Zero Knievel

Perhaps next year. Two of the wires are easy to reach. The signal wire, now that I know where it's at, won't be hard to get to.

How are you guys doing on your install? I just about tore the 'Bird apart trying to find the speedo signal wire, but I eventually found it. I don't think too much about those wire splicers they tossed in. It worked on the speedo wire, but on the power and ground, the wires kept going around the pin, so I used the other type I already had in my toolkit that use a conductive blade. I have yet to get the nozzles mounted (tomorrow), but the only odd problem is that the bottle I got has no place I can mount it that gives easy access to the cap for refilling. Too big perhaps, but I'm going to put it back in the rear of the cowl by the taillights and pack a clean shop rag in to keep it from shifting. No other place I tried seems to work. Between the pillon frame and the cowling would force me to remove the cowel, and that means removing a luggage rack system every time.

Well, the Vinyl Finish (for me) is only available online. The price wouldn't be so bad if I knew the quantity. Bottle looks real small. Dawn and Ivory dish soap can be found in any grocery store (thankfully). Fantastik (vinyl safe) is seemingly impossible to find. The local WalMart had 4 versions of it, most all either had bleach or antibacterial in it. I'll try a grocery store, but I suspect you have to find the old formula, not the new ones they try to market. 303 Protectant is expensive, but it seems to be good stuff. Lots of different products marketed by the company, so I don't know if buying one is a protectant, a cleaner, all-in-one, etc.

Does this happen EVERY TIME someone posts a question about oil?

For those of you who bought the Second Skin tank covers, you probably noted that the instructions say to only clean with VINYL FINISH cleaner. Well, nobody around my parts has that, and an online search shows I can buy it from the manufacturer for $11.50 for a small bottle. Fortunately, the people who sell it do list what can and can't be used to safely clean vinyl. So that you all know without having to look it up yourself, from their website:

Thanks.

I'm trying to order my oil for the 'Bird, but I don't remember the oil rating I'm to buy (I have too many numbers in my head). I think it's 10w40, but I'm not anywhere near my owner's manual (or bike), and I can't get crap from Google. HELP!

WOOT! It's up to 25 people. The oilers are going for $171.75! See the thread in the Group Buy forum! http://www.cbr1100xx.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=40550

The "scratch" really is hardly noticable. I just put on a coat of Pledge before putting the tank cover on. I'll let Bob look at it next fall.

Small pebble on tank bag pad put a noticeable scratch in my tank. What do you all recommend to remove or diminish it. It'll be covered with a new tank cover, but I'd like to buff out the scratch as much as possible.

Thank you for letting us share in the victory of your hunting expedition.

Well, AMSOIL finally replied. I know this is bull because I carefully read their site and promotions before I bought the product. Extended oil drain intervals were part of all the sales hype. More so, their regular motor oil had no friction modifiers and was wet clutch compatable (of course, most off the shelf oils are wet clutch compatable anyhow). So, either this person is clueless about what AMSOIL used to promote or he's lying. If they didn't change the composition of their product, I suspect they decided to disavow their prior claims to avoid lawsuits. Ah, from AMSOIL's own site....they're now only saying 25,000 miles/1 year. Fortunately, I still haven't put more than 25,000 on either the truck or the bike in a year. On that same site, they now warranty most products with that limit. Earlier, there was no warranty per se. It was just their claim about being able to go 50,000 miles or 1 year on an oil change.

I'm going to contact AMSOIL to ask about that. As I said, I suspect they stopped the claim thanks to how litigious people are over the slightest thing. You test AMSOIL and blow your motor (having nothing to do with AMSOIL's quality), and they have a costly lawsuit and a lot of bad press.

It's the interval most promoted for oil changes. It was good advice (3 months or 3,000 miles) back when the new 4 cylinder cars came out. Oil was not formulated to deal with the higher stress and heat. Today, that advice is still pushed to keep the quick lube places in business. Airplanes put the highest stress on lube. They don't dump it. They ship it someplace where it's filtered and has the special additives replaced. Oil itself never wears out. Synthetic just can go alot longer without replacement with no harm. I change oil over the winter because it's when I do the least riding, so I might as well drain out the old and put in the new.

Maybe I'm missing something, but what problems do people have with air in the system? I drain, fill and flush, fill with antifreeze and water. Leaving the cap OFF, the run the motor to make sure the pump circulates the new stuff. Top off as needed. Wipe up any spillage. The system should syphon in any extra fluid it needs from the overflow tank, right? No problems so far. :icon_think:

