My Turn

[riverfever]

Fish-boy...... Shaddup and friggin' ride the damn thing.

Go get your endorsement. Put on those silly aviator goggles I'm sure you got for this very purpose and put your bald head into the wind.

Sheesh.

Who invited you bunghole?
I'm all set to go with the license now. Just gotta go down and wait in line. Helmet should be here in a few days. I struggled with picking out a helmet. I wanted an open faced one and goggles (how'd you know...you're so obsessed with me) but I learned in my class that roughly 45% of crashes result in an injury to the jaw and I can't have something happen to this sexy jaw. I also didn't want black and white would have me looking like a damn Storm Trooper. I found one that was $180 but scored it on fleabay for $80. I'm going out of town pretty soon but when I get back I'll get tires and replace these (they gotta be 30 years old).

Tonight I think I took my longest ride yet. A few blocks up to the liquor store. It died about halfway home and wouldn't start so I did the push of shame. In between efforts and while resting, I think I came up with a good solution to carry camping gear for an overnighter or two. I just need to look at things when I'm not so out of breath and then get some steel and weld it up. Hey if you were closer I'd have called for a fookin' tow.

 

[in4aride]

Full face are where it's at. Helmets are one place I won't skimp. Actually looking to step mine up to an arai soon.

 

[riverfever]

Initially the issue for me was that I didn't think a full face matched the style of my older bike but...that really shouldn't be the point I learned.

 

[in4aride]

Right. That is my hard time with buying a cruiser or chopper style bike. I'm not into no lid or chrome domes shorts and sandals. So I wouldn't really fit the mold ya know.

But biggest thing I've learned riding is that no matter how cool the bike, the gear, or you look on the thing, you can't actually see any of that.
It is the comfort of the ride, the confidence in the bike and the security from knowing the gear you have will let you eat with a fork and not a straw.

 

[DutchVDub]

Modular is the way to go. I love being able to flip up the chin bar to talk of get a drink.

 

[RedHeep]

Modular is the way to go. I love being able to flip up the chin bar to talk of get a drink.

Modular helmets are considered 3/4 open face for protection. Just in case you're comparing them to the jaw protection of a solid full face.

A good helmet is important. Learning to ride the right way is more important.

 

[in4aride]

Ya I've seen a few tests where the pins to hold them in place fail. Full face or nothin for me.
I do agree though, learning how to ride the bike you're on in the environment you will have it in is critical. Riding around town is no good if it's meant for highway and vis versa. Part of that is understanding the limitations of the bike in those certain roles and adjusting correctly. Example. I've already maxed out the tire on the wr on it's first road ride. I'm used to a 180-190 tire and being able to slam it in turns, not the case now, so in havin to relearn riding the streets.

 

[DutchVDub]

Considering I was wearing a modular when I wrecked I'll trust them. I bounced off the ground 4 times over an 1/8th of a mile and my chin bar stayed in place. I lost the cover for the front vent and the drop down sun shade came detached but the chin bar stayed put. The helmet still functions correctly too, although I bought a new one and don't still use it. I keep it around as a memento. I'm pretty sure the main shield had popped off too, but I can't fully remember.








It's a relatively cheap Bell too, there are much nicer ones that are probably significantly more durable. I won't argue that a full face isn't any stronger, but I will never believe that a well made/designed modular doesn't offer better protection than an open face. I think it's a worthwhile compromise for the convenience factor of being able to drink water and talk to a person w/o having to remove your helmet.

 

[riverfever]

I completely agree. I am so glad that I took that 2 day safety class and wish I had done so years ago when I had my XR400. Probably wouldn't have crashed it because I was riding it like a douche.

 

[riverfever]

As much as I'd like to get out and ride this thing, I continue to have problems with it not running on all 4 cylinders. It seems to always be #4 plug that fouls out on me. It ran great when I installed the new Dyna coils but it didn't last long. I just took it up the street for a few minutes and #4 header was ice cold. No spark at the plug and it was soaked. Grabbed a decent older plug and had spark. From that little ride I had gas coming out of the #4 muffler as well as from the greater at the top of the motor and even a bit seeping out from the head gasket area. I did not change points/condensers when I did the 3000 mile tune up. I did bench sync the carbs and set the floats at the right height.

This was part of my frustration the other night with this not being a turn key deal.

Points look good. No nasty carbon build up. No ugly pits. I'm looking to see if there is a test for the condensers but I can also buy new points/condensers for $22 with free shipping so I'm wondering if I should just try it but damn I hate throwing money at something. No telling how old the current ones are though.

 

[in4aride]

Oh Dutch I totally agree it's better than open face. I'd say it's middle of road between open and full face. I just don't get chrome domes at all. Little cereal buckets in your head don't seem worth the time to me.

