Mithrandir

If you are staying with the stock valving, you should keep to 7W oil. 5W is too light and 10 is waaay too heavy. Either use ATF or blend a 7.5W from 50/50 mix of 5W and 10W oil - just make sure they're the same brand. Set the oil height at 120mm. It should consume right on 1L of oil.

Just looking over that, it certainly looks like dyno measuring differences. Bum dyno says stock to akra before tuning was a huge difference in power, not the almost identical numbers for the at-face-value comparison of the numbers here. As a indicator, I didn't notice the extra 3HP from the tuning session at all (but I noticed the smoother throttle response), so figures can't be compared one to one. I never dynoed my stock 02, so can't give an accurate comparison between the measurements unfortunately, but I bet in my configuration it would read a lot higher than 147 on DK's dyno.

Nope. Just buy a three big penny washers and slot them. Put the bike on the centerstand, drop the top nut out of the shock (just under the two bolts that hold the rear of the fuel tank on), slide them in and do everything back up again.

For quality and cost it's hard to go past the Akrapovic exhaust if you want a full system. They seem to be about the same price as a pair of slipons at around $750 or so. 2Bros and someone else, who's name escapes me right now also did one.

Yeah I did. The dyno computer had a lot of problems though. It took two hours before I could even get the first base run. Recently DJ upgraded their software meaning that MVR also had to upgrade their computer. The old one just wasn't able to run the new abilities. When I turned up in the morning, the machine had hung. No blue-screen, just completely frozen. So it got a kick in the guts via the power cord. Things went downhill from there. Firstly the mouse couldn't be detected. Each time it rebooted and came up as the DJ operator account an error would be generated about not having sufficient priviledges to install the mouse hardware. ( :?: :shock: ). SO after screwing around for about 3/4 of an hour (he didn't know the administrator password either....) I find a USB mouse and it works, but the cable is really short, making operating the system quite hard. More screwing around - some of the commands had changed in the lastest version of the software, so he had to ring up to find out where everything had moved to. After about every second run the sensor stack would just disappear from the com port, or the PC would mysteriously not be found any more. Each time it required powercycling the sensor stack. Then it wouldn't pick up the ignition properly (ie RPM). So, as you could imagine, it was a bit of a shitty day yesterday. I have a map, but that's it. It's stuck in the PCIII right now, but I have a laptop so I could download it if needed. I'm not feeling comfortable handing it out because of all the problems, I'm not entirely sure it's reliable. Another thing that I really noticed was the change in fuel consumption. I went from getting 150-160mi before the reserve light starts to flash to getting 180-200mi, for exactly the same riding conditions. For that along, the new zorst is worth it. [edit to add fuel mileage info]

yeah, yeah. I'm back. Just need to trim down his photos and post. Won't be until tomorrow arvo I think. Tomorrow morning will be spent talking with Mr Dyno Man dialing in the PCIII with the Akra exhaust :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Yes, some of it is from taking weight off the rear. The spacer effectively gives the front less rake, resulting in more weight on the front wheel (good for mid-corner traction) and less on the rear. The other problem will be now your damping is off. Unfortuantely the stock shock is very limited in its adjustment and also just generally crappy. Normally to cure this I would dial out compression damping making it softer and helping it to hook up as you accelerate. The stock shock rebound adjuster also does compression damping, so try turning it about a quarter turn in the softer direction. If it still steps out, add another quarter turn. Due to the shape of the needle, although you have two full turns of adjuster, you really only have about 3/4 turn effective use, so you need to be very judicious in the amount you turn out. Too much and the rear will feel like its trying to throw you over the handle bars when you hit a bump. The "right" setting is to push down very firmly on the rear (stand and then let your weight drop on it) and it should take about a 1-1.5 seconds to return to the proper height. If it comes up past the original position to the other end of the range and sinks back, the setting is too soft. But, that said, applying full throttle while leaned over is going to result in you attempting to become an astronaut. Down that path lies pain and suffering. Use the throttle to slowly accelerate through the corner and as you get near the exit, stand the bike up underneath you while, remaining hanging off and rolling on the throttle. As the bike becomes vertical, you should be at WOT, never beforehand. Oh, and as Firefighter says - the tyre pressure is a bit high for those sort of antics if you don't know what you're doing.

