Kiwiroyale

Hmmmm I installed this kit on my '83 last year, with both stator plate and cover, drilled bolt and shaft pin, both plates were tightened down secure on assembly, however I was a little ruffled at having a piece of what is essentially high tensile "wire" inside the bolt spinning at Mach 2, anyway after a couple of road trips all appears well.

Gday, good easy steps from Great White, BUT make sure at POINT #3 that you keep holding the lever IN whilst you tighten up the bleeder screw, otherwise you will suck in a whole lot of air, ( if I had not seen it done I would not mention it!!!!) if you can't reach the bleeder with your "normal" sized arms then "hold the lever against the grip with a strip of tape or similar whilst you tighten the bleeder nipple. Brakes are simple really, as with clutch bleeding, Yale your time and photos BEFOREHAND, to reference against. I brought a little "one man" bleeding bottle for about 5 bucks, I am not at home at the moment but I will post a picture tonight for you. This is the best little simplistic device I own, and it catches the fluid as well, I uses it mainly on my cars, but it's nice and tidy to use it on my bikes as well. Steve

You guys had a long winter over there or what!!!!!!

It's very economical... you just "saved" about US$2k on your bike!!!! Now have you given PRAIRIEHAMMER the serial numbers off your bike for the DATABASE? Ride safe and enjoy your trip. Steve

G'day, ok here's what you do, container it to Auckland Harbour, fly yourself there, jump on it and TOUR NEW ZEALAND, then ABANDON it very near to my place in Mosgiel Otago, where I will take you to the airport for your flight back home... Just sayin...

Gday Cold again!! April '15 during our (my hunting mates) annual hunting trip to Monowai Fiordland, the Red Deer "roar" ( rutting season), No bikes sorry but plenty of snow!!! Steve

Sorry mate that did not work for you, I assume the grips are super tight to put on dry?, if not then this is where the problem is, the hairspray acts as a "lubricant" when you slide them on, it then sets and holds the grip, my apologies, dirt bike grips must be different. Steve

G'day, I brought up 5 children in very similar fashion to yourself PUC, we are a Nation of adventure seeking junkies down here in NZ, I truly believe in letting a child explore and be offered the freedom to do so, but in a CONTROLLED environment (to some extent) I was also brought up seeking adventure and often doing things that would end in complete disaster should anything go wrong, bunjy jumping from a buildings and bridges, jumping out of perfectly aeroplanes, fishing off my dads 6m boat in the rough seas of the Pacific Ocean, climbing huge trees, flying around a paddock on my motorbike to name but a few, I am also an avid hunter I have been hunting/shooting since I was 5-6 yrs old and my children are the same, yes including my daughters. My beautiful little 16 month old Grandson, Brad, has the same bruises we all grew with, I have his first motorbike already pictured in my mind. Around 15 yrs ago over here the "cotton wool" faction (OSH, occupational health and safety) of our Government decided to ban "jungle gyms" (the iron bar arrangements that kids play on, sorry if I offend by explaining, not sure what you call them in your country) as they were too dangerous for children, all other equipment in the playground had to sit on top of approximately 80mm of a soft rubber...so that little Johnny did not hurt himself when he fell...pathetic. In my mind what this taught our children is NOT TO HANG ON!!!!! Just last year we finally had a school principal stand up to the "cotton wooller's " and remove the rubber, put back the jungle gym, and allow all the children 5-10yrs (a primary school over here) to play as they wish, climb trees, play "bull rush" (try and break through a line of children by running at them, great fun!!! yeaup they banned that too!!! a form of your great game...) get dirty, oh heaven forbid... actually just be children... that school now has MASSIVE waiting list of parents wanting to get their children into it, GO FIGURE!!!!! oh and of course, legal action! however the community spirit won and the school is now a bench mark for how the "playground" should operate, UNREAL as that was how it has been since schools were invented here!!!!! I digress slightly, OK, that VIDEO... I do not have a major problem per se with the young fella riding in front, or even holding the bars, my children's first experience on a moto x bike was this way (in a paddock of course) what I HAVE THE PROBLEM WITH IS THE WAY HE IS CLOTHED, totally irresponsible on his Dad's part ( let's assume it's his Dad) yes I know that is boardering into the "what if" brigade but let's face it every "action" is presumed by this phrase surely? The consequences to this young fella should that bike hit the Tarmac are huge!!!! great to see he has a lid on, but Dad, wrap him up as well mate, please. Steve

From down-under, So NOT cool...

