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darthandy

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Everything posted by darthandy

  1. darthandy
    Never mind that ... just imagine the oil bill for a trip! Andy
  2. darthandy
    For some reason (Easier pull? Lower cost?), Yamaha put on a rather weak clutch spring and the last friction disk is only a half disk. What can happen is that after a while, the clutch may slip when suddenly hitting the throttle in 4th or 5th gear, especially if revs are low and the engine is relatively cold. If you keep doing that, the clutch disks will eventually wear down faster and the slip will occur more often and even in the lower gears. Skydoc17 sells a kit with a stronger spring and a full disk to replace the half disk and this will solve the problem and last for a long, long time. The increase in pressure on the clutch pull is minor and you won't even notice after a day or so. I also found that the kit really smoothed out the clutch action and got rid of a ltitle "grab" that mine had at the end of the clutch travel when leaving from a stop. It's a very easy job to do and you don't even have to drain the oil as long as you leave the bike on its sidestand. In my case, I decided to order all new clutch friction disks as well and basically give myself an all new clutch. It was well worth the money and I highly recommend it. Andy
  3. darthandy
    Haven't tried one but it looks almost identical to the FIAMM compact air horn sold at our Canadian Tire stores around here - but they want $59.99 for theirs. This looks like a better deal.
  4. darthandy
    You are correct it was a H2 mark IV I think, the brain ain't as good as it once was. lol Actually, it was called the Mach IV since the 500 H1 had been called the Mach III - your memory's not all that bad. I still have a 1970 road test of the H2. Fun to read what they thought of its power back then, especially when most of today's 600's would eat an H2 for breakfast! Andy
  5. darthandy
    I have a friend with a regular Ural and sidecar and a 2 wheel drive Dnepr. The Dnepr company went out of business some years ago, but the Ural company is still pumping out what is basically a 1939 BMW R75/5 with improved electrics and better materials. If memory serves, these bikes require premium gas so they can be a bit more expensive to run at today's gas prices. Andy
  6. darthandy
    Loved those bikes. I had a black 1976 RD400 I bought new in '76 after reading the Cycle Canada road test. One fast (for its time) road machine with great handling except for one glaring fault. It had fixed foot pegs - non-folding! A buddy of mine once said that as he watched me pull away in a turn, I was leaving a trail of sparks from the peg. Sure enough, when I checked, the rubber was worn right through to the metal! Thank God I didn't hit a bump or have to tighten up the turn - I would have gone straight into the trees! In 1985 I bought a new RZ350. Road it for 5 years then went road racing with it. Some rookie went straight in a right hander at Shannonville and took me out at the back wheel while I was doing about 150 kph through the turn. The bike wouldn't have been too bad, but it slid onto the grass. Everything dug in and the bike started to tumble. What was left is still in my shed. I keep telling myself I may rebuild it some day. Hell, the motor only had about 200 km on it after a full rebuild, porting and shaving of the head - it could really move! On the street, a lot of the older 750 pilots would get quite a shock when trying to keep up with us. By the way, the 750 Kawi triple was the H-2. Fast in a straight line, but, like the 500, it had a fork that felt and acted like it was made from cheap plastic - really scary on a winding road or coming off a wheelie! My body couldn't handle that riding position for long anymore, but it sure would be fun to go for a quick run again. Andy
  7. darthandy
    I suppose a lot has to do with how anal retentive the person in charge is. One of the clubs I belong to around here is the Gold Wing Road Riders Association. I don't have a Goldwing, Valkyrie or even a Honda product, so I'm an "Associate" member. There's never been a problem with me wearing other club patches or other regalia. In fact, at a "bike night" at a nearby A&W with the chapter, someone asked me what the letters GWRRA on my patch stood for as I waited in line behind the chapter president for a root beer. I told him then I tipped the Yamaha cap I was wearing and said "Brought to you by Yamaha". The pres. had himself a good laugh along with other members and that was that. No one was offended and no one has asked me to stop wearing the hat to to get rid of any patches. The chapters aim is to promote the club, safe riding and fun on a motorcycle whether or not you ride their brand. It was, in part, because of this attitude of the members that I joined the club. We have a lot of fun, do some nice charitable work and get to show off our bikes at these "bike nights". To me, that's the best way to run a club. Make people feel welcome and want to join. As it is, several members of another club I belong to also joined the GWRRA chapter for the same reasons and one of them even bought a Goldwing after being around them for a while. I agree one has to obey club rules and go along with the leadership's requirements, but being silly about enforcement is a good way to shrink a club's membership down to nothing. Whew. That was a lot of talking! I'll just shut up now. Andy
  8. darthandy
    I put the Skydoc kit in mine last Spring to cure my slipping problem and replaced the rest of the clutch plates at that time. I figured that since I already had them out, I might as well go for a full new clutch. It's an easy job. It's not usually a good idea to try to accelerate a Venture in 5th gear from 45 mph unless you do it very slowly and gently. These V-4's like revs and even more so with the increased weight of a trike. Lugging the motor will only put unnecessary stress on the clutch and other parts. At that speed, I'm usually still in 3rd unless I'm cruising on a level road. Put in the kit - your bike will love you for it. Andy
  9. darthandy
    If I remember correctly (And if I don't, someone will correct me.) it will act as a fuel system cleaner. In fact, I believe someone on this forum had checked out the "ingredient" list for Seafoam and discovered that a large part of it was basically camp fuel. Of course, by itself, it's missing some of the other useful additives found in Seafoam that allow it to act as a fuel stabilizer as well as a fuel system "antifreeze". Andy
  10. darthandy
    My reverse has only worked when the front of the bike is pointed uphill. :whistling: Andy
  11. darthandy
