What did you do to your Yamaha today?

for those that want to go a different route...looks sweet but expensive......

http://thedigisync.com/digi-sync-top-page.html




Oh....and I rode my bike today.....now time to get the GoPro out and start filming some road videos.....

 

4mm

http://www.obairlann.net/reaper/motorcycle/manometer.html

 

had a coolant leak right behind the water pump. O-ring .55 cents 1/2 hour to repair.
Since I was there or removed the carbs for easier access I Synced the carbs took her our for a test ride and all is good.

 

Rode my XJ550 to work, going to be 96+F and high humidity on the way home. Fortunately it is only a 10 minute ride....

 

Now that I have the turn signals straightened out since I'm running leds I decided to reinstall the turn signal indicator in the gauge cluster so I'm not riding down the road with with my turn signal on and no intention of turning any time soon. On the plus side with the bulb reinstalled I don't have any backfeeding issues. Does it still count if I technically did that to my yamaha yesterday?

 

NO! Here at xjbikes, we adhere to strict deadlines. Please re post in "What did you do to your Yamaha yesterday?"

 

Over the last week I have installed new, lower bars, new tires, new chain and sprockets, used grab rail, and have gotten half way through installing my heated grips.

 

went and paid the house note- check
got haircut- all of them
left Phagens got about 3/4 of mile away and bikes just freakin stops running.
Walked home about 2 1/2 miles in 90 degree heat
got trailer went and picked bike up. Unloaded in shaded area.
Thought to myself WTF- I just fixed her two days ago.
This time all the lights come on and even when I hit the starter button everything dims but no starter engagement.
Today is my birthday too.
Now I looking through the manual.
This would be the only time my XJ has left me stranded in five years of ownership.
On a positive note by the time I get everything sorted out I will be climbing the ranks of potential GURU of the XJ700X.

 

Clutch safety switch or sidestand switch (or the big relay box)............

 

real quick- If I wanted to loop those two switches to isolate them could I use a jumper on the side that goes to the harness.
I just checked the relay ( big black Box) when I jump it the starter turns over but no running engine.

 

Replaced / updated fuse box.
I wanted a fuse block for the mini, low profile blade fuses, but couldn't locate any. This should function fine. Clearance is a problem on these 750 Secas. Need to locate box far enough forward to be in front of the document box under the seat pan; or remove the document box cover. Most of these boxes, if you use a cover are 1-3/8 -1 -1/2" tall. There is less than 1-1/4" of clearance.

 

The big relay box is located under the tank ?
When I grounded the blue/white wire the starter turned over but no engine start.
Now I just realized that the 10 amp fuse under the cluster is popping as soon as I turn the key to the on position.

 

I also am unable to read the part numbers as they are worn away? Anybody know what they are?

 

Put away all of the nest of wiring up front and buttoned up in the wiring sack. Installed front fairing. Took it down to the gas station for the first tank of gas. Good thing its only 3 blocks away and downhill! Started running out on way there. Took her for a nice circling the neighborhood streets for about 6 miles. Felt good!
Had some shifting problems; after shifting up to 2nd, the shifter doesn't seem to want to return on its own and couldn't shift up to 3rd. Gave it a little tap down after each shift, then I could shift up into next gear. Will have to look into this. ? Oh, also got some keys made for the lockable map pockets in the fairing. The PO lost the keys.

 

Slowley is move.

 

Sunday was a nice day .... wife suggested I go for a ride did not have to twist my arm ... Rode down filled bike up and went to a buddies house 25 mile ride ... worked on his Kawasaki 1000 CSR going valve cover all going good till one bolt snapped .. I have some great extractors did us no good as they were at my house . Made a new friend that was at his place he had just bought a 79 CB750 he was trying to get to run .... He was blown away with all I did to his bike I got it running for him !!!!( I work on other bikes on the side ... usually for FREE lol) I had an 82 CB750 custom and I grew up helping dad who had a CB550K (learned to ride on it ) and a 78CB750KO
Left my buddies house he lives in the sticks ...got 100% lost rode for what seemed like hours ...when I got home had rode almost 100 miles .. All in all was a good day.

 

I often get 'lost' on my way home too.

 

i never get lost but my front tire does I just follow where ever it is going

 

looked at my bike today just like everyday being as she is parked right to the left of the front door and right in front of the garage. School is consuming all of my time. 11 week course crammed into 8. Usually not to bad unless it is class that is stretching my knowledge to the breaking point. This advanced excel is doing just that!
Still tinker when I get a chance. Fan fuse blows as soon as I turn the key though- chasing the electrical fairy.
temps lately 95+ and dry. Feels like I am in a oven during the day time.

 

Went for a night ride...took along a screwdriver & adjusted my headlights while aimed at a blank dark wall.....that was last night.....

Tonight....leaving now for the ride down to the beach......surf is up......10 foot swells....

Hang Loose

 

Got that board strapped to the bike? Haha

 

Any ideas to how to bypass the clutch safety, kickstand safety and neutral safety switch- I just would like to isolate the area that is causing me problems.

 

Answered in this thread:

http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/testing-the-relay-flasher-xj700x.114911/#post-574349

 

Last night went to remove the carb rack AGAIN and said the heck with it... pulled the valve cover going to start at the beginning checking shims.

 

That a great starting point.....key

 

Stopped by @Toomanybikes to pick up the parts I need to rebuild the front braking system on my xj700n.

Wish I had had more time to talk and admire Dave's collection but I had to catch a ferry!

Thanks Dave!

 

Dreamt about it--stupid tension headaches.

 

Finally got some time to tinker on the bike. Found that the float levels are 7.65 to 8mm from the carb body. From what i read it should be more like 3mm.

 

Wait... Another Dave? How many daves do we have here?

 

Got started on valve shims on my two extra motors.

I was a little paranoid and reluctant to open my current daily Maxim's engine, so figured I'd do the other two motors first, THEN tuck into the Maxim. Once all three are measured, I'll be able to swap back and forth between the lot of 'em and hopefully cut back on how many I need.

But to be honest, this is fun, and really quite easy. Particularly with one of the motors on my workbench, and another the only occupant of an otherwise empty frame.

 

Rode 10 miles west to the beach......to check out the surf.......6ft'ers

 

Bought my 83 xj650 a few weeks ago on Craigslist. Really happy with it. Slowly getting into learning to repair. Front caliper was dragging hard when cold. Took apart caliper and found it in good shape. Piston and seal needed a good cleaning. Now it is retracting well when cold too. Pretty satisfying experience overall.

 

Finished the second motor's valve measurements. Just my Maxim's valves to do, but I can't do them till I get the Maxim to a machinist =/ hopefully I'll figure out a way to do that by the time my thin shim and dummies arrive from Chacal.

 

But the new wind shield on her, took for for a small ride, much better! Looks like I might have a fuel leak from carbs, should not have let her sit so long in the hot shred....always something.

 

What sort of windshield? Got a pic? I'm always interested in what people use

 

Glad that you like the wind shield-just enough to make it enjoyable yet not so much that it looks ugly.

 

Found out I am getting power to my rear turn signals, they were chopped off. My hand control might need to be replace though. Also did my first oil change and replaced the shifter oil seal only to find my battery is almost dead. So gotta charge it up and then let it cycle the oil. Then ride it.

 

Finally had some time to tinker with my XJ and found that I had pinched a wire in the throttle assembly. DUH took about 20 minutes to cut that piece out and solder it back together. Probably could have done it quicker yet what I have realized is that almost every time I get in a hurry something happens down the road. Lesson Learned
So as soon as it cools off from 93 degrees I am out to ride again.
Yeah tomorrow supposed to be 103 degrees again thank full that I work indoors.
I appreciated the comments on what to check and all.
Always start the last place you were working on your bike LOL indeed

 

Truer words of wisdom have rarely been spoken:

 

Installed new coils and an NOS ignitor. Runs like a charm now!

 

Rebuilt my petcock & went for a ride to Home Depot & back........

Tomorrow, a ride to the beach to catch some waves & rays.......

 

Got some "Wipe New" - a plastic restorative stuff that was a "As Seen On TV" product a little while ago, and is now available in regular stores. A coworker used some on his late mdoel Ford pickup, and it worked out extremely well, so I figured I'd give it a trial on my Maxim's airbox covers and grab bar, then starting wiping it all over the plastic on my Sierra as well.

In a nutshell:

1) It's $20, for a teensie little bottle (and a couple mini microfiber cloths, a detail brush, and pair of nitrile gloves), which is kinda pricy. The packaging claims the teensie little 1.5oz bottle will do a whole car. It will. The stuff goes a LONG ways.
2) It works. It really does. It brings the luster and gloss back to the plastic in a big way, and really cures sun bleaching (that lovely grayish plastic).
3) It leaves a hard but flexible coating. This coating is slippery, and the source of the gloss. It's UV resistant and waterproof - you get this stuff on glass, and you have to polish it off - it's not coming off otherwise once it cures.
4) It's not magic. My airbox covers where pretty severely degraded, and it didn't fix that. The kind of crumbly nature plastic gets when it's seen 35 years of weather cannot be reversed by a single wipe. It DOES still work, and certainly improves the look of aged plastic, but it's still not magic. On my 2000 Sierra, it brought the dull sunbleached plastic back to deep, glossy black in a single wipe. On the Maxim, it certainly improved things (plastic going from dull light gray to glossy dark gray) but didn't magically repair decaying plastic.

So:

It won't fix severely degraded plastics, but it DOES make all of them look a hell of a lot better with a single wipe. I suspect on 10-15 year old cars, it'll be effectively magic, and it will likely provide lasting protection as well. I didn't do any surface prep other than washing the parts - I suspect if I'd sanded down the outside "oxidation" (whatever happens to the outside of really old plastic when it gets crumbly) it may well have been dramatically better, but I just followed the directions as I was pretty dubious.

For my airbox covers, I suspect paint will end up being necessary.

But, if you've got good plastics that are just a bit faded, it may be worth checking out.

 

Here goes so Friday I took a vacation day...my parts for my Dakota came in and part for my hhr too ....replaced sway bar likns on Dakota no real problem stopped popping in front end .... hotter than the sun out... cleaned up went in to cool off ...shut garage door... later thought why not go for a ride....hit opener...door goes up 1 foot and stops...the torsion springs broke 7pm go on line find a place that will come out saturday... between 9 to 1 of course it is 1 pm when he shows up 368$ to replace yea he did it in 20 minutes ..watched a you tube on how to do the springs... screw that... if you don't have the right tools you could kill yourself. So after getting garage door working .. changed oil in Hhr and cut yard... finally went for a ride nothing like cranking it up to 5000rpm only rode about 45 minutes but oh so fun.... just so humid 89 deg ..ready to jump in my pool ...but now working on riding mower...

 

My brother works on industrial and farm doors. He has seen that spring wrap a guy's arm around and around the bar, breaking it in EVERY location. Don't mess with garage doors.

 

Just for clarification - the Torsion Spring is the one that runs parallel to the door at the top - NOT the 'assist' springs that are perpendicular to the door at the back of the roller guide rails?

I have a garage door repair that is on My List (rather low on the list, cause their ain't nothing but used motor oil and birds nests in that garage.

 

It was the spring above the door ...

 

Sometimes I wonder what kind of rider am I ?
I ride in light showers-no biggie actually I draw the line when it is very dark like as in pitch black and raining then it is a no!
I'll ride into the depths of winter as long as it is not below 38 degrees. leave myself a little leeway for fluctuating temps. ICE NO GOOD FOR MOTORCYCLES
Sunny days are great as if that needed to be stated. My issue here in Southern Oregon is the later months of July and August/September the temp gets to be from 90+ degrees.
Most uncomfortable unless riding for some distance yet riding in town or even the outskirts once I arrive at my destination I am soaked through with sweat.
And that's the way it goes for me now, next week 95+ think I'll just suck it up and ride
As I have read somewhere

Dress for the SLIDE not the RIDE-!

What did I do today-Rode to work at 445am very nice and cool
Left work at 2:00pm 97 degrees- seems like I lost five pounds in water by the time I got home.

 

I hear that. I commute daily, rotating shift work so I'm riding at all sorts of times and temps... As long as there's no ice or snow. This week, riding in at 345am (so early, so stupidly early) and home at 3pm. It's pretty cool in the mornings, and ridiculously hot in afternoons - I wear a backpack purely because I need a wholly different set of clothing coming in as I do going home.

Today(well, I like, yesterday): Cheated on my girl, swapped rides with a coworker and went for a spin around on his SV650s. Remembered why I'm not a sport bike guy (being forward on my hands gets sore fast) and why I love inline 4's. The v-twin sounds awesome at idle, but lacks character when you spin it up. That's probably a good thing (even power across the powerband - particularly for new riders) but I quickly missed the XJ's pull at high RPM's. Really nice bike, though.

 

Is the sv650 position more forward than a Seca, or are you comparing it to your Maxim? I like the look of the Suzuki, but I gotta be able to ride it. For me, it's more about my back than wrists. I'd love to be a sport bike guy, but I have to sit upright. Oh yeah, I like em naked too.

 

My Maxim has very much a Seca riding position - I kind of joke that I got a Maxim, turned it into a Seca, and now I'm turning my Seca into a Maxim

The SV650 in question is a fully faired sport bike, not the naked version - clip on bars and the like.