exskibum

Good Lord -- I KNOW why they call you "CrazyDave"!!! It's that clean looking old Kwak. Bad enough to ride one of those things in stock form with its micro-wide power band, but I can only imagine how ruthlessly the power comes on with a friggin' turbo on it. Kinda like: learn very fine throttle control OR ELSE!!! :icon_clap: EDIT: I misread -- I thought that was a 750cc H3 that was turboed (never heard of it, but I suppose there are ways) that was listed as other bikes. Still -- very clean Kwak in the picture (the 500 cc 2 stroke?).

Yep -- that one's the shit!!! Step by step idiot proof instructions. I think I must have printed that out and saved it as hardcopy in a binder. But check the service manual for the spec on the amount of airspace. I can't remember, but it seems to me that the '97 and the '03 had different air spaces specified (I think WC refers to 150 mm). I don't have the time to go check now, and I could be confused, since I also have an FJR with yet a different spec to confuse me, and I did the forks on all three bikes within the last 6 or 7 months. (EDIT to ADD: Just checked -- at p. 13-24 of the '99 - '03 service manual, it calls for 142 mm to fork oil level, and at p. 13-23 of the '97 - '98 service manual, it calls for 154 mm to fork oil level, but that half inch difference is probably inconsequential.) Looks like it's Ruhi that WC is lecturing there.

+10 Once you do it, you'll realize how easy it is to do it right. Only by removing the forks are you going to get all the oil out, and it DOES get filthy. Pump the tubes and the cartridge shaft and turn the forks upside down to get it all out. Then put in a little fresh oil and do the same thing to flush the last of the dirty, particulate filled shit out. While you don't absolutely need it, the Motion Pro tool for filling the forks (with the syringe set up) is well worth the money in getting the forks filled to the right level easily. EDIT to add: Here's a page on the process from a site Warchild put together or helped put together for the FJR 1300 re: fork oil change instructions. I thought he'd done the same thing for the Bird on another site, but I can't find it. The Bird's OEM forks are simpler, since they do not have preload adjusters or rebound damping adjusters like the FJR -- just simple fork caps, with the preload adjusted by the length of the 6 or 7 inch steel spacer inside. Otherwise, the procedure is essentially the same, though the height of the airspace (which is what is critical, not volume of oil) is different (check your service manual): http://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=47

What's his user name? Shouldn't be hard to find him on the 'net if he frequents .php lists like this one. Heck, it took me all of 30 seconds to find all kinds of "interesting" threads that you either started or took part in on Fireblades.org, Sportbikes.net, etc... just by Googling your user name 'kf4mtw' and CBR1100XX. http://www.fireblades.org/forums/search.php?searchid=1021155 http://www.sportbikes.net/forums/search.php?searchid=853913 Well, THAT adds a bit of context. Another Johnny Monsoon, it seems. kf4's obviously been in more'n a few similarly ignited flame wars about hard to believe internet claims. What's that joke about the hunter and the bears buggering him, with the punchline where the last large bear taps him on the shoulder and says: "you don't really do this for the hunting, do you?"

I raised my forks 3 mm (to 42 mm) with the install of the Traxxion front end kit, and it appears that the Penske in the rear is 3 mm longer than the OEM shock (measured from center of axle to a point vertically above axle on subframe with the bike on center stand). It'll never be as quick as an R1, but I like the combination of continued reasonable straight line stability (we have a fair amount of wind here) and twisties handling.

That's because you sell the bike before you have a chance to crack open the owner's manual. EDIT: Dammit, Mike -- beat me to it.

Over the last 3 years, there have been a number of incidents where the Metz Z6 front tire has been separating, at least on FJRs -- to the point that I will never buy a set and risk what I've seen in pictures of the carcasses. Here's a current thread on the FJR forum about it: http://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=9229&st=0 Check out Warchild's post well down the first page with the pics he posted from a failoed Metz a year or two ago. That is pretty much what the others that have failed have looked like, too. The OEM 'stones on the XX leave a LOT to be desired in terms of stickiness, IMO, and I'm sure I'd be happier with almost anything -- but not if I risk one failing catastrophically on the front when I'm leaned over in some twisties. All the Z6 failure reports I've read about have fortunately occurred on slab going straight, however.

