Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my findings

This might be a little long winded.. Apologies in advance.

So after some work and carb rebuilds (note the plural in rebuilds), I finally got my seat delivered and mounted yesterday. I took it around the neighborhood last night... ('81 XJ550)

First, a little aside - I still need to check my valves (just got my bucket retainer tool today), sync my carbs (just got my YICS tool today) AND colortune (Just got my gunson colortune today).

With the aforementioned, here is what I experienced on my first ride last night. Im still a novice at riding. This is the 2nd time ever riding a motorcycle.

So, i started the bike and let off the clutch a bit to roll it out of the garage to the driveway... While i originally meant to stop in the driveway... I decided to just keep going....

I took it around the block while trying to familiarize myself with braking, shifting, etc.. I was doing pretty well cruizing. I have problems with stopping... so i pretty much do rolling stops... Well.. I finally hit an intersection where I HAD to stop due to traffic.. Annnnnd, I killed the bike.

It took a minute to get started again. After some fumbling and embarrassment of being watched by people in their yards, i remembered i needed to have the bike in Neutral.. So i had to fumble through the gears until the sweet little neutral light lit up.
As soon as i saw that green light, the bike fired right up. I made it home and killed it just as i hit my driveway. Regardless of my experiences, i had fun and enjoyed it. Overall the bike seemed to run a bit rough.

Fast forward to tonight. I rushed home from work to tinker with the bike and figure out the neutral issue. I followed the electrical diagrams in my service manuals and found a cut off by the kick stand. I have no switch at the kick stand. I just jumpered the connections and i found that the bike now started in gear (SCHWEEET!)... Only problem was I couldnt start the thing without a little squirt of starter fluid. (Hope this is due to some of the work still have to do.. Valves, sync, colortune.)

I proceeded to take the bike around the block again. I felt slightly more comfortable... I turned a corner just a couple blocks from my house and the bike suddenly started to stumble... i revved high and it was bogging down. I tried popping the clutch and starting and it would run a second before killing. i finally had to pull in front of a house, and guess what, the whole family had to be out there just to watch me. I was stumped.. the bike would not start at all. I fumbled through the gears to neutral and it refused to start... I was at a loss... i was getting prepared to call my wife and let her know i would be walking home. I then looked down and saw the petcock. I moved it from ON to PRIME.. while on the phone with my wife, i finally started the bike. It seems i had to be on prime to get it to run. Either my petcock is being weird or my gas level was a bit low. Still undetermined.

While i had it running, i then took it around block destined to get back home. I just rolled through stop signs because i didnt want to risk killing it and having to deal with that mess.

I finally go home and again, killed it in the drive way.. its like i cant go to slow.

Anyways, i decided to quick check my plugs (1 and 4 cylinder) and both were black with carbon. (Plugs were new NGKs)

To me, this seems that it would be running rich!? That seems interested since i am running PODS. I just installed 117.5 and 37.5 jets. I was thinking if anything, it would still running a bit on the leaner side. I guess i need to get on that sync and colortune.

So, there it is. I am not as excited as I was last night. A bit frustrated, really.. Oh well... I need to figure out stopping too... :?

Sorry for the rambling on. Just wanted to share.

Thanks for reading.

 

Re: Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my find

Bigjim,

Glad you got the bike running and were able to get home. Huhmmmmmm...new rider, bike running issues and pods? Just a suggestion man...you might want to put the airbox and stock jets back on, get the bike running to manufactured specs and get a bit more familiar with riding (maybe take a Motorcycle Safety Course) and then do the pods thing. What you're doing is not impossibe, but might take you a lot longer to start clocking miles on that speedo than you'd like it to. Again, just a suggestion.

GL,

Gary

 

Re: Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my find

I appreciate the suggestion, Rocs - I got the bike without any air filtration.. no airbox, nothing... I entertained the idea of getting an used airbox from ebay or somewhere, but someone assured me that with my modified frame (PO's doing), that the stock airbox was pretty much not an option anymore.

heres what im dealing with:

 

Re: Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my find

Bigjim,

Looks like the PO hardtailed it. Again, not impossible, but may take time. Do you have a manual for your bike? If not, I'd start there. Post a thread asking for a PDF that you can download or purchase the DVD from Chacal. Follow the manual, read and post threads to ensure:

Battery will hold a full charge.
Got good compression at all 4.
Valves are in spec including no oil leaks at cover
Carbs are cleaned including v-seals, clunck tested, bench sync'd and float heights properly set.
Good connections across fuse box.
Solenoid "clicks" when starter lever is switched to "on" position.
Brushes and commutator on starter motor are within specs and cleaned.
Stator and rotor ohms are withing specs. Rotor brushes are within specs.
Got good plugs.
Coils voltage are within specs (in and out), HT's are in good shape and getting spark at all 4.
Petcock function.
Safety relay function.
Ignition switch function.
Yics tool or alternate means for shutting off "Yics" port for proper synching.
Header washers and nuts are sealed and torqued.

