Tag: motorcycle

I’m a big fan of Top Gear, and I especially enjoy their travel/challenges.  I’ve always dreamed of planning one, getting people silly enough to commit to it and then making it happen.

In the summer of COVID I’m finding myself daydreaming of possible adventures, so I started poking around on the internet trying to find how far north roads go in Ontario.  Bafflingly, Ontario has never connected to its own north sea shore by road.  For a province that has thousands of kilometers of ocean shoreline, Ontario seems intent on convincing its citizens that it’s land locked.  I’d love to ride 1000kms north to the sea, but it’s not an option.  James Bay is roughly in line with Scotland, so its not like it’s in the arctic.

In the meantime, it looks like Windigo Lake north west of Thunder Bay is as far north as you can ride in Ontario on your own wheels:

…which offers us a great thematic riding challenge!  It’s time to go to Windigo (instead of Bendigo), Morty!  Here’s the inspiration in case you’re not hip to Rick & Morty:

Here’s the Top Gear style WE’RE GOIN TO WINDIGO, MORTY! Moto Travel Challenge:

• Each participant gets a $3000 budget for a bike and any farkles that must include a safety certificate.  Ownership is by WG2W Productions, pending the bikes return to Elora within 10 days of the event, at which point ownership is signed over to the rider.  Safety and taxes should be about $400, so that leaves about $2600 for a bike and farkles
• Insurance and ownership is managed by the event
• All riders must have a valid Ontario M class license
• Camping equipment is provided to each rider individually based on a sponsored selection of gear (rider’s choice)  Each rider will be provided with bear gear.
• Each participant has to do any repair or maintenance on their own bike.  Only other competitors can assist.
• Google maps says it’s a 27 hour ride to Windigo.  Riders can only be on the road between 7am and 7pm, so the most efficient (and luckiest) should arrive in Windigo on day three in the morning.  At 12 hours per day of possible riding, 27 hours =  2..25 days of riding.  The earliest rider with a perfectly timed ride would arrive at Windigo at 10am on day three of the event.
• Timing for the event takes into account speed limits.  Any rider caught speeding is disqualified.
• Any overnight stops while riding to Windigo must be wild camping following leave-no-trace rules.  Proof of camp site cleanup must be included on rider GoPro footage or a time penalty is applied.
• The rider who gets to Windigo (getting to Windigo means arriving at the lake on your bike and dipping a toe in) as close to 27 hours of riding after leaving the start line as possible, wins!
• Riders can choose how to use their daylight hours to ride.  In the case of a tie, the rider to get to Windigo the soonest and closest to 27 hours of riding after race start wins
• Winner gets a We’re going to Windigo, Morty gold medal.  There will be silver and bronze finalist medals too.  Smallest displacement and oldest bikes who finish also get awards
• Any participant who finishes this long distance riding rally and is able to ride back to the start line within a week of the competition end can keep their bike! 

…followed by 469kms of challenging unpaved roads to the end of all roads.

A paved odyssey…

This isn’t an easy ride.  It starts with almost 1700kms of riding on paved roads ranging from the biggest freeway you can imagine to single lane tar patched, northern frost heaved back-road.  You’ve then got almost 500kms of riding gravel up to where all roads end at Windigo.  Trying to do this on a one trick pony like a cruiser would be entertaining, but likely unsuccessful.  This is a challenge for a multi-purpose motorcycle!

The 599 highway isn’t Google car photoed once you get on the gravel, and you’re constantly dodging lakes this deep into the Canadian Shield.  The closest I could get was this photo of the Mishkeegogamang Band Office, which shows a graded gravel road out front.  Fuel stops are few and far between, some cunning planning will be required!

BIKES

There are some interesting choices at the bottom end of the bike market in Ontario:

A bike that’ll handle the off-road part of this trip, though it isn’t built for the thousands of kilometres of paved road leading to the hundreds of miles of gravel fire roads.  Capable of handling the camping gear too.  Should come in on budget on the road.

Low mileage, in good shape and comes safetied, so you’d have a bit left over for farkles.  It’d chew up the pavement side of WG2W effortlessly, but that windshield might never see Windigo (Morty).

Big Honda touring bike, high miles, but it’s a Honda.  It’d be a handful on nearly a thousand kilometres of gravel, but some people like that.  Should come in under budget and ready to make miles.  The paves stuff would flash by on this and it could carry camping gear with ease!

