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V7Goose

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Everything posted by V7Goose

  1. V7Goose
    This is not correct for the 2ng Gen. The 150/90-15 rear E3 has a maximum pressure of 40 lbs. In my experience, it must be kept at 40 for best handling. As I said in several earlier posts in this thread, feathering on the sides seems to be a specific fault of this tire, as I have seen it on four of them so far (on three different RSVs). On my own RSV, no other rear tire has done this, but two E3s have. There is always a possibility that something has worn more recently that is causing this, but I haven't found any problem so far. Goose
  2. V7Goose
    The only new suspension links you can buy are the Leveling Links from DiamondR. Goose
  3. V7Goose
    Yes, the links are the same on the RSV and RSTD. I recommend them for everyone who can take the slight increase in saddle height. Goose
  4. V7Goose
    Well sir, it is real hard to tell when just looking at couple of pictures, but I thought I could see a strange off-center wear pattern, just in specific places on the tire. In particular, look st the third picture, right side, just this side of center before the main roll-off of the side. The picture looks like it is a bit worn down there, with a bigger bump before the roll-off. And the other pictures seemed to show hints of similar irregularities. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if all that is just a distortion in the 2-D picture of a 3-D object. If your actual examination of the tire shows that it has a normal rounded profile equally all the way around, and you are just seeing feathering on one side of the grooves, then I'd say there is nothing to worry about. In my experience with several of the E3s, this is a typical fault of this tire. I do not know what causes it, but I do not get the same thing from Avon Venoms on the same bike. Goose
  5. V7Goose
    The tool is fairly easy to use, but I personally hate the Morgan Carb Tune because the rods stick a lot and I can't rust the readings. And to make matters worse, they CANNOT be calibrated - says so right in the instructions. A lot of people seem to like this tool, but I am not one of them. I prefer the dial gauges. Goose
  6. V7Goose
    That is definitely very strange wear - feathering is very common on that tire, but that is not what I see in your pictures. I have not seen it exactly like that, so I can only speculate on typical problems that can cause irregular wear. Loose shock mounts or improper dampening from the rear shock can cause very strange wear problems, as can worn swing arm bearings. And balance, of course, can so lots of strange things. But the one I suspect is the easiest to check if you have not yet dismounted the tire from the rim -is it beaded up perfectly concentric with the rim? Look very closely at the little rib on the tire just next to the rim - the E3 has two of them, one about 1/4" out, and one that is just barely visible right next to the rim. Look all the way around and make sure this inside rib is exactly equal in every spot on both sides. If it disappears under the edge of the rim at any point, you have found the cause. Goose
  7. V7Goose
    Needs a Trox T40 bit. Be sure to locktite them when you put them back together (called for in the shop manual). You will need to have the bottom rotor off to fit the wheel holder, and I strongly recommend you remove the other one to just be extra safe while mounting the tire. Very easy, especially with a power wrench, and a WHOLE lot cheaper than a new rotor! Goose
  8. V7Goose
    I'm glad you like the new tires - it's just too bad it took you so long to try them. We just don't seem to be able to convince new owners about how totally horrible those stock Brickstone things are and how important it is to put anything else on their bike as soon as possible. Nobody wants to throw away a good tire just to try something different, but they just cannot understand how horrible we say those Brickstone tires make this bike handle. All different tires have different handling characteristics, so it is normal to think the difference here wouldn't be all that great. The problem is that magnitude of the actual change that good tires will make on this bike is almost totally incomprehensible to believe until you actually experience it yourself. Even when brand new those nasty Brickstone Excedra tires couldn't even qualify for as as high a rating as "poor"! As for tire life, my experience shows that you should probably get at LEAST DOUBLE the miles from a rear E3 that you got form a Brickstone Excedra. Enjoy the ride, Goose
  9. V7Goose
    Sure hope you find an easy fix. If not, maybe somebody has a crashed bike sitting around with a used one they could sell you? Goose
  10. V7Goose
    I am sorry, but I have absolutely no idea about what the thing is to which you refer. I have never heard the term you use in conjunction with this bike. Goose
  11. V7Goose
