Bunbun

Didn't ride for a month and a fucking mouse ate a fist size hole in the Sargent seat I have. I'd like to replace it. Anyone selling a used non-stock seat? Going to see what sargent will say a repair would cost... Bun

Your license. Bun

The one here just does net metering. I work for a power company that is going to (hopefully) have a large part in a new wind farm. Unfortunately, XX_rider is correct. Not always producing. But you can store the power with batteries and and invertor, otherwise it just runs the meter backwards. I'm probably going to be putting in a fairly large solar array in my next house with a small wind generator for evenings/ nights and cloudy days. Won't do a whole lot, but small wind turbines aren't terribly expensive.

Well, they don't work for one thing. Er... they work pretty well actually. The smaller ones don't make a lot of power, however as long as the wind is blowing, it's making at least a little juice to offset your bill. You need to make sure your area supports net-metering before you do anything else. The more wind, the more power, however you can get too much wind which could really screw up the unit unless it has a safety cut off to allow it to spin. They may have fixed all this in recent years, I don't know. But yes, they do work. ETA: The house I'm in has a small one and it produces about 7 or 8 kw/ on a good day. Not much, but it's tiny. It was here when we moved and I've never bothered to find out much about it. Landlord deals with it. Bun

Just installed some forks with racetech springs and valves. Rear is a penske that is also very new. Just trying to get them to work together properly. Got most of it dialed in but the finer points are giving me some issues and I can't figure out if it's me or the settings. Bun

I'm trying to setup my suspension properly and I'm kind of at an impass and not entirely sure what I need to do to correct a problem. First and foremost, I need to either do the 6mm shim or increase my ride height. Turn in kinda sucks. Occasionally I feel the front end want to push out a little bit. Kind of like when your front tire is low and it feels a little sluggish in a corner. Doesn't feel like that at any other time than in a corner and my tire pressure is good. Rear feels like it also wants to push out occasionally. It has yet to actually step out, but I swear that's what it wants to do. I've only noticed it a few times and generally only when I'm leaning into a corner, right before the apex. And really only when I'm going at a pretty decent clip, but it doesn't always do it. I even went around the same corner 5 times at the exact same speed and tried to keep very good posture in order to recreate it. The first and 4th times it did it, the others felt excellent. 90% of the time, the bike now holds a line really well, feels planted and the suspension is absolutely fantastic. I can't really fix the front, but I figure when I increase the ride height and fix the back, the front will hopefully work itself out. Any help would be... helpful. Thanks! Bun

Yay! Forks finally came in yesterday. I got up this morning and replaced the my forks with the lightly used racetech built forks. True to estimates, it took exactly 2 hours. Maybe slightly less. Went out for a ride after lunch and... holy crap. I have a new bike. It's one of those "why the hell did I not do this earlier?" feelings. With the penske in the back and racetech stuff up front, the bird is significantly better in the corners and I don't even have it dialed in properly. I need to adjust for better turn in, however I have so much more stability and tracking. Not to mention the ride quality. Thanks mrbadexxample for the forks, Joe for the writeup and everyone else for the help. I don't think I'll want another bike for a couple more years now. Well, I'll WANT one, but won't buy one at least. Bun

Nice write up, thanks a bunch! I was afraid I was going to have to remove the upper fairing, etc. Bun

With any luck, I should be receiving a pair forks tomorrow (hopefully). I leave for TEXXT on Friday at noon. My question is "How long does it take to remove and replace the forks on the blackbird?" Never done it and I'll be doing it in sub-optimal conditions. Think shade-tree mechanic. Got all the tools though. I REALLY want to get them on the bird before texxt so I can get some help sorting my suspension and to actually have some good handling. Anyway, thoughts or ideas from those that have done it before? I figure I have ~2 hours of daylight assuming I bust ass home from work on Tues, Weds and Thurs. Possible? Bun

Likewise, paypal sent. Bun

I'll grab the forks. Can also paypal tonight Bun

Ugh, suck. I recently had a ground problem that made the FI surge and die. Both the negative terminal on the battery and the bike ground were loose. Once tightened back up everything was fine. Check all the grounds and look around to see if you've got any worn wire insulation on anything major. If all that fails, you could start to remove fuses from non-essential circuits to see if you'll get lucky and have it be something you ride home without. Other than that, I'm out of electrical ideas Bun

yep, that did it! Terminal AND the bike ground were loose. Bike ground was was barely loose -- think it was mostly the terminal. Bun

well, thanks for the ideas, I think y'all may have called it. I checked the terminal connections and the ground screw on the battery was about a turn or so loose. Hopefully that'll do it -- appreciate the 'other set of eyes' and the KISS reminder Bun

Interesting you mention the battery. I've had a few other very minor issues with the electrical and I was thinking my battery may be dying. I've not replaced it since I've had the bike (2 years) and I have no idea if it was replaced at any time by the PO. Good thing to look at. I've checked fuses, however I haven't checked much other electrical related stuff -- good call, I'll do that here in a few minutes. Thanks for the assistance and any other ideas are welcome! It's an 02 bird btw eddy -- no issues with that year for the loom that you know of? Bun

