V7Goose

I do not know what I can offer to help you, as I do not understand the problem to which you refer at all. I have never had a problem using any standard socket, either 3/8 drive or 1/2 drive. BTW - the 1/2 drive is a much better option, since the larger/longer ratchet give you much better leverage to easily position the crank just where you want it. Perhaps you have not remove the thin metal plate that fits inside that cover? It just lifts straight out with your finger - no tools needed. Good luck, Goose

I have ridden one, but not extensively. That ride did confirm everything I said above, but it doesn't mean a whole lot. I have no idea what tire it was, or how well it was set up, and even those of you who think the CT is a good idea acknowledge that some of them handle like cow pies. In my opinion, even the very best of them will handle horribly worse than any good motorcycle tire. You might reasonably call that opinion my "imagination", since I have not tested them, nor have I even ridden on more than one for a short time. But here are my credentials - it is up to each individual to decide if they mean anything: I HAVE been riding bikes for over 40 years, I HAVE put well over 500,000 miles on bikes with motorcycle tires, I HAVE over 80,000 miles on my 05 RSV (and over 100,000 miles on the RSV if you include my 07), and I HAVE done very extensive testing of lots of different tires on the RSV, including new and worn versions of each of them. I mount my own tires, so it is quite easy for me to change them just to test a tire. I have posted all the details of my testing and the conclusions to which I came in many many threads on this and other sites. On top of all that, I am a technologist who rarely just accepts what I hear, or even experience first hand; I am driven to research and understand those things. I firmly believe that I have much better understanding of both tire construction and motorcycle handling principles (as they apply to tires) than the majority of people who may frequent this board; although, I will not classify myself as an expert on that subject. Now more opinion - based on all of that above, I personally feel that a car tire is dangerous and il-advised on a motorcycle, not only because they handle so much worse than modern motorcycle tires, but because they have a different rim diameter and bead shape than the tires for which motorcycle rims were designed. But I am not trying to harp on the technical dangers here - that subject has been beaten to death and those that want to ride on a CT have already decided that those facts mean nothing to them. The OP stated that he thought his new CT handled just dandy, and then he proceeded to dismiss an extremely dangerous high sped wobble and favorably compare the handling he liked to what I personally DO KNOW is probably the worst possible handling he could ever experience with the RSV on a motorcycle tire. I felt those deserved some rebuttal for anyone who may come across this thread while still trying to decide if they wanted to risk a CT on their own bike. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify both my experience and the basis for my opinions on this subject. Goose

I do want to acknowledge that it is quite possible for someone who has never actually experienced this bike with good tires to honestly think it handles fine with either the Brickstones or a car tire. And since the OP's bike had worn Brickstones on it, that would seem to be a possibility here. It is very common to see a new owner with stock Brickstones on their bike insist that they do not understand why the tires are so hated by other Royal Star owners - with nothing else to compare it with, and being swayed by the thoughts that this is really a huge heavy bike, it is quite normal to think that nasty handling is just inherent in the beast, and not the particular tires. I was one of those misguided owners when my bike was new, and I made several posts to threads where the Brickstone was being badmouthed to say that although I did recognize some of the complaints, overall, I thought he bike handled just fine. Boy was I misguided! Without exception, every single one of of those owners of whom I know who thought their Brickstones were at least "acceptable" completely changed their tune after finally putting on a decent tire! Sometimes their eyes were so big from surprise and their silly ear-to-ear grin got in the way of understanding their amazement at just how great this bike really can handle. So if anyone reading this hasn't actually experienced the Royal Star with at lease one set of any of the tires that are generally recommended here, I strongly suggest you do that before deciding what is really good handling. In the end, it is still your decision, of course. I just hate the idea that maybe some people are making that decision without truly understanding it. Ride safe, Goose