    Well Gregg, you are very wrong. I'm sorry you don't see the need for these posts, but I'll try to enlighten you if your mind is still open enough on the idea of sharing both sides of the argument. The absolute last thing I want is discord or a pissing contest. And frankly, I don't care at all what tire you put on your bike. The fact that I disagree with you and think your decisions are misguided and dangerous does NOT mean that I feel that need to try and change your mind. In fact, your mind is clearly closed on this subject, as is mine without new information, so nothing I post here is intended for you at all. HOWEVER, we have new members every day, and many of them do NOT have closed minds. In fact, they come to this forum specifically looking for information so that they might actually make an informed decision instead of just blindly accepting anything you say or I say. So the reason I post here is to try and ensure that BOTH sides of the discussion are available to those who actually do care. And as I stated in post #5, based on the very limited information the OP gave us when he started this thread, it seemed quite possible to me that he was making his decision on very limited experience and several bad assumptions. So I WAS concerned about his decision if there was any possibility that he actually might want to understand a little more about the terrible tire that he used as a basis for comparison when he stated he was happy with the handling of the new car tire. And even if he did not care at all, I was even more concerned about other members who might come here and see his faulty claim that all was good with his car tire without also having the information about how bad the tire was that he used a baseline for comparison. So the way you see it is wrong. You do not have to like seeing the other side of this discussion, but I hope you can at least understand that my intent is only to try and help anyone who actually DOES want to see both sides. I am very sorry if that offends you, but I think the possible benefit for others might be more important than the alternative. Goose
  12. V7Goose
    There is definitely more to this story than we have here. Unless something has failed there is absolutely no way you can actually run out of gas in the reserve position with only 5 miles on the trip meter. You don't tell us what your fuel gauge showed or how much gas your tank took compared to your normal fill. The most likely causes that come to mind would be either your petcock was not REALLY on reserve (people have been know to change them as a joke), your sending unit has gone bad, fuel pump went bad, or a vacuum lock in the tank that stopped the flow of gas. I think you may be over reacting and just asking for more trouble down the road if you just start running scared of your fuel supply and don't actually figure out what really went wrong. Everyone has different procedures that they follow to decide when to gas up, and while I won't try to swear that all RSVs are 100% alike, I have done a lot of comparisons with other RSVs while we rode together, and they have all been very similar to mine in capacity and range (as adjusted for their actual riding styles and condition). I constantly push my range to the limit, and unlike Ponch, I pay more attention to the fuel trip meter miles than I do to the actual fuel gauge. I do carry a small amount of gas with me, and I have deliberately run out of gas in a number of situations so I could accurately verify how much fuel was available and how much I could add to the tank. Here's what I have proven with my bike over and over again in 80,000 miles: My tank absolutely does hold a full 6 gallons, and I can use it all and fill it with 6 gallons (with a vented filler neck I think my max fill was 5.96 gallons). It is common for me to fill with between 5.6 and 5.8 gallons with I am on the road and pushing the limit of my range. I leave my petcock in reserve position 100% of the time, and I consider myself on "reserve" when the trip meter switches to "F". When my bike was fairly new I did switch the petcock, and it was very consistent that I would have to move it to the reserve position just a couple of miles after the trip meter switched (like 4.7 miles, for example). The specs for the RSV state that the tank has about .9 gallons in reserve - this is wrong - all of them I have checked have 1.5 gallons left after the trip meter changes. Note that the amount of gas left for reserve is completely independent of how full you normally fill your tank - that will only affect how much gas you have BEFORE you go on reserve, not what is left. Actual range on reserve is variable, depending on all the normal things that affect MPG AND how straight and smooth the road is. This tank does not have a leveling connection between the left and right sides, so if you are riding on a straight smooth road at a steady speed, you will run out of gas with at least a quart left on the right side. That still means you can count on a full gallon in reserve under any conditions. But if you are in any conditions that produce normal sloshing, especially riding hilly and twisty roads, you will get to use virtually ALL of the available gas. With only one single exception (running 85+ into a NASTY headwind), I know for a fact that I can ALWAYS get a minimum of 40 miles on reserve, and if I am riding at 60 MPH or less, I'll get 60 miles on reserve. Even though I put most of my faith in watching the miles on the fuel trip meter and knowing how the conditions are affecting my MPG, I do not ignore the fuel gauge. I know for a fact that when the last bar disappears on the fuel gauge on my bike, I still have at least 20 miles of fuel left. Your bike may certainly be different than mine, but if it is much different, I'd look hard for the cause. Goose
