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twigg

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Everything posted by twigg

  1. twigg
    I need Freebird to come HERE and put the thing back together
  2. twigg
    Did you know that someone appears to have stolen your fuel tank?
  3. twigg
    One of the guys on the LD Rider List posted this today: (I redacted anything that would identify the writer) "Quick impressions from a 30 mile test ride: Noticeably lighter and nimbler than a Gold Wing, K1200LT or Road Glide, but noticeably fatter and heavier than my overloaded FJR. The basic ergonomics are excellent for my size (6'2", 36" inseam). You sit in the motorcycle, rather than perched on top. Upper legs were level, about a 90 degree bend at the knees with feet on the pegs, and there was almost no extra reach for the bars when sitting upright. The seat height was lower than anticipated, but felt thinly padded (not closed-cell foam?), and I expect it will get noticeably uncomfortable with distance. The grips were disappointing, a constant-radius cylinder, instead of the better contoured shape we have come to expect from BMW. Cornering cautiously, the bike seemed to offer more ground clearance than expected. Steering effort was neutral from upright to as far as I dared lean. I have never cared for BMW's Telelever front ends because of the poor feel, and was very conservative to avoid tossing ****'s new machine down the road. This bike was probably not designed to be taken off pavement, where front end feedback is much more important, but that doesn't mean that no one will try. Tires were Metzeler MEZ8 RoadTecs, 120/70ZR17 front and 190/50ZR17 rear. The stock windscreen is noisy and turbulent for most of the adjustment range, but improved a bit near the middle, when looking just over the top edge. The motor is the smoothest and gives the bike the broadest powerband of any motorcycle I have ever ridden. It revs very quickly from idle to redline with an intoxicating whine, and seems nearly impossible to lug with too much throttle at low RPM. If you don't mind all the bulk that it brings, it's a fantastic engine. The "fly-by-wire" throttle takes some practice to operate smoothly, certainly in part because so much happens so quickly when one uses it. Braking was excellent, with smooth, very fast stops that allowed good feel until the ABS kicked in and gave some pulsing through the pedal and lever. Fit and finish were good, paint was a very deep blue metallic that is nearly black. There's chrome trim on outer edge of the saddlebags and a couple of other places - too much for my taste, but reasonably restrained. This bike is made for the American market, and I guess they believe that we love chrome. I could not help but think that a parking lot drop with this thing would probably be worth at least $2-3000. Some factory tip-over guards will supposedly be available. Electronic cruise control, heated grips, and radio controls are all accessible without taking your hands from the bars. There seemed to be about a half dozen buttons and switches on each pod for suspension adjustment and other things I wasn't patient enough to be interested in. Turns signals are revolutionary for BMW - the left-hand stalk, push-to-cancel types that have been standard equipment nearly everywhere else since the 1970s. The signals appeared to be LEDs integrated into the front edge of the fairing, and the rear tail light. There were a pair of factory auxiliary lights on stalks at the lower front edges of the fairing as well, mounted wide, and about 15" from the ground. I'm not a BMW Kool-Aider and didn't expect to be impressed. I was. The combination of that motor in a relatively light and agile package is a significant step forward in a luxury touring motorcycle. I'll certainly never own one, but wouldn't mind a loaner every now and then."
  4. twigg
    I was thinking that the next LD ride should be a BunBurner 1500 ... That is 1500 miles in 36 hours, but I'm re-thinking it. Mainly because the schedule is fairly easy as it allows two 750 mile days, pretty much. A better bet might be a back to back SaddleSore, which although the same time schedule (it's 2000 miles in 48 hours), it would get me further and I'd see a bit more. Gotta re-assemble and shakedown the VR first. I enjoyed the 1000 miles on the Triple, but it's only going out on sunny days now.
  5. twigg
    DO any of you take part in LD Rides and Rallies? If so, which. What are your favourites? Which ones have you planned this year? Do we have any Iron Butt Rally 2011 entrants here? For my own part, I have one SaddleSore 1000 under my butt, done this year on the Triple. Probably one more this summer.
  6. twigg
    False neutrals are the bane of sequential gearboxes. No, there shouldn't be any, but there frequently are. Make sure you shift positively. If the problem recurs when you do that, then the gearbox (probably the selectors) is starting to show it's age.
  7. twigg
    There are some terrific solutions here, to a problem that I didn't know I had
  8. twigg
    A dirty fuel filter would do this. Heh ... well it did on my Ford Windstar!
  9. twigg
    Most cooling systems are "self-priming". Any remaining air in the system is pumped to the highest point and vents into the coolant reservoir. Fill it, run it until hot and when it cools you can adjust the level in the tank. It will be lower than when you started if there was air trapped.
  10. twigg
    That sounds like an excellent compromise. I might look at that idea myself I looked. Not a bad spot. I want mine higher if possible, but it's a decent location. If you have the factory horns you could also probably rotate them through 90 degrees and mount the lights there with them. My fairing is off so I don't know if there would be clearance.
