The "Today I did something to my bike" thread

cantdecide

Skill Magill wrote: »

In fairness, sometimes they're wedgied in so hard you have to take a hammer and chisel to the fúcker, Not knockin you cantdecide, but sometimes theres only one way they'll come off

I do agree but access is terrible on my bike- this would be obvious to anyone working on the bike. The filter is wrapped in oil lines, downpipes and the frame cradle. There's a 20- 30 degree swing directly under the bike with which the use the hammer and screwdriver method. I tried every access point and every method I could devise. It took me several hours. I my brother broke a brand new filter strap thingie and broke several long pointy implements!

I've always subscribed to the 'seat it and give it a half turn' method which has never failed me. This rolled back about 1 and 1/3 turns mm by mm before it de-seated using a 14" round file. This is the worst access I've ever seen and this is the most over-tightened I've ever seen.

I will concede that having the correct cup filter tool would probably done the trick- I'm assuming that's how they got it on there but in fairness, wanging on the filter that hard in the first place is needless abuse IMO.

In other new, the new filter has a captive nut...

Hotblack Desiato

Triumph do a plastic cup-type filter wrench - if you try to overtighten the filter the cup slips. No good for undoing an overtightened one though, so I got one like the one below for a tenner a couple of years ago at the vintage bike show.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Tech-3-Leg-Oil-Filter-Remover/dp/B002P5ZK3A

blu3r0ri0n

Got one of these years ago, still use it...

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Laser-2830-Oil-Filter-Wrench-Metal-Band-Sold-Loose-No-Package-/311393659434?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4880822a2a

CJhaughey

K&N do a filter with a 19mm nut welded to the top of the filter, easy to remove with a socket and extension if needed.

Wonda-Boy

CJhaughey wrote: »

K&N do a filter with a 19mm nut welded to the top of the filter, easy to remove with a socket and extension if needed.

Yeah I always get the Hi flo racing oil filter same price as normal but has the torque nut on top. Very handy on and off......having said that not much good if you cant get at it coz your bike has no clearance.

Hotblack Desiato

blu3r0ri0n wrote: »

Got one of these years ago, still use it...

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Laser-2830-Oil-Filter-Wrench-Metal-Band-Sold-Loose-No-Package-/311393659434?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4880822a2a

Yer only man for castrating the bullocks.

batman_oh

Operation take the edge off the 1199 continues (it's a pretty shocking road bike stock!). I have replaced the ridiculously slippery stock footpegs with Rizoma ones. The seat which is also like a greased up block of ice is being replaced later with an aftermarket comfort seat. The stock one is comically bad and with no frame and a tank about the width of a penny you end up sliding forward off every bump with your knees dug into the side fairings/engine (no frame!). The fact that Ducati sell two aftermarket seats that are both grippier with completely different shapes tells the story really!
To further try and make the bike work on our roads I changed the linkage on the shock last night to Progressive from Flat. So now the initial part of the shock stroke will be softer, with it getting harder as it travels through it (have to test it as I dont want it stiffening too much hitting big bumps at speed). If this doesn't work a respring might be in order (or a softer sprung Ohlins shock). I also removed the flapper valve on the exhaust which has helped with the surging in the 2k - 5k range (where it had been closing and reopening). Over winter I'll grab a Rapidbike module which self maps bike as you ride. This apparently is the best fix for the terrible low end fuelling - the Termi cans/full system and related upmap are pretty awful!

Wonda-Boy

Does the rapidbike module work on all bikes?

batman_oh

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

Does the rapidbike module work on all bikes?

They have options for most modern stuff
http://www.cmracing.eu/dimsport/produits/boitier/RBEVO/#index

blade1

batman_oh wrote: »

They have options for most modern stuff
http://www.cmracing.eu/dimsport/produits/boitier/RBEVO/#index

Jaysus,I never even knew such a thing existed!

Would this work on a ZZR1400, if I remove the secondary butterflies.
Would it cancel out the need for a power commander?
Bike has stock exhausts.

Wonda-Boy

batman_oh wrote: »

They have options for most modern stuff
http://www.cmracing.eu/dimsport/produits/boitier/RBEVO/#index

Nothing listed for the GSXF 1250

BlackWizard

blade1 wrote: »

Jaysus,I never even knew such a thing existed!

Would this work on a ZZR1400, if I remove the secondary butterflies.
Would it cancel out the need for a power commander?
Bike has stock exhausts.

I took my secondary butterflies out a year ago. No problems at all. It's a different bike.

Then I installed new exhausts and the flat spot at around 3k rpm completely disappeared.

blade1

BlackWizard wrote: »

I took my secondary butterflies out a year ago. No problems at all. It's a different bike.

Then I installed new exhausts and the flat spot at around 3k rpm completely disappeared.

What exhausts?
Did you fit a power commander?

cantdecide

Boom!! Hammerite aerosol hammered silver does what it does best again.

Richard tea

cantdecide wrote: »

Boom!! Hammerite aerosol hammered silver does what it does best again.

