v00d00child

Just for the record, me likes me XX fine just as she sits--I have no desire or $$ to mod the heck outta her for a few vain HP numbers that I couldn't put to use anyway. Just curious. Interesting discussion though. Continue...

North-thanks for the info. Like I said, I'm just amazed that people are all gaga over the K12S, when it costs sooo much more & uses black magic, just to barely equal (so I'm told) the uber-reliable XX.

So, here I am, bored to death, and reading online cycle reviews instead of riding (it's raining). Every time I see the rave reviews of the BMW K1200S, my chest puffs out with pride--the thing looks just like an XX (although not quite as good IMO). Anyway, I took my 97 to a dyno event in Sept., and even the 40K, much neglected XX still cranked out 133 hp/80 ft-lb. on an eddy current dyno. Less than I hoped for, more than I expected. After reading some of the K1200S reviews that claim 164 HP, I noticed that the XX is only squeezing at 11:1 compression ratio. I can't seem to track down the K12's CR, but remember that it was more on the order of 13:1, IIRC. Has anyone kicked up their XX to 12:1 or greater? If so, what dyno numbers did you see? Were there any issues--leaking head gaskets, knocking, etc?

That kinda looks like the Honda PC800, doesn't it??? :shock: My parents live in ICT (I escaped)--they were fortunate enough to just have lots of tree damage. I feel for you guys--I remember going days without power back in the mid eighties in high school. Not good times...

Yup, what they said. Sent mine into Traxxion Dynamics, the guy called & gave me the "what am I supposed to do with this POS???" lecture, but he was cool about it. To do the shock right, you'll be a couple hundred away from a real shock. I love my Penske--really changed the bike.

What kind of helmet is that???

Just a heads up--looked into the Spiegler kit for my Falco--I pretty much went deaf after mention of the $500 pricetag. While it would be nice to have some nice, hi-leverage, dirt-track bend bars on the bird, for the money, Heli's are just fine by me. YMMV.

FWIW, my alleged top-end noise appears to have been caused by a loose header bolt on the #1 cylinder. I pulled the airbox off & looked at the 1/2 PAIR valves, which appeared to be OK (man, they do cause a lot of clutter under there, don't they???). As a last resort before taking her to the stealership, I pulled the LH fairing & checked the header bolts. Sure enough, very loose. She's purring like a kitten again. Geez I love Hondas...

Fer cryin out loud, Ray, yer gonna hafta put ape hangers on that bike to support all the farkles!

Since, assuming normal wear, valve clearances should only decrease, isn't a loose valve an indicator that something's awry??? (here's goes the doom & gloom tendencies again...) I'll probably run her into a shop in Sept to get her serviced.

A month or two ago, I noticed a clicking noise coming from the upper LH side of my engine. All RPM's, no noticeable performance hit, mileage is fine, not drinking oil. Someone on sport-touring.net posted a problem about a similar noise on a vtev vfr, and said a bearing had shelled, and the cam was bashing the journal. Total engine rebuild in order. I know they're totally different valvetrains, but me, being a fatalist, had to have some gloom. Enter PAIR valve discussion: just turned her over to 34K last week (she's a 97). Read the posts on PAIR valves, which as far as I can tell, do nothing but give tree-huggers warm fuzzies. If I managed to snap a PAIR valve, would it cause symptoms (noise, mainly) that I have??? TIA

My .02: Cost: Bullshit. You're going to wind up spending somewhere around 60 bucks for quality wrap. It will get wet, look awful, cause corrosion, and if you do any kind of serious mileage, will wear thru the header quickly. Consider the cost of replacing your header. It's $ up front for a quality product. One performance consideration: coating any header will make it act like a shorter header. I considered header wrap, and spoke with several friends who drag/track race cars. ALL of them warned me not to do it, as they burned thru car headers within weeks. Airborne Coatings in OKC did my stocker for 100 bucks in/out. Obviously, I didn't have to worry about dechroming, but with the nickel based ceramic, people often mistake mine for chrome. It doesn't turn different colors, corrode, or anything else. Just wipe it down & it looks great. My 97 rarely runs above about a fourth of the range of the temp scale. I rarely ride in cities, but if I do get stuck at a light, my shins don't roast. I would NOT recommend running carbon fiber pipes if you're planning on doing ceramic. I have some 2 bros, but have been running the Ti blue flames due to their heat resistance. ALso, I have to make sure my soft saddlebags maintain clearance when I throw them on. Again, just my .02. YMMV

