you want to cruise the freeway or put her on a highway, and show her a sign, she'll take it to the limit, one more time. No prob. Also enough to spin the rear coming out of a corner at less than one-half impulse speed. Not to worry though, that ancient IRC front hasn't NEARLY enough grip left to hook up and threaten a high-side adventure. If I die from corona virus, it will be because she needs a front donut badly, and Fortnine (which is like Revzilla with a French-Canadian accent) is quoting THREE WEEKS to deliver one by UPS. So if you know someone who's ordering Charmin by the sea-can load, give 'em a smack. So far I've seen 4.2l/100KM (~56MPG) commuting to work and ripping around with no notion of saving fuel, and she cost me $64 Canadian to insure. For the whole year. I like this bad chicken more and more every day. Makes me smile like this:

You may be right about the Bakelite, though it doesn't look as swirly as the other stuff I've had. It had occurred to me that it must be at least somewhat heat resistant, as current is flowing through the contacts all the time. I decided early on that if I didn't botch the repair too badly, I'd do the blue one also. Glad to know it looks sketchy to you too. It's not loose, but it looks as if the solder makes a solid bridge between the wire and contact about 1mm tall.

Now I want to mount the ass end out of an old Honda trike on the bike, and mount a sombrero the size of a satellite dish on my melon, and tear ass around on a beach throwing twin rooster tails of sand while howling madly in a Canuck version of a Mexican accent. Andalé! Arriba eh! Like if Speedy Gonzales had Castor Canadensis for a cousin. Have to shave a Pancho Villa style handlebar moustache out of my beard to do it though. Second on the 'pics please', if you can grok the how-to, Sailor.

I'm sure these are wildly popular in the 3rd world. I'm sure it was designed by a Japanese farmer; it's totally crude from stem to stern, but in a very Japanese sort of way.

Thanks friends, that makes it pretty clear. There doesn't seem to be a job on this bike that isn't a tough one; the price to be paid for brawn and beauty I guess. The green wire has plenty of length; I only cut off about 3/32" which was the old connection. I just moved it up out of the way for the pic, but it actually feeds in below the blue. I've read other posts around the internet, and some mention using flux-cored 60/40 solder for this kind of job. Any insight? Maybe that type only comes in thick gauges too large for this? As far as heat to the plastic, are we talking glass the thickness of onion skin sort of delicate, or am I being paranoid? I laughed when you mentioned big Weller soldering guns M61A1... my dad had one in his workshop and I used to sneak in and burn things with it when I was small. Didn't piss him off one bit, I'm sure. I liked how it hummed in my hands haha.

Thanks 'puc! I've had a hard time writing since I quit drinking, but this little blurb came out OK I think. You sure described a chopper alright! I can see it clear as day. On this bike, a 6 foot wrought iron sissy bar would make it wheelie without engine power, like a really curvy woman leaning a little too far back on a bar stool.

Below is the headlight switch. The green wire is the low beam power, and it connects to the small circle below the blue hi-beam wire. (I snipped off the old solder before I thought to take the pic. It was 98% broken off from the contact.) How do I solder this without melting the plastic? Would the plastic withstand the heat of soldering? How would it be manufactured originally? Will I be able to heat the wire alone, then somehow quickly get it in place and flow the solder? It's awkward, because getting that switch pod off the bike and onto a bench will take about 4 hours to completely disassemble both the front and back sides of the fairing, then replace. I don't have three hands to hold the iron, switch, wire and solder... I'm sure one of you electron herders can help a dumb carpenter out with some insider tricks? This is the continuing saga of my thread from last year, trying to troubleshoot the loss of low-beam and driving lights. After splitting the fairing to change the bulb and trace the wiring connections, this is where the problem lay. I've only soldered a thing once or twice in my life. Thanks.

Yup; a low compression single that shares some parts with the DR650, hung in a bike that has been mostly unchanged since the late 80's. Some time in the 90's Suzuki added a 5th gear, though I'm not sure why, because the gears are so long you really only need 3 of them LOL. This is a 2011 example, and the previous owner says it will go about 130Km/h, but not well; being so small and light, the flapping of a bat's wings in China can push it all over the place. More of a mild urban hooligan bike that's dead simple with just the 1 jug, 1 carb, belt drive and air cooling. Where parts for the RSV seem to be made from unicorn essence and priced as if they were solid gold, parts for this are common and cheap. The bike certainly makes a statement, only it's the same kind of impression you'd get from an 11 year old kid in a Sons of Anarchy vest.

