jaykup

My '03 XX is coming up on 60,000 miles. I thought I read something a while back about stators/rectifiers being a problem on these bikes? Is this true? Should I be thinking about preemptively replacing it?

Just outside Milwaukee. I'd love to take it down to a shop and have him set it up for me and my riding style. I feel like these really expensive ($1,000) shocks are for the racers on the track, and since I'm not pushing the bike that hard I wouldn't get the benefit of all that extra money... I just need it to be stable, confident and smooth on rough pavement cornering... Do you know of a place near me I can take it to?

I've got 50,000 miles on my Blackbird now, and want to upgrade the suspension. I don't do any track time, but ride aggressively on the street (dirftless area of WI has hundreds of miles of twisty / technical / rough roads). I'm 160ish without gear. From searching the forums, it looks like these are my options for the front: 1.0kg springs & 7.5wt Maxima Racing Fork Fluid - $120 1.0kg springs, 7.5wt Maxima Racing Fork Fluid & Gold Valves - $300 And my options for the rear: Stock Rear Shock Rebuild - $250 Penske 8983 Rear Shock - $770 Ohlins HO 518 Rear Shock - $970 My questions: Is the extra $180 worth it for the front? Is the extra $500-700 worth it for the rear, or should I just rebuild stock and call it good? I'm not exactly rich so I'm trying to decide if its going to make a big enough difference to justify the cost...

At 150 you definitely don`t need stiffer front springs for street riding.Stock are fine. Not all fork fluids are equal,viscosity index does not mean much as shown in this link : http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/files/s...sion%20oils.pdf I`ve had excellent results with Maxima Racing Fork fluid 7 W,fork works fine now,no need for Race Tech or even re-valve. Thanks for the info. I've always liked the suspension on the bike, and never had a problem with it/wished it was better. I was just wondering if I was missing a suspension mod that would transform the bike (like what I've read on the forums). I've been doing more research on it, and Keith Code has a great video that shows how to setup sag, and as long as the required distance (40mm or so of sag for street) is around the middle of the springs adjustment, your all good. If not, you need to change springs.

hmmm, I haven't touched the rear suspension since I got it, do you think it makes that big of a difference? <insert excuses here> Chain only has ~3,000 miles on it. I did do about 50 miles off road two weekends ago and haven't cleaned it up though... Almost no interstate here, probably 100 total miles of it on that tire... Funny thing is, when I first got the bike, I did a ton if interstate (Iron Butt stuff) and I was able to get 8,000 miles on a set of dual compound tires...

My bike is about ready to roll over to 50,000 miles, and so far the only things I've done to it are tires, oil & filters, brakes, chains & sprockets (front). I'd like to keep it until 100,000 and start looking at either another one or something else. This winter I'm planning on changing out all the fluids for the first time (coolant, brakes, fork), maybe go with a stiffer spring and ligher oil in the forks, seems like a popular mod. I'm only 150lbs, and I love the suspension as-is, but maybe I'm missing out on something better. I haven't replaced anything on it yet. I've heard stories of the stator going out around 40-60k, but then I think someone said they changed the stator on the 2003 (my year) to something better? I really don't want it to go out on me when I'm a days ride away from home... should I be thinking about replacing it soon? The rectifier too? Anything else I should replace or be checking?

I can't get any miles out of these tires! Here is what my tire looks like after just 2600 miles, with no burnouts or track time! 42psi. I seem to get the best milage on the Avon Storms (3500), any other tires that will give me some decent life?

Looking to buy hard bags, liners (optional), and mounting hardware in black.

I don't think the chain/drive line is the problem. Let me give you an example of me driving when I notice it. I get the bike up to 60mph, in 6th gear. Just cruising I can feel vibration in the pegs, its worse than a normal BB, but not excessive. When i roll on the throttle, it gets worse, much worse. Seems like the more load I give it, the worse it gets. Here's the kicker. When I'm still doing 60mph, I can pull in the clutch to let the engine idle, and all the vibration goes away. With the clutch still in, I can rev the engine and hold it around 3-4k RPM and the same vibrations come back. This makes me believe that it has nothing to do with the chain/sprocket. So, what else could be causing the vibrations? Anything common with the birds?

2003 Blackbird is just over 20,000 miles. I have only done oil changes, a new windscreen, lowered the foot pegs using a member on this forum's custom aluminum mounts, raised the handlebars using VFR handlebars, and put an aftermarket JT 18T front sprocket along with a new DID VZM2 chain, about 500-1000 miles on the new chain/sprocket config. I notice vibration in the foot pegs most of all, and its very noticeable now. Almost makes my feet fall asleep on longer rides. I noticed that it goes away completely when I pull in the clutch and just coast at any speed. If I'm in say 6th gear doing 45-60mph and give it 1/4 throttle or more it is VERY noticeable, getting worse as more throttle is applied. Even under normal acceleration its almost annoying. Anything over 3,000 RPM. I've had the bike since it had 6,000 miles on it, and I've never noticed it this bad before. In fact, I loved the smooth silky feel it had. Two things that may be related. Before/during this happened, I was stuck in traffic for about 30-60 minutes, shutting off the engine when I could. I think my temp reached 235-240 before I was able to get to an off-ramp. An hour or so after that I drove through ~3 feet of water (strong current) for about 1/8 mile (closed road due to flooding) which is stupid now that I think of it, but at the time, it was an amazing experience. The water was not so high that it got into the intake. The bike ran fine through it. Wasn't able to go more than 2-4 mph with out the tire breaking loose. Not that I wanted to go any faster. The vibration I think was slowly getting worse before this though. I use Mobile 1 MX4T Synthetic oil, changed every 5,000 miles or so. Any ideas? I don't think its sprocket/drive train related, because it goes away when the clutch is in. I also don't think it is the tires (BT-021) for the same reason.