V7Goose

No, you have not missed anything, but the others in this thread have! You cannot change the wires on a 2nd gen unless you have a device to splice them together after you cut the old wires off near the coil. I wouldn't even consider that unless a moisture test at night showed a corona or outright arcing from the existing wires. Goose

Only if Viagra stops you from farting.

You do not say what bike you have. That is not normal at all for a 2nd gen - sounds like your engine is either overheating, or at the least, it is low on coolant. Goose

This (the erratic tracking of road irregularities) is a classic symptom from a rear tire with a square profile (one worn flat in the center with rather sharp corners on the edges). In addition, the heavy handling and attempt to fall into a turn is typical of a front tire a bit low on air. Other things that cause the heavy handling are the terrible Brickstone front tire and lowering the rear of the bike. Goose

It's in the owner's manual or right on the sticker inside the trunk lid. Goose

There are lots of possible issues that will cause that problem. One easy item to check is the forks, as other have said. Just let all the air out of both. In over 90,000 miles I have noted that both my RSVs have been very sensitive to proper tire pressure. BOTH over inflation AND under inflation can cause this problem. Although each tire combination is different, generally I find that 48 lbs is max acceptable pressure on the 80H rear tires that have a max pressure of 50 lbs. For the 74H tires with max pressure of 40 lbs, keep them at 40. Front tires should generally be about 36 lbs. I must admit that I do not check my tire pressure as often as I really should. After letting the bike sit for about 3 weeks while I was off doing other things, I noted several times that it seemed to wallow a bit in long sweepers, and slow speed handling was a bit heavy. Before taking off on a long weekend run I checked the tires - both front and rear were about 5 lbs low. After putting them back where I normally keep them, all handling issues were back to normal. After the simple issues of fork pressure and tire pressure, then tire wear is the next primary culprit. Worn front tires that are no longer shaped with a smoothly rounded profile often cause this problem. Worn square profile rear tires with a flat center cause really nasty handling issues, but not often a head shake. Finally, steering head bearings and swing arm bearings are the other major things to check. Goose

Sounds like I hit a sore point with the trailer boys - - sorry 'bout that boys - just go back to your trailering - don't let it bother you none. ( & snort) Goose

Nope, but he can't claim he don't got it no more! While he was enjoying a nice Red Stripe, I had to suck on a Busch. (but I suppose I should admit that I got what I asked for ) But what-the-hey, he didn't have to give me anything at all! Goose

I absolutely agree, and I don't think anybody here is suggesting that they shouldn't be allowed to do it. But the rest of us have the same right to laugh and snort at the trailer-boys too! Goose

C'mon now, let's be fair. All the bikes on trailers aren't HDs. I'll admit that I personally believe there are more posers who own that brand than others, but we even have a few of our own posers here, right Bill? He hauls rice on his trailer just about anywhere he goes with it! There ain't no accounting for it, but fact is, some people would rather be seen WITH a bike than ON it! Goose

Made it home from the 840 mile loop this weekend. Co-pilot and I, along with Bull, had a great ride and must thank both Blanco Tom and Squire Vance for such wonderful hospitality - much more than we have a right to expect! Ride safe, y'all! Goose

Last time I went to UPS to ship something, I went away mad and used USPS instead. I was shocked at their horrendous prices. Besides the weight, they also charge you for the specific LxWxH measurements of the package! Best deal by FAR is USPS flat rate priority packages. The envelopes and boxes are free, and anything that fits costs the same price. The 8x10 envelopes are $5, and I think the smaller box is $9. They have two other larger boxes, but I have never priced them. Should be able to find all the info on the USPS web site. Goose

Yeah, and nobody's calling him a fair weather biker! Goose

A PAIR valve is pulsed air injection - performs the same function as our AIS system. The difference is that our AIS is a completely passive system that just lets the vacuum in the exhaust header suck in some fresh air when the AIS valve is open. The function of both is simply to let the unburned hydrocarbons in the hot exhaust continue burning before they are blown out into our breathing air (kinda like having someone walk behind the horses in a parade to scoop up the road apples). The systems have a valve that closes from high engine vacuum when the throttle is snapped shut because the concentration of unburned hydrocarbons is just so high at that moment that they all cannot be burned without causing the explosion and loud bang. So like I said above, if you are getting that afterfire explosion, it means something is causing the unburned fuel in your exhaust to be higher than normal, and it is so high at the beginning of the deceleration that you get the explosion before the AIS valve has had a chance to completely close. Best to fix that problem than just hide it and ignore that it exists. Goose

