Bike check ups.

[JWR]

Well I was trying to keep it as simple.

:neener:

[Water Warrior 2]

Ron Ayers Motorsport can give you a nice exploded view of the valves(2 exhaust/2 intake)for your further education. Lynda had her valves checked for $100 and it was well worth it to me. I didn't have to do it. My VStrom will be closer to $300 and well worth it if I don't have to do it. Most maintenance I will do but anything "IN" the engine is best left to professionals with experience IMHO. I have a history of turning a time consuming simple task into a very expensive repair bill at a shop.

[alantf]

Jeez,
I've never seen such high prices as you say they're charging in the American repair shops. You'd be better off crating the bike up, & sending it to a different country!

At least the last person to rob me had the decency to wear a mask.

[music man]

Originally Posted by alantf

Jeez,
I've never seen such high prices as you say they're charging in the American repair shops. You'd be better off crating the bike up, & sending it to a different country!

At least the last person to rob me had the decency to wear a mask.

That is because he doesn't live in America, He lives in Canada. :oops:

[Water Warrior 2]

Yup, we get to pay lots of $$ for the same bikes, their servicing and parts compared to the U.S. In Australia the costs are even greater in most cases so I won't complain too loudly. But I will say this, when riding gear is on sale in the U.S. I pay attention b/c the cost up here is nuts.

[Easy Rider]

Got the bike back and learned two things:
It does NOT like cold weather (40F) and the shop set the idle speed WAY too low.

Alan might be able to get by with loping his 1800 at 600 rpm but the little one-banger won't perform good off the line until you get it up around 1K (guessing a bit at the actual speed).
If you can kind of hear the thump-thump of each engine stroke then your idle speed needs to be turned up AND you might be amazed at how much better it rides that way.

Also stumbled across this:
http://www.motorcycle.com/products/jett ... 87854.html

[alanmcorcoran]

Mine idles at 1K acording to the tach (yeah, I got a tach...) and it's pretty mch all done by 2500. Most of my loping is at 2K.

(We're talking about my "other" bike, an 1850cc, here.)

Nonetheless, I agree with Easy. more revs on the GZ the better. I rarely use 5th gear and I wind it up pretty high on the way up to fourth.

[alantf]

My apologies to you nice American folk. I'll have to take more notice in future (slap on the wrist)

By the way WW, we've got friends in Namaimo. That's somewhere near you, isn't it? With the distance we don't meet very often - it's mainly by e-mail, but they seem to have enough cash to run a Mustang, & travel all over the world (Like on cruise ships & safaris) so someone must be making the money to pay for your high prices. Like you say, Australia is even pricier. When a friend of ours in Perth started quoting the prices of different things in Australia (Like our marble kitchen worktop which cost us 180 euros, but would have cost him 5000 $A) I began to realise just how lucky we were.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Nonetheless, I agree with Easy. more revs on the GZ the better. I rarely use 5th gear and I wind it up pretty high on the way up to fourth.

With the stock gearing, not using 5th is kind of a shame.....unless you are staying under 40 mph.

I remember the discussion about actually USING the rev's available on the GZ and it took us a little while to make a believer out of you. After the break-in period is over, are we going to have to brow beat you yet again to convince you that 4500 to 5K on the Liner really is OK ?? :poke2: :biggrin:

What is red-line, BTW ?? I'm guessing maybe 7,500.

[patrick_777]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Got the bike back and learned two things:
It does NOT like cold weather (40F) and the shop set the idle speed WAY too low.

Alan might be able to get by with loping his 1800 at 600 rpm but the little one-banger won't perform good off the line until you get it up around 1K (guessing a bit at the actual speed).

When I first picked my GZ up, the guy I bought it from started it up and the idle was set too low also. He was used to big touring cruisers and I figure he assumed I was looking for a big sounding thump from it. It also had the pipes drilled, so it would sound "bigger". Even having never owned a bike before, I immediately knew the idle was low and turned it up as soon as I got it.

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

If you can kind of hear the thump-thump of each engine stroke then your idle speed needs to be turned up AND you might be amazed at how much better it rides that way.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the idle setting only affect the bike at idle? How would it make the bike actually ride better at speed, or with the throttle even cracked open? Other than affecting performance in stop & go traffic, I don't really get this.