superhawk996

Wires rarely go bad without visible signs of damage. They rarely corrode in the middle, it starts at a connection. They rarely have heat damage without damaging the insulation. If a wire is smashed or otherwise physically damaged it could break or corrode, but there will generally be obvious signs of damage. The sneakiest damage that can lead to corrosion is a pinhole, most commonly caused by someone probing a wire with a tester. I've owned and worked on stuff WAY older than these bikes and don't recall finding a damaged wire that didn't show signs of damage, don't worry about it. The sneakiest wire problem on these is the test connector because it's a connector that's hidden inside the wire harness. There's also a few connections in the front cowl that can corrode and are hard to get to.

I have more appreciation for the functional craftsmanship that went into some of those than the super artsy one above, tho it is pretty cool. I don't know much about woodworking or framing, but I've seen stuff constructed with no adhesives or fasteners where everything was cut/shaped with hand tools to interlock perfectly and I think that is really fuckin cool. Wood is the bastard material for building stuff, metal is way better.

I'd never seen/heard that word, and I do it a lot.

The original and mosfet both consume all the unneeded current from the stator, basically it's a regulated short circuit to keep the voltage steady. All the extra current being produced by the stator that isn't being consumed by stuff on the bike is consumed by the regulator which creates heat. The mosfet does a better job and might run cooler. A series regulator creates a controlled open circuit instead of short circuit. It 'disconnects' the stator so that there is no extra power being created. Imagine that you had no throttle control so the engine is always running at full power. The only way to keep the bike at cruise speed is to hold the brakes, the excess energy from the engine is being consumed by the brakes, that's a shunt type regulator. The series regulator is a throttle. You added a higher output stator so any time that your accessories aren't on there's more power being consumed by the regulator. In the stator/engine analogy you installed a more powerful engine pushing against the brakes. Turning on your extra accessories would be like putting on luggage, it'll eat up some engine power so you can ease up on the brakes.

Using that as a base, adding for all my farkles, I have a bike worth about $10k! I'd sell it for that.

The 1600 V-8 pales in comparison to the 2300 V-12

I always strapped my friend's sandrail. He was watching once and as I was about to cinch them down he said "we're only going 6 miles, it's fine. It came loose and the rear panel got mashed. Squishy long travel suspension, frame hooks for the straps, one good bump to compress the suspension and they fell off. The two straps to my Talon's frame are long and at a shallow angle so it would be very unlikely for them to come off from suspension travel, but I feel better having the tires strapped down.

If only your Jeep had a bed... Talon loaded up. The trailer was originally a 4 place dirtbike trailer, converted to a 2 big bike trailer, now a UTV trailer. The car is wider than the side boxes and I wanted to keep them so I modded them to slide out far enough to clear. It had a long bike ramp that I cut in half then made spots for them to hook onto the trailer. They store under the deck next to where they attach for loading/unloading, slide them out and hook into place. I had to add 'extensions' for the front tires to sit on and the rear tires are about centered over the rear beam, it's just barely big enough. Stability is good and there's not too much tongue weight. The trailer is a '76 and I'm almost positive it had original bearings and grease, impressive. \

Some have asked why I like going there, the main negatives being that it's a mess and it gets busy on weekends. While it may not be the best shooting area, best riding area, or best camping area, it's all three which is kinda rare. Bonus points for no rule/law enforcement presence.

5,400lbs working load, 20k lbs breaking strength, and cheap enough to triple up. The ones I bought are 3,333/10k, plenty for a sub 1,500lb toy. One over each tire pulling down and two underneath holding forward/rearward. Comfortable over kill. One tire strap alone made it impossible to move by hand. It might go out this weekend. It's still not registered so I'm debating it, but there's never law enforcement where I'm going; the shooting area we went to. It needs a CHP inspection to finish the transfer/registration process and the earliest I could get was Dec 1. Had I known before going into the process I woulda dug deeper into titling it in AZ, but they wanted some inspections also and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get done. In CA it appeared that it was going to be a quick process, after doing all the papers and paying I got the surprise.

https://www.cargoequipmentcorp.com/ I ordered 6 custom straps, didn't even know it was a common thing or that it would be so cheap. 2"X11' in hi-vis green to match the Talon, $11.75ea. I didn't do a lot of comparison shopping, but that seemed pretty damn cheap for HD straps. They'll customize everything about them: end type, ratchet type, lengths at both ends, etc. On straps that have lettering you can even select to put it in or out. The lady said they'd probably be ready to ship in 1-2 days, they shipped the same day. She said that small orders like mine usually get put to the front of the line. You can do everything online except for selecting which side the lettering is on so I called the order in, it was fairly quick & easy. I also couldn't tell exactly what was different between some of the different ratchets. I wanted the smallest ones available in that weight rating, she made it easy. On her end it said the green had no lettering, but online it said it did; stenciling is what they call it. She said that she'd go to the floor and verify, and if it was stenciled she'd have them put it on the inside.