G'day, Hairspray is good cheap option, I always use it for my dirt bike grips, have for years, clean any oily/dirty residue off bars, spray a good amount (as in, plenty, so it is wet in there) into your new grip, slide her onto the bar, done! The "agent", normally alcohol I believe , will evaporate leaving the gooey gunk behind to bind the grip in place. (Extra hold is the best as Freebird states) With dirt bikes we always "tie wire" the grip in place, I am new to Road bikes so I don't know if they do this, due to the fairly "cruisy" nature of the riding I guess. Incidentally hairspray is great for removing old grips if you don't want to "butcher" them, just "pull up" on the forefinger/thumb end and spray into the cavity, it melts the old "glue" work the grip as you spray and bingo, she 's off!! Steve

G'day I have just replaced my heated grips for some nice foam ones, they feel a lot "thicker" to hold but super comfortable, they were only $10NZ, the problem I found was with the "thin" handle bars on my '83, almost every "normal" grip I looked at was way to big (sorry I don't have the bar dimensions with me at the mo, around 1" tubes though) they can be "packed out" I use double sided tape, but it's not really ideal. Just something to be aware of if you order online. There really are too many brands to even begin to mention. Oh and while I was at it i disassembled my throttle and gave it a good clean out, then attached my "cable oiler" sprayed a good load of CRC556 (not sure what you call it over there?)down both cables, rags at the carb end to catch the dirty rubbish, woooooww what a difference!!!! I now have a beautiful smooth throttle, I can "spin" it easily with two fingers and it snaps back, it is so responsive now, i would say it has never been cleaned out ever. Good luck Steve

G'day Doug, You have me stumped, I can't argue with that!!! I can say that we love people visiting our country, maybe we were being kind... (Tounge in cheek...) honestly we moan about being stuck for two minutes at the traffic lights!!!!!. Maybe it's just living down here in the South Island ( two Islands make up NZ, for those that don't know) the South Island has a 32% larger land mass than our North Island yet 77% of our population lives in the north!!! With 32% of the countries population living in one city, Auckland ( our North Island). Roads!!!! Don't get me started, if you think our roads are good then you guys must travel by horseback!!!, Have you read my thread on the "class" system failure in my '83? Well you need ALL the air you can get!!!! Ok I jest!!! Thanks Doug I am delighted you enjoyed your visit, and Honestly if you come back then don't hesitate to contact me. Steve

Ah yes, that one got the hearts racing again, still a lot of very nervous people in that city.

Sadly the Christchurch earthquake killed 185 people and injured several thousand, it flattened pretty much the whole central business district and liquefaction flooded the rest, around 70,000 (360000 pop) people could not live in their damaged homes and had to move away, this happened on 22 February 2011 and the city is still not rebuilt, a major disaster for our small country. Ice cream yes!!! as you know we are in the middle of summer here during December. Steve

I know this is off topic... But awesome trip!!!! Of course living here I have been to everywhere you have mentioned, however, you must come back as there is so much you have not seen!!!!! I will let you ride my '83!!!!! What do ya say!!!!! Steve

