rhubarbray

Well the chain and sprockets are almost new maybe only 500 miles, oil changed at that time also. I did notice while adjusting the new chain that the chain gets tighter and looser as I turn the back wheel. You are supposed to adjust the chain tension at the tightest point of the chain so as not to overstress anything in the driveline. However you mentioned the chain getting tighter and looser. What I`ve seen occasionally is a rear sprocket being made eccentric by just a little bit. If the centre hole is only off by 1mm, you now have a 2mm high to low variance. I don`t think this will give you the knocking you`re talking about but it will give you a pulsing/shuddering/ or vibration directly related to whel speed. Are you getting a vibration? Ray

A while ago a friend asked me to take a look at her 600 bandit to try and find out why when she put her turn signals on the tach would jump around,.............coroded grounds. I`d take a close look at any grounds and the condition of ground clusters which mat be in the dash.

Seafoam is a cleaner, not a stabilizer. I`m also leaning towards plugged carbs, perhaps next winter use Sta-Bil to stabilize the fuel. And a friend of mine has used the parts store version of the stabilizer and then had problems the following year. In this case I`d recommend only the Sta-Bil name brand. Ray

Don`t tell me I`m going to have the only blue XX in Ottawa now! Oh wait, no MaverickXX has a blue one as well. Ray

As long as the clutch fluid has been properly bled, I doubt that`s the issue. My FJ12 did the same thing. Sits overnight and the plates stick together. When you pull the clutch lever in you`re pulling the pressure plate off the clutch stack but you`re not separating the plates. When you say hard to find gear are you meaning it goes in with a hard clunk or just won`t go in? Ray

I should have picked up on a couple of things said. When you mentioned the drilling of the slides I thought that could be a major contributor. With the larger holes the slides rise too fast and give a richer mixture than what`s required. I know it`s not the same bike but a friend of mine is the Eastern Canadian director for the V-Max owners. Whenever someone puts in a Dynojet kit in one of those bikes everyone says the same thing. "Don`t drill the slides!" Also, on my FJ1200 I replaced the emulsion tubes with ones from FactoryPro. What a difference! I got back all my missing midrange and picked up 30-50 km range per tankful. Another thing, I can`t remember if the float seats are screwed in or are held in with an o-ring and retainer. If it has an o-ring I`d check those rings to see if fuel is getting by. (Although that would have a greater effect at low speed as you`re not using as much fuel. Never mind, online mental ramblings) Were the needle and seats ever chacked for sealing? How about the float height/fuel level? Ray My `84 V65 Sabre has over 100k km on the original needles and still gives reasonable economy. But I`m going to be looking for replacements.

Just poking around the web and I came across these guys. I`ve dealt with them through the dealers but mostly for tools and such but their selection of terminals and connectors seems better and wider. And they SHOULD be available through your local dealer?! http://www.motorcyclecarbs.com/_W135.cfm Go to the bottom of the screen and under the electrical heading click on the terminals or terminal kits.

Not from them, but I have another couple of tools that have come in VERY handy. The deep 90 circlip pliers for getting the clips out of the master cylinders. Makes the job a piece of cake. And the brake piston pliers for rotating the pistons while in the bore. Only used them once but very nice. They do happen to have a few,....well ok more than a few,.....tools I`d like to have in my toolbox "just in case". OK, speak up, how many more of you are tool junkies too??!!

OK, here`s a good question for all braniacs `cause nobody I know here can give me an answer. For the past few years I`ve found that when I`m torquing long bolts ,ie. cylinder studs or engine mounts with a click type wrench, it doesn`t click at the correct torque but if I back off and use a dial type it tightens up correctly. I`ve talked to another professional bike mechanic and he`s said that he`s founf the same thing. For this reason I`ll ONLY use a dial type on cylinder studs. WTF??!!

My 2000 bird`s all stock save for a K&N. Has anyone overlapped a carb bird`s dyno and a fi bird dyno? From what I`ve read, the header configuration changup was supposed to give more midrange but at the expense of a little top end. I`m talking bone stock to bone stock. Would this give a perception difference when considering gearing changes?