Low miles, Kawasaki dependable, in great shape.  The Versys is short for versatile bike system, just what you’d need to get to Windigo (Morty).  The 650 is a lightweight bike that’ll handle gravel, and it has luggage and mounting points for some soft bags.  I’d probably be able to get it for $2300 certified, which gives me a bit for some soft saddle bags, then I’m off to the races!  This’d be my choice.  Might spill my extra cash on some 70/30 semi-off road tires.

There are lots of other interesting choices that you could get road ready for under three grand in Ontario.  Seeing what people choose and how they prep the bike for long distance, multi-surface, remote riding would be half the fun.  To stretch the choices there would also be trophies for the oldest bike and smallest displacement bike to finish the ride, so some people might go after those rather than the timed competition.

PRODUCING IT FOR TV

All bikes have GoPros to capture footage and all riders agree to provide at least 15 minutes of speaking to camera dialogue per day while in the rally.  All competitors have to document their camp build and take down.  There will be a production/sweeper vehicle with a trailer in case of any bike failures.  The vehicle will be able to provide technical support in remote areas and be designed for the gravel portion of the event as well as offer a central point for production and media management.

Competition begins when all riders have their bikes delivered to a shared garage space in Elora.

Film Schedule:

Day 1:  All bikes have arrived.  Bike familiarity and maintenance, bike paperwork taken care of, all riders and production crew doing piece to camera introducing themselves and talking about the event and prep

Day 2:  Bike familiarity and preparation, filming continues

Day 3:  Bike familiarity and preparation, finalizing ride planning, filming continues.  All bikes in park ferme at the end of the day ready for the morning’s off.

Day 4:  7am Race start in Elora.  Filmed by production vehicle crew and GoPros on bikes.

Production vehicle stopping in Thunder Bay on Day 1.

Day 5:  7am start.  Production vehicle stopping at Windigo to await arrival of riders (riders who arrive early will have a major penalty, so no one should be there until day 3)

Day 6:  Production vehicle at Windigo Lake awaiting arrivals.  End of day 6:  close of event party on Windigo

Day 7:  All rider camping gear to be taken in by the support vehicle for a lighter ride back.  Sweeping the road south to Silver Dollar (the beginning of pavement).  All competitors camping at Silver Dollar Campsite that night.  Confirm end of event with all riders.

Day 8:  Retrace/sweep route to Thunder Bay.  End of rally event in Thunder Bay.  Riders who want to keep their bikes have 3 days to return to the workspace in Elora in order to claim ownership.  Riders who want to find their own way home can do so and bikes will be transported in the trailer.

Day 9:  Production vehicle sweeps south clearing any bikes that have been parked.

Day 11:  Any bikes that have returned to the workspace in Elora have their ownership turned over to their riders.

Episodes:  45 minute edited

1)  Introducing riders, bike selection and  preparation – possibly include off-road training at SMART Adventures?

2) Rally Start:  day one on the road

3) Rally Continued:  day two on the road

4) Rally Conclusion: day three on the road and rally winners and finishers highlighted

5) where did they go missing riders review, post rally interviews while returning to Thunder Bay, final presentations in TB, sweeping up, who got to keep their bikes

Total production time:  3.75 hours of edited footage

Other opportunities:  Work with SMART Adventures out of Horseshoe Valley – include bits on how to ride off road, what riders can expect, how to manage bikes on loose surfaces.

Rough costing:

8 Competitors @ $3000 per bike = $24,000

Production Vehicle Cost (rental & gasoline):  $3000

Insurance & Paperwork costs at $1000 each competitor = $8,000

Production equipment (cameras, drone, on bike GoPros):  $5000

Production team hotels:  4 people x 2 nights Thunder Bay, 1 night on the road back, 2 nights camping in the north = $2000

Camping gear:  $1000/competitor + production crew = $10,000 (mitigated by sponsorship?)

Total rough budget:  $52,000.  Estimated budget:  $60,000   (mitigated by sponsorship)

Sponsorship opportunities:

– workshop/repair centre where bike setup takes place

– motorcycle farkle manufacturers or suppliers

– camping gear supply

– Tourism Ontario

– Northern Ontario

– motorcycle manufacturers

– competitor sponsorship

– Rick & Morty Themed prize swag

from Blogger https://ift.tt/39Pn3Hb
via IFTTT

We were at SMART Adventures Off-road Training last week.  You should go, same price as a day out watching professional sports-ball, but you’re the athlete and what you learn there will raise your bikecraft to another level.  While there I got an opportunity to go out for a ride on the new BMW 1250GS with the legendary Clinton Smout.  The new GS is a thing of beauty and a very capable machine, but what struck me most about it was how high the handlebars are set; the bike is very easy to ride while standing on the pegs, which is one of the ‘command’ positions when riding a dual sport or adventure bike.  I’m a tall guy (6’3″) and often have to bend too much to operate a bike from the pegs, but not on that GS. 