Do a search for older posts, you will find tons of information on this, including some fairly detailed explanations from me on exactly what is going on. Carb sync is the first and most important thing, as it can fix the problem and will improve everything about the way it runs. After that, the most likely cause is a vacuum leak caused by cracked rubber caps on the vacuum nipples or a nicked vacuum hose from someone pulling them off with pliers. If those caps are the original ones on your 05, they ARE leaking. Many here will tell you to disconnect the AIS system to simply hide the problem instead of actually finding and fixing it. Personally, I think that is a VERY VERY BAD IDEA. Although disconnecting the AIS will have no negative impact on your bike at all, neither can it do anything to improve the way the bike runs. All disconnecting the AIS does is hide the problem you already have while it increases the polution. The fact is, these bikes when properly set up and completely stock will NOT pop and bang on decel, so there IS something wrong - the fresh air inducted into the header pipe through the AIS valve is simply giving you advance notice that you have something wrong before it gets bad enough to affect the way the engine runs. Good luck getting it sorted out. Goose

Yup, that is exactly what I was saying! Really surprised me that the tab washer is not tied to the center shaft at all. In fact, now that I know that, it is much better to leave the tabs in place and the two ring nuts locked together whil you adjust them from below - here's why: if you pry up the tabs like I did and just turn the bottom ring nut, you are actually moving it further away from the lock nut and reducing the locking effect. This means it is more likely to loosen up again on it's own. If you leave the nuts locked together and move them as one unit, they keep the same locking power. As for the idea of a grease fitting, I can't see it. There is no way to put the fitting in so that the grease would be forced to go through the bearings into the open neck, so the only option is to just try and fill the entire steering neck full of grease untill it was packed tight enought to force itself through the bearings from the inside out. I think that would take over a full tube of grease. Once the bearings are properly greased, and kept properly adjusted, I think they will safely last the life of the bike. These are good roller bearings, not the cheap bicycle ball bearings that Honda uses on the wings. The key here is to regularly check them (like at each tire change when you have the front wheel off the ground) and tighten them if you feel any slop at all when pulling and pushing on the bottom of the forks. The check is quite simple and shown in your owner's manual. As others have already noted in this thread, it is very common for these bikes to have loose steering head bearings before 10,000 miles, but in my experience, once they are properly tightened the first time, they tend to stay that way. Greasing the bearings is a big job that requires two people and many hours, but I strongly recommend you do it at least once in the first 50,000 miles. Goose