Santiago, I'll host the pics here. I like to keep photos of my work and do a little writeup with it anyway, so it's killing two-birds with one-stone. :shock: I just realised what I wrote there..... Ummm.... pun not intended! :oops:

The bouncy-ness is due to the highly over-damped front end. First it has a hard time compressing the forks when you hit the bump, and then then you get to the other side, the wheel can't return to touch the ground fast enough so the front of the bike drops. Both of these contribute to that really harsh ride you're feeling. The back is almost the same, but it is slightly adjustable. With the rear, turn the adjuster more towards the soft end of the scale. To fix this, you put in an aftermarket valve kit. I did that last weekend and I'm in the middle of writing up a tutorial on it right now. This is very unfinished right now, but it will give you an idea about what to do: How to Replace your Fork Valves and Springs (Note to Swampy and Joe: This is a work in progress, please don't put it in the lock threads. Once I'm complete, I'll start a new thread with the link in it. You cannot yet get to this page by links from other pages)

For the PCIII, none. The akra exhaust has a few small ones. I have a pile of photos up at: http://www.vlc.com.au/~justin/about/bikes/...2/akra_fitting/ but I haven't done a writeup yet.

Nice Maxx - particularly for around this part of the world (I ride a lot at night in the wet). What brand are they? BigBoy, what brand do you have an what model number? I was thinking about putting extra driving lights on the front of the XX, but putting smaller ones that mount in the corners of the fairing juts under the lights. If they're the slimline ovals, they'd fit just nicely like that. BTW, I took the back of the 02 XX last night for the Snottoiler install. The reg/rec is _completely_ different to the 01 and earlier model. Looks like Honda finally took the hint - the thing is MASSIVE. About 250mm x 150mm and more cooling fins than a HD engine! I don't think mine will ever need replacing....

Ok. dumb question. What's the bolt size. Need to go buy a couple of washers tomorrow. Yes, I'm too lazy to measure it off the bike....

Grinding noises usually mean lack of lubrication. That could mean you've got something like a blockage in one of the oil capiliaries or the oil pickup from the sump. I'd say you maybe have some gunk that hardened in the oild delivery system while the bike was sitting.

I've got the Geelong Carbon Craft hugger. Have a look in the archives for the "Mmmm..... Carbon" thread for some initial pics. I've also taken a heap more photos since then with the new single-sided exhaust to give a clearer view of it, but I haven't put them online yet.

PGA - I'm scheduled for the dyno day on May 12th with MVR. Mike's off doing AMA stuff this week and next so that was the earliest I could get in there to get a setup done.

Phil, that's getting severely ripped off. Where on earth are you taking it??? Stay away from Frank Pons at BikeTek out in Lumeah. Good on the surface, but we've found he's been doing some really shonky stuff in the last year or so. Last I heard Terry Hay was no longer in business. My friends and I are very happy with Nick Dole at Teknik Motorsports out at the base of the mountains. I'm sourcing all my parts through him. To give you an idea of costs, I bought the full SuspensionTech valves and Eibach springs and it cost me only A$450 in round numbers (add 10% for GST). That grand you are paying is waaaay over the top. At $60/hr, that's 8 hours of labour you're being charged for. For a professional shop it should not cost you any more than 2 hours of labour, 3 if you are dropping the bike in for them to take the forks out of. When I first was looking to do my VTR, the max price quoted to me was $720 and that was everything replaced - pistons, valves, springs, polishing the forks etc.

When I looked at that a couple of weeks ago, it was only for certain models of bikes. There wasn't one available for the blackbird at the time. I'll be pissed if there is one now! :evil:

:shock: :shock: :shock: WTF. How big was this guy? :?: :?: :?:

I'd look at your throttle cable adjustments. Also, Kg's explanation of carbing up if you're doing a lot of city riding is a factor too. You need to get the bike out on the open road every now and again to burn the crap out of it. Not just short bursts, but a hour run down an interstate is a good idea.

Here's a couple of pics. Sorry about the quality of them. Links to the big (1080x720) versions of the images Hugger Tank Protector

I don't think the IPAQs are weatherproof which would make them close to useless on a bike.

Works fine for me....

Wet grip... my favourite topic living here in the NorthWet. Hugo, can you compare to the BT020's? I was pretty set on getting the Avons as the next set of sticky hoops after the OEM BT57's wear out. But that comment has me making second thoughts now. Bridgies seem to be, in my experience, the best tyre brand for wet-weather grip. Since my riding is mainly around town or long-haul touring mileage is more important than grip in the dry, and grip important when it's wet. If the Avons are crap in the wet, then I'd go to the standard 010 front/020 rear combo that works well on the heavy bikes.

Time to post a correction. Looked again at the carbon this evening. At least on the tank protector it's actually a sticker. Funny that because I could have sworn everything was moulded into the resin.

Yeah, shit guys. Give me at least a week will ya! I'm still trying to get all the parts from the last set of mods back into the bike (hmm..... why do I have these extra six bolts lying around...) :roll: