Jump to content

Seaking

Expired Membership
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,307

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Seaking

  1. Seaking
    I'm all about being seen for protection.. Not only is it important to put out a lot of light in order to see the road ahead of you for potential dangers, but it's also important to be able to BE seen by oncoming traffic and others by putting out enough light without blinding the already blind. If you watch a bike approaching you on the road, its the "blob" of light you see that determines how noticeable you really are.. hence driving with high beam during the day time makes you more noticeable, driving with highway light makes this blob a lot wider, more noticeable.. safer. A nice offset with the new lights installed is that gains over 84Watts back to the bike electrical system, allowing me to potentially add way more accessories if I needed to.. which I do HID headlight draws only 35W as it is a single bulb double action set up, instead of using the conventional 55/65 bulbs.. HID puts out a lot of light, bright white light that it also drowns out your highway lights.. these no longer really aid in lighting up the road anymore as the HID sweeps across the road and reach out into the darkness.. Not only that but because the HID is a cooler white light, the highway lights now have a really yellow / amber look to them.. and they no longer stand out at all.. I installed these new LED sealed beam lights on the bike and well sir, what I can tell you is that they superseded MY expectations above and beyond.. They put out 120 lumens each.. And they are also bright white colour. And only require 8 watts each from the bike.. do the math, that's a lot of watts back for the toys.. The included photos will show first what the oem sealed beam looks like on the wall.. then the LED sealed beam.. it's mounted on the LEFT side of the bike. The HID and other light covered to isolate the given highway light's light.. Notice the yellow of the right light compared to the left light.. Now the BLOB of light is much wider and discernible than before.. the dim yellow of the oem light is no longer longer lost in the HID's light.. I'll have to wait and see what it looks like out on the road at night.. how it looks when seen from the front etc.. Still more testing and trying it out to see how viable these will be for a long run.. the HID worked out superbly, now hopefully these will to.. can't see why not.. Sealed, solid state.. LED.. Hmm
  2. Seaking
    When you make your adjustments on the screws, do you notice a change in rpm or sound if you happen to push too hard against the screws with the screw driver? It doesn't take a lot of pressure.. Next time you synch your carbs, just press a little against the adjustment screws.. I often wondered how much that affects the overall synch process and perhaps that's why some of the shops have such a hard time synch'ing up these bikes..
  3. Seaking
    Well I had an unusual and unexpected shut down of my own tonight after a long ride in the freezing cold.. Which is quite ironic considering the conversations we've been having.. Arriving home, I clicked my garage door opener as I pull off the street into the driveway and as I round the corner behind the house, the bike shut down.. POOF.. damn.. almost made it to the heated garage.. You can well imagine how mortified I was!! Oh no! Now I have to go through all this trouble shooting myself all over again.. I hung my head down low... and spotted the problem.. As flukey as it sounds, the house key attacked to the ring with the bike key wedged itself somehow into the risers and acted like a lever when I turned the bars to the left to around the corner.. and it turned the ignition key off.. How about that.. Unwedged the key, turned the ignition to the right (on) and started the bike again.. PHEW.. Had me worried there for a sec.. lol Why me? At least I managed to finish the last 3 weeks without a bird strike =)
  4. Seaking
    I had purchased my 06 in 08 as the third owner, and it appeared no one did any proper maintenance on the bike before I bought it. 20,000 miles on it.. Later that year the bike would shut down like it was starving of fuel.. basically just like it ran out of fuel.. This wasn't the sudden loss of power but sputtering and struggling until it died.. If I added more fuel to the tank it would start and run.. but when the fuel would go down to a certain level, just above the Reserve level, it would gag out.. What was happening is that the fuel filter was so badly clogged that it required "head pressure" of lot of fuel on top of it to help push fuel through the filter that the pump was sucking through.. After the fuel dropped down to a certain level, the pump couldn't cope and the bike would starve of fuel.. Changed the fuel filter and poof, problem solved.. just like that.. and because of that I change my fuel filter once a year or twice depending on how much riding I do.. and I ride a lot.. (33,500 miles last year) Unfortunately, because of all that hard work the pump had to do to suck through that fuel through a clogged fuel filter, I feel that the pump died prematurely from overwork exhaustion.. and started to cause the sudden quick shut downs at the most inopportune times.. Fun bikes though!
  5. Seaking
    Hi Earl.. the front axle mungeing was done by yet another shop.. I had put this same observation to the owner that perhaps that same mechanic may have caused it and tried to hide his mistake, but he wasn't at the shop that day my bike was being worked on for the front tire shop.. However I did get reimbursed for the screwed up clutch job that idiot had done.. I needed to get the clutch plates changed and clutch fluid flushed as I didn't know how at that time (I do now know how to flush the fluid myself).. A week later, I had to do an oil change before another road trip and as I looked down into the oil refill port, something didn't look right.. huh.. the clutch plates weren't indexed properly... (the three notches and index mark alignment.. )...Grrr.. I had to pull the cover off again and reset everything proper.. When I brought my bike in for the forks and neck bearings, I even provided him with the repair shop manual for the bike.. He said he didn't need one, because he had one.. But the kid behind the parts counter quietly shook his head (you didn't see me say NO...kind of look).. At that point I should have realized how much of a moron he was.. I pointed out to him that if he had a manual, why didn't he use it for doing the clutch plates, did he use the proper torque values etc etc.. Oh THAT manual.. blah blah... i should have seen the writing on the wall at how incompetent he was.. he's probably looking to work on farm machinery now.. less likely to kill someone there.. Nuff said.. one idiot fired, one shop owner redeemed himself.. and I learned another valuable lesson.. I'm sick and tired of getting pooched by incompetent people that I'll no longer decline taking them to task for their stupidity or incompetence. Honest mistakes are that, mistakes.. Incompetence and idiots are unforgivable..
  6. Seaking
    Long story short, a licensed mechanic was fired at a bike shop that I had my neck bearings replaced and forks serviced at not long ago, by that mechanic.. All this came to a head after I had to remove the fuel tank from the bike this weekend to change my tach. He had so badly cross threaded the tank side mounting bolts that the shop owner had to come over and fix the threads on the bike so that I could re-install the tank to the bike.. no joke, the level of incompetence of a person to have to use that much ham fist torque to munge up those bolts.. my gosh.. I mean seriously, what is the thought process of that person as he's forcing those bolts in?? So badly munged were the bolts that they were BENT.. After a closer look, several other things were noticed not done right. The shop owner had fired the licensed mechanic for incompetence and other problems.. unfortunately my bike was one of the last bikes he'd worked on and now I'm worried. The shop owner, a much respected person for his upstanding character, without hesitation assured me he'll do what is needed to get my bike sorted out if there happens to be a problem with it.. One problem I discovered is that the air valves at the top of the forks point to the sides instead of to the rear of the bike.. I'm not sure if this is a very BAD thing, or just an annoyance thing. The shop owner said he would take the bike in, sort that problem out and check for anything else that might be amiss... Question is, does it make a large difference if the air valves point to the sides or to the rear? I can still get an air pump line to them.. there's enough room.. I feel bad for the owner, that one mechanic almost sank his shop with such incompetence..
  7. Seaking
    Same clock on my bars.. the thermometer is useless.. constant temperature no matter what time of year or where on the bike its installed on.. I contacted them about the thermometer and they sent me a test instructions.. Drop it in a glass of water and ice cubes, and it if reads 32F / 0'C then it's working properly... though in Florida it read 68'F (when it was 90'F) and last night it was reading 68'F when we were freezing our assets off in 38'F weather.. But it's calibrated to 32F.. so.. erhmm.. what ever, it's a chunk of chrome.. Clock works great though..