I guess the most important thing is that you think you are happy - after all, it is your bike. But it seems to me that a high speed wobble is kinda self explanatory when you are looking for reasons for the "fuss". And it doesn't surprise me at all that you think the bike handles pretty much like it did before if you had worn out Brickstones in it! That is the nastiest possible tire you could ever use on that bike, and it gets phenomenally worse as it wears flat. You are completely correct that the sharp edges on a worn Brickstone handle just like a car tire - they grab any sharp edge and imperfection of the road surface and try to jump them sideways, and the sudden rollover in any turn produces an instability and squirreliness that is not conducive to good control or confidence in many situations, especially emergency ones. I speak only from my own personal experience doing extensive tire testing with the RSV. So if your goal was to ensure that your bike continued to handle the absolute worst that it ever could, nay, even worse than that, since you have managed to add a high speed wobble to that mess, then you made an admirable choice. I wish you all the best in maintaining your happiness. Just like riding on those old Brickstone tires, it quite possible to ride the bike on a flat profile car tire, and even possible to continue telling yourself that you really don't WANT that bike to handle well, like it will with any set of GOOD motorcycle tires. But it is completely beyond my imagination why anybody would WANT to do that, just because it is possible. It is generally a rare situation for someone to consciously make the decision to deliberately change a machine to run worse or handle worse than it starts out. But that seems to be the case here, all to save $100 or $200 a year (and probably less). Considering the inherent danger in a poorly handling motorcycle, as well as the joy I personally get in riding a good handling motorcycle, the decision to make this change just totally melts my weak little mind when I try to understand the rationalizations I see. Goose

Not much of an update, but it is all I know so far - it looks like he did actually make it home, since he was on the site here last night around 1830. Or maybe the aliens got his logon info from him and are practicing for their planned invasion? Anyway, I sent him a PM, but I'm sure he hasn't seen it yet. We'll get y'all updated if we ever get the rest of the pieces to this puzzle. Goose