We switched to the big bikes after a couple of hours riding trials bikes, which don’t have seats at all.  Standing up for that long on these super light weight, powerful and very twitchy machines pretty much wiped me out, so a chance to ride BMW’s latest evolution of the legendary GS was a nice change.  It was a blisteringly hot day well into the mid-thirties Celsius and I was drenched after the trials gymnastics, so I did what I usually do and stand up on the pegs once we got moving to air out a bit and get a feel for how the bike moves.

Clinton doing pre-flight checks on the BMW – it’s a digital machine.

When we stopped for a coffee Clinton said something that surprised me.  A friend of his was charged with “stunt riding” for standing on his pegs while riding.  He wasn’t doing anything silly or speeding, he just stood up on the pegs on a bike designed to help you control it that way.  This charge is an officer’s discretion situation and the OPP officer who pulled him over who may very well have no understanding of motorcycling or this kind of dual purpose machine made the decision that this was stunting.  He fought it in court, but the judge told him if he wanted to stretch he should just pull over to the side of the highway and stretch, which is the kind of advice that’ll get you killed.  Along with that bad advice he got whacked with a crippling stunt driving charge.  I can’t imagine what this does on your driving record for insurance, let alone the fines and possible jail time.  This is the same charge as doing over 150 kms/hr on a public road!


I’ve frequently stood up on the pegs while riding in order to maintain a level of comfort by cooling off or stretching that would allow me to ride with better focus.  I’ve only done this on adventure bikes designed for it and there is no intention of stunting in this.  At other times I’ve done it to navigate particularly gnarly pavement and construction or provide greater situational awareness by better seeing what’s ahead.  The types of bikes I ride are designed to use this variation in rider position to actually enhance control of the vehicle.

The only place ‘motorcycle’ is mentioned in the law is around wheelies, otherwise generalizations around cars are all we get.

There was a recent local news article that talked about all the stunt driving going on in the area.  One of the infractions listed in from the Ontario Traffic Act where it looks at the definition of stunt driving is driving while not in the driver’s seat.  The intent there is obviously aimed at a car, but Ontario likes to cast a wide net so it can charge citizens and tax them with fines without question, so the vagueness is left in there intentionally and it cost Clinton’s buddy big.  This once again reminds me of just how aggressively Ontario pillories motorcyclists.


I’m very conscious of how physically challenging motorcycle riding is and consider it a priority to retain maximum focus and control of these potentially dangerous vehicles.  In Ontario, where riders can’t split traffic and filter, and where temperatures in the summer can easily hit danger levels, the unprotected motorcyclist under the baking sun is forced to sit in stationary traffic and fumes and isn’t even allowed to stand up to get some air when things move?  It’s like Ontario wants to kill people who ride.


I’ve gone on rides at various times where road conditions are such that standing on the pegs actually helps me navigate circumstances and manage road hazards more safely.  Standing on the pegs can, as CycleWorld describes it, turn “you into a dynamic part of your bike” and “an active part of the suspension.”  Thanks to Ontario’s vague laws and officious police force and judiciary I can get had up for stunt riding when I stand up to correctly navigate terrible road surfaces (of which Ontario has many), road construction (of which Ontario has many) or if I simply need a better look at what is happening ahead.  Situation awareness is just another one of the many benefits of standing on your pegs, but Ontario is more interested in charging citizens with harsh, non-specific generalizations that can financially cripple them.


The general advice online is if you need to stand just lift your butt a bit so you can make the argument that you aren’t standing – you are and you’re breaking the law, but at least you’re putting your life at risk doing it wrong so it looks legal.  This doesn’t offer you optimal control, but safe operation of a motorcycle isn’t what we’re going after anymore, is it?  The other way out is to have a nice, amiable chat with the officer and ensure them that what you’re doing is pertinent to the nature of the multi-disciplinary machine you’re on.  You might not be able to make that argument with sports bikes or cruisers, but if your bike has any off road pretensions, standing on the pegs is something it was designed for that actually helps a rider manage difficult terrain.


Next time I’m on an atrocious Ontario road getting my teeth knocked out by a loose and dangerous surface I imagine I’ll do the safe thing and stand up to better manage it, but I better keep an eye out for the law while I do it.  Wouldn’t it be something is safe vehicle operation was what drove our laws instead of vagaries that allow officious cops to make criminals of otherwise law abiding citizens?