If my big, beautiful Yamaha RSV (below) is a hot rodded 1940's Caddy, this thing is a hot rodded lawn tractor. It's as if you shrunk a Harley sportster chassis in the dryer and then bolted a huge dirt bike engine in it. This one comes with such timeless modifications as an eBay tachometer mounted with a hardware store hose clamp and a bracket which may be a refrigerator door hinge pounded flat, black painted-over chrome that wasn't prepped first, a home-brew garage welded header adaptor (worth AT LEAST a sixer) to mount a Harley Dyna muffler, some LED rear signals that obviously don't have an inline resistor, and just enough carb jet ####ering to make it backfire about as loud as a .45... When I picked it up on Monday, the bar risers were flipped around facing forward, and it was wearing a set of canvas saddlebags that looked like they were a re-purposed gardening apron, and a generic fake leather fork bag... on the rear fender, held on with quick link chain couplers, from the next aisle over from the tachometer mounts. It cost me $4.81 to fill the mostly empty tank. Cherry my Yamapotamus weighs 900lbs before I sit on her, and makes about 110HP. This Lil' ##### weighs less than the combined weights of the last 2 women I let conquer me. Supposedly makes about 32HP, and I'll buy it. Seat is about as high as on a kid's dirt bike; the hot nurse at my Dr.'s office swears I'm only 5'5", and I think a hot nurse much shorter than me could stand over it to do smokey burnouts. It's like that ugly little ####### dog my sister has; it's just so ridiculous in both ego and stature that I laugh every time I look at it, but when you take it for a walk, it just pulls and pulls like a miniature locomotive. (Wait, maybe that's me.) I picked it up because Her Majesty in all her ponderous largesse needs some big work done, and now that I have a garage there's no universe where I'm paying shop rates for it all. It'll take a week just to get all the safety chrome off. Taryn Manning cost me about the same as a good set of golf clubs or a couple of hours at the Spearmint Rhino, including those sweet bags and a box of spare parts. She needs tires; in fact that's the original 9 year old front donut. I can do 'em in my awesome garage. The previous owner did have the good sense to do two decent known mods (petcock transplant and cam chain tensioner), and it has fresh oil and a new-ish battery. These things are easy to bob, chop or scramble, and I think I might if I can get Mad Max's pretty cousin fixed up by fall. It's F'n hilarious and awesome and you should get one.

I ordered the very same lamps from Amazon; they'll have to wait until I get moved, and probably get put off well into winter, but glad to hear they work.

Hi Don, I've determined that everything 'downstream' of the splice/install of the passing lights is intact and functional. The problem is either the green wire from the headlight switch assembly on the bars to the first factory connector, or the headlight switch itself. I'll look into the relay wiring link you showed me, thanks.

Thanks a million for this Steve. After reading the procedure and a quick review of what I've done, the diagnosis is the switch. I'd still like to get into that switch housing to check the condition, and also to test from the switch to the blue connector for continuity, in case that wire is broken somewhere along its run. Depending on what the switch contacts look like, maybe the fault can be repaired easily.

I 100% get that Marcarl. The only reason I cross-posted is that the Watering Hole seems to get a little more traffic than the tech forums. Hope everyone is enjoying their Labour Day weekend. (It's Labor Day in the US too, right?)

I've been trying to fix a lighting issue; my post is here: https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?142667-Help-a-dumb-carpenter-with-wiring-please Sorry for the cross-post! She's sitting torn apart until I can get this sorted. Here's the TL/DR for ya: No low beam or passing lamps. I believe it's the dimmer switch, or wire between the switch and the first connector in the fairing. I need help with: how to open up that switch? And also, which wire in the fairing would likely be constant (key on) power? The passing lamps have their own switch and fuse, so I'd rather have them switched independently of the headlight. Thanks!