Very nice. Did you use any sandpaper? or polishing kit?

cantdecide

Richard tea wrote: »

Very nice. Did you use any sandpaper? or polishing kit?

All I did was use a rough foam sanding block which I wanted just to take out the roughest corrosion but it did this without leaving hardly any scratching. I just gave it a quick rub of some 600 masked and painted. I'm delighted with the finish and if it's as durable as I've found it to be in the past then it's a done deal for about a tenner. It's amazingly compliant stuff really.

BlackWizard

blade1 wrote: »

What exhausts?
Did you fit a power commander?

I got my exhausts from PipeWerx

I didn't fit a power commander.

blade1

BlackWizard wrote: »

I got my exhausts from PipeWerx

I didn't fit a power commander.

Did you do anything to the bike after fitting the exhausts and removing the flies?
I would have thought the bike would run very lean with the flies removed.

BlackWizard

blade1 wrote: »

Did you do anything to the bike after fitting the exhausts and removing the flies?
I would have thought the bike would run very lean with the flies removed.

I done nothing at all. I heard a lot of people talking about having to install power commanders but no one had hard proof why. The bike feels like it was never meant to have the secondary butterflies and the new exhaust makes it incredibly smooth when accelerating.

With the secondary butterflies in, you might as well just sell the bike. It's not a real zzr with them in. The flat spot will still be there without a new exhaust.

A power commander would probably make it more powerful and economical(?) but I like it the way it is.

If you want to call out to me or meet up, you can take it down the road to feel the difference. Just PM me

blade1

BlackWizard wrote: »

I done nothing at all. I heard a lot of people talking about having to install power commanders but no one had hard proof why. The bike feels like it was never meant to have the secondary butterflies and the new exhaust makes it incredibly smooth when accelerating.

With the secondary butterflies in, you might as well just sell the bike. It's not a real zzr with them in. The flat spot will still be there without a new exhaust.

A power commander would probably make it more powerful and economical(?) but I like it the way it is.

If you want to call out to me or meet up, you can take it down the road to feel the difference. Just PM me

It's something I have been meaning to get around to, I'll get to it soon hopefully.

How much of an effect did it have on fuel economy?

BlackWizard

blade1 wrote: »

It's something I have been meaning to get around to, I'll get to it soon hopefully.

How much of an effect did it have on fuel economy?

It's hard to tell because I might drive it differently now. But when I'm cruising its the same. When I'm driving to work it went from 6.4l/100km to 6.7l/100km. It's too small a difference to know why that happened.

blade1

BlackWizard wrote: »

It's hard to tell because I might drive it differently now. But when I'm cruising its the same. When I'm driving to work it went from 6.4l/100km to 6.7l/100km. It's too small a difference to know why that happened.

That's pretty good,thanks for the info!

BlackWizard

I washed my bike on the weekend

carl456

BlackWizard wrote: »

I washed my bike on the weekend

Looks great, what's it like comfort wise on long trips?

Wonda-Boy

Like a nice hot bowl of soup on a freezing cold day I bet.....sweet machine!

goodlad

I was slacking with cleaning the blackbird compared to my weekly washing on previous bikes so gave it a once over.

Still eats at me that the fork tubes, hangars and swing arm are silver! They should match the frame ffs!!

Wonda-Boy

Looks very well Goodlad....fine example.

BlackWizard

carl456 wrote: »

Looks great, what's it like comfort wise on long trips?

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

Like a nice hot bowl of soup on a freezing cold day I bet.....sweet machine!

Almost like that

But my wrists do get sore if I'm on the motorway for a long time. Oddly or not, the faster you go the more comfortable it is. I could drive all day at 160kph because of the wind resistance keeping weight off my wrists and my body seems to gel to the bike better. Doing 100kph on the motorway is not comfortable after an hour. My wrists would get uncomfortable and after a few hours, sore.

I also find it is fussy with front tyre pressure. If the front tyre is low then it doesn't fall into corners and requires effort. It needs to be a minimum 40psi (manufacturer recommends 42psi). Maybe all big bikes are fussy like this...

Wonda-Boy

BlackWizard wrote: »

Almost like that

But my wrists do get sore if I'm on the motorway for a long time. Oddly or not, the faster you go the more comfortable it is. I could drive all day at 160kph because of the wind resistance keeping weight off my wrists and my body seems to gel to the bike better. Doing 100kph on the motorway is not comfortable after an hour. My wrists would get uncomfortable and after a few hours, sore.

I also find it is fussy with front tyre pressure. If the front tyre is low then it doesn't fall into corners and requires effort. It needs to be a minimum 40psi (manufacturer recommends 42psi). Maybe all big bikes are fussy like this...

In fairness the recommended tyre pressure is for an average rider, I am not an average rider. I am a big lad and weight a fair bit I stick 2 psi in more then the recommended into front and back tyres on my GSX 1250 so I go with 38 - 44 in my tyres working well so far

BlackWizard

I go with 44psi. But it took me a few months to realize that 40psi just doesn't work that well for me.

I'm a heavier than normal rider.