LINKS & RESOURCES


https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/070455
Ontario’s Traffic Act in relation to ‘stunt driving’


https://www.orangeville.com/news-story/10125681–blatant-disregard-out-of-towners-dominate-list-of-drivers-charged-by-dufferin-opp-on-hwy-10-airport-road-near-orangeville/
“Under the Highway Traffic Act, those convicted of stunt driving or street racing could face a fine ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, a prison term of six months and a driving suspension.”


https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/off-road-riding-tips-when-to-sit-stand-or-paddle
“Standing while riding does more than make you look cool and allow you to stretch your legs – it will keep you balanced and in control of your motorcycle.”  Marisa McInturff, Motorcycle Safety Foundation


https://www.cycleworld.com/2015/09/18/cycle-world-tips-and-tricks-stand-up-on-your-motorcycle/
“your feet are crucial points of contact with and control of the bike. Standing up on the pegs turns you into a dynamic part of your bike rather than just dead weight. It makes you an active part of the suspension.”


https://advrider.com/f/threads/standing-on-pegs-illegal.1232572/
Ontario isn’t the only jurisdiction where the law is out of whack with vehicle dynamics and common sense.


https://onewheeldrive.net/2012/05/03/standing-illegal-bc-new-motorcycle-safety-laws-and-flaws/
More insanity, this time from BC, where the majority of roads aren’t paved by you can’t stand up and provide better control and safety while riding!  “a majority of BC’s roads are unpaved and by the letter this law does endanger, if not make outlaws of, responsible dual sport, & adventure riders.”


https://www.gearpatrol.com/cars/motorcycles/a501251/skills-for-adventure-riding/
“You want to be standing up straight, but with a slight bend in your knees and elbows, in order to keep good control over the bike’s movement.”

from Blogger https://ift.tt/3gas8MG
via IFTTT

I just measured the valve clearances on the Tiger.  They’re supposed to be checked every 20,000kms, I’ve put 27k on it since I’ve had it and who knows when they were done previously, so this was well past due.

Getting to the valves isn’t that problematic since I’ve gotten gas tank removals down to under 10 minutes while I try and trace down this frustrating inability to idle.  Here are the numbers:


Cylinder             Intake                     Exhaust
      1         .13mm & .10mm       .20mm & .23mm
      2         .13mm & .10mm       .20mm & .20mm
      3         .13mm & .10mm       .20mm & .23mm


Intakes are supposed to be 0.10-0.15mm, so they’re all within spec.  Exhausts are supposed to be gapped at  0.15 to 0.20mm, so a couple are on the cusp, though they’re a tight 0.23mm (you have to push the spacer in there like you mean it – the .2mm is still snug, just not as).


Turning the engine with the rear wheel in top gear was pretty easy – don’t grab the spokes, use the tire, you get more torque and it turns pretty easily.  As you turn the back wheel you get the cams pointing up, which is when you check clearances by sliding a feeler gauge under the cam and above the shim.

This Spurtar 32 blade feeler gauge from Amazon is a nicely made thing that offered me a full range of tapered ends that covered what I needed for checking valve clearances on this 955i Triumph Tiger. 


With the Tiger’s timing pretty much to spec valve clearance wise, it suggests that my intermittent stalling problem isn’t related to valve clearances.  Working on older bikes (and watching Car S.O.S.) has me well aware of what fails on older vehicles:  RUBBER!  Perished rubbers are Tim’s go-to in Car S.O.S. when it comes to restoring an old vehicle – this Tim is thinking that’s the issue with this 17 year old Tiger too.


I spent today putting things back together and double checking everything.  The vacuum system that feeds the idle control wasn’t plugged in 1-2-3 (I had it 1-3-2).  That’s something stupid enough that it might be the culprit.  At this point I don’t care what it is, I just want the bike to idle to the point where I can depend on it to not stall on me and leave me hanging.


If I get it all back together and find that I’m still stuck with an intermittent stall I’m going to start systemically replacing all the rubbers in it.  Doing a deep cleaning on the fuel injectors is an idea too.  I ran into an old guy at Canadian Tire who swore by Sea Foam for cleaning fuel systems, so I got a can.  I’ve got some in the Tiger tank for the rebuild which will hopefully be done by tomorrow.  In a perfect world the Tiger will be back to normal and I can go after the valves in the winter if I’m so inclined.  If it’s still stalling out on me, It’ll be a perished rubber hunt next.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/3hwzmuE
via IFTTT

This started in June with intermittent stalling.  I’ve done all the obvious things like spark plugs, fuel and air filters, but the problem persisted intermittently, so I had another go at it in July.  The Tiger has been my go-to ride for over four years now.  I’ve put over twenty-seven thousand kilometres on it, and up until this year it’s been as dependable as a sunrise.