You said it starts so many of these things you may have already done. I've listed "off the top of my head" some of the things I'd check in order to get the bike running properly. Once these things are "in check" I'd post a thread telling what type of pods you have and what size jets you're using including which model bike you have. I don't know anything about pods but there are members whom seem to have a fairly decent grip on the on going "TO POD or NOT TO POD" discussion. Hope this helps.

Gary

 

Re: Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my find

Pods usually cause a lean condition. You have a rich condition that could be fouling the plugs. Clean the plugs and turn the mixture screws in some. Are you sure you cleaned the carbs completely?

 

There are a couple of mods you can do if your having problems with the pods. If you decide to get rid of the pods, you can make a custom airbox or a pvc air intake.

 

Let's back up and talk FLOAT LEVELS. Did you accurately and individually WET-set your float levels? If not, start there.

You CANNOT adjust the carbs properly until the valves are in spec. Forget vacuum sync and ColorTune until they are. A good accurate bench sync is all you can do right now.

Besides the jetting issues, what running pods does is take all the "forgiveness" (not that there was all that much to begin with) out of the equation. EVERYTHING ELSE has to be 100% or it just ain't gonna work. Your PO has made the airbox choice for you; now your only recourse is to deal with the aftermath.

Now, on to "stopping." That's done with BRAKES. You pull in the clutch, and use the brakes to stop the bike. If it stalls as a result, then the clutch is dragging.

If the clutch is dragging so bad it won't disengage, then it needs to be attended to.

The BRAKES THEMSELVES need attention before something truly bad happens.

One more time: This is NOT a 30-year old car. It's an old BIKE. They're vastly different in regard to what you can get away with ignoring. When it comes to an old bike, it's not much. (That you can just ignore and have it work anyway.)

DON'T RIDE THIS BIKE until it's running and stopping properly. You're going to have enough of a challenge with a hardtail as your first bike; don't make it even more difficult.

 

Re: Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my find

You could maybe find a used frame and transfer your good parts. In the picture the welds look awful and the pieces welded on are not even, the rt one is a lot higher. The wires also look a mess. Used frames are not expensive at all and i think you would be much better off in the long run before you start putting money in to it.

 

I'm +1 on that suggestion. Going back to the correct frame setup will give you and your back a smoother ride, and accomodate the correct airbox for your setup. I agree with Wilddog, there is no way that can be even close to symetrical the way that is welded. Check with Hogfiddles, I bet he has a frame for you.

 

Yeah, holy shit those welds look sketch.

 

yes.... very shotty welds.

 

They should've cut a half circle in the end of the square tube to get a better fit and stronger joint. But they just butted the 2 pieces together and filled in the gaps with weld. That's why it looks that way, definitely not a strong weld.

 

Big Jim, you've captured my reaction to that welding in your Avatar perfectly!

 

LMAO.....at the jokes about the welding......but I'm happy the guy just made it home in one piece. Taking your very first ride with no instruction, no practice on a dirt road anywhere, no parking lot, nothing...doesn't even mention "pretending while in the garage"....the bike runs like crap(not to worry, the guys will get you sorted) and he rode it INTO TRAFFIC??????

Yes, I'm happy and AMAZED that you didn't at the least run into a parked car or sign. You tube moment for sure I thought.....

Do yourself a favor and when you're bike is running at least reasonably well, take to to a big lot and practice----......(the guys know what I'm going to say)..........................................wait for it.........BRAKING!! Any turd can twist a grip....but the guy that can quickly and safely stop his bike is going to live the longest. I'm not going to try and give you a bunch of advice since you have so much to learn but since your present bravery outstripes your talent at this point....wear full gear, keep your head on a swivel out there so you always know where everyone and everything is around you at all times.....between that and learning how to brake, including learning how to use your front brake (not on shiny,wet things like manholes, wet paint strips or gravel) you should still be aorund this time next year.

Congrats on the bike and WTTC!!

jeff

 

Re: Yea! Finally got to ride my bike 1st time. Heres my find

YES to the above recommendations,and while you're working on the machine sign up for a riding class.Locally it's called "Learn2Ride ". I had a
goodly amount of motorcycle experience twenty years earlier and a lot of road and off-road bicycle miles,so was confident when starting the class.
Boy was I wrong!! Had to unlearn many things.My instructors were excellent. I almost didn't pass. The teachers set a very high standard and between them had obviously spent many years teaching people to ride SAFELY. As it turns out,what I learned,safety techniques and priorities (pay attention ALL the time, be aware of potential issues and the cars you CAN'T see yet) have saved my ass on numerous occasions.
For you,learning on a reliable machine on a closed course (while getting yours fine-tuned,of course) will keep you riding. Plus for NYS,walking into the DMV,handing over my paperwork and walking out with a license (in addition to the 4 point discount on my AUTO insurance) was icing on the cake.

 

Welcome to the site !!

Hey - familiarize yourself with the bike in an abandoned parking lot (a couple hours of riding around obstacles, stopping while turning) before going on the street in traffic again.

When a situation occurs in traffic, you need to be "ONE" with your bike.