What did you do to your bike today?

[psycoreefer]

I rode mine to work, its a chilly 33 degrees this morning, the rest of the office thinks I'm crazy. I think when I get home I'll put the new headlight bucket on the 81 and call it ready for the road.

[madmax-im]

Ben...bolt it up good n tight

Oh I will...LOL...A bigger project is to rewire the entire bike... coils and all...its old and original. I cant ride in a steady rain as it will cut out 1 or 2 cylinders. I hate electrical systems... I'll just ride it in good weather I guess

[randy]

where's that smilie that shows a guy rolling all over teh floor laughing???

Hey, Dwayne, at least it starts, and on one kick, too. Good thing 'cause I don't know how many kicks are left in this leg o mine...


BTW, you gonna make this a tech tip?? BWAHAHAHA!!

[3Phase]

Checked The Parts Bike

Today I drained the oil and dug in to the transmission on my '79F parts bike. The oil looks good, it's just old with no water, metal or grunge.

The bike was stuck in 4th/5th gear when I picked it up so I pulled the left side shift cover and found the starfish washer was bent. One of the shift pins was out and sitting in the bottom of the side cover, another pin was halfway out of the shift drum.

I put the pins back in the shift drum and fixed the bent starfish washer, now the transmission will shift through all the gears and I have neutral -- no more dragging the bike around on its flat tires with the clutch lever tied down.

Tomorrow it's time for a compression check to see if Old Faithful is worth the effort.


Regards,

Scott

[fredintoon]

Took the rig to the hardware store and got severely rained on; so much so that the mysterious misfire came back. Then my signal switch started acting up. Signals turns real good but refuses to stop doing so. Rode home giving hand signals, peering through the slot between the bottom of my misted and rain-beaded visor and the top of my misted and rain-beaded bi-focals, not in a good mood.
Back in the garage I tore down the signal switch, cleaned out every little part with contact cleaner and reassembled.
Whoopee! Signals now stop signalling. Notice that the tail light ain't working. Seems like Mr. Stupid forgot to plug it in.
Did that. By then the bike had dried out enough that the mysterious misfire had gone away again.

[thewright1]

Finally got my new rear blinkers installed. Next I have to put my fender on, and then change out my two headlights and I'll be to drive this thing to work. Just in time for the summer heat. WoooHooo!!

I had someone say they could get my custom license plate holder/brake/running light on and run all the wires nice and change out my blinker lights for $250, luckily they flaked on me three times. I was forced to do it myself. I got the results I wanted and I feel a lot better knowing I did it myself for free =)

[Crazcnuk]

Checked the valves, checked the advance mech, retorqued the head nuts, checked the carb idle mixtures and clutch.

I am trying to find a wierd rattle/knock that showed up recently. Sounds like a nut bouncing off the valve train, mostly around 4000rpm, on the right side, but I can't find anything wrong.

Going to need new tires soon, esp the rear. Ordered new brake pads all around. Tried to top up my brake fluid, but derwat ran out.

Was going to put hte 80G up for sale, but with the new noise, not a good idea. Will still try and sell the 80SG and my Boler Trailer.

Might even put the GT up for sale.

Then I can start on the 78E...

[cywelchjr]

Checked the valves, checked the advance mech, retorqued the head nuts, checked the carb idle mixtures and clutch.

I am trying to find a wierd rattle/knock that showed up recently. Sounds like a nut bouncing off the valve train, mostly around 4000rpm, on the right side, but I can't find anything wrong.

Wow, that sounds kinda like what I hear on mine. Does it changes with throttle twist or is it constant? My noise goes away with more twist, and I was going to disconnect the vacuum adv this weekend to test it, but ended up having to work.

What makes it worse is perfect riding weather all weekend and a storm coming in on Tues so no riding even to work during the middle of the week.

[Crazcnuk]

It starts just as you get to 4000rpm and contiues to about 4500rpm then goes away. However, once it 'breaks loose' I can make it rattle with just a slight twist of the throttle at around 3000rpm, but mostly 3500-4500rpmish.

Of course this just happens to be cruising speed on the highway, so it drives me nuts.

[slow mo]

hi and welcome knuckles

i have an 80 special and there is no kicker on an 80 as far as i know,, take care and ride safe ,,slow mo!

[cywelchjr]

It starts just as you get to 4000rpm and contiues to about 4500rpm then goes away. However, once it 'breaks loose' I can make it rattle with just a slight twist of the throttle at around 3000rpm, but mostly 3500-4500rpmish.

Of course this just happens to be cruising speed on the highway, so it drives me nuts.

Wow, it does sound just like mine. Did you try unhooking and plugging the vacuum advance yet to see what that does? I haven't yet, and yes, it's right in the sweet spot running, so you get it most of the time (at least I do). I have another engine, but I'm afraid if this really is the vacuum advance issue that these 80 models are supposed to be famous for, the other engine may have the same issue. I really gotta do the vacuum advance disconnect thing and see if it goes away. I know that my fairing makes it even more noticeable, and the TSB actually mentions that.

[chevy45412001]

carbs

took a maiden voyage with the new to me ,set of carbs from our own classified sec.They work very well and am plzed with them thus far. I do need to tweak them though. Wel that and fix first and second gear issues....of coarse...but hey i've riden with three gears before...lol Really do need to get seat reapolstered and and and you know the drill.

[Hideki]

Turning my bobber into an endurance racing replica with some sportbike flair, project started today with the install of my SW rear suspension and ordering the endurance style seat hopefully tomorrow.

[Brad]

Freelaxing

I did not have to take it to my local Harley Dealer to keep it running by some over priced mechanic. Nor did I have to buy some outrageiously priced "custom" (which anyone can buy) parts to have their mechanic "customize" my bike. I got on my 78 XS11e, filled the tank, rode for 300km, had the local hang out question and answer period about my bike and why they can't figure out what it is, put the bike away and now freelaxing at home.

[Southhill101]

I did not have to take it to my local Harley Dealer to keep it running by some over priced mechanic. Nor did I have to buy some outrageiously priced "custom" (which anyone can buy) parts to have their mechanic "customize" my bike. I got on my 78 XS11e, filled the tank, rode for 300km, had the local hang out question and answer period about my bike and why they can't figure out what it is, put the bike away and now freelaxing at home.

Agreed! That's a good lookin' bike Brad.

Cheers,