This week I chased down some other possible electrical issues.  The ECU was covered in muck so I cleaned it up and sealed the plastic underbody around it so it won’t get mucky again any time soon.  I then found out how to test the ECU relay under the seat:

Everything else is sorted on the bike, so I’m down to the valves, which I really should have done in the winter.  I’m now between a rock and a hard place since I’m not sure I’m hanging on to the Tiger and it takes weird, old 25mm over bucket shims that Japanese bikes haven’t used since the ’80s.  Modern bikes use much smaller under bucket shims.   My nearest dealer is far away and dropping off the bike there would be a real hassle, so I’m looking at getting the Triumph valve shim removal tool T3880012.  But you don’t need that if you’re willing to remove the cams, so now I’m elbow deep into pulling most of the top end out if I want to avoid getting a special tool for a bike I’m selling on. 


On the other hand, one of the reasons I got into bikes was to get back into mechanics, and any self respecting rider should know how to do valves, so I’m kinda keen to do the job since I haven’t done it yet.  I’m just shying away from sidelining my long distance motorbike in the middle of a too-short Canadian riding season while I wait for COVID crippled parts delivery on a 17 year old European bike.  The valves need doing anyway, but doing them might still not sort out the stalling issue, which would be very aggravating.

If I can move the Honda on I’d get the C14 Concours I’ve been eyeing and then the Tiger could take as much spa time as it needed.  I just had the Honda up for a few days in the four thousands, which is high for what it is, and only got an offer for a trade.  I’m going to put it up this week in the threes and see if it goes, then I can do some shuffling and take the weight of expectations off the old Tiger.

Motorcycle Valve Adjustment Research:


Good primer on valve clearance from Revzilla:  https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/why-do-bikes-use-shim-under-bucket-valve-adjusters


Why higher revving bike engines have bikes have solid rather than hydraulic valve lifters that need adjusting (cars and Harleys rev less and so use hydraulic/self adjusting valve lifters:  https://www.quora.com/Why-do-motorcycles-require-valve-adjustments-when-automobiles-dont-require-them


https://www.bikesrepublic.com/featured/checking-bikes-valve-clearance-important/
Why checking your valve adjustment is important.


Triumph 955i specific valve clearance primer:  https://www.canyonchasers.net/2006/02/triumph-t955i-valve-adjustment-tips-tricks/


Local advice on how hard it is to find 25mm shims for the Triumph 955i engine: https://www.gtamotorcycle.com/xf/threads/help-looking-for-25mm-valve-shims.201738/


Some 955i engines are under bucket shims, the Tiger has over bucket shims (which is why the tool is needed if you don’t want to remove the cam):  https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/05-955i-valve-shims.6986/


Good advice on when to do your valve clearances (when you stop hearing the valves ‘rustle’): https://www.mikesxs.net/25mm-valve-shims-sizes-2-30-to-3-10-honda-yamaha-triumph.html

Shim sizing on 955i Triumphs (25mm over bucket shims are hard to find!):  https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/2000-955i-shim-diameter.230758/



BikeBandit has the tool (1-2 week wait, and a 25mm shim set for $335US/$455CAD because even though the US is making a mess of COVID19, their currency seems to be immune to their poor management.


At this point I’m stuck between over four hundred bucks in tools, parts and the opportunity to do my first valve adjustment and whatever Inglis Cycle gets back to me with costs wise – though that’ll also include having to get it over 140kms down there and get it back again on another day.  If they get back to me with a price north of $600 and a long delay in getting it done, I’ll be going after the tools to DIY it, though I don’t want to go crazy with a fancy set of 25mm shims when most modern bikes don’t seem to use these big over bucket shims any more.


I’d go with Fortnine, but for some reason they’re selling the identical shim kit to BikeBandit ($179US/$243CAD) for $278CAD. 


If I can move the Honda, I could get the C14 Concours and then have time to work on the Tiger without depending on it as my main long distance tool.  On the other hand, selling the Honda means I’ve just sold the only bike that’s working right at the moment.  The Tiger picked a bad time during the summer of COVID to tighten up on me, though I’m well past when the valves should have been checked so I only really have myself to blame.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/32z4G7W
via IFTTT

The Tiger continues to stall out on me at the most inopportune times.  It starts from cold and idles high, but once warm the lower idle doesn’t seem to hold and the bike will stall, but not all the time, only when I really don’t want it to.  Riding back from Haliburton last weekend, the bike stalled at lights and when I got stuck in traffic on a 6 lane highway traffic jam during a rain storm, but when I pulled over later it idled normally.  This kind of intermittent failure is very hard to diagnose.


