MR. WOMO

Hey there, all As some of you may remeber I had an unfortunate accident "at speed" on the freeway into work last fall, and, though lucky to be here after the experience, am in the position to now sell of the parts I have available as a result of my incident. Many parts were damaged in the wreck, but the ones that escaped or had yet to find a home on my Bird are available for sale. I had a 1998 model Bird in Black for reference. Öhlins rear shock - Model HO 639 This is a fully adjustable rear shock with external hydraulic pre-load adjuster. It is in near-nes, pristine condition with very low miles. The specs for it are as follows: Total length: 319 mm Stroke: 52 mm Fitted spring: D1093-74/180 Asking: $700.00 Braking USA Wave rotors A full set (2 front and 1 rear) of Braking USA wave rotors for model years 1999 and after. These have never been mounted and are NIB. Asking: $500.00 for all three (would include a full set of EBC double H sintered brake pads to be used together) Used 2001 Front and Rear wheels These wheels were purchased used off of eBay for my planned use of installing the rotors on (as I have a 1998 model) They are silver finish with some surface nicks and blemishes. Would make a excellent replacement/extra set to accomodate the wave rotors Asking: $100.00 Mototek undertail: Complete kit, includes clear brake/tail lights (glow red) and turn signals (glow amber) with all wiring attached as well as a keyed seat lock. Mounted to it will include a LED lit aftermarket license plate frame for legal purposes - very trick! Asking: $175.00 OEM Gas Tank: This actually did get one SMALL dent on the left side (where the handlebars were forced back) but it is honestly very small, and was protected in large part by the Baglux cover I had on it at the time. Asking: Actually I'm clueless to the price for a near mint tank for a 98 Bird, but make an offer and I will consider it. That's pretty much it. Prices are certainly open to negotiation if need be. If you are interested, please reply or send me a PM and will reply very quickly. If there are any small bits you may need that I can get off the Bird, I will let you know if I have something that is still usable. Cheers, Kev

Hey there, Brian Check your PM's

Brian, I recently had a fairly serious collision with a less than skilled driver on the freeway. From what I can tell thus far, my gauges seem to have escaped the crash in working order. They come from my '98 US version Blackbird. Let me know if you might be interested. Reply to this post or PM if you prefer. Cheers, Kevin

From everything I'ver ever seen or read - yes. They were somewhat larger and had cooling fins too to aid in heat dispertion. I myself had to replace my '98 rec/reg with the often referred to Yamaha R1 from a salvage yard. Cheers, Kevin

I didn't notice it you mentioned what year Bird this was, but I have a '98, and after moving cross-country, in and out of a rental home, and finally our current house - I had a lot of bike "down-time". When I finally got some time with it running again last summer, it ran just as you're describing, really lousy one day, pretty decent another, and back again. I used a few tankfuls of Seafoam, and slowly but surely it began to come back to it's old self. I don't know if the carbs, etc. were jus kind of mucked up and that's what it took over a bit of time to clear 'em out, but I had the same concerns as you do (new plugs, tightened everything down - stuff that SHOULD have corrected the problem). Perhaps if possible, try and just run it for a few days/week with some Seafoam in the fuel mix and see if it goes away? Sorryif I got this to you a little late, but I hadn't seen the thread till now! Cheers, Kevin

Nope! But thanks for the suggestion - if it keeps being sluggish, I might just do that and see if it fixes the problem. Thanks again, Kevin

A follow-up for those with any interest: I went back and took off the windscreen to get to the back of the dash. Seems that adding the ignitors/ballasts to that area was compromising the multi-connectors space (extremely finicky little bastids if you ask me!), so after moving some wires etc, I was able to get them to connect well enough to get things working. Odd though, when I've started out in the AM the past couple of days (or after it's been sitting for a good amount of time) the speedo just sticks at zero until I get it up to say 30-40 MPH and then is SUDDENLY kicks into gear and shows the speed? Any reason for that that anyone could think of? Just a still less than ideal connection? Anyway, all gauges working well, and the Illumiglo mod is very nice! So much easier to see at night! Cheers, Kevin