Nice!

😆

First time it happened to me was on asphalt. My GF & I rode to a cabin in Big Bear and parked on the driveway, seemed good & hard. A couple hours later both of our bikes were in a hard lean, mine over hers. They didn't reach the ground or touch each other as I recall, but getting my VF1000R up with her Ninja under it without damaging anything was an absolute bitch. Second time was my SuperHawk in the dirt right next to the driveway. My dirt is close to concrete hardness so I had no worries. It rained overnight, but not enough to concern me. Well, the runoff just happened to be concentrated and aimed at my side stand. The bike fell towards my GF's truck, didn't hit it, but landed partly under it in a way that the truck couldn't be moved out of the way. The truck was also on dirt so I couldn't move it over with a floor jack. Getting the bike up without adding damage was an absolute bitch.

I've considered that a few times despite the rarity of needing it.

I don't know how to explain it and I might be wrong, but I believe that creating current (feeding a load) changes the 'pull/push' against the magnet as it passes over the windings. Just exciting electrons that aren't being consumed should (if my theory is correct) result in very little power consumption. It's possible that just moving the magnet across the windings takes XX amount of power regardless of electrical load on the windings, but if that's the case it means that the temperature of the stator would also be the same regardless of load. Carlos or someone else might know better.

With a BB size stator. I think the biggest benefit would be a longer lasting stator, assuming that keeping it cool makes it last longer. I recently read about some bike that had stator life problems, they increased oil flow to it and that apparently solved it. My bike has CF case covers so it's probably suffering a little extra heat.

A series regulator 'unloads' the stator so it's consuming and creating less power that would just be turned into heat.

Yes, the stator should run cooler, and you might gain around 1/2 HP. I don't remember the actual HP gain potential, but not much. I too have a little reservation about high voltage and the insulation. It would be interesting to see if the stator output voltage is significantly different when it's disconnected from the R/R, that would be the highest it can get. The series regulator should run cooler and most people believe that heat is what kills the shunt type so in theory the series 'should' last longer. I understand how they work as far as what happens, Carlos knows a lot more about electronics so he'll know more about how it happens. I assume the longevity of a series regulator will hinge on the quality of the stuff in them so even with the reduced heat it could have a short life if it's not well made. I imagine that the magical stuff regulating the 50+ volts AC is more complex in a series vs. shunt meaning that there may be less room for error in them.

Before messing with the connector did you notice if the pump was running? If so, did it sound normal? I always paid attention to mine but I know some, maybe most, ignore it. First few times I started the '97 I had a brief "oh shit" moment. The connector doesn't look like anything's wrong, but it might have something I don't see. And it's not a switch connector, just fuel pump connector. I can't think of a reason to not hit it with CorrosionX, but if it does have corrosion/burns/looseness that should be taken care of first. The spray might help a minor problem, but isn't a proper cure and it probably won't last if the problem isn't properly repaired.

Both brake and carburetor cleaner can attack wheel finishes as well as the tire. Brake cleaner can be very dangerous when burnt. Both would be last resort emergency fluids, quick start/ether is a much better choice. When a flammable is used you have to be quick with the air, as soon as the air cools from the fire the tire may unseat. Whenever possible I start the air right before lighting.

I use quickstart and a lighter, redneck way. You being a connoisseur of the cigar should just carry an extra butane can, dual purpose. I'd unbead them at home and see if they're troublesome. You might find that they seat easily and don't need anything, or might find that the hose doesn't cut it. I think that hose thing would only help a little bit, but it could be enough if the tire isn't troublesome. I've been thinking of rigging an inflator that takes Soda Stream bottles. Kinda big for bike use, but it would be great for the Jeep, side by side, motorhome, etc. With the can upside down it should make for a very fast air-up, and possibly be enough for seating troublesome tires.

Dayum!

A retaining wall on the edge of a steep drop probably isn't a DIY thing, especially for someone with no masonry experience. A retaining wall probably requires a permit. If you build it illegally and something bad happens I assume it could become a really bad time for you. Just throw down some dirt and enjoy the next several years of a slowly sloping yard.

From memory, the steepest my Duc would adjust was 23.5. 22.5 seems nutty.