  8. Seaking
    Hi Bobby.. your issue sounds a heck of a lot of what happened to me last year.. Fuel Pump on it's way out to the grave.. Unfortunately mine finally gave up the ghost when I was a far away distance from home.. My bike would ride fine and dandy and poof, the engine suddenly quits.. not sputter, no cough, it just ups and quits.. and depending on unknown variables, it would start up again.. SO odd.. and so scary, imaging trying to pass a semi on an uphill passing lane with a cager on your rear bumper and poof, no engine.. scary.. This is what happened to me.. I ride a lot and it would only happen ever so often.. not often enough or long enough to be able to diagnose or trouble shoot it properly.. ONLY after the dang thing completely died that we figured out what was wrong with the bike and it's been 100% ever since.. From what I understood from the knowledgeable mechanic said is that the contacts on the pump aren't the toughest out there and under a lot of heat with no permit electrical flow.. until the points or contacts wear down or erode away and the pump dies (something like that.. others could explain it better.. ) Seeing the age of your bike, it sounds quite likely to be the cause of your shut downs. The pump WILL test properly and work properly, but it's dying.. However, before replacing the pump, you can check a few other things.. The kick stand safety switch apparently comes a little loose and if you ride over a bump, the kick stand can droop breaking contact and that can cause a shut down.. its like when you park your bike and shut the bike off with the kick stand, while the bike is in gear.. A cleaning and lube will clear that up.. Anyway, that's what happened to me..
  9. Seaking
    I installed a Drag Specialties Mini Tach on mine.. I synch my carbs often enough it makes it easier.. Unfortunately, I just to replace mine with a spare I had because the guts dropped out of the tach.. so odd.. A call to Drag Specialties about warranty replacement indicates that I can only get an RMA through the shop I purchased it from.. My memory isn't that good.. erk! I originally had a black faced one to match my Midnight RSV but you really couldn't see the tach needle at night. the back lighting didn't make it stand out.. but the spare one I installed is white faced and isn't glaring in your face bright, just the right amount. Idle set at 1,000 rpm..
  10. Seaking
    LOL snow? Heck we were hoping for the RAINS to finally go away so we could get in a few more days of riding hehe.. You're going to enjoy the RSV (I have an 06 Midnight).. If you bought yours used from a private owner and not sure if the bike was properly serviced in it's life time (mine wasn't ugh).. be sure to do your filters as soon as possible (fuel especially).. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run.. flush all your fluids (brakes and clutch).. I went through a lot of maintenance on my bike because the two previous owners didn't seem to have taken care of it properly.. but at the price I paid for it, and the free warranty work I got done in the USA, I wasn't complaining much. But preventive maintenance goes a long way with these bikes.. Fun fun.. I've only had it for two years and already put over 55,000 miles on it.. hehehe No, it's NOT an addiction.. it's not.. I'm just in denial..
  11. Seaking
    Thanks for the replies guys, we'll have a look at those should it ever happen again.. twice this year, but yet so random a problem.. The gas cap was pulled, and even attempted a start with the cap removed (but hole covered) I don't think the shot of SeaFoam was a fix or lead to the fix, we just tried it for lack of anything else (certainly can't hurt).. Goose, thanks for the tip, we'll check that for sure.. We looked at the vacuum plugs to make sure everything looked good there (as far as we can tell).. I had been thinking clogged fuel filter or glitchy fuel pump.. afflictions that nailed my bike the other year.. But a clogged carb, yes, indeed, that's also a possibility, as that also afflicted my bike on the way home from visiting you this summer.. luckily a drain of the carb resolved that issue.. Something to consider.. Hmmm Its such a weird one.. The bike won't start, it refuses like a stubborn impetuous child.. then you ignore it for a little while and try it again, all is good as if nothing was wrong.. The bike is still under warranty so he'll most likely take it down to the shop in the spring and see what's what.. we're on the edge of the snow fall at this time of year (yet we're still riding until then).. Thanks for your comments..