G'day syscrusher You are kidding me!!!!! I am born and bred in Dunedin Otago!!! My "playground" is all of the places you mentioned. I trailered the bike to Otematata for New Years Eve, the Benmore/Avimore dam area, my friend has a crib up there (holiday house in your language I guess) my darling Tania and I then rode from there through the Lindis Pass into the Central Otago region, Cromwell/Clyde/Wanaka/Queenstown region. I only trailered it as our Main Highway (SH1) was extremely busy, being that everyone was going to their New Years Eve party destinations, this would only have been my third ever time on a road bike of any sort, in fact my '83 is the Only road bike I have ever ridden!!!! so I was not willing to expose my darling Tanz to any danger from my inexperience AND OR dangerous manoeuvres via our "four wheeled" friends (we are very impatient drivers here in NZ unfortunately..) As you may remember up that way the traffic is fairly minimal (I hear you laugh!!! I guess even our busiest roads are extremely MINIMAL to you!!!) At some stage soon I will post a little story of our first journey on my '83 Royale along with some pictures. If you are ever over here again do not hesitate to contact us, we would love to meet some real live VR members!!!! I feel a long way from you guys down here, HaHA Steve

G'day, I am not a mechanic or electrician but if I had this problem on my '83 I would swap the coil to another cylinder to see if I had the same problem occurring, if so then I would just replace the coil, if not, then it must be a wiring problem perhaps. You may have tried this already, sometimes the obvious is forgotten. (I know I am the master at it!!!!) good luck. Steve

G'day from NZ Oh and Happy New Year!!!!! I am back from my holiday and our first "road trip" on my '83, Fantaaastic!!!!!! Anyway I will write a wee story about that another day. Ok how did the advise go?... I see it has certainly created some discussion!!!! I ended up using a cross between utadventure and pucs ideas, ties to the front forks brace, the soft strap method to the handlebars and a tie to the brace that the rear side panniers fit into as this is, in my opinion, far stronger than the rear passenger grab handles, although having said that the rear ties are not under a lot of pressure, I also secured the front wheel directly to the "chock" or rail. Incidentally i used minimal pressure to compress the forks as I know from experience on long trips towing my dirt bikes hundreds of Kms that fork seals can be blown, I use a "forksaver" on my dirtbikes which fits between tyre and mud guard reducing the amount of compression that can be applied to the fork. However if you tie to the handle bars you MUST compress the forks a fair amount, otherwise the first decent bump you hit, will compress them anyway and unfortunately allow the tie downs to become slack, with the possibility of the hook coming free and your pride and joy tipping over ( I always used a caribina type closed clip arrangement) PUC suggets the double strap method. Anyway... We trailered her 300kms on New Zealand country roads, if any of you have been down under you will know they tend to be rather "lumpy" and always as per NZ, extremely twisty!!! All this on a leaf sprung trailer at 100kph, ABSOLUTLEY NO PROBLEM!!!!! Stayed secure and unmoved the whole trip!!!! So thanks everyone for your help. Puc if you read this I may have to email you my trip pictures as I am still having trouble attaching them on this site, I will pm you at some stage. Steve

Ah Puc you are my hero!! It is because of you I am able to even ride my beauty these holidays!!! I have been on around 100kms of easy rides around my province, getting used to this fantastic machine, Puc I love it!!! The freedom is mind blowing!!!! I actually had a trial run with Daves suggestion this afternoon, it worked great, albeit without actually taking the rig for a drive, however I am so paranoid with the relative "height" of the tie downs, I believe the lower they (tie downs/straps) are the "physics" of it all will actually negate the holding power and she will tip, having said that I totally believe that Dave and Condors methods work well, but I will have a higher "strap" in place-just to be sure!!!! Oh and Puc I have so many photos to share of my "restoration" etc, (and the rather ingenious method of raising the suspension...) but I cannot for the life of me work out how to " attach" the photos to this site, yes I have read the threads on "how to" but alas it did not work! Anyway that is another story. Kind Regards from "Kiwi"

Thanks Condor, my trailer has full length "rails" with a front end " chock" plus numerous attach points, so between you and Dave I am now sorted. Steve