Yep, mine's here too. Looks like an easy install . . . after I clean the grime off my bike. Turned 1550 miles for the trip as I rolled into my driveway. I'd guess maybe 200 of that was slab.

When I finally got my clear anodized wheels, there was an instruction sheet (cryptic and incomplete as all get out) that said to reduce the torque on the rear axle by one half. But the spacer inside the cush drive was maybe 1/16 to 1/32 too thick. I noticed that the outside spacers wouldn't quite fit with the wheel and caliper inside the swing arm when I tried to fit it and called Mike to make sure what teh problem was before I tried to fix it. Mike immediately confirmed that the spacer spacer inside the cush drive had been a problem on some of the wheels that had gone out, and that I could sand it down until it fit. (Seems he's been technical consultant on all these problems as Matsu supplies wheels with too little attention to details.) Took a couple hours with emery cloth to sand it down to proper tolerance. No other problems and they do fit and look great. Mike said they make a great product for the price, and he is still ordering them for that reason (he has the facilities to take care of those kind of screw ups on bikes he's building), but that most folks don't have those tools, that for that price the fit should be a lot better, and that he's been telling Matsu exactly that -- repeatedly. I'm real happy with mine, with the price for them and especially with Mike's assistance, but Matsu really needs to get his shit together.

Caig DeoxIt or Caig R5 Power Booster. If it's something like a potentiometer, then follow that up with a moving contact lubricant: Caig CaiLube MCL. http://www.caig.com How do I know??? This has been a well discussed article on pro guitar bulletin boards -- for amps and electric guitars and stereo equipment. My can of CaiLube is nearly full, but my can of Power Booster is going to require replacing soon. Great stuff.

Go here: http://www.color-rite.com/CRPLfactoryColors.php My dealer says the same thing, and when I mentioned Color Rite, they said that is where they'd get paint themselves.

Hey WC -- good luck in the Cal 24. We'll miss you at TBME, but we got a few Traxxion front suspensions and Pazzo levers to show off even in your absence. (And I know at least one set of Carozzerrias is heading to Red Bluff from the state of Nevada.) Whenever you get to the Pro Oiler GB works for me.

Well, my shock (and Bigcat's) show up as being in the Sparks UPS terminal (near to him, an hour away for me) and we're leaving tomorrow morning. The UPS tracker shows them as due to be delivered tomorrow (after we leave). Damn!!! He's going to try to see if he can pick his up -- I'm probably going to be riding on the OEM shock.

You don't have to put on a PC (assuming this is a FI bike, since you rejet a carbed bike and the PC is only for FI), but you're right, it is generally leaner with the new pipe. But more specifically, the fuel delivery is not optimum across the RPM range (a tuned pipe's effects are not uniform for all RPMs, with more mixture stuffed into the cylinder (and thus, more power made) in certain bands and minor flat spots elsewhere). I wish I knew how to display it, but having bought a PCIII USB for my bike, I got the software with it that allows you to load the maps, but also to make and compare maps, as well as view parameters in a matrix for maps. I generated the fuel mixture adjustment matrices for both the OEM pipe's PCIII settings and one for an Erion full race 4-2-1 pipe's PCIII settings and compared them. The third map in this comparison by default is no PC, which shows every value as a zero (+ or - integers show up in the PCIII maps to indicate change form OEM ECU map). The PCIII settings for the OEM pipe make adjustments to that zero map to optimize fuel delivery. But the 4-2-1 pipe's map further modified that matrix in apparent recognition of the 4-2-1 pipe's effects, making it even richer in certain RPMs than the map for the OEM pipes did (as compared to the no PC condition). The bike really screams with that map in it.