Well, I got home last night around midnight - most of the trip back was great, but certainly not without incident. Ponch, BoomerCPO, Gunboat and I all left Don's fairgrounds together Sunday morning around 0930, intending on taking the back roads to enjoy the ride instead of beating ourselves to death on the slab for another 1,200 miles. The day started out great, with really nice temperatures and some truly wonderful roads, including one that seemed like the Ohio cousin to the famed Dragon's Tail - just a bit more classy wither fewer scars around the edges. But when we tried to escape Ohio by crossing the river at Maysville, either Kentucky boarder guards or aliens must of snuck up behind us and nabbed one of our members! Gunboat had been hanging way back for a couple of hours, but kept telling us on the radio that all was fine and not to wait for him. He was catching up at each stop sign when we had the chance to wait for him, and when we got to the light at the Maysville bridge, he did get up to us just as the light turned green and we headed across the river. Unfortunately, he didn't make it through the light! I told him on the radio we would wait for him on the other side, but before we got across, he said the light had changed again and he was rolling. So at this point, he wasn't any further behind than he had been staying so far. We told him on the radio what route we were following, and he even repeated the route numbers back, so everything seemed fine. But then the aliens swooped in and grabbed up both him and his daughter! His radio responses stopped, and several miles down the road we turned around and went back looking for them - but they seemed to have simply vanished into the hot and humid air of early afternoon. And to make matters worse, Gunboat had lost his cell phone that weekend, so not only did we not have any way to call him, but he probably didn't have any of our phone numbers available either. After about an hour of looking, waiting and calling on the radio, we finally figured we had to start moving again before we melted into big grease spots on the hot asphalt. We still haven't heard from him about what happened and just what orifices the aliens probed, but hopefully he'll fill us in soon. (Just for the record Don, we did stay on the same route we told ya, all the way down to Glasgow! Well, mostly, anyway - when 62/68 split, we stayed with US 68. We couldn't imagine how you might have gotten ahead of us, but I looked for your bike at every gas station and restaurant we passed.) The rest of Sunday went reasonably well, except for the constant discussion and puzzlement about Gunboat. We really felt bad about leaving him lost somewhere in northern Kentucky, but couldn't see what other options we had. We hit some great roads and finally packed it in around Glasgow, Kentucky, 444 miles for the day - not all that many, but typical for back road riding. Monday morning the forecast was for hot and nasty, and it was already withering to just step outside at 0700. We decided the back roads and small towns just wouldn't be all that much fun any more in those conditions and the best option was to just hit the slab and try to get the heck outa Dodge as fast as we could. We had an uneventful ride over to Memphis, where Boomer peeled off to get lost in the Louisiana swamps while Ponch and I kept on to Texarkana. Everything seems fine right up to the point where we stopped for the final gas in Texarkana, after which Ponch was gonna spin off towards Houston and I would continue into Fort Worth. But as I walked out of the store with a full mug of water to get on the bike, I thought the back tire just might be a tad low - didn't really look like it, but always better to check those things out, ya know? Closer inspection found a 2" screw in the tire, right at the edge of the tread, and angled such that you could feel a bulge where the screw was pressing on the inside of the sidewall! And this on a brand new E3 I just mounted the day before leaving for Ohio. Not surprisingly, as soon as I pulled out the screw, the tire deflated instantly. And here I was still about 200 miles from home, at the end of the day, and with a tire that almost certainly could not be safely repaired. What to do, what to do . . . Just for the heck of it, I stuck a plug in the tire and it held air fine, but there was a noticeable bulge along the sidewall where the screw had damaged the belts and inner surface, allowing some air to get trapped under the outer layer of rubber. The bulge wasn't very big, but that didn't change the fact that the tire was severely damaged and it's safety compromised. After a few spins and donuts around the parking lot where it handled fine, the tire didn't show any signs of the bulge growing. Ponch offered to follow me to the next stop down the highway, so I decided to see how it would take a few miles of low speed running. After a couple of stops to keep checking the tire and seeing no changes, we decided to shoot for a town about 30 miles down the road. We made it there without incident, and the tire still wasn't looking any worse, so my confidence grew enough I decided to just try and make it home while the temperature was cooler and there wasn't much traffic on the road. I put my wife on notice that I might have to call her to bring the truck to rescue me and the bike, bid farewell and tremendous thanks to Ponch and is lovely and long-suffering wife for sticking with me while I chanced that first scary leg on the questionable tire, and gingerly rolled on down the highway. Took me a few extra hours to finish that last stretch because of the slower speeds and constant stops to inspect the tire, but made it without any further problems. About 700 miles yesterday, and I think I pinched off a few pieces of my seat during that last 200 miles! What a trip! Had a great time at the carnival, changed some tires there, adjusted some valves, and tuned a lot of bikes. Met some new wonderful folks, as well as lots of old friends, and added some new experiences that I'll not forget. Thanks to all for a great maintenance "day"! Goose

Wow, that's hard luck - first time I heard of this actually happening. When I put on a gril guard, I thought it was just for the looks - now I'm happy it's there. Best of luck finding a replacement. Goose

There is a slight adjustment available in the lock mechanism, but the most important thing is to smear a dab of grease on the latch hooks and bar - these bags sometimes hang up so bad they almost cannot be3 opened, but never after they are lubed. Goose

These two points have already been mentioned, but they are so critical to your question I wanted to stress them again. First and MOST important - if your bike has Brickstone tires, get rid of them NOW - do NOT wait to wear them out. You will find this point very hard to believe, but the handling of those stock tires is SO BAD that they are causing most of what you complained about. And the problems will just get worse as that POS rear tire wears flat. Michelin, Avon or Dunlop E3 tires will all make that bike feel 300 lbs lighter at slow speeds and a joy at high speeds. If you have Dunlop D404 tires, then just know that they are just average tires - not near as bad as the Brickstones, but no where near as good as the other tires I mentioned. The second point is to keep those RPMs up! You are used to a big twin, and you MUST NOT try to ride this bike like that. If you do, it will rattle shake, hammer, pound and stumble all over itself while it fails to get out of its own way. The only way you will understand what the V4 engine can do (and the difference from low to high revs) is to jerk that throttle open on a straight freeway on-ramp and hold it till you feel the bike falter when it hits the rev limiter. Do this in second gear, then try to do it in third (but you will have to get it up to 96 MPH to hit the rev limiter in 3rd!). In normal riding, you must keep those revs much higher than any twin. Never try to accelerate in 5th unless you are doing at least 65 MPH. Below that, you need to kick it down to 4th, or maybe even 3rd if you want to grab a hand full of throttle. Keep those points in mind and enjoy the bike! Goose