  13. V7Goose
    I didn't want to say it myself and keep this pissing contest going, but I just gotta support someone else who sees it! Goose
  14. V7Goose
    You missed the whole point of my rant. The balance of my wheel makes ZERO difference in this comparison. I took two tires, same brand, size and model - made within a couple of months of each other, mounted on the same rim. If Dunlop had even average to moderately poor build quality, those two tires, positioned identically on the same rim, would have taken something close to the same weight. But for one to take only 1/2 oz and the other to take 5 oz shows such horrible, terrible, nasty, shoddy, flat crappy build consistency (also known a BAD quality) that everything else about their tires is now of big concern to me. Even on a big truck tire, I think needing five oz of weight to balance is bad, and on a motorcycle tire it is totally egregious. If they can't build two supposedly identical tires with similar balance points, just what else are they totally screwing up? Goose
  15. V7Goose
    I mounted a new Dunlop E3 rear tire last week - carefully positioned the dot with the valve stem - only took 1/2 oz to perfectly balance the tire. That is the way it SHOULD be. But alas, on the way back from Don's carnival, with only 5 days and 3.000 miles on that tire, I picked up a big screw that damaged the sidewall and destroyed the tire. So with great sadness I ordered a new Dunlop E3 - came in this morning and I mounted it this afternoon. Same wheel, of course, and I carefully positioned the dot exactly with the valve stem, but did it take 1/2 oz???? Or even 1 oz or 2 oz?? Nooooooooo - How about FIVE oz of lead to pull this cruddy tire into balance? Yeah, you read that right - 5 oz! I ordinarily can't accept any tire that takes more than 3 oz of weight to balance, but this time I just wimped out. Shoulda broken the tire down and rotated it on the wheel to try and find a better balance spot, but it was dumping rain and I was just too danged lazy. And since I ordered the tire on the web, it wasn't easy to go demand a replacement, so I ended up just accepting the 5 oz balance.. But I still get to whine about it, don't I? Never had that kind of wild weight shift with Avons - just another reason I may go back to the Venom on this bike. Goose
  16. V7Goose
    Lithium soap base grease is just a standard grease - nothing special. I personally would use a normal 5% moly grease on the drive shaft splines, but if the manufacturer calls for a lithium soap base grease, just about any grease will do. Seems like lots of people are suddenly enamored with Honda Moly60, but I personally don't have it and wouldn't use it anywhere unless a manufacturer specifically called for it. In particular, about the only place it is of value is some dirty, nasty, off-road, dry, pure metal-to-metal contact that will probably never be kept greased - Only in that specific situation is the ultra high moly content ever going to be of any value. In 99.9999999% of cases where any moly grease is specified, 5% moly is absolutely acceptable. Goose
  17. V7Goose
    If you do a search for my old posts about front tire size, you will find a huge amount of detail on my tire testing for the RSV. I won't try to repeat it here, but briefly I do not find the 130/90 front tire a good choice for these bikes except under a very limited set of circumstances. A good tire in stock size, such as the Avon Venom or Dunlop E3 will produce an astonishing improvement in slow speed handling over that horrible Brickstone (even in stock size, all other tires are much more narrow than that Brickstone, and have a better profile too). If your legs are long enough to take a slight increase in saddle height, adding the DiamondR Leveling Links will produce an amazing improvement in handling, quite similar to what the 130/90 tire does. I do recommend the Leveling Links for everyone who can take the height. I absolutely do NOT recommend both the 130/90 tire and the Leveling Links, but not everyone agrees with me there, and even with the stock suspension links, I still feel that most riders are better served with good tires in stock sizes. You are quite close to me - if you want to bring the bike over and talk about it, I'd be happy to do that. Goose
  18. V7Goose
    Based on an article I just stumbled across on the OSRAM web site, it seems that there is at least one aftermarket HID conversion that uses a bulb that complies with the SAE J1383 beam pattern. This is a big change since the last time I researched these lights. If one of those is used AND it is properly adjusted and used on low beam when any vehicle is in front of the bike, I am sure I would have absolutely no complaints about glare or irritation. I'd suggest anyone looking at an HID conversion make sure they are marked as "street legal", since that will ensure the correct beam pattern. It is certainly possible that all of the conversions I have seen do have proper and legal bulbs, but are just not properly adjusted. In that case, my complaints are not against the HID light. ANY improperly adjusted light, no mater what kind of technology, is a bad thing. I remain firmly behind my opinions about deliberately blinding and irritating other drivers on the road. Goose