OK, I tried to unplug and replug the Speedohealer from the Speed Sensor plug, and still nothing. In detail here are the first couple of steps in the Speedohealer instructions: "5. Move the SH's no. 1 switch into ON position (the rest of the switches should be down). Have the engine stop switch in RUN position and Turn the ignition ON. The SH's red light will flash once, and the speedometer shows a steady speed. This is the SH output test. (The indicated value depends on the model of your bike.)" I did this step, and did not see the speedometer show any kind of "steady speed" - unless the steady speed is 0! "6. SH input test: Rotate the rear wheel by hand. The SH's red LED flashes as the wheel turns." I did this step, and indeed the Speedohealer's LED flickers as the rear wheel turns. I guess at this point, I am going to have to take off the windscreen (only, I hope - I am really sick of having to take the fairing panels on and off!) and see if I can mess around with the multi-connectors as that to me is the only thing I messed with that would keep the speedo from working. I do find it odd that ALL of the other gauges and digital clock that function through those multi-connectors work perfectly fine though. The service manuals have steps to check the voltage/continuity from the various leads on those connectors - and not being all that versed in electrics, feel I will be less than dialed in as to what I'm doing. Other than something electrical, is there anything else I should look at in regards to the needle, etc. not working correctly? As I said, it seems as though there was completely free movement of that and all other needles after installing the Illumiglo pieces. Arghhh - I hate electrical problems!

Maybe possible, but it seemed to install very well - that was actually one of the easier needeles to get the thing over. The temp/gas gauge was a bit more of a pain. After I put it one, there was easy/free movement of all the needles that I could tell. Could JUST that gauge be not working if all the others are due to the connectors? It looked like they shared the plugs, if not the exact connectors obviously. And for future reference, can I just prop up the rear wheel and check the speedo from it alone - or do I need the front wheel in motion? Cheers, Kevin

Here's the deal: This weekend I finished installing 2 different mods - one was the McCulloch (sp?) HID headlight upgrade (w/Euro switch), and the other was finally installing the Illumigo gauges on my instrument panel. The HID lights don't have anything to do with my problem (that I know of!) but I wanted to mention it as I worked on both projects at the same time. After getting everything put together (I tested all the gauges for operability, EXCEPT the speedo as the weather was to crappy to take it for a spin) I did have the rear wheel in the air due to it being on the centerstand, and shifted it into 1st, and the speedo didn't move - but I couldn't remember if it needed the front to move or not! Anyway, after taking it for a quick spin, all seems right as rain but the speedo. The one thing I thought of after looking through the service manuals was that perhaps the Speedohealer I have might be the culprit? It connects to the speed sensor connector, and some of the troubleshooting things that the manuals said to check was the speed sensor. Now, I'll have to go home and attempt to unplug and plug back in, or reset or whatever the Speedohealer to see if that cures it, but I was just wondering if anyone might have any other suggestions to try? The 2 multi-connectors that I plugged back into the dash seemed in really great shape, and as I say, all the other gauges worked just fine. I'm hoping it's something as easy as this Speedohealer, I just didn't have as much electrical troubleshooting experience to know for certain. It's a '98 Bird by the way, and I noticed that the odometer was operational. As always, any and all help is much appreciated! Cheers, Kevin

DIBS! I'll send you a PM John! Ooops! Sorry - thought this was for the HID light deal, and wanted to reply quickly - sorry! carry on!

I purchased a Sears DieHard for my Bird a couple of years ago and it has been every bit as good as the orginal make that was in it. Personally, I would recommend it without reservation. Cheers, Kevin

Thanks for the very informative replies, all! I had posted originally at work, but when I got home, I did see the tabs that were spoke of. I guess it's not THAT big a deal - sounds like raising the bar ends up enough to clear the tabs might be a bit more experimentation than I was expecting. Odd that you can't adjust them even a little?! You never know, I still might give it a go, but I do appreciate the great info - as always! Cheers, Kevin

Hey all, I did a quick search or two on this and was coming up with mostly info about handlebar risers, kits, that sort of thing. I was more interested in simply loosening the pinch bolts on either side and moving the bars forward just a bit. I've been riding my new mountain bike quite a bit lately and got to thinking how much I liked the nearly horizontal angle of that setup. I'm not interested in getting the Birds bars anywhere near that conficuration naturally, but wondered if it was A) possible to simply make that adjustment, and benefits/drawbacks to it. Interested as always to hear you guys weigh in on this! Cheers, Kevin

Sorry about that, I didn't know you weren't interested in the "double bubble" shaped screen. Yes, you are correct as that is the only configuration that Magical offers them in. Hope you find something you like! Cheers, Kevin