Isn't it just amazing how a motorcycle tire makes a motorcycle handle better than a car tire? Just boggles the mind, doesn't it? Goose

I'm in Nashville tonight - about 750 miles today up from Texas. Be at the carnival sometime tomorrow afternoon. Goose

Interesting how some of those things get resurrected for no logical reason! Glad you caught that (and I won't plan a trip to change Tom's brake fluid!). Goose

Sure glad I only changed your REAR tire down in Tex-Ass!! Goose

Tom, I'll be glad to shoot down there after I get back from Ohio and help you change the fluid - it is extraordinarily easy to do with a hand vacuum pump. But I know nothing about speedbleaders, and I am not even remotely interested in them, so I cannot help you with those things. Goose

Technically you are right, of course. But that is not the point at all. The inside cylinder temperature cannot be detected by someone riding or looking at a running bike. Even the head temp cannot be casually detected or measured. From a casual inspection of the bike while it is running at full temperature, the water that is virtually the same temperature in all the water jackets is the only indication the rider has. The OP made a casual statement about one side of the bike hotter than the other without providing any information at all about why he thought this was so. My initial response was simply to explain how easy it was to be fooled by a simple cross breeze while riding; trying to put his mind at ease about the sensation if that is what he was feeling. Goose

Yes, what you describe indicates that you have a cylinder not running -could be spark or fuel. This is certainly more specific information. These bikes run amazingly well on just three cylinders, and sometimes it is not that easy to tell you are running on just three unless you push it past 85. But at any speed, that would definitely have a big impact on fuel mileage. The easiest way to tell if it is a spark or carb problem is to spray a little starting fluid (ether) into the vacuum port on the suspect cylinder while the bike is idling - if it has spark, you will get a definite increase in RPM. Goose

I do not know what makes you think t hat one side is running hotter than the other, but it is very unlikey. Especially since these engines are water cooled - once the engine is up to temperature, the water flowing through BOTH sides must always be the same temperature. However, it is very possible that you sense more heat from one side. It only takes a very light cross breeze to channel most of the heat from the radiator down one side of the bike, and this is VERY noticeable as heat on the foot and lower leg on the down-wind side. My experience is all from a 2nd gen, but even with the extra body work on the 1st gen, I suspect it will feel the same. Goose

Personally, I think the stock pipes on these bikes sound fantastic! I would be overjoyed in your situation to have the option to go back to them for free. Your popping on decel is pretty common and can be caused by a number of things, all pretty easy to fix. The most likely cause is a vacuum leak from the caps on the intake vacuum ports (or nicked hose on the other two vacuum ports). Exhaust leak from loose header, bad Y joint, or modified exhaust can cause it too. Finally, anything else that upsets the clean burning of the gas will cause it, including bad plugs, dirty or misadjusted carbs and carb sync. In my experience, the most likely causes are the vacuum leak and carb sync on newer bikes; on an older multi-owner machine, who knows how much it has been futzed with or abused and neglected. In your shoes, I'd first put the stock exhaust back on, treat a tank with Seafoam, replace the vacuum caps and inspect the two vacuum hoses for damage, ensure your plugs have less than 15,000 miles on them, replace the fuel filter if it hasn't been done recently, and get a good carb sync. Even if just replacing the pipes stops the popping, all the rest of that stuff really should be done anyway. Goose

This is good advice. Certainly sounds like a broken rotor. Also check that the retainer spring clip on top of the pads is put in correctly. There is an arrow embossed on the top that needs to point forward. Goose