  19. V7Goose
    Five minute job on the RSTD, but not the RSV! Unless you have midget hands and lots of patience, you need to split the fairing to access the bulb on the RSV. Goose
  20. V7Goose
    The 2nd gens use a standard H4 replaceable bulb in a fixed housing, not a sealed beam. The height adjustment on the bilb is easily changed while astride the bike. The housing DOES have a lateral adjustment inside the fairing, but to make any accurate change to that adjustment you would not only have to split the fairing, but also have a way to ensure the forks were EXACTLY in line with the rear tire. Most anybody simply assumes the lateral adjustment is close enough from the factory and only adjust the height. Goose
  21. V7Goose
    FYI - here is a link to one of the best complete documents for aiming different types of lights: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/images/Aim.pdf It does not specifically address motorcycles, but that doesn't change anything - just be sure to adjust the light with the bike loaded like you plan to ride it, and with your weight on the saddle (including passenger if you will be riding two-up). If you do a lot of mixed riding, sometimes loaded, sometimes solo, it is always best to aim the lights with the biggest load on the bike, since that will usually have the lights pointing higher than solo. This makes sure they are never aimed at a dangerous height to blind oncoming drivers. I personally run two different sets of driving lights, just so I can get the most benefit under different conditions without blinding others. With my low beams, I run some very cheap 20W spots that really light up the road and shoulders close up (the way I have them aimed). But with high beams that I will never have on if someone is in front of me, I have bigger and brighter spots aimed much higher and spread more. Goose
  22. V7Goose
    Dave, I suspect the difference in the amount of light your pictures showed on the road vs the difference in GLARE and perceived brightness looking at the light is probably the difference between a proper and legal beam pattern on the SilverStar and an unknown beam pattern on the HID conversion. Just guessing here, of course, but that would certainly explain it. Legal vehicle bulbs have a very specific beam pattern that provides a very abrupt cutoff of light above a certain level, and this is usually very easy to see when you aim the lights at a vertical surface. Usually the beam pattern will have a straight horizontal cut-off in the center, with some higher flair on the right side. If that HID replacement does not have the proper beam pattern, it would not be surprising at all if the SilverStar actually provided much more USABLE light, even if the total lumens were less. Goose
  23. V7Goose
    Thanks for posting those pictures, along with your and your wife's subjective observations. They are very interesting. I have run the SilverStar Ultra for over 80,000 miles on my 05 RSV and have not had to replace it even once. I love that bulb. For anyone who is considering the SilverStar, be absolutely sure to only buy the Ultra. The Ultra is not only significantly brighter than the standard SilverStar, but it has a heavier filament that is designed specifically for high vibration environments. It is always good to check the headlight aiming, especially on a bike with different loads, but replacing one H4 bulb with another standard H4 bulb should never change the aim point. I know nothing about the HID other than how terribly obnoxious I find them on other people's bikes, so I cannot say if they have a different aim point or not. Just my personal opinion here, but I find that any light that puts additional glare in the eyes of on-coming drivers is extraordinarily dangerous and stupid. And so many people who have gone to the HID or chose to drive with high beams on seem to be actually PROUD of doing this????? For the life of me, I cannot imagine anything that could possibly be smart about blinding or irritating the driver of a vehicle heading towards you. But that's just my opinion. Note that I am not against the HID lights in general, just all the after-market conversions I have seen so far. I absolutely love them when they are properly and legally designed as original equipment. My personal experience of riding in front of several people with HID conversions during the day has been one of huge irritation, just as bad as riding in front of people who keep their high beams on. Not only do I think that puts the rider who chooses to irritate other drivers in greater danger, but even if it put out significantly more light, I just can't be that inconsiderate to everyone else on the road. I find the SilverStar Ultra, with the proper legal beam pattern and extra brightness, to be the right choice for me. Goose
  24. V7Goose
    No, you cannot put on a visor without splitting the fairing. The chrome ring around the headlight is just held on by bent tabs in the back. When you put on the visor, it is a bit difficult to get the ring back on - just make sure it is fully seated and the tabs bent back to lock it in place or it will come loose very soon after you put it all back together. Goose
  25. V7Goose
    Yup, big ol' black knob right there on the left side - turn the bars to the right and you can't miss it. Goose
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