I'll probably do that one of these days when I move back to the California side of the hill. I talked to Mike at CTS about it Saturday, and he said he uses a shop down the street from him that he recommended. Saturday, before riding to Auburn, I installed the map for the Erion full race header and stock air filter, guessing it might be the closest of the available PCIII maps (after comparing the OEM map matrix with the Erion map matrix). Can you say "healthy acceleration"? Fortuitously, about an hour into the ride, I had a brain dead Hardley rider invite a demonstration. I rode up 395 to 50 to the Lake, around to 267 in Kings Beach and over to Truckee. There's a long entrance/merge there onto I-80, so I'm fully up to speed, and not accelerating as I pull onto 80. I'm doing maybe 70 when I get on I-80 just ahead of of a guy on a Hardley that I hear first, even with the new pipe droning and music playing in my headphones. This guy has a very cool set of REALLY loud pipes, you know. Seeing me on a lowly Jap rice burner, he cranks up the volume, apparently deciding he's going to school me about REAL motorcycles. With the volume set at WFL (Way Fuckin' Loud), he charges up in the lane to my left like he's going to go by me and for a second or so, I thought: "Are you fucking brain dead or something -- when was the last time that ANY bike that looked anything like this got run over by that P.A. system you're on?" I was tempted to just roll it on and lose him, but it was clear that this was also very much about noise. So, I stomped on the left foot clicker and grabbed a handful of my volume knob. Problem for the mental midget is that my volume knob also makes horsepower -- LOTS of it. (Nice scream to it, too -- just like you said, Steve.) When the digital read out was approaching 130 (not sure what this means, since I also put a 46T on the rear to slightly lower the final ratio and haven't installed the Speedo Healer yet), I rolled it off, but the Hardley was a speck of headlight by then. He got close again as we slowed for the Ag. inspection station, and I let him stay a hundred yards back until we got to the steepest part of that grade and I said bye bye for good.

Installed my PCIII USB today, and having no luck getting any info on the map for a Micron 4-2-1 with stock air filter, I installed a map for an Erion header** with stock filter. Seems to run pretty good. About to head over theSierras as soon as I take a shower to find out for sure. It's a bitch and a half getting that harness apart (due to the plastic clip locks on the sides) with the back of the tank up, the frame in the way and less than 3 or 4 hands. ** not sure the cylinder pairings on the 4-2-1 Erion, but after reviewing a couple maps against the OEM exhaust system map, it seemed like a decent educated guess. (See my post on the Micron header pairings and my search for the appropriate map -- they made exactly such a Micron map for the PC II, but unless I figure out how to display its fuel settings and make a PCIII custom map with those settings, I can't seem to find a way to use it.)

As most of yous know, the FI birds' OEM header pairs 1&4 and 2&3, while the carbed birds' OEM header pairs 1&2 and 3&4 on the downpipes. Akropovic's 4-2-1 follows suit, with different configurations for carbed vs. FI birds. OTOH, Micron 4-2-1 headers use the original 1&2 and 3&4 pairing for both carbed birds and FI birds. So, last I looked, the Power Commander site has a map for an Akro 4-2-1 for the PCIII, but no PCIII map for the Micron 4-2-1. Seems to me that there would be a difference in tuning between the Akro and Micron 4-2-1, due to the different cylinder pairings, but I could be wrong. Anyone know if there's another map that's a better fit for the Micron than the Akropovic, or have a custom map for the Micron piping? Only mod is the pipe, air filter is stock, bike is a 2003. TIA

Joe -- that was EXACTLY what I was hoping to hear from someone with your mechanical and XX experience. And leaving it alone is likely what I'll do -- IF it really does clear when I have everything in final place. Bob -- I recalled somebody saying something about a longer bolt when I read about it (last summer maybe?), but assumed that they were referring to bojacking a bolt on the radiator end of the bracket. What you suggested is what looked feasible to me last night when I got in there and was looking for ways to push the rad. forward; looks like I could gain maybe a quarter to half inch pretty easily that way. Gotta go to the hardware store for a bolt to hang the collector anyway (the stock bolt is welded to the front of the can inlet tube), so I might as well grab a longer bolt and washers to give me that little extra space. Easy insurance/alternative for a buck or so, because if I don't buy the bolt, then by the time I get everything together without it, Murphy will surely have found a way to have shit rubbing and touching. Thanks, guys.

