redxxrdr

You might call Rick at Cogent Dynamics. He had Penske's for the XX on our group buy a few years back. Still out of my budget, but you are getting a new shock, set up for your weight and riding style.

Don't be surprised if he tells you that you have a bad battery. IF..... he was measuring those voltages at the battery, then the battery is suspect. You should see 12-12.5 volts at the battery even with the lights on and engine off. ( assuming a good battery with a good charge). A weak battery will show a voltage drop under load. However, the charging system should have been able to supply 15 vdc at 5000 rpm. If the stator output is good, but the voltage drops at the battery, you are loosing the power in the R/R or the connectors. Or a couple of shorted cells in the battery. But again, the battery should show low voltage with any load if it is bad. New digital voltmeters have high impedance inputs. ( They put very little load on the circuit you are measuring). It is very easy to assume that you have a good circuit if you don't put some load on it. I'm sure the shop will get it fixed, but I do suggest getting a Digital Volt Meter to have around the house. They have gotten cheap, and are easy to use. You will be surprised how often you can use one.

My XX is FI, not carbed. So I can't speak to the XX directly. But, I recently picked up a carbed SV650 that performed as you described. It had been stored for months with Ethanol based fuel. Seafoam made it better, but not perfect. I researched rebuilding the carbs and took them apart for a good cleaning. I found one jet to be clogged. A through cleaning, with no parts needed and the bike rides great. I spent more time thinking about the job than it took to actually do it. Good luck and post your results.

Just make sure that you have a good quality auto regulating charger. Motorcycle batteries are small and will easily overheat if you use a charger that puts out higher amps, like many car chargers. I cooked a good YUASA last year by being lazy and not going to the shop for my small charger.

I have a 93 F150 that uses a Mazda 5 speed transmission. It is a manual but uses ATF as the lubricant. I have replaced the master cylinder twice and the slave once during it's 400K+ miles. It was always a bitch to bleed properly. I learned to bleed the master on the bench before installing it. This made the system bleed go better. On my transmission, the slave is donut shaped. The pilot shaft on the transmission goes through the center. Have to pull the transmission to get to it. It also had this neat quick disconnect that used to kick my ass. Finally got some of those cheap AC line tools. They look like tiny plastic top hats with a split on the side. 15 bucks for a set and your done. Symptoms on the ford of a poor bleed was difficult shifting, grinding to get into gear, and the clutch pedal did not return to the full up position. Mine has really been reliable. The first failure was when wife decided to top the master using degreaser from a rusty can that "LOOKED" like brake fluid. The second was when the clip came off the master cylinder actuator and the pedal snapped the plastic actuator off. I would have a shop with a power bleeder give it a try before adding parts. It only takes a little air to cause major problems.

I have a K+N in my 01. I will be ordering a OEM replacment on my next service cycle. Ron Ayers is OK, but slow. Your Stealer is a good choice if the price isn't too much higher. I see fine particles on the filtered side of my K+N. I did not see any improvement in power. So I figure OEM for a little money every few years is better than a engine rebuild.

I figured that Hank would respond with better contact info faster than I could. The web site shows very little of what Rick and team can do. As I said, they did a group buy upgrade of my forks, and offered a great deal on a shock. But I am always tight on funds, I wish I could have done both. Rick is excellent to talk to on the phone, and has always responded quickly to emails from the "contact us link" on the web site. I have a email on my other computer from him concerning the SV. His pricing on the parts was better than I could get from Racetec directly.

We had a group buy with Rick from Cogent a few years back. Price was around your goal. I pulled the forks and sent them to Rick. He installed Racetech emulators, proprietary springs, new seals, oil, and returned them to me. I put them back in and checked the SAG. It was spot on for the weight and riding style I had told him. I have never done a suspension before, and chose to let a expert do the setup. I am very happy with the results. Rick will sell you the parts, selected for your weight and use. I am planning on doing this for my SV. Rick's pricing was comparable with buying on-line from different suppliers. They were the best choice for me.

I spent 20 minutes composing a post describing many different products that I have worked on that would fail due to a open light bulb. I decided to erase it because of the liabilitys that can occur with such designs. To me, many of these designs are not really about saftey. They are about lazy design, by engineers who will never use the product they are building. Most vehicles have dual tail light bulbs, and many have dual headlamps. With the use of computers on everything, a simple monitor and warning circuit could be built to warn of a lamp failure. I suspect that in Dave's case, the headlamp circuit was just a accessible source of power for the ignition circuit. What sucks is that we won't know about these shortcut designs until they let us down.

This Dave, I don't remember what bike it was, but I read about one that wouldn't run with the headlight fuses pulled to make it track ready. Don't have schemetics for the Triumph, but I bet they have it interlocked with the headlight circuit.

