superhawk996

That is cool, I wouldn't have a clue where to start, other than to find someone to teach me or just do it for me.

Thank you. Would you take a shot at about the angle of the first one but with the clutch lever depressed? That should give me a good reference for how far the stock system moves it.

In road course track racing conditions or drag racing?

Is 300V the oil you said has shown HP increases on dyno tests? I think it was, but can't remember for sure. I'd expect a track bike to get the oil pretty damn hot, running a 5-30 seems like a dangerous experiment even with spectacular oil. I considered the 5-30 or 10-30 Motul since I don't run the Bird hard, but then decided to just stick with 10-40 which I think is the recommended weight for the Bird. If the Motul doesn't cure my clutch/shifting issue after some ride time I think it's safe to say that it has a problem. A thought just hit me, I wonder if maybe the trans has race cut/under cut dogs and if that could be what's making it hard to get neutral? I've never knowingly ridden a bike with a race cut to know what it's like, but logic would say that the cut would make the gears harder to disengage with any amount of force being put on the trans, and a wet clutch always puts some amount of force on it.

It's supposedly super special great oil, but normally I wouldn't spend that kinda $. I did it as a last attempt before deciding that there is definitely something up with the clutch that needs investigating. The shifting smoothness compared to the M1 15-50 makes it worth the $, but if my clutch does have an issue it might shift as well with the cheaper oil once that's cured. If any of you would shoot a pic of your clutch through the oil filler hole it might help me ID what's in there without taking it apart, mine may have an aftermarket clutch. Also, if you have a way to measure the stroke of the clutch while you're there that could be quite helpful. One of my previous bikes, maybe my first '97BB, had a noticeable improvement with bike spec 10-40 (I think it was Castrol synthetic) compared to Rotella 15-40.

Yup, '97 with stock LBS. I've never had the brakes apart, don't know what's in it.

What's the goofy looking rod type thing in your last photo?

It doesn't have the hydraulic system, it has some kind of 'custom' cable clutch system. It seems to actuate properly from what I can tell, but I don't know what the normal throw is to know if mine is short stroking. What's odd is that with the engine off, in gear, and the clutch pulled I can turn the back tire by hand with what seems like reasonable resistance so I don't think there's a warped plate or short stroke issue. It seems like there's some kind of dynamic thing going on with the clutch, or maybe the trans just has some strange problem making it hard to get neutral, but I don't know if that's possible.

My '97 had Mobil1 15-50 with about 2k miles when I got it. Shifting was a bit clunky and I could never get neutral from first, it would jump to 2nd, and getting from 2nd to neutral was possible but quite difficult. I've read that the early 9 plate clutches are a bit picky about oil so I decided to try a change. After some reading about clutch action with different oils on different bikes I decided to try Motul 300V 10-40, just shy of $60 for a 4 liter jug on Amazon. When I fired it up getting neutral was just as bad, but right away the shifting smoothed out, I wasn't expecting that. After a short ride finding neutral became a little bit better, I'm hoping that some soak time and riding will make it keep improving. The shifting smoothness is pretty shocking. I almost always synchronize downshifts on every bike otherwise they'll clunk pretty badly, I tried no synchro downshifts and it was more of a click instead of a clunk. This was just a test after seeing how much normal up and down shifting had improved. The oil is bright green and has a sweet smell with maybe a hint of banana, kinda cool. The performance improvement is unbelievable. Cruising 6th gear at 4,000RPM it gained 3.7MPH with the new oil!

I just tried and it did lock. I didn't stomp the pedal, but pressed it, and it took a pretty hard press. I think the Gille's pedal gives a little less leverage than the stock pedal does so it may be a little easier on a stocker. I was shocked by how much front brake it applied, it slowed pretty hard.

Yes, but then remembered that it was de-linked so not the same. I imagine the linked one will, I'll try it next ride.

If you stomp on it the tire should lock.

I think there's a trick where you install a stock exhaust cam on the intake side, or vice-versa, for a small gain. If you google CBR1200XX you might find some of the details of a custom "50th Anniversary" build. I know it got cams, but don't know if they give a manufacturer or other details.

I didn't know they make Cubitron sand paper, but if it's anything like the angle grinder wheels; holy shit! It took quite a while just to wear the edge down to where it wasn't a hard corner, and it cut like mad. I haven't used the cut-off wheels enough to have a real good assessment, but right off the bat they are better than the cheepos I had been using.

Seems like a decent price for that, assuming there's nothing hidden.

I think the axle will fit in a flat rate envelope, cheap & easy.

Some people don't want to say at all, some just don't want to look like they're bragging or a swindler. Similar happens when someone overpays for something. I give no fucks telling what I paid for stuff and don't quite understand not wanting to say, but many people are like that so I understand that it's quite common.

This reminds me: most places that sell batteries will test yours for free. Only issue is that many use a handheld electronic tester that doesn't put a load on the battery. While they're generally accurate, they can miss some faults. The larger machines do the basic electronic diagnosis, then if they pass that it goes on to test while applying a load then a charge. My handheld Midtronics tester has lied to me four times that I know of but the big $3000 Midtronics unit caught them. Clearly the message here is that you should buy a $3000 machine so you can avoid potentially wasting $100 on a battery.

I did read, hence said nothing about the negative 🤪

And I have no specific knowledge on that vehicle, just my general knowledge. While it could be the alternator as Fur said, I'd say it's unlikely. Or it has a bad alternator and a bad starter and some other shit....or just a bad battery or connection causing it all which is more likely.

As I started reading my first thought was a bad connection, or maybe a fucked up battery. Make sure the positive is clean, looks a bit questionable, and make sure the other end is also clean & tight. Make sure that not only the terminal to battery post is clean, but also the cable where it's clamped to the terminal. It looks like there's the bare cable and another terminal both clamped to the battery terminal, make sure both are clean. The cable probably goes straight to the starter and if there is another connection there as it appears, that one feeds all the other stuff as well as probably feeding the charge current from the alternator to the battery. A battery can take and hold a charge, but if you're only checking voltage it can be deceiving. I've had plenty of batteries that held 12.5V+, but had little amperage capacity. I've also had a few where the post had a broken connection and would give intermittent power, sometimes perfect and sometimes little to no amperage ability.

How'd the weird two tone appearance happen?

As I was asking my first thought was a fuel leak/hydrolock. Bummer.

How'd the con rod bend? Is it a common issue? Fuel flooded or something? Don't know the intricacies of that bike, just assuming that a bent rod wouldn't be a common thing without hearing about it.

I only loaded 5 .308 Norma conversions, didn't wanna waste new .338 brass if it didn't work for some reason. They ran perfectly and appear to have formed to the chamber. The necks appear shorter than I think they should be, but haven't measured. I put the first one over the chrono, a 150ish grain FMJ at 3,000FPS. Bore sighted it, it was way the hell off, then dialed it in some. The 5th shot hit the target, a spray can at 100ish yards.