  12. Seaking
    Hi guys.. buddy and I ran into a weird one today.. After a week of torrential downpour and heavy winds, the weather finally cleared enough to get the bikes out for a cold windy run.. we're die hard riders who refuse to put their bikes away.. When I got to my buddy's house his bike was idling very oddly...and this is where everything goes wrong to worse.. Full choke ON, bike barely idling.. but it's idling prolly sounds like 900 rpm.. if you touch the throttle, the bike dies.. If you take the choke off, the bike dies.. It needs full choke and don't play with the throttle.. VERY odd indeed.. We DID see this a few weeks ago in New Hampshire on a late season road trip.. but the bike cleared itself inside of 5 minutes and ran 100% since then.. so odd. But this time, no go.. Nothing you could do would clear what ever was causing it.. Then we noticed that the sound was getting even more odd.. Hello, what's this.. We then noticed that the front jugs were not making heat at all.. and then ONLY the rear left jug.. (I have to stop touching hot metal exhausts.. ) try as we could, the bike would not start and stay running.. Not good.. Now, the bike had been sitting in his garage for a week, semi heated, but with about a 1/4 tank of fuel in it.. shouldn't have made too huge a difference.. We added another 1/2 gallon of fuel to the tank with some SeaFoam.. ya never know.. but no change. It just wouldn't catch.. When you cranked the starter, you could hear the one jug catching but not igniting completely and the other jugs just going along for the ride, not firing.. I don't recall a lot of raw fuel smell either.. windy as it was.. Battery was on a tender all week before this.. So, we abandoned his bike for the winter.. I sadly said goodbye to my friend and hauled out of there for a quick spin before heading home and getting some fresh fuel into my gas tank for the next storage period.. And I get the phone call, the bike started and is running 100% fine.. HUH? Just like it did in New Hampshire.. We thought then that the bike, sitting outdoors in the overnight cold rain might have had some water in it.. But what the? Breaking it down to the bare minimums, we thought what about the fuel filter? I changed his filter in July, perhaps 15,000 miles ago.. Not long in TIME but perhaps due in mileage? My fuel filter had clogged so badly that it starved the engine last year.. Then what about the pump? My pump had died prematurely and in such a weird and wild manner, maybe his is doing the same thing? But while we were cranking the engine over earlier on, the pump was getting warm, indicating to me perhaps that it is work OK.. otherwise a failed pump wouldn't make any heat if it's not working? Gremlins.. what the heck.. No idea what caused this failure today, its very similar to what happened a month prior.. and now the bike works 100% no probs, lots of power and almost like it never happened.. How do you start trouble shooting such a problem? The bike is under warranty but the shops here are lacking in experience on these types of bikes, he might never see his bike back again.. Any thoughts or idea what to look for the NEXT time the bike does this again.. if ever? Thanks M8
  13. Seaking
    A Black one eh? Sweet, I think the black ones look best.. However, mine seems to be a bird magnet.. no, not the two legged type but the aviary types..
  14. Seaking
    I'm a little gun shy of using the Rotella 6 for some odd reason and use the YamaLube dino oil.. I DO notice a shifting and ride difference as to how the clutch transfers it's energy.. I'm averaging an oil change and filter every 3,000 miles on this bike.. and using a mag plug.. but that's me..
  15. Seaking
    You need a wrench to take your filter off? ouch.. I lube the o ring on the filter with new oil, spin it on.. once it makes contact, then I turn it only an additional 1/4 turn by hand.. and it never leaks, and comes off nice and easy with a bare hand at next oil change.. I dunno, works for me.. Out of curiosity, isn't 5500 miles on a Synthetic oil a little long?
  16. Seaking
    Oh doods, my ride partner has personally witnessed 13 or 14 of these hits as usually rides trail.. In my 30 yrs military career I've been downed twice due to bird strikes (safe emergency landings).. and as a civilian pilot took 'something rather large' through the prop of a C-172 and through the windshield.. (again, a somewhat safe landing..) Seriously, I'm not jinxed.. no.. really..
  17. Seaking
    In regards to the ODO vs SPEEDO being off, I'd sooner avoid a speeding ticket than be 3% late or early for an oil change.. or knowing if I actually burnt off 33,500 miles on the bike this summer or actually 31,500 miles. ya know? In the overall scheme of things, for ME, the over all mileage isn't as important or critical as your actual factual exact speed, ya know? "over all".. But, to each his / her / it own.. Btw, another bird strike last night and today... total for the year: 18
  18. Seaking
    Hi guys, just to touch base on the Speedo Healer for the RSV.. My bike would report back roughly 10% discrepancy in it's speedo and the GPS speed.. reconfirmed with another vehicle etc.. So I'm good and sure my speed is reading 10% under the actual speed.. 110 kph highway speed reads 120 kph on my speedo.. So I usually have my GPS mounted for accurate speed readings.. Not a prob but ya know how it is.. dang, I would like the bike to be accurate too huh.. A few years ago I had purchased a Speedo Healer for my 2005 1100 VStar but never got around to installing it on the bike for one reason or another.. So it sat in the box for a few years.. An article by Freebird in regards to "gear indicator" had a mention in there about Speedo Healers.. and it reminded me "darn I wish I had one of those for the RSV"... and funny enough the one for the VStar is the same one you would use for the RSV.. =) And wouldn't you know it.. the installation is bone stupid simple.. literally "plug and play" and there is an online calculator to help you with the settings on the unit.. a row of 6 dip switches have to be selected in a certain sequence to input the properly 'correction' into the unit's flash to make it all work ok.. I just took the bike out for a test ride and wow.. now THAT's locked in tight for speed.. A quick steady speed up the highway at 100 kph on the GPS shows also 100 kph on the bike's speedo... down to 40 kph in residential and same thing.. wow, it works!! The only thing I have to remember now is to NOT add an additional 10 kph to my bike's speedo other wise I will be speeding! VERY impressed.. wow.. You can find more info on these at http://www.healtech-electronics.com/ Someone had put up an installation guide.. it took longer to read the guide than it was to actually install the unit.. http://www.speedohealer.com/your_pics/royalstar/sh_install_royalstar.pdf It only took me 3 years but I finally put mine to use LOL.. I'll have to go through my box of goodies and see what else I might be able to put to use..