Looking up the issue online, intermittent stalling on a Triumph 955i engine seems to be an issue.  I’ve replaced the idle control system and tested the vacuum tubes again (no leaks), so I don’t think that’s the issue.  It might be a sensor that doesn’t return information consistently, but there are a lot of sensors feeding the computer that controls the fuel injection, so unless the bike is showing an error, I don’t want to start replacing them willy-nilly.


The bike does occasionally show errors on the Tuneboy Software that came with the bike:

July 1st it showed:
P0113 Intake air temperature sensor
P0230 fuel pump relay fault
P1231 fuel pump relay open

P0462 fuel level sensor input
P0463 fuel level sensor input
P0505 Idle control system malfunction… but then they all seemed to go away and the bike was running well when I left for the long ride last weekend (over 800kms over 2 days), at least until I was riding home at the end of it when the intermittent stalling returned.  It was showing this again this week:








I’m not sure that the air temperature sensor would be enough to stall out the engine, but this at least gives me a couple of things to look into: that air temp sensor and the fuel level sensor (though again, that shouldn’t affect the idle).


Some advice people have given (on the internet, so take this advice with a healthy dose of skepticism) is that out of balance throttle bodies might cause the issue, so I got a Carbmate vacuum balancer from Fortnine who have their shit back together as far as filling orders go and got it to me in less than 2 days (use UPS, not Canada Post, who are still not working properly).


I balanced the throttle bodies with it, but the stalling persists.  I’m now looking at the mapping for the bike in addition to keeping an eye on errors that might pop up.  This video uses Easy Tune, which I haven’t monkeyed with, but gives the impression that early Triumph electronic fuel injection was a bit of a mess and many dealers don’t know how to resolve it:

That’s a bit worrying because if I’m still stumped I was going to take the Tiger down to Inglis Cycle and have them resolve this with some factory testing, but if I’m going to pay dealer rates and get the bike back still stalling, that’s not cool.


TuneECU was a free Windows software download (it’s still available but not supported any more), but now it’s an Android app you have to pay for (though fifteen bucks isn’t unreasonable if it gives you control over your bike’s ECU).  Unfortunately the Tuneboy cable and software I have isn’t directly compatible with it without some dark Windows driver mojo (newer windows auto-install a driver that doesn’t work with the old chipset on the Tuneboy cable).  Triumph uses the same FTDi FT232RL VAG-COM OBDII/USB cable as VW does, but I think I’m going to try and resolve any mapping issues with the Tuneboy since it came with the bike and works.


I think I’m going to go back and look at the fuel pump relay and the wiring for it as an intermittent fault there would starve the engine and cause stalling.  Less likely are the air temperature sensor and fuel level sensor, which have been a bit whacky with the fuel gauge going from full to empty and back to full again, but I don’t see how that could cause a stall.  If there’s gas in the tank, the engine will use it.


My order of operations is:
– fuel pump relay (which might have gotten wet at a recent cleaning, so it’s on my mind)
– fuel level sensor
– air temperature sensor


If they aren’t crazy expensive, I might just get all 3 new rather than paying shipping x3, which would probably cost more than the parts.

NOTES:

https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/955i-engine-stalls-need-help.16567/

“throttle slides were out of balance”

https://fortnine.ca/en/tecmate-carbmate-synchronizer-ts-110
fuel injector/carb syncronizer

https://en.vindecoder.pl/L4PLUMC0662000046
vin looker upper if you’re wanting to confirm year and make

https://tuneecu.net/TuneECU_En/install1.html
‘free’ ECU tuning options for Triumphs – early FI Triumphs seem to have a number of issues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvHqNeClz2U
video guide to TuneECU (I can’t stand online how-to videos, I prefer text. Waiting for 30 second intros each time drives me around the bend, but maybe you like that

https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm
chip drivers for FTDI cables

https://www.r3owners.net/threads/tuneecu-with-tuneboy-cable.7856/
Using a Tuneboy cable with TuneECU

https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/cant-get-tune-ecu-app-to-connect-ugh.962476/
connections issue with TuneECU (I found Tuneboy pretty straight forward, but it’s a more expensive option that I’m using only because it came with the bike)

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/2003-triumph-tiger-955i/o/m121594#sch565841
Parts diagram for a 2003 Triumph Tiger 955i focusing on the EFI relay (it’s under the seat) Triumph RELAY, EFI Part # T2502109

from Blogger https://ift.tt/399z0qS
via IFTTT

I’m still wallowing in the sense of satisfaction from taking an old, field-found Concours and putting it back on the road again.  With a road-ready bike in the garage I’m looking for another project bike.  I’m not short on choices, a quick look online revealed a wide variety of ‘project’ bikes; apparently a lot of people start them and don’t finish them.  You can pick up failed projects that run the gamut from boxes of bits to a machine that just needs a bit of TLC.  I’d think you have to feel like a real burk if you bought a bike, dismantled it and then walked away from the mess you made, but people do it.  I’m left wondering if some people start projects just to waste time rather than aiming for a finished product.