Great!!!! thanks Dave

G'day and Merry Xmas from NZ I want to trailer my bike up to Central Otago lakes where we will be holidaying to see the new year in, the roads are fantastic up there with beautiful scenery, it will be much safer to take my darling Tanz on her maiden ride as passenger on our now up and running '83. As I have mentioned previously I have only ever ridden a total of 300 odd kms on the road (all on this bike) so I am very "green" at this and have lots to learn (ridden/raced dirt bikes for 40+ yrs). Anyway (once again) I digress!! I need to know the "tie down" (assume you guys call them this) attachment points for the bike, my trailer is a purpose built motorcycle trailer with three rails, I will obviously have her in the middle rail, my dirt bikes weigh no more then 110 kilos, but I know this girl is over three times that weight, and I just cannot see how I can attach tie downs to the handlebars only (as I do with the dirt bikes), the centre of gravity is low I know, but the weight will surely be exponential when I take corners at 100kph, I am worried that she will tip. Help please Steve

Gady Gary, Oh where do I start!!! First and foremost I have discovered that an E2 error is TERMINAL!!!! She is not coming back from that one, unless you are an electronic whiz maybe and can "pull down" and repair a circuit board. It appears that the only non-repairable "E" code from 1-5, is E2 according to my manual and other sources. However... It sounds like yours is displaying the same symptoms as mine when it was half working... FIRSTLY read the previous thread in this post, the gurus have come up with some great advice. THEN... (This is what I did) check and clean, with an electrical non conductive spray ALL connectors from the control box on your dash right through to the compressor under the rear trunk. This is not a five minute job so have a cup of coffee with you... take care when removing the control box as the main "plug blades/spades" are soldered directly onto the circuit board. When I cleaned these connectors I had a nice consistent air flow via the control box in both manual and auto settings. Then...check the soldier joints on the circuit board where the plug connects, there is a great in this site somewhere, unfortunately I am not that savy when it comes to adding links etc... Sorry. I will almost guarantee though that this "fix" has already been carried out. Then, you will need another coffee... I completely dismantled the entire Compressor system, checking ALL "O" rings, on the air lines, including the dessicant cylinder, I then removed each of the three solenoid cylinders from the unit, I "jumpered" each one so that I could physically see (rather then hear) if they were working, the "plunger" will retract/release with power. If the "discharge solenoid has problems then that will be the reason your air bleeds out (in my opinion based on what I have learnt from this exercise) AND FINALLY, when all else fails and you really NEED TO RIDE, NOW!!! Then read the brilliant thread from Cowpuc in (page 1 of this post). That won't work though if you cannot prevent the air from bleeding out. Otherwise we are both up for a new control box, you are closer to one than I though!!! Merry Xmas Steve

G'day Gary I am sure the gurus will help you at some stage, but my two cents worth as I have spent close to 20 after work hours on my '83 Class problems this week, you do know Class will only "work" when key on Acc position? (forgive me if this is obvious too you), otherwise I had a blank (psi, is ALWAYS displayed) screen when I discovered a blown fuse, inside the red wired black rubber number atop the battery ( I assume my 83 is the same as your 84. Personally I would say it's a blown fuse, of course that's just the start as replacing the fuse won't fix the reason it blew in the first place!!!!!! Hope this is of some use Steve

Haha, and unfortunately I am going to give them more fodder by saying not only did I understand your post but YOU WERE RIGHT!!!!!! It WORKED!!!!!! I now have a rideable bike!!!!!! I actually removed all three solenoid cylinders so I could be sure the "plungers" we're opening/closing fully, as I could only hear a very faint click from the "rear shocky" solenoid , I fixed this by thoroughly cleaning the main connecting plug (of which I was attaching my "jumper lead") which was full of road grime, I then had a very definite and audible plunger activation. I then put the whole assembly back together now nice and clean also. Slighty different from your post I made up two small jumper leads directly from an old 12v motorcycle battery, i used this to start the compressor motor, HEY PRESTO WE HAVE A RISNG REAR SHOCKY!!!! I took the pressure up as high as I dare, I compressed the shocky by "bouncing" on the pegs (extra person to hold bike steady) this gave me at least a base line, I think I have around 60-70 psi in there. Now all I need is skydoc_17 to find me a new/old CLASS controller... I eagerly anticipate a humorous response Flyinfool and Kic... Steve