Well, it's not $12 a quart where I'm at. It's over $8 a quart, but that's splitting hairs. AMSOIL used to claim on ordinary cars/trucks that you could go 50,000 miles or one year with nothing more than a filter change in 6 months and a top-off of oil lost to the filter. I've done that in my pickup truck. Over 100,000 miles and going strong. For "high-stress" applications like motorcycles, AMSOIL said their product was good for three times the normal change interval or one year. Since the recommended change interval on my Kawasaki was 3,000 miles, that came out to 9,000 miles which was about what I put on in a year more or less. Consider that my old Kawasaki (which is when I went to AMSOIL) had an internal fileter, and I had no choice but to dump the oil to change the filter. Now, AMSOIL seems to have stopped making that claim, but at the time they made it, they had hard data showing that they outperformed any other product out there, and they even paid to rebuild a trucker's engine who put over 300,000 miles on without changing oil. The condition of the cylinders was incredible. Remember that AMSOIL started making lubricants for the aerospace industry long before synthetics for cars, trucks and motorcycles was a significant market. AMSOIL (at that time) did not make "motorcycle oil" as there was really no difference between what they sold for cars or for motorcycles. To my knowledge, the only difference between their regular product and motorcycle product is the label. It's 100% synthetic. What works in the car works in the bike (unlike dino oil which frequently gets "doctored" for particular uses). I suspect they dropped the extended drain promotion line at the advice of lawyers who fear someone might try a product liability claim that even if it fails, would be expensive to defend against. Remember, 3,000 mile change intervals were suggested when dino oil was crude and formulated for big V8 motors and not the hot burning 4 cylinder jobs on the road today. Even off-the-shelf dino oil can go an easy 5,000 miles or more (esp. highway miles) before you need to worry about it being unfit to use. I change bike oil in the winter. New filter. In summer, I change the filter and top off. I average 10,000 miles in a year depending on how many trips I make on the bike. If that sounds extreme, I don't know of a single verifiable claim that AMSOIL has ever damaged a motor with the extended drain interval practice. More so, any off-the-shelf synthetic will cost you as much as AMSOIL or only save you a few bucks. If you change oil more than once a year, you've just paid more for an inferior product (Mobil 1 synthetic is one of the best off-the-shelf items and it does not compare with AMSOIL's performance when tested). Sorry for the sales pitch (I don't sell AMSOIL), but when they first marketed their product, it was ALWAYS more expensive than the next best competition (Mobil 1), and AMSOIL ALWAYS STATED that the value of their product was (1) better protection and (2) the ability to change oil less frequently (which compensates in how much product you buy each year). I don't think AMSOIL's base price is too unrealistic. I got full-synthetic for my dad's little 250. On short notice, I went to Wal-Mart, and what I found cost over $5.00 a quart. Yeah, other synthetics can likely go longer than the recommended change interval too, but NO OTHER PRODUCT has EVER quaranteed that their product was safe for extended drain intervals. Add to that the fact that AMSOIL can take more heat and stay liquid in colder temps (why I didn't have a block heater during Wyoming winters) and that it CLEANS your motor with heat (my Kawasaki had a lot of miles and ZERO gum or varnish with around 50K miles on it), and you are paying for a better all-around product. What I don't get are people who buy AMSOIL and change oil and filter every 1,000 miles. :icon_think: I mean, if you race your bike, I could see that, but why bother buying AMSOIL if you're going to dump every 1,000 miles. Dino oil will do good enough for that.

Well, I've used AMSOIL for years. 1. I don't think I pay THAT much for a quart, but I'd have to check my receipts. 2. You can order directly online. I suspect the high price you're paying is your local dealer's markup. It sounds in line with what local places I know that stock AMSOIL charges. 3. One benefit you get from AMSOIL is extended oil drains because the lube does not break down like ordinary oils. Just change the filter and top off during the season and you don't go through as much as the same stuff you normally get off the shelf that should be changed every 5,000 miles. Perhaps you should try ordering online. Retailers have overhead to cover. I don't find anything for a motorcycle cheaper from the local store. BTW, as much as AMSOIL is not dino-oil, it does need dino-oil in the manufacturing process. As oil prices go up, companies have had overhead go up, and ultimately the cost is being passed to the consumers. Dang. Just checked online....$8.70 a quart.

Thanks for the link. So it is frame sliders I want. Anyone have links to other places they've gotten theirs from?

I'm a wee bit confused. After seeing others go down, I see the value of frame sliders, but the ones recommended on Jaws are "shrooms" (stubs vs. the traditional longer ones). I'm not sure which is best for the 'Bird. The point of the sliders (based on what I've seen) is to (1) protect the plastics and (2) prevent hard points (like engine covers) from being damaged so that the motor leaks oil after a lowside. Are the shrooms just as effective or what is right for the 'Bird or should you install traditional sliders elsewhere?

My guess is that the part that triggers the low gas light is/has failed. If the needle reads true, then a part of the sensor is bad, but it's likely the whole mechanism must be replaced.

That's what I suspected. Take off the metal frame that holds the rubber extension to the plastic turn signal and get new bolts to use the existing screwhole in the plastic part. Perhaps a dab of silicone sealant. Thanks.

I put on the Wingrack2 and got the optional turn signals. Another 'Bird owner I know just chopped his rear turn signals. I started on one, got the rubber neck off, but the mounting bolt is in the rubber part. I see no way to mount the shortened version back on the bike now. Anyone done this who can walk me through it?

I second that!

I would use a clip link only in as a temporary fix. It would be safe so long as you don't push your luck as a properly installed clip link should not come free for no reason. When I order a chain, I get two rivit-master links (a spare) unless I already have a correct-sized spare one on hand. Just in case a repair I have to do mandates removing the chain I don't have to pay for a new link and wait for it to arrive by UPS. You can get a rivit link off by just grinding the heads off, and you can put one on with c-clamps and a flaring punch and hammer, but it's a lot more work than a decent chain link tool. Last one I put on was a breeze compared to the old way I did it.

Except that it's called a "loobman" I've seen the site that sells it (http://www.chainoiler.co.uk/). I think I know someone who has something like that. The biggest problem I see with putting one on a Bird is finding a place to mount it where it doesn't look fugly. Otherwise, yeah, it would make the lubing of a chain easier. You just have to pop up on the centerstand to do the deed. Might not lube as consistently as one that sprays like clockwork, but lubing (if done everytime you gas up) doesn't have to be done like clockwork, just regularly. Do you have pics of where you mounted the bottle on your Blackbird?