Well, I just got done helping another member replace the worn out steering head bearings in his RSV - what a nasty job! Most of us know that Yamahaha doesn't add much lube to bearings on the initial build, so it is pretty important you get in there and lube them at least once on the specified maintenance interval. But it is a big, nasty, and long job (and expensive if you have the dealer do it). I've seen a few folks suggest that you might as well just ignore it and wait until the bearings are shot around 50,000 miles, then just properly lube the replacements. Well, I'm here to tell you that is a bad plan. Much better to keep them in shape from the beginning. The bike we worked on had a bit over 70,000 miles, and the owner was complaning about lots of head shake and an unsteady feeling when coming off the line. When we first checked it out, the front forks had a LOT of slop when pulled front/back with the wheel off the ground. Using the quick technique to tighten down the bearings, we got a huge amount of movement out of the ring nuts, but even after they were tight enough to almost stop the free motion of the forks (where the tire will turn all the way to the stop under it's own weight), the same slop was still in the bearings. No option at that point except changing the bearings! When we got in there, the wear pattern on the inner race for the top bearing was very heavy at the front only (which explains why they had so much front/back play), and the lower race showed major wear marks in line with each individual roller. This showed that the bearing was so loose for so long that the rollers never actually moved in the race! Most interesting was the actual condition of the roller bearings - although there was not a lot of lube in there, this 03 with 70K+ miles still had some, and the rollers all looked pretty good, no pitting or corrosion at all. The message here is that if they had simply been kept properly adjusted, they would have been just fine even after 70,000 miles without a single service! Too bad. The work needed to change the bearings is pretty much the same as what you have to do just to lube them, but I'll tell ya that you really don't want to have to pull those races from the steering head or get that lower bearing off the shaft - that job ain't no fun! Yamahaha really forked up in the design of how those races fit in the head - virtually no lip exposed at all for a puller to grip. And it took a lot of time with an oxy-acetylene torch to finally get that bottom bearing to expand enough to come loose. I normally wouldn't worry about the torch work, but all I could think about was the horror of seeing that cast aluminum lower tree start melting on me if I got a little careless!! Replacing the bearings added at least three hours to this job. Ugh. Here is a quick note on something we learned about adjusting the bearings - the tech library has an article on how to do a quick and dirty adjustment by sneaking a long screwdriver up under the steering head cover and using a hammer to turn the ring nut and lock nut together. These two nuts are locked together with a tab washer, and I always thought there was a problem trying to get much movement of these ring nuts if you didn't use something to pry the lock tabs out of the slots. You see, every other application I have ever seen using a tab washer like this has a key slot in the shaft that prevents the tab washer from turning with both nuts together. Well, not his bike! That tab washer is not tied to the shaft at all, so you can turn both ring nuts together just as far as you want! If you haven't checked your steering head bearings for proper adjustment, you really need to do it. My 05 had noticeable chatter under heavy front breaking on rough surface by about 8,000 miles, but one adjustment using the quickie method took care of it. Now with over 73,000 miles, those bearings still have no sigh of slop in them. Even if you are not going to go to all the work to lube them, best keep them adjusted! Ride safe, Goose

Actually, 3rd gear pulls REAL strong from 70 up 'till 96 when the rev limiter finally kicks in at 6,500 RPM. Quit riding that thing like a twin and give it some juice - you will really be impressed! Goose

Yes, one of the resistors was bad. I do not suggest removing the resistors unless you are stranded somewhere and need to ride the bike until you find a new cap. I don't know if it would cause radio interference, but my bigger concern would be for the ignition system. It would definitely be a bad idea for a CDI ignition module, since that would change the output load on the capacitors, but since we use a normal coil, I can't say for sure if there is any risk. But I still wouldn't take the unnecessary chance - I'd hate to have to cough up the $$ for a new Ignitior! A coil is just a transformer, which "should" provide effective isolation to the ignitor, but our coil has a little difference: instead of the secondary winding being isolated and tied to ground, it is actually tied to the common lead of the primary winding - this gives it a direct path back to the ignitor. Goose

Unless they have recently changed, PCW Racing does not take internet orders. Most of the stuff they deal with is for the monstrously ugly cousin to the Royal Stars, but some of that stuff crosses over for us too! Best thing to do is just give 'em a call and tell them you want a clutch upgrade kit for your bike. The upgrade kit consists of a heavier spring, a gasket, and a full-size friction plate that replaces the weenie half-plate and wave spring in the back of the stack. They will suggest you consider buying all new friction disks too, but IMHO there is absolutely no need for that. Your current friction disks will measure exactly as new when you check them, and the upgrade kit alone will cost you around $80 and completely solve your problem. Goose

I do not know for sure. None of the corrosion I found could have been caused by direct moisture contact, but I can't say what it WAS caused by, either. Just that it is in EVERY cap I have looked at on bikes with more than about 10,000 miles. It is always on the end of the spring at the top of the cap, so it is clearly related to the spark pulse crossing from the wire into the spring. I have read technical reports from folks on other brands of bikes that have reported the same type of "tarnish" on one end of the springs in their caps, too, so it is not unique to our machines. I really do not know if the DE grease would prevent it, but it couldn't hurt. I haven't tried it yet, but next time I think about checking my caps (probably next plug change), I might add a spot of grease just for grins. I do know that back in the 70s and 80s when many cars called for the use of a little DE grease on the distributor caps and rotor contacts, it always was a hard crusty mess when I'd check them out during a tune-up. Looked nasty, but didn't seem to make them run any worse than if the DE grease was not used! The biggest benefit of DE grease is to reduce the problems caused by moisture, and we don't really have that issue - the rubber boots on the plug wires seal very well, the caps themselves are completely sealed phenolic items, and the heat from the engine will dissipate any moisture very quickly! Goose