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (fingers in ears) Maybe I'll just rent a floor sander & take out the high spots... thx

OK, now you've got me scared. I was just talking about the 5/8" ash plywood subfloor, nothing beneath that. My fear about pulling the current stuff up is this: the previous owners half-assed EVERYTHING they did (and they did the kitchen floor). Only the area near the dishwasher/sink feels noticeably warped. I noticed when I replaced the water heater last month that there was a layer of funky linoleum. If I only need to replace a small area and there's funky linoleum under the whole kitchen, I'm gonna hafta put a new layer of funkoleum down so the whole thing's level. Maybe I'll hafta hold out for a good old fashioned forest fire to right this...

Hey everyone, I'm a noob to the handyman forum, as I usually just neglect a house until near-collapse, then move... Bought a house in CO back in November. It's just a little breadloaf with a walk out basement & garage. I noticed there was some water staining on the garage door when I bought the place (garage door is painted metal), but I felt the inspector was very thorough & didn't say anything about it. Not long after I moved in, winter hit, and I was busy unpacking, so I never got around to looking into the water/garage door thing. (the garage door is below the kitchen) Once I did trace the leak back, I found it was a freaking o-ring on the dishwasher that gave up. It was just barely a trickle, but 24/7 for who knows how long has now warped my pergo (or something similar) wood kitchen floor. My question: before ripping this stuff out, am I going to have to replace the sub-floor also? Or does the top flooring usually sponge water up? I'm really good at starting things, not so good at finishing things, and if this is gonna be a tear-it-back-to-joists deal, well it's gonna be awhile... I live about 5 minutes from the Hayman burn area of '02, so I'm lucky to get ANYONE to give me homeowner's insurance. I considered turning a claim in, but remembered that I had to fight tooth & nail to get ins, due to a claim I'd made on a previous house 4 years prior. Thoughts? TIA chad

Just put my Penske sport shock on last month, along with some 1.1 fork springs from Traxxion Dynamics. I sent them my 900RR shock for a refresh, but one of the techs called & gave me an earful about how for 150-200 more bucks, I'd get a real shock instead of the mediocre 900RR (if they're so good, why did the 900RR owner's throw them away? was his comment). Anywho, after a month and 1500 miles on the Penske, all I can say is it's much more responsive & easier to corner. Got the shock and the springs for under $700 shipped.

There, except for the grace of God and a wise mechanic go I... Almost did the same thing, the lunkhead at the local stealership all said "um...yeah, we got lots of masterlinks--anyone will work". Since I needed some other farkles, I stuck one in my order from MAW. The rep there said that without a doubt that the links were series specific, with different pin diameters. When you think about it, it makes sense--look at the tensile strengths of the different chain models within the 530 series. Hope you find one in time.

My 97's got 33K, and no problems. Wish I had an FI model, but then carbs are pretty easy to tweak. I'd say 5K would be a good deal on it, assuming it's in decent shape.

Mine's black. Talked to the shop that Fay Myer's uses, they wanted 800-1200 to shoot all parts, 1500 if I went with the 2001 red. I've had cars straightened & painted for less than that. Kinda went over things last nite with some polishing cpd & colored wax, and I think if I can hit enough bugs, it might blend in to the point where I can tolerate it.

I managed to break off one of the upper corners of my upper fairing (don't ask...). Managed to get it pookied back on, and tried doing the rattle can paint job. Did the base coat/clear coat thing, and the finish looks surprisingly good, but the seam line between the new & old paint will never look good. Anyone care to guess what an auto paint place might charge to shoot an upper fairing? (assuming I brought it in ready to shoot) IIRC, Ron Ayers was about $340'ish for a new one. TIA

Thanks for the info & help, guys. Next question--is this something that can be done in an afternoon? My Haynes manual kinda covers it. Is it imperative I change out the fork fluid? thx again. chad

DOH! Knew I forgot something... I'm 225ish. Who makes 1.05's??? I was just gonna order some from Traxxion Dynamics, since my shock's coming from them, but they only list up to 1.0.

Sposed to get my Penske shock on Tuesday, and figure I need to do something about my soggy front end. I was wondering if anyone's using 1.0 mm/kg fork springs, and if so, how much spacer they used to get the typical 33-35mm sag. TIA chad

180 miles of blasting thru the CO twisties last weekend, dynojet stage I, needles on second land from top, stock air filter, slipons, 38 mpg.