Not a fix, but a suggestion. Get a trouble shooting light or a sweep dial meter and do your checks again if you haven't solved the problem. 100Mohm meters are great for most troubleshooting. But I have been tricked using them on relay circuits and old ignition systems. They will show voltages present when there is really no current flow due to high resistance. I once spent a week troubleshooting a no exposure problem with my trusty fluke meter. A more seasoned engineer showed up with a Simpson 260 and it showed no voltage where the Fluke did. Burned contacts on a relay would show voltage with the high impedance meter, but not the Simpson. Good luck, Craig

According to kf4mtw, the 02 was the fastest, best handling model ever built.

Fantastic writeup Joe. The warning about the center stand is right on. I have come close. There is only thing I would add. Take pictures of the fuel and vaccuum lines under the tank. I have pulled some off during service and had challenges finding where they went.

I thought about doing the swap early this year. .COM had a thread that pointed me to this Company. Edited again. There is a Canadian and US link on this page. Pricing will follow the country. I decided to continue with my OEM for another couple of years. I can't give you a review on the quality. Post up if you get them.

I lost a rear a few years ago about the same way. Gash was at least one inch across. I heard a loud bang when I hit whatever it was. The Pilot road I was running was only 500 miles old. The bike handled well for no air. Good on you for being safe. Punctures suck, but a safe ending makes it a little easier to swallow.

Change the chain and sprockets at the same time. Many on the board have gone two chains and front sprockets to one rear. A OEM rear is very strong. Make sure you get a good quality chain. One with a riveted master link. The removable, clip type master links have been known to fail on high power bikes. Adjust your chain, and monitor it for the first few hundred miles. Most chains stretch a bit early, then go through a long period with little stretch. That said, I find that cleaning and lube of the chain every 500 miles or so will improve chain life. It also gives you the time inspect the chain tension. I usually season the new brake pads. Just a few hard stops from good speed to let the pads wear to the rotors. With 33K on the clock, I would look at changing the brake and clutch fluids. The clutch is easy, standard fill and bleed. The Linked brakes take a little more work. Follow the How to bleed brakes thread.. It works well. You may have to log into the other site to see part of the process.

Nice work, thanks for posting. So you are running the turbo through dual exhaust? I like it. Helps with the stealth look. This is a thread that I will be following.

I like curves instead of straight lines, but I too appreciate the work done on that swingarm. It is a work of art compared to those bolt on extensions that I see on " STREET RACERS". The turbo will probably be way out of my price range, but I would love to see it anyway.

Good locksmith made mine. The end didn't say Honda, but it looks simular. Of course a new bike comes with two keys, one with a little aluminum tag with the key cut code. I should have written the code into the owners manual, but didn't. GUESS WHAT KEY I LOST.

Yes what Tim said. Dave, I would put a meter on the battery for the first try and monitor it with the charger connected. Make sure the voltage is going up instead of down. I bought a cheap trickle charger a few years back. It came with a plug to spring clips and another plug to terminals that could be wired to a battery. I used the spring clips to charge a number of batterys, and put the terminals on the emergency brake battery on my trailer. End result, damaged battery because the one way connector was wired wrong. And a FYI, fuses will not prevent current flow except if they are blown. It may be that the charger you have is one that lowers the charge current as the battery charges. This might explain why it is taking longer than expected to charge.

Sorry, I ride a FI. Wow, nice to see your still around and have the bike.

Started to post earlier. Many of the problems you describe are typical of poor grounds. All signals flashing, strange errors, and poor running can be caused by loose, or coroded grounds or even a failing stator / RR/battery. Good on you to still have warranty and are using it. Please post up the results so the rest of us can learn.

Thanks guys, It looks like they all make good product. I will check out some of the vendor feedback on their sites and get a set coming. Now if I could just get my estranged POS wife to not notice a missing front end off of her crashed GSXR, and I could do a major upgrade.

I just purchased a little SV650. Braking is fair compared to the XX. I plan to go through the calipers and master if necessary, but figure that new lines on a ten year old bike would be money well spent. A search has found a number of line companies. Galfer, HEL, Goodridge,and Spiegler all have products for the SV. The cheapest path is a two line replacement for the origional three line system. Not a issue for me. There is a good route for two lines under the fairings. Some searches mentioned that the Banjo attachment bolts on Suzuki can be a unique thread size, so a proper kit is important. The Spiegler kits have Banjo bolts that can rotate. This looks to be a good deal when trying to align the hoses. HEL makes a big deal about dis-simular metal corrosion on other brands. Banjos being aluminum, hoses stainless. I guess the connection from Stainless banjo to aluminum cylinders and calipers doesn't count. So my long winded question. Which products have you used? Any issues with a certain brand? Proper hardware and support is important. All of the brands have product around $100.00 so I see little cost advantage. Your advice is appreciated. Craig