  11. twigg
    It's a BMW. Unless you are unlucky, or there is some unexpected design flaw, you won't need the Dealer other than for routine servicing
  12. twigg
    This ^ Usually its easy enough to move the pistons enough without opening the bleed nipple. Just twist the caliper back and forth until a gap opens. This will be hard if the pistons are very dirty and sticking, otherwise it just takes a moment. The excess fluid, which is a tiny amount, simply backs up into the master cylinder.
  13. twigg
    I think this is a timing issue. Although the engine appears to be running well, the boost sensor isn't working. This would mean that the ignition timing isn't advancing correctly. When that happens, the fuel is still burning when the exhaust valves open, carrying burning fuel out into the headers. Do it too long and exhaust valves will burn. Plus .. power is being lost as the fuel is beginning to burn too late in the cycle. In a rich condition, some of the fuel remains unburned and is deposited as soot. The burn is cooler and that can be seen on the plug ground electrode. In a lean condition the fuel/air mix is starved, and there is relatively more oxygen available. It burns fast and hot, which can also be seen on the ground electrode of the plug. A cooler plug can carry some of that away, but in the end it will burn valves and pistons. The ideal burn temperature, by the way, is between 850 and 1150 Fahrenheit. The plug heat ranges are designed to keep it in that range. But they cannot compensate for poor timing or a mixture that is too out of whack.
  14. twigg
    There are a number of reasons why the manufacturer can safely be ignored. First, they are probably concerned about "back scatter", which in a decent light shouldn't happen .... and won't happen if they are concealed by the mirrors. Pretty much every piece of advice about aux. lighting from the LDRiders says "as high and wide as possible". The mirrors are pretty wide on the VR, and aren't really in your line of sight ... ie ... you have to deliberately look into them. Finally, that configuration gives the best "triangle" of light .... car drivers have to work quite hard to miss you. All you can do is find out what suits you best.
  15. twigg
    Behind that section of fairing is lots of steel, with mounting points for various bits. What he could do is fashion a steel bracket that bolts to the fairing mount, and terminates with a flat section directly behind the plastic. Then he could bolt straight through the plastic into the steel mounts. That would look good and be easier to do than to describe
  16. twigg
    I'll happily provide pics. It will take a short while, currently the bike is nekkid of it's fairing, carbs, airbox, coils and ignition. The exhaust headers are off, the starter is coming out. It sounds drastic but all the required bits are on their way.
  17. twigg
    I plan on making a couple of brackets and mounting mine to the mirror mounts. They will sit behind the mirrors, at the perfect height and spacing. Lowes has 2" wide aluminum strips (1/8th thick ... maybe 3/16ths) for about $10. Anyway, it should be plenty strong enough. The lights are small and weigh very little.
  18. twigg
    Wasn't it possible to change the bolts for cap-head bolts?
  19. twigg
    Get it good and hot, with fresh gas ... White smoke is usually water vapor but can be water and antifreeze mix. Whitish blue smoke is oil burning, and you can smell it ... Water/Antifreeze has a sweetish smell, quite different. It may clear up completely when you have run it nice and hot ... If it doesn't then a compression and/or leakdown test will pinpoint the problem. Leakdown is better, and do it at TDC, BDC and halfway to check bore wear. If it's antifreeze then you are getting coolant in the cylinder, that would normally mean headgasket. If it's oil then it's valves, valve guides or piston rings, and the leakdown will identify which. A small amount of oil burning is not a cause for immediate alarm, but burning anti-freeze is, and would need fixing pretty quickly. Leakdown, if you have never done one, is brilliant. You basically set each cylinder in turn at TDC, compression, and pressurise it to about 100psi. The differential on the gauges should be less than 10%, often much less. If air gets by the rings you can hear it through the oil filler. If it gets by the valves you can hear it in the exhaust. If it's valve guides you can hear it under the cam covers and if it's headgasket there will be bubbles in the coolant. The reason for testing at three positions is that bore wear could be minimised at TDC and BDC, but apparent mid-cylinder. At mid cylinder use much lower pressure or you will spin the engine and that wrench you have on the crank nut will smack you somewhere painful. Remove it. A leakdown tester can be made for about $30, you need a compressor. Hope this helps.
  20. twigg
    In the middle of doing that now. Exhaust headers are off and the radiator needs loosening to get them out. Looks like the thermostat housing needs to come off to access the top rear bolt and provide room to pull the starter back.
  21. twigg
    That, of course is true too
  22. twigg
    The ones I have in my Triple are just fine, but they came from superbrightleds.com I have no experience of the eBay ones, but what do you have to lose?
  23. twigg
    Holes in the collector will lead to a reduction in back-pressure from the exhaust. That will cause the engine to run lean, and much hotter than it should. You may get spitting back through the carbs and/or backfiring in the exhaust. Either way, it needs to be fixed
  24. twigg
    Is that related to the oil dispenser fitted to Harleys? Seriously .... Yeah, something not shielded or grounded correctly would be the usual culprit.
  25. twigg
    You can buy Lifetime Updates" from that link I posted. Price isn't bad.
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