The DR600 is a huge trailee machine.  The young owner had the ownership, but it was still in the previous owner’s name in spite of the bike being in his possession for a couple of years; the project had obviously gone stale.  The amount of rust on fasteners suggested that the bike had been left in the weather for at least some of the time.  It won’t run, rust in the tank and fuel system was the diagnosis.  Aftermarket tanks are pretty easy to find for off road bikes (and look very Mondo Enduro), but there are none specifically for the DR600.  A DR650 tank might fit… might.

Five years ago I began the never ending apprenticeship of motorcyclist.  The summer before I had a chance to ride a dirt bike at a friend’s farm and got bitten.  My mother had always been adamant about me not riding, so I didn’t, but she had died the year before and I was suddenly able to do something I’d always wanted to try.  That same summer I also became qualified as a technology teacher and was interested in dusting off my hands-on repair skills.  Motorcycling offered a perfectly timed riding and technical renaissance one-two punch.


When I was eighteen and looking for my first car I realized I couldn’t afford it and started looking at motorcycles.  My parents ponied up the difference to keep me out of the saddle.  Living in Canada meant bikes aren’t a year round transportation solution anyway.  I ended up getting so deep into cars that I never found my way back to bikes, but the urge had always been there.  When I had my highest amount of disposable income in my early twenties while working full time before university, I was thinking about a bike again when a co-worker ran a red light on his bike and killed himself in front of all of us as we were coming in for our shift.  That put the brakes on getting a bike yet again.


Twenty years later…

Things moved quickly as the snow melted in 2013.  I walked in to the Drivetest Centre and got my learner’s permit after a long winter spent buying magazines, watching TV shows and reading books on motorcycles; I was rearing to go.  A couple of weeks later I was taking the introductory motorcycle course at Conestoga College.  There was nothing better than high speed passes through the cones, leaning the little learner bike to and fro.  A few days after that I’d found a poorly used Kawasaki Ninja in town and had it in the garage less than a week later.  Meanwhile it was still snowing outside (oh, Canada).


Soon enough the weather turned and I was out on the road.  It was only a 650cc twin cylinder Kawasaki, but it went 0-60 faster than anything I’d ever owned and looked like a rocket ship.  The time I was sat at an intersection and a Ferrari pulled up next to me and started revving its engine was the first time I explored the Ninja over 6000rpm, and I was gobsmacked.  With the Ferrari car lengths behind me I dropped the bike into top gear and gave my head a shake.  Leaning into corners is still my favourite aspect of motorcycle dynamics, but the acceleration of even a mid-sized motorbike is a thing to glory in, and they brake like mad things too.  In addition to being out in the world on a bike, you’re on an athletic machine that can embarrass anything else you’re likely to meet.  It was my mission to come to grips with this wonderful machine.


By May I had my M2 and could carry passengers and go on big highways, so I immediately spent all of July commuting solely on the bike to a summer course seventy kilometres each way including a blast down the biggest highway in Canada.  The first time I pulled out on the highway I eased up to 90km/hr and followed the slow lane.  That lasted for about ten seconds and then I was gone.  The next morning I indicated onto the highway, shoulder checked and was at a buck twenty in the fast lane a second later; what a rush.


What typified my first year of biking was my commitment to using the thing.  Rather than take the car if it was raining, I put on rain gear.  Rather than take the car when I had to go shopping, I found a way to carry what I was getting home on the bike.  That commitment was what got me racking up over five thousand kilometres on the Ninja, which isn’t easy in Canada with its short riding season.

The mechanical side of things had me taking care of basic maintenance, but the Ninja was my first choice of bike because it was a mid-capacity machine that was relatively new and in ready to ride shape – the idea was to learn how to ride.  I’d leave the deep mechanical work for future years.  Most of the repair energy on the Ninja was spent on un-blacking it and making it colourful again.  When I eventually sold it I got pretty much what I’d paid for it even though I’d added over ten thousand kilometres to it, so the painting paid off.