  19. Seaking
    Bwa'ahahaha NICE one.. now I have to clean off the monitor as I squirted milk up through my nose when I saw that mounting kit photo.. Well done!
  20. Seaking
    ya know, it makes me sick to my stomach reading you guys whine and complain about the cost of gas.. sheesh... 3 bucks a gallon.. 3.15 a gallon aww you poor muffins.. awww Come visit us up here and enjoy REAL gas.. (some places do mix it though) for the cheap gas prices of.. anywhere from 4.00 to 5.50 a gallon for regular gas.. yeah.. (1.15 a litre recently) NOW you understand why we like riding down in the USA on road trips.. CHEAP GAS! The border security people keep asking us "what is the purpose of your visit" every time we cross the border, we keep telling them "Cheap Gas" but they won't accept that as a reason.. Shame.. Sorry, HAD to get that off my chest.. 3 bucks a gallon, I wish!
  21. Seaking
    I had another option for a garage door opener on my other bike but it required having to pull apart the unit itself. You take the guts out of the case and wrap it up to make it water proof so you can mount it or hide it anywhere on the bike.. You run longer wires from the little micro switch that actuates the signal to another switch that you mount anywhere on your bike. Originally, I had one under the centre console of the bike, with a small press switch out to the side.. As I rolled up to the driveway I touched it with my left hand and it would work.. out of sight.. The new garage I'm at now came with just one remote unit so that's why I currently have it in my tank bib pouch as a whole unit with a knob on top of it's switch to make it easier to activate when I touch the pouch.. And it has great range.. I can be half way down the street when I press the switch and the door is fully open by the time I roll in.. (quick hehe)
  22. Seaking
    I never use a fuel stabilizer in my bike.. I ride it when ever I can.. sometimes when I shouldn't.. I didn't realize it was supposed to snow today when I went out for a chilly ride. Now THAT's a new one for me!! lol Did someone say that SeaFoam also acts like a fuel stabilizer as well? I tend to put that in my bike by this time of the year as I don't pull the bike out as often as I would like to.. Darn stoopid snow..
  23. Seaking
    Didn't you know its always best to learn from OTHER people's mistakes and not your own? Less expensive that way.. erk!!
  24. Seaking
    Tank bib with small pouch has the garage door opener in it.. A knot of silicone on top of the door button ensures that any time and any where I press on the pouch will activate the switch.. works every time.. doesn't matter if I accidentally activate it whilst away from home, the garage door ain't there Inside that case I keep my phone or spare riding glasses.. (day or nights etc..) First Aid kit in left saddle bag (red cross on lid to identify it) and comprehensive travel tool kit in the right bag.. and everything I can shove in all bags.. Usually when road tripping it somewhere, I simply spider net a small waterproof duffel bag to the back seat.. Leaves my trunks free for odds and shods..
  25. Seaking
    Owner manuals across the board will tell you to stay away from EC type oils mainly for just that reason.. Its a bit of a juggling act with additives for a bike, isn't it? Got to provide some friction reduction yet allow enough for the clutch to work properly without burning out the engine etc etc.. hence why using some brands of friction reduction engine oil additives are not recommended for most bikes..
×
×
  • Create New...