IcePrick

Ah, that was the result of the portion of the population willing to submit to anal probes.

Aliens decided to increase their observation schedule as there was now sufficient evidence of intelligent life.

I have to get my shit together before I can start doing that as a thing. At a minimum, a bike trailer and get the Excursion back in shape. I think the XR4 would be perfect for Tawnie, she likes the 530 but I'm claiming that back as the 990 is a little on the porky side for the sandy washes out there. Doable, but hard work.

On the couple of occasions that overgassing has failed to save the day, I don't think there has been an appreciable increase in impact velocity compared to what was already predestined. It either fixes it, or it gets perhaps *slightly* worse. If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with the drive tire taking a healthy bite, and consequently unweighting the front to a degree. I know there are a ton of incalculable geometry changes with the application of heavy throttle, but in my experience, engine RPM hasn't changed much from the time the throttle is whacked to the time the crisis has passed... little time to generate "spin up" of flywheel or drive wheel. It seems to be more the torque making changes throughout the frame and suspension, and perhaps some rider weight shift in anticipation of acceleration. When I bought my first one (XR4), the preinstalled adapter and jetting were the reasons I went with them - that, and XRsOnly's reputation as being experts in a few particular machines. I think it is money well spent, the second one was a no-brainer. Your experience confirms my observations, I'm glad those folks are still around.

That sounds a little like my experience with the 990ADV - substantially more throttle and it behaves substantially better. It isn't by any means squirrelly under conservative riding, maybe just a little vague and indifferent. But the more aggressively you ride it, the more it feels like a smaller and smaller dirt bike. It seems to gain confidence as the tach goes up - crack the butterflies and look where you want to go, the rewarding response can be almost telepathic. I've been on trails that were well above my experience level with it, and learned to trust the technique with only a few disappointments... which in retrospect were my fault for failure to fully commit.

Glad to hear.

I have a pair, but they clash with my KTM jersey. I find them useful for shoveling snow, but they're best worn with the chaps. Maybe your supplier has a matching jersey? Ask to see their Judas Priest collection.

True. My feet can't touch the ground on the big red one. Which is fine as long as there's no tipping over, but I haven't completely mastered that yet. I can't touch the ground on my 530 either, but the weight is different enough that I don't crash every time I come to a stop. Pretty certain I'd hurt myself on a 650R. I'm equally certain that everyone who has ridden one has an "oh shit" experience ratio disproportionate to the increase in displacement.

Throttle open about halfway, pull decomp lever, kick through about 10 times. You don't have to flail at it, but don't be too casual about it either. Once I stopped crashing (read: started riding more conservatively as my bones became more brittle), I didn't have much need for the decomp. I don't even have it on my XR4 anymore. Starting was always super simple after the pumper carb, just find the compression "detent" at TDC, whack the throttle once (if cold), and kick it like you ain't scared of it. I've had my shin bit a couple of times, mostly because of a combination between poor foot placement on the starter and aftermarket wide pegs. Glad it's working out for you.

Dude. You already win that award, hands down.

Nice, I see you opted for the Trump Edition wrenches. You going for the matching sneakers?

Somehow, by the end of this thread, this will all be resolved if everyone buys an EV. 🤣

Nice setup! I recently abandoned attempts at having an adult living room, and went to rock stage instead. I can pretend to be an adult later. Yeah, those look like a chore. I've found the No-Mar XtraHand helps, and their YellowThing is useful also but not for what you need. Yes, there are home-made solutions, but I haven't found one that doesn't pop out or work as well. Pretty sure there are China knockoffs on Amazon and/or Ebay if you don't want to pay the brand name premium. But the YellowThing is on sale now for $25. You'll probably want two of the XtraHands, and at $40 each, that's a poke in the eye. Some say the knockoff breaks easily, though.

Corn dogs paired with ethanol shots. Capture the emissions from metabolization to make non-fossil fuels for corn farmers to use in their tractors.

It takes unthinkable amounts of corn to make a pound of beef. If we used that corn to feed humans instead, it would go a lot further. So, corn dogs, duh.

I wonder if they can use it to reverse senility in sitting presidents?

Poodle.

I love a happy ending. Sounds like your XX will get a happy ending with the "wax on, wax off". 😆

It's about double the weight, takes more gas to drag that around.

When I did my Mikuni on the XR4, I just installed it and set the idle. Never had to play with it at all beyond that. As far as first kick, yes - cycle throttle twice, choke to full, find the notch at TDC, kick it like you mean it, and it will light. If it's been sitting for months, maybe cycle the kick starter through a few times before whacking the throttle as above. Hot starts, leave the choke off and don't touch the throttle. If it lays on its side for a bit whilst you've taken a dirt nap, get it upright, pull the decomp, kick it through about 10 times with the throttle open, it may take a couple kicks with the decomp off to clear the fuel before it will light. Completely changed the XR4 from temperamental and finicky to reliable and simple. Improvement throughout the throttle range, particularly transitioning from idle and any time going to full throttle from anywhere else - that little squirt of gas is a miracle.

FWIW, some of the silver powder coat stuff out there looks at least like polished stainless, if not quite the luster of real chrome. If you find that the pits are too deep and/or it just doesn't meet your standards after polishing furiously, maybe powder coat is an option. Not sure about the exhaust, but there are other answers for that as well.

Yeah. Overthinking it.

I have a new concern with air tools, considering that I am probably going to start bodywork and painting in my garage soon. Air tools use oil for lubrication, and that winds up atomized and floating about in the atmosphere, eventually landing on prepped surfaces. Sure, one can degrease, but it seems to me that is to a large extent just thinning it out and distributing it over the entire surface. I don't know how much of a concern this is, obviously others deal with it. I have a friend who is searching for his dream shop, which he insists will have a bodywork bay and a paint booth for me, so it may not be a long-term issue.

Pretty sure that diaphragm is known to eventually go bad and cause fuel to pass... including flooding the carbs and causing oil dilution and possibly a hydro. I guess I'd pull the fuel line downstream of the vacuum valve and see if it's passing fuel while in a no-vacuum state to help isolate the culprit. Hopefully it's leaking somewhere before the valve, maybe around the seal at the tank and running down the line before dripping off. 1997 is a fairly long time ago even considering OEM Honda quality materials, who knows what could be dried out or hardened up. If it's the worst case, I'm sure you know the drill for that - check the crankcase for fuel and pull the plugs before firing it. Not sure if there's an easier way, but if so, someone here will have the info in short order.

Interesting, and good to know.