Here is one source for caps. I have not personally used any after market caps on a Royal Star, but it seems to me that the SD05F cap would be the right one. Actually, an SD10F would be the proper one (10K resistor instead of 5K), but I can't find a source for that yet; it probably does not exist. http://www.z1enterprises.com/SearchResult.aspx?All=True&KeyWords=ngk%20cap Here is another source - looks like the part number has been updated to SD05FP: http://www.ngk.com/results_cross.asp?pid=sd05fp&x=58&y=13 BTW - I found that NGK makes a wire splicer specifically intended to replace wires on coils like ours - you cut the old wire an inch or two past the coil and splice on the new wire. It is shown on their web site under performance accessories. Goose

I do not shut off my fuel - always left in reserve position. But technically it is a good idea. Most modern bikes have a vacuum operated fuel petcock that automatically shuts off when the engine stops, but we can't because of the fuel pump. In the unlikely event that you have a stuck float valve AND the engine stops with the intake valve open on the same cylinder, fuel CAN slowly drain through the carb and through the cylinder into the crank case, diluting the oil. Also possible you can get a hydro-lock on the cylinder. I have never actually tested how much fuel the weight of a full tank of gas can push through the fuel pump when it is not running, but I suspect it is enough to be a problem over a day or more IF you do have a stuck float valve. But again, I personally feel that the likelihood of such a problem happening is so low that I never turn mine off. Goose

Gibvel pretty much spelled it out for ya, but I'll add a bit below. I have only received "bad" coils from two members, and I was hoping to get a few more to base my conclusions on before I took the time to create a detailed writeup with pics. But it seems that stuffing an old coil in a priority mail flat rate envelope is too much effort for most folks? Oh well . . . And now that I have let the secret out that there is probably nothing wrong with all those coils that have been replaced, I guess I will never see another one! Testing a coil with an ohm meter is easy, but the tech manual is wrong on how (the specs are correct). You can measure the primary coil as they say, across the two wire terminals, but the secondary side must be measured from the plug cap to the common wire terminal, NOT the ground lug, (you can tell this by looking at the schematic). In my opinion, an actual failed coil on these bikes is probably very rare, but problems with the caps are quite common. The caps can be purchased separately, but any aftermarket resistor cap would probably work just fine. I understand NGK makes a good one. The plug wires are stranded copper core, so the caps can be removed and replaced without worry or damage. I suggest skipping the coil tests and just going straight to the caps: To start with, peel back the rubber water boot on the top of the cap and then just unscrew the cap from the wire. With the cap off the wire, use an ohmmeter to check the resistance - anything over 10K probably needs attention, and over 12K is a problem. Next, pull the rubber boot off the bottom of the cap and use a large common screwdriver to unscrew the brass end that clips on the top of the plug. Carefully dump the innerds out on the bench - here's what you will find and the order: the brass plug, a white unmarked resistor, a tiny brass disc, and a long heavy spring. You will probably find corrosion of various stages on the last 1/4" of the spring (the end near the wire). This can range from just gray discoloration to a heavy crust, and it is the cause of any high resistance. You can effectively clean it with a wire wheel on a grinder, or simply scrape the end of the spring on the cement so that you can see bright metal. The very ends of the spring that contact the top of the cap and the little brass disc next to the resistor is the only part the matters. Do NOT try to clean the resistor ends. This seems to be a ceramic plug with a resistive coating, and if you try to rub or scrape the ends of it, you will probably ruin it. When you put the cap back together, make sure that little brass disc goes back in between the spring and the resistor; it is important to protect the end of the resistor. I have found a couple of caps with that little disk either missing or split in half. In that case, any small washer that will fit would work fine as a replacement. That's about it - just screw the cap back on the wire. If you ever find yourself stuck on the road with a dead "coil" that turns out to be an open resistor, just putting a small screw or nail in place of the resistor would probably work just fine until you can get a replacement cap. The resistor caps are generally just for suppression of ignition noise in the radio. Goose

Check the specs on the pressure relief valves in the filters and the bike - I think you will find that the Pure One valve is closer to the RSV spec than their motorcycle filter. Goose