Hey guys, I went on a short trip today, filled up once and hit the road again. About 40 miles after the fill up, I hit a bump - not really bad and didn't upset the bike but it was pretty harsh. As soon as I hit the bump, the FI light came on and the bike started to slow -- no gas. About 2 seconds later, the light goes off and everything is fine. For the next 10 miles, the FI light would come on when I hit a decent bump (not all bumps, just the ones you'd notice). The light came on about 3 or 4 more times and would immediately go off. I pulled into a service station and as soon as I got in and down to idle, the bike died completely. After a quick examination, I didn't see anything wrong, cranked up the bike and headed down the road to my destination a few miles away. Light came on a couple more times and went off. On the way to my current destination, it happened a few more times and I noticed a few more odd bits. This time, it didn't matter if I hit a bump or not as the light came on when it was a smooth surface. The duration of the light seemed a bit longer these two times. In town, it surges very badly, but the light is not on. At the beginning of the ride the bike did overheat to about 250-252 for a brief period (4 or 5 times) in traffic but it never stayed over 250 for more than a few seconds at a time, and the duration of the 240+ degree temps was about 5 mins. It's been about a month since I've ridden the bike, but I put about 150 miles on it before this started happening. I'm at my GF's mom's house near terrell, tx and my tool selection is limited to what I always keep with me. I've taken off the tank and don't see any crimped lines or anything terribly obvious broken, missing or leaking. I figure there may be crap in the tank or something got jarred when I initially hit that bump, something wrong with the computer or the fuel pump is dying. I don't have my manual here, but I do have broadband neenernet. Please help me out! Any suggestions on troubleshooting or have any idea what could be wrong? Or can someone post me a link to download a pdf manual for the bike? Thanks! Bun

I changed my chain and sprockets at 18k. The chain was pretty bad, but the rear sprocket pretty much looked new and the front wasn't in bad condition. I've always just changed both sprockets when I swap chains out of habit. I still have the original OEM rear on hand. And I would recommend not using an aluminum rear. The one I have on now has about 18k miles on it and is starting to look fairly worn, yet the chain isn't in bad shape for the moment. Definitely agree on the previous comments about the rear OEM being well made. Bun

yay! Got it started, sounds good and there is no chain lash sound anymore! BTW, my exhaust line is absolutely perfectly aligned with the top of the head. Intake isn't pefect, but I think it's pretty damn close. Thanks for the assistance and the pictues tim -- helped give a perspective on how it's supposed to look still in the bike. And thanks to Stan for helping with the previous issues. I'm confident enough to actually button it back up. Bun

that's kinda what i've done there, however when that mark lines up, the top part of the timing chain is pretty loose. When the top of the chain is properly tight, the cam isn't lined up properly. argh. Back at it -- thanks for the pics tim, i'm sure i can put them to use! Bun

Ok so part 2 of the completely botched maintenance.... With the engine still in the bike, is there an easy way to align the intake came properly? Obviously I can't see the marking on the cam sprocket itself to align with the top of the head. Any tips on how to get it aligned properly? I *think* it's right, but I don't wanna put everything back together and find out that it's not.... Bun

yes, it does run and I too found out first hand. Bunbun, everybody's given you great advice, as usual around here, but here's what I did when I re-installed my new cct. CBRxxquad is right, take up the slack before you release the new cct. Roll the engine over clockwise with the lower cover off, then watch the cam chain and roll it counter clockwise and you'll see the slack at the guide on the left. (toward back on engine) Pull the pin on the cct when it has the most slack in the chain. I hope that explanation makes sense. What do you mean by the 'lower cover'? Not the valve cover I assume? Bun

I remember the first time I freaked out when the bird got past 240 F. Almost got to 250 and I was sweating it saying I'd pull over and let it cool down if it hit 250. Never did fortunately. I was passing through Dallas in the summer, right around rush hour. Lots of stop and go traffic and a noob to bird ownership = freaking out. Now in town and under 40mph I typically see 220 +/- On the highway in summer I see 186-190 and 175 in the winter. Basically I ignore it till it gets close to 250. Bun

ok good deal. You have put my mind at ease seems like everything is likely normal then. It didn't seem like an excessive amount of slack but I've never had to do this on the bird. Additionally, I did the CCT test you mentioned up above and I think it may be having some problems. At idle everything is fine but once it gets up to 4k rpm it has the sound for a moment. I was watching the screw in the CCT and it would jump a bit and not adjust smooth smoothly. During that time I could also hear the box of rocks sound. I still hear it from the front of the engine, but I can't isolate it and could easily be from the CCT area since they are pretty close together. I'm going to check the front of the engine in a couple different positions to make sure there isn't excessive slack anywhere else and order a new CCT just for the hell of it. Book looks pretty cool -- think I'm gonna order it as well. Thanks! Bun

Cool, I'll do that tomorrow. Do you think the 'free play' I described in the front part of the timing chain is ok? Also, I assume the sound I described is normal and I'm just being hyper-sensitive...? I guess the only thing I'm REALLY worried about is not getting the chain in front tight enough... cause that means I need to tear it apart again I'll definitely check the CCT to make sure it's not dead-- thanks for the tip! Bun

ok so good news and bad news... Got the bike running again -- i was a half a link off with the cam sprocket-on-chain placement. Yay! Thanks Quad-- rolling it around a couple times helped significantly. Ok now for the bad news. I run it up in rpm then cut the throttle and it sounds like a nut is loose and rattling around. Idles fine, runs up fine but when cutting the throttle the box o' rocks sound. And I'm pretty sure it's not the CCT. I replaced that a year or so back and unless winding it in and out will kill it, it should hopefully still be fine. And then it kinda sounds like its located more towards the front of the head but I can't tell 100%. I opened up the little cam light thingy on the right side of the cylinder case to check the tension on the front part of the timing chain. I put a tiny screw driver in there and was able to move the chain about 1/8 inch. Possibly a little more. When i put the exhaust cam in, I made damn sure it was tight, however I'm wondering if it didn't 'loosen up' when I tightened down the cam. Any ideas on how much I should or shouldn't be able to move the front part of the timing chain through the 'inspection hatch'? I assume this is what the problem probably is but I REALLY don't wanna rip the bike apart for the 4th time today in two days. But if I gotta, I gotta. Ideas and suggestions anyone? Or is it possible I'm just being overly sensitive and this is how it normally sounds? Bun