I know I've seen it somewhere, but in a nutshell, the FI birds' OEM header pairs 1&4 and 2&3, while the carbed birds' OEM header pairs 1&2 and 3&4 on the downpipes. Akropovic's 4-2-1 follows suit, with different configurations for carbed vs. FI. But Micron 4-2-1 headers all use the original 1&2 and 3&4 pairing. Which I thought raised an issue of radiator clearance on the FI birds that I would swear was once discussed here, but all I found was the Akro discussion. I'm in the middle of installing the Micron (it's after 1 am, and time to get some sleep) and it looks like the header pipes are going to clear the radiator with nothing actually touching, but that clearance is much closer (maybe only 1/4") than was the case with the OEM headers on both my '97 and '03. Somebody remind me -- just exactly what was the problem? I thought I recalled it being something rubbing. What was the improvised fix and how far out do you need to (and can you) move the bottom of the radiator? Seems to me a quick trip to the machine shop to cut the OEM radiator mount bracket in the middle and weld a piece sistered onto it to make it longer (and maybe angle it up a bit to account for the radial swing forward of the radiator) would do the trick. Didn't someone do something with washers and/or a longer bolt? If I don't have anything actually making contact, do I need to move the bottom of the radiator forward at all?? All the farkling I did on the FJR this winter, and almost nothing required anything extraordinary. On the XX, I've had to modify damn near everything to make it work this last couple weeks, and I was expecting another such task with the Micron header.

I take the lowers off, and with the bike on the center stand, I have someone sit on the pillion to get the front wheel off the ground. Then I put blocks (4x6) and pieces (1x4) of wood under the oil pan to hold it there. Then I'm damn careful not to knock it off the wood while I do what I have to do with the front wheel or forks.

Honda Factory service manual from Helminc.com Go here: http://www.helminc.com/helm/welcome_select...NF5D5RVXM7QA9N8 Welcome to the forum -- lots of good info to be found in THE GARAGE page here, too.

Jeeze, Steve, sounds like you've been in on every group buy I've been in on and have similarly gotten it all jammed up against the same deadline. Today, my Traxxion front suspension arrived and I got a few free hours. So, now the forks are on, the Carozzerria wheels are on, the Superbrace is on (bastards don't tell you that the right rear won't fit between the lower right fork and the delay valve for the LBS unless you do a little grinding on the back of the brace). This, on top of already having had to sand the spacer in the hub for the rear Carozzerria down with emery cloth maybe 1/16" to get it to fit. For that kind of money, you'd think the manufacturers would get even the details right. Thank God I've got a lot of tools and a compressor. Micron header goes on next, but I expect an issue with the length of the lower radiator mount and the need to improvise there. Radiator grill goes on after that -- hoping no issues. Not sure I'll even attempt the HID or the Speedo Healer or the frame sliders or the right hand light pod (wrong one -- too short), or the Power Commander before the meet. At some point, Murphy raises his head and tells you that you've pushed your luck far enough and that the next mod is going to require some serious bojacking you don't have time for. I wanna ride the bird to a Blackbird meet, and lord knows that if I get too ambitious, Murphy is going to have me riding the FJR.

Shi-ite! That's mine, too. Not that having 19 " is embarassing (even if you really couldn't use all of that, but if it ain't long enough to service a FI bird, we're both fucked.

Good point, I mostly agree with. I had seen the 2x4 trick, and one suggesting that a bolt be used to pivot it off studs in a garage that isn't sheetrocked. Main reason I went the middle route with the Aerostich bead breaker (on top of my 14" car wheel changing station with washing machine drain hose scratch padding) was anticipation of many tire changes with the new Carozzerria wheels I'm afraid of scratching up. Turns out they're easier to spoon tires onto than the stock wheels on either my XXs or FJR. The NoMar sure looked good, but was too much money for my budget.

Aerostich has a good one that I bought and use -- catalog no. 3551, $62. I took bicycle tube rubber to cover most of it to make it less likely to scratch rims, but that's probably not necessary if you're halfway careful. Works well and is compact enough to fit in my rollaway tool chest. http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/Bead-B...er-p-16835.html