Yes, sometimes the problem you are trying to slay is caused by the most simple cause, but even then it can be a REAL PITA to find! Been having a surge in my idle speed for the past few weeks, so today I decided to check it all out, re-set the carb mixture screws, and actually compare the screw settings I get when just using a tach compared to my exhaust gas analyzer in preparation for Maintenance day. Shoulda been pretty simple, right? But it was anything but! When I checked the mixture screws on #1 and #2, they made almost no difference in the idle speed. In fact, the bike actually picked up a bit and ran BETTER with the mixture screws for either of those two jugs ALL THE WAY IN!! Now that was weird. In contrast, the two right side jugs acted perfectly normal. So I hooked up the gas analyzer to check the CO% - no problem dialing in the right two, but those damned left two wouldn't get below 6% even with the mixture screws closed, and if I set them out around 3 turns, it was pumping 15% CO!!!! Plugs were not that old (about 12,000 miles), but I decided to put new ones in, just in case. Those left two were real black and sooty - either running mucho rich or lots of problems firing. Seemed unlikely I would have two bad plugs at once, but I crossed my fingers and fired it up again with the new ones - no joy. So now I am really stumped trying to figure out what coud be affecting just the left bank. Decided to check the sync - seemed unlikely, but I could imagine that something had gone haywire with the linkage. Got the gauges on there and sure enough, both left carbs were pulling a couple of inches of mercury less than the right. Aha! says I, now I'm on the track. But alas, no. It was not the sync. OK, this is long enough, so I'll jump to the end. While I'm futzing around and starting to get really annoyed, I happen to grab the choke knob and push it in, AND IT MOVES!!!! Simultaneously, the bike settles down to a perfect idle! And the carbs come right back into perfect sync too. That is all it was - choke just a tad out and hung up. Nine freaking hours later, and now all I gotta do is finally reset all the mixture screws that were probably just freakin' perfect to start with!. No moral here, just had to share my pain. Hope it helps someone to stop and think about their problem and get back to basics a little faster than I did! Goose

That one at JCW is interesting - I'll bet it is the same one, with the gauges mounted on a plate and everything. Their pictures often do not match the real item. Really surprised me, since the last few times I checked them there, they were charging over $130! I wouldn't hesitate to order the $40 one form them - they are very good at taking returns. Goose

Check this out: http://www.sportingforless.com/servlet/the-carb-sync-gauge/Categories

This is the set here - not recommending this place, it is just the first one I found. You can get them form JC Whitney, but their price has gone through the roof. I did a search last year and found a couple of places selling this set for around $50, so look around before you order. http://www.saber-cycle.com/store/product735.html

That tells me that your floats are probably way too high. I'm guessing that just the vibration of running along with the natural flow of gas into the engine is allowing the bowls to overfill before the floats can shut off the needle. Pulling the carbs is a real big job while out of town, so I'd just ride it like that until you get home and then pull the carbs. Yamaha should fix that under warranty without an issue, but I doubt I would trust many shops to do the job correctly. Goose

Ordinarily, you will never get a heat-expansion leak from those two front vent hoses. Those are the carb overflow hoses, and the only time you would see liquid from them would be from a stuck float or damaged and leaking float needles. Your bike is way too new to have worn float needles, and it is VERY unlikely you would have stuck floats on multiple carbs at the same time. So that doesn't leave many options. I suppose it is possible that the floats in your bike are set WAY WAY too high (as opposed to the normal factory way too high), and you are getting some heat expansion that way, but still seems unlikely that it could ever be enough to cause a puddle under the front of the bike. But it is not uncommon for these bikes to have a bit of gas smell about them after they are parked in the garage, and I find that after I have properly set the float levels, that problems goes away, so I guess that supports your problem being just floats that are too high. If your tank is too full, the heat expansion there will cause the fuel to drain from the vent hose near the tip of the side stand, not anywhere near the front of the bike. You might pull that plastic cover around the key on the top of the tank just to make sure that th e vent hose is actually connected to the tank. Bottom line is that the front vent hoses are the carb overflow vents, so unless there is actually gas running out of them with the key on (the fuel pump will keep pushing it out if the float needles are not properly closing), there is nothing to really worry about until you get the floats properly set. Just make sure you don't let anyone smoke around your bike! Goose Oh, BTW - the factory sets up those vent hoses to cross over, so if you do find gas running out of one hose, it is coming from a carb on the OTHER side unless someone has already changed the hoses like I do.