 

[riverfever]

I know sometimes the floats can get stuck and wondered if that was the issue on #4. I was wondering if that was the case and it was causing that cylinder to be flooded. It's obviously getting fuel. Christ, there's fuel everywhere. I tapped on the carb body to see if that would persuade a stuck float/needle and no change. I dropped the bowl and removed the float. It's not cracked and the needle looks fine. Seems to be doing it's job of shutting off the fuel. No debris. Put it back together. No change. Plug is soaked. I do get spark when I hold it against the head but it's not a great spark. Not blue at all. More yellow/orange. I also pulled the cover for the points again. I do not get spark at the 1-4 point at all. Seems to me I should. I get intermittent spark for 2-3. Nothing on 1-4. Now I'm wondering if I have a shitty point or condenser. Maybe it's enough to cause a low spark but not enough to ignite the obvious fuel that is in abundance in that cylinder.

 

[DutchVDub]

Oh Dutch I totally agree it's better than open face. I'd say it's middle of road between open and full face. I just don't get chrome domes at all. Little cereal buckets in your head don't seem worth the time to me.

I agree, but I still wear a half helmet most of the time with my big Vulcan. The extra visibility and comfort is really nice if I know I'm going to be going through a lot of traffic and city streets. On long rides I wear my modular, not only for the extra safety but for the added weather protection. You never know what the weather is going to do on a 500mile ride.

 

[Hypoid]

I know sometimes the floats can get stuck and wondered if that was the issue on #4. I was wondering if that was the case and it was causing that cylinder to be flooded. It's obviously getting fuel. Christ, there's fuel everywhere. I tapped on the carb body to see if that would persuade a stuck float/needle and no change. I dropped the bowl and removed the float. It's not cracked and the needle looks fine. Seems to be doing it's job of shutting off the fuel. No debris. Put it back together. No change. Plug is soaked. I do get spark when I hold it against the head but it's not a great spark. Not blue at all. More yellow/orange. I also pulled the cover for the points again. I do not get spark at the 1-4 point at all. Seems to me I should. I get intermittent spark for 2-3. Nothing on 1-4. Now I'm wondering if I have a shitty point or condenser. Maybe it's enough to cause a low spark but not enough to ignite the obvious fuel that is in abundance in that cylinder.

Yellow spark is not good.

After you have the biked running for a while, measure the primary voltage at the coil. Compare that to the primary voltage rating for your coil. I suspect you have two different voltages.

I don't know shite about your motorcycle ignition, but breaker point ignitions were typically set up with a resistor wire (or ballast resistor) that would choke off the primary voltage after a short run-time. This was done to extend the service life of the breaker points. The coil was wound to utilize this reduced voltage, and put out an acceptable voltage at the spark plug. Thus, a coil intended for an electronic ignition, is not adequate for a breaker point ignition.

Did that make any sense?

 

[riverfever]

Another frustrating night in the garage but I'm trying to keep my eyes on the end prize. Here's what I know.

Bike cranked great but wouldn't start. This issue seems to be getting worse. I pulled the #4 plug and it was soaked. I started looking at the condensers. I tested them and they came out ok. I then looked at the points. I reset them to .35mm. With #4 plug out and against the block I cranked the motor and had no spark at 4. I then had Heather hold it against the block while I manually opened up the points for 1-4 and got great spark (nice and blue). Went back to the ignition button and got nothing. I then pulled #1 and repeated and got the same thing. I manually opened the points again and got great spark at 1 and 4. Went back to the start button and got shit. Then I used my finger tips to put a bit of pressure on the points and got good spark at 1 and 4. I measured resistance at the points and had 25-30 ohms. I sanded them a bit with 1500 and it dropped. Sanded more and it dropped more. Down to a bit over 1 ohm. I know this is not smart to do but I wanted to see if it helped. After sanding both points a bit and cleaning with acetone, I checked and still had good spark at 1 and 4. I reinstalled the plugs and figured it would fire up. It did. Ran like shit still with #4 still cold. I swapped plug 1 with 4 and still dead. Now...certainly the compression could be shot in #4 so I'll see where that's at in the morning. This could also be a bad point issue. The problem now is that new points will run me about 50 shipped and I could get electronic ignition for about $150 and be done with this.

 

[riverfever]

Did a compression test today. Here's how things looked:
Dry:
#1 114
#2 103
#3 105
#4 107

Oil:
#1 130
#2 121
#3 120
#4 128

So things weren't as bad as I thought. Definitely lower numbers across the board from stock but fairly even. I think if I can get the ignition figured out (either replace the points/condensers or go electronic) and install fresh plugs it'll make it through the summer.

 

[riverfever]

Worked on the stator cover a bit this morning. This is the one I found on the east coast. It had two decent scratches on the top there and some small issues on the bottom.



This is my current one.



Here's where I'm at now:

 

[in4aride]

That looks great!!
I for one am a proponent of electronic fueling.

 

[riverfever]

Are you talking about EFI vs. carbs Mike?

 

[in4aride]

Yes.