    Hmmm...hadn't thought about the backup fuse. I went out and checked and everything is still OK so I don't think it's that. The bike spun over nicely yesterday so the battery voltage seemed to be OK as well. I'm going to try a start experiment tomorrow to see if I can recreate the problem. Andy
  12. darthandy
    In situations like that, I try to execute a quick and safe pass and just ignore the nitwit in the cage. People who are that ignorant tend to also be a bit low on the I.Q. scale. As well, (Here I go being a psychiatrist!) they seem to gain a sense of power by "controlling" others as in this case where he was blocking the lane. People like that are often looking for trouble and an excuse to do something about it. They will neither understand nor will they care about being educated as to their error. Bottom line? Pass them and ignore them. At the end of the day, if you p**s them off and they decide to retaliate, their 3,000 to 4,000 pound vehicle can do a lot more damage than our 900 pound bike! Andy
  13. darthandy
    Well Muffinman, the battery connections are clean and tight. As for the battery, it is just over a year old and was on a battery tender over the previous winter. It seems that if there was a fault in the construction allowing a loose plate, it would have shown up in the first few months, although I could be wrong there. The ignition switch was damaged by overheating last year before I realized I should have some relays installed. I removed it, cleaned and sanded the electrodes and used Plastex to glue the small crack that developed in the "plate" holding the electrodes due to the over-expansion of the heated metal electrodes. I'd like to think (Wish?) that it is OK since I did put the headlight, driving lights and ignition on relays after that and the key gets warm but not hot now. 67mini67, I did have a slight starting problem the other day, as it was colder than I thought and I didn't use enough choke. The bike didn't start on the first try and then stalled after the next try (Still not enough choke). This sounds like what happened to you. I think I may do a bit of experimenting to see if that is the cause as I would prefer to avoid the incredible fun of removing the ignition switch again. Thanks all. Andy
  14. darthandy
    OK, here's an odd problem on my RSV. A few weeks ago, I noticed that my clock had been reset. I thought I may have pressed the buttons the wrong way when scrolling through the trip meter, so I forgot about it. Went to use it today and noticed that it showed the odometer instead of my trip meter, so I selected the trip meter and, lo and behold, both of them were at 0 KM (They were at 91 KM when I turned it off yesterday) and the clock had been reset. I didn't have the battery tender on so nothing has touched the bike. Anybody ever have this problem before? Andy
  15. darthandy
    That's quite possible since CTC is supplied by Shell which claims to have no ethanol in their premium. Andy
  16. darthandy
    These are Russian copies of a 1939 BMW motorcycle. Russia received the bikes and plans for them from the Germans prior to the start of the second world war. After the war, they kept producing them with very few changes. Eventually they began to export them and have made some updates in electronics and brakes, etc., but the bikes are still the original version of the BMW. They are 750 cc. in the U.S. (and 650 cc elsewhere) and only come as a sidecar outfit. They were also produced as the "Dnepr" and exported as well. These often had a driven sidecar wheel and engines up to 1,000 cc. in the more modern versions. Great for 'off roading" or riding in the snow. I have a buddy with one of each and in the winter, he shakes up the locals by riding the two wheel drive Dnepr through the snow. With knobbies, it does surprisingly well. Dnepr is now out of production but you can still get an antique BMW motorcycle at the Ural store! Here's a link to the Ural web site for more info: http://www.ural.com/ Andy
  17. darthandy
    We have one like that around here as well as this guy with his sidecar rig. Andy
  18. darthandy
    The ethanol mixtures I've seen advertised here in Ontario were never more than 10% ethanol. As well, I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject as there is quite a controversy regarding the ethanol industry's attempt to move to a 15% mixture. In a nutshell, the worst problems for carbureted machines occur to those machines built before 1991 when all motors were required to be able to handle up to 10% ethanol. In newer machines, the main problem occurs when gas is left to sit for a long time without some type of stabilizer to prevent varnish build up. Obviously, the problem is greater for those of us with older bikes that have not had their carburettors updated with ethanol compatible parts. Of course, the info on this subject is far more detailed than what I have here, but basically, if you have a machine newer than 1991, be sure to add gas stabilizer to your gas if you're storing your machine for more than a few days (Yeah, that's right - days not weeks) or you run the risk of varnish build up clogging the jets. On older machines, the reports I've read all say the same thing. Either upgrade your carbs with ethanol compatible parts or eventually, the plastic and rubber parts will deteriorate at a greater than normal rate. As it stands, tests have shown that a greater than 10% ethanol mixture will be harmful to even the newer carbureted machines. The reports stated that additives will not have much of an effect on the deterioration of plastic and rubber parts. Those parts were made to handle a 10% mixture and it seems that extra 5% may be too much for them. And by the way, this goes for ATV's, lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc. Ain't life fun? Andy
  19. darthandy
    He said that he's using the auxiliary jack that's on the face plate of the cassette player. That would require that the controller be on "aux". Andy
  20. darthandy
    On Any Sunday II is also good. More professionally done (Although that's not necessarily a good thing!) with some humorous moments. Some of the latter were staged based on descriptions of actual events, but still good for a chuckle, especially if you remember doing something similar yourself. It's also a good chance to see some great riders when they were at their peak. Thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Andy
  21. darthandy
    All our best thoughts and wishes go to Larry. Get well soon, my friend! Andy
  22. darthandy
    Used it on my Triumph last year. Did a great job and the seals are still leak free. Andy
  23. darthandy
    Good luck. Still a good idea to put in relays for the lights and ignition. Could help in avoiding a potential ignition switch problem in the future. Andy
  24. darthandy
    Please accept our sincere condolences. Andy
  25. darthandy
    Oh? Now I'm curious. That sounds deceptively simple. How does it work? Andy
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