Well, I tried the HIDs the last little while and I have to say . What a difference! Love them. It`s a little tight mounting the ballasts with the ram air tubes in the way but they fit. Thanks for the tip guys! Ok, now the 18t front sprocket. ...........I could feel right away the way the clutch engaged it was different but I wasn`t prepared for how different. While each gear pulled longer, I found that the bike lost it`s grunt in the midrange to a degree that I switched back to the 17 after about 200 miles to try and compare. I don`t think I`ll be going back to the 18!! I know it may be in my head but it felt like it pulled harder in 4th with the 17 than in 3rd with the 18?!

Who`s got the right hand euro housing? I`ve just installed the HIDs and would like to have the option of turning the light off while starting. My housing has 7 wires in a red 9 plug connector and into the same on the subharness. Is the euro one 9 wires in a 9 wire plug? Or do you have to run extra wires?

I just got the assemblies from DDM and I`m wondering how to mount them. The cables are quite short restricting where I can put them. One of the things I was wondering was how hot do the ballasts get? Do I need to insulate if I`m putting them near plastic?

Ummmm,.. I`d double check the pipe thread. 1/8"npt is 27 tpi and I believe the metric works out to be 28. Very close and easy to miss.

I just ordered them tonight and I can`t believe a PAIR of the 55w light assemblies was only $80!! With a lifetime warranty!! I got the 4500K bulbs so we`ll wait and see when they come in. Does it still feel a little like Christmas even if you buy your own gifts?

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with AFAM sprockets? I`d like to try the 18t but I stumbled onto an FZ6 site where there`s quite a few people complaining that they`re noisy. Anyone have a recommended manufacturer? Actually, who makes an 18t for the `bird? AFAM, Driven, JT, Sprocket Specialists,............?

Boy, I can`t wait to get this!! Who needs cams and Power Commmanders?! Less than $30 for 30 hp and 40 ft/lbs!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PB-PERFORMA...sQ5fAccessories Not sure if it`s a repost,..........don`t care.

After seeing the shocking difference between the stock bulb and the HID at the NEXXT pavillion I`m going to order the dual kit from DDM Tuning ( thanks Hank ). Does the `bird have an H7 or an H4 type bulb base? And I believe someone recommended putting a garden hose washer under the bulb to shim it out and create a tighter seal? Sorry, can`t remember who it was.

By "standard" chains I think they mean non-o-ring chains. Any o-ring chain will last significantly longer than non-o-ring chain. I had to change my OEM chain at about 30k km not because it or the sprockets were worn out but because I had a couple of links that were siezing and I couldn`t get them free again. I`ve since installed an auto oiler of my own design and it`s been great. Just keep oil in the reservoir and it`s worry free riding. We`ll see how long this one lasts.

I`d have to agree with the previous reply. It sounds like something extenal is loose. If the rpms are raised slowly it sounds to me like the noise does not increase in frequency as well. Can you raise the rpms slowly to say, 2000-2500 and hold it and see if the noise remains the same?

3A!! Wow! How big is the pump? That seems like a hell of a lot.

I`ve taken apart my SRX600 brake system, cleaned it, and used DOT 5 on reassembly. That was 3 years ago. No problems and a friend of mine did the same thing about 6 years ago on his V-Max. No problems and he swears by the stuff. Seeing as how it doesn`t absorb water there`s no sticking of the seals due to deposits in the seal grooves. He still does regular flushes about every two to three years but that`s it.

Ummm, just wondering,.........why would you want the bike to think it`s down? Something tells me you`re not going to get very far every time you put it into gear!

Dot 3,4,and 5.1 are all supposed to be compatible. I know you`re not supposed to mix dot 5 with any of them but I`m not sure what would happen if you did. Would it just not mix or would one of them congeal? Or? I know that petroleum oil and EPDM rubber absolutely do not mix. Not sure what`s going on but if it was me I`d probably get two new seal kits, clean everything out with hot soapy water, dry everything thoroughly and reassemble. Sorry we couldn`t be of more help. Mind you, I have heard this very same complaint with Ducati owners. Maybe one of them has heard of it and has some insight?

Is this what you`re looking for? I`ve ordered from them before, nice people and the kits are exactly what you see. And if you only need half the connector, the other half mated perfectly with the OEM connector. http://www.vintageconnections.com/