Future years would have me diversifying my bikes and rescuing a basket case that would challenge my technical skills and have me knee deep in mechanics, but the early years were all about riding as much as possible.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2HltljX
via IFTTT

Someone had a similar shirt at the Indy MotoGP, and it got a lot of smiles from the uncaged crowd-Zazzle let me recreate it

https://www.zazzle.ca/mechanicalsympathy

There was a time when I was loopy about cars, they were all I could think about.  That passion slowly faded as cars became an appliance to get me to work.  The freedom they once represented became an expectation.  You’re less inclined to fettle a car that you are depending on.

When I began riding a few years ago I rediscovered that passion.  Where driving a car is an expectation of adult life, riding is the exception, you’ve got to really want to do it.  It’s a more physically and mentally challenging mode of transport that demands more of you while also risking more of you.

The reward is being ‘in the wind’.  You are out in the world on an elemental machine that offers you a sense of immediacy that no car can match.  On top of the magic is a rational foundation of performance and cost.  My bike can out accelerate a Corvette while getting better mileage than a Prius, and it does it all while offering thrills unmatched on four wheels for a fraction of the cost.  You can also comfortably fit three bikes in a one car garage.  If you’re into vehicles as a passion, bikes take the cake in terms of economy and performance.

You might say, ‘hang on, what about super cars?”  You’re not going to find them particularly economical, but surely they are better performing.  Cycle World magazine recently did an article on just that.  The ‘Vette got buried by everything there.  The Kawasaki H2 was the fastest machine to 60 and 100.  The only place it lost out was top speed to the Mclaren P1, which topped out fifteen miles per hour faster thanks to some fancy aerodynamic bodywork.

This might be the moment that cars take back the performance crown, but it’ll cost ya.  The McLaren P1 goes for $1,150,000US (just over $1.5 million Canadian), and they’re sold out.  The H2 will cost you $27,500 Canadian, and with some aerodynamic tweaking borrowed from the H2R (I think I’d make my own carbon bodywork), an Akrapovič exhaust that’ll increase power, sound fantastic and shave off almost six kilos (€1,415, or about $2125 Canadian dollars), it’d be a beast.  Add in some power commander kit to electronically improve engine output and you’ll have an H2 that will be fastest, period.

With less than $4000CAN in aftermarket kit, you would have a weaponized H2 that would work over the two million dollar McLaren six ways from Sunday.

 
The tweaked H2 would set you back about $31,500.  With some carbon bodywork to aid high speed passage through the air, you’d still be under forty grand.

I once dreamed of super cars.  Now I’d happily go for the H2 with some steps toward an H2R, have something rare, beautiful and fastest, and save myself 97.5% of the cost of the McLaren.  My mid-life motorcycle fixation is eminently reasonable compared to the irrational fetish of the super car, now solely reserved for the one percenter.  

Motorcycles are democratic… speed for everyone!

… I know it’s the super H2R (fifty grand), but my god…

We loaded up our wee mini-van and spent 48 hours out in the woods near Bobcaygeon.  Into the back I packed some helmets and the tiny Yamaha.

The cottage we were at is an ideal base for off-roading.  It’s at the end of a long gravel fire road deep in the woods, and it’s surrounded by off road snowmobile trails.  You couldn’t ask for a better place to practice the art of riding off road on two wheels.

I really need to get my mits on an off road bike so I can go on those trails with my boy on his bike.

While I was lamenting my lack of a dual sport I went out on one of the ATVs and rode some trails with an eye for how a bike might make its way through three foot deep puddles and up rocky washed out trails.  The ATV is like a tank, bashing its way through with brute force and massive wheels.  You’ve got no chance of falling off and you pretty much knock your way through on a hugely over-square, balanced machine.  A bike would be like a scalpel after using a butcher’s cleaver.


The inherent lack of balance on a bike means pounding through those massive puddles would be a tricky proposition.  I can’t wait to try it.  Since I started riding I’ve realized how many different ways there are to learn motorcycle dynamics, and off-roading will push those boundaries far more cheaply than track racing might.

I’m hoping to nail down an off road focused dual sport and some kit in the next couple of weeks and then I intend to spend a lot of time up on the trails around the cottage, falling off a lot and learning things I’d never get to learn on the road.

A lovely little Yamaha came up in Orangeville for sale.  I’m hoping it’s still available.  It’s a light weight, air cooled XT350, the grandchild of the venerable XT500.  It’d also look good with with my son’s PW80.  Just two guys out on their Yamahas.

Here’s hoping it’s still waiting for me.