...Bassa Talk - Front end pulse dives when using foot brake

[oldbike54]

You might have to get off of Youtube, and try KCRW Eclectic 24.

 Sorry , but one bad girl group at a time please 

 Dusty

[rodekyll]

Radio's on?

[normzone]

And here we go again...

I bought the bike in January of 2014. It had a nominal 42,00 miles on it. The P.O. allowed as I might want to put a battery in it - he said that the current one was in good shape, but it had a few years on it, and that the last time it went south it had happened with no warning - he was getting fuel, and when he went to start up again it just went click.

So at 42,735 I put a new lead acid battery in it and proceeded to ride without a care into a summer heatwave.

At 46,275 that battery, mostly dry with plates showing, gave it up while I was getting lunch. I'll take that one - I'd forgotten how rapidly a battery can go dry, I guess. I got 3,500 miles out of that one.

So a new battery goes in - I don't recall if it was lead/acid or AGM. I rode that one until in changing the speedo cable I unintentionally pulled loose a connector that goes to the regulator. A few days later at 54,300 that battery gave it up at speed on the freeway. I got 8,100 out of that one.

Figured out that loose wire after much help from you guys, fixed it and moved on with an AGM. That one died in my parking spot at home at 55,800 shortly after the low fuel light made it's first appearance since I bought the bike. The light came on AFTER fueling up and stayed on. I disconnected sensor at the connection beneath the tank, checked all the charging numbers and they were good. So I wrote that one off to the low fuel sensor after only 1,500 miles and put another AGM in it.

Friday, I pulled into a fuel stop and the bike missed and sputtered as I made my entrance. I figured it was just lean from getting off the freeway, shut it down and fueled it. When I was done it wouldn't turn over. Battery four goes down at 60,000, after a life span of 4,200 miles.

With the help of friends (a big shout out to Dr. Gary of McDowell Chiropractic) I put another AGM in it and rode it home. I figure the battery had enough oomph to get me there and cost the same as a tow, and if it had anything left I could begin troubleshooting with it.

So I avoided the bike all day Saturday, and now here we are on Sunday morning. I'm going to start it, check the sacred numbers (key off, key on, while cranking, while idling, and while at cruising revs). Then I'll post those numbers and begin looking for ... well, I guess I'm hoping for a readily findable loose connection. All other options are downhill from that one.

 

[oldbike54]

 Sounds like it is over-charging Norm .

 Dusty

[normzone]

Thanks, Dusty.

I don't believe these number support that theory, but as we have repeatedly demonstrated here on the forum I don't always know what's going on.

Today, the meter sez....

Key off  11.99

Key on  11.66

Cranking  10.66

Idling    11.44

Cruise
revs      11.43

So...I think I've confirmed what I already knew. It's not charging properly. Damn I feel clever...   

[oldbike54]

 Alrighty then , it isn't generating enough juice . Try charging the battery completely and rechecking . Humor us please .

 Dusty

[normzone]

Let's start with the humoring part.

I live in an apartment. So clever boy that I am, I just took a shovel and shaved off a little of the base of the hill ("green belt", now brown in our drought) in front of my apartment, cut a piece of plywood about one boot by two, and made myself a center-stand friendly spot in front of my door so I could work on the bike just a few steps away from home. Sure, it's in the kid  play zone, but I'm really just a kid at heart, so...

I pulled the seat already, so I pull the side covers and gaze. I decide that the rectifier is a good place to start, so I go up front where I recently added the crash bars [Turin] so generously donated.

When I added the crash bars, they fastened down just above the regulator, and I had to reroute the regulator wires over the crash bar. This put them in the neighborhood of the fork stop thingy that is part of the frame.

So you know where this is going...Since sometime after I installed the crash bars, every time I turn the forks to the right I've been pinching some of the regulator wiring.

 

[oldbike54]

 Ahh , the story unfolds .

 Dusty

[CalVin2007]

  So you're saying "just a pinch" is too much sometimes? My motto: "Always look first where the last guy worked...even if it was me". 

  Terry

P. S.   By the way, unplug the reg/rect and shine up the connectors while you are there. Makes a big difference if they are dirty.

[normzone]

Thanks for the technical support, [CalVin2007] Paul, and for the (im)moral support, [oldbike54] Dusty.

Tech wizards that you are, I don't know if you can imagine how much better it makes me feel even just to see somebody post the  emoji when I am working on Josie and thinking out loud here.

So the while the Chargers are playing the Vikings on the radio, the charger is on the battery.

I'm going to splice the cut yellow wire, shiny up the associated connectors, and see if the idling and cruising revs charge level goes up to where it's supposed to be. If I get lucky, that will be it (until the next time). If not, then it get's more expensive.

[oldbike54]

 Hey , I help where I can  Seriously , hard to diagnose a problem W/O all of the details .

 Dusty

[normzone]

Well, Dusty, I'm working on the local newspaper crossword while I wait for the battery to finish charging, I've got some details for you...City in Oklahoma, four letters.

 

[oldbike54]

Well, Dusty, I'm working on the local newspaper crossword while I wait for the battery to finish charging, I've got some details for you...City in Oklahoma, four letters.

 

 Gage .

 Dusty

[Dharma Bum]

Enid.

[oldbike54]

 Alex , Corn , Gore .

 Where are ya Norm ?

 Dusty

[swooshdave]

My bike pinches the throttle cables when I turn right. Tying them off loosely a bit higher should help. The right crash bar has been tested so I can see why they are used.

[normzone]

Right here, Dusty. 

The charger (battery, not the guys who lost to the Vikings today) says 81% charged.

Key off, the meter says 13.25 volts

At idle, the meter reads 12.7 volts

At cruising revs, it reads 14.5 volts.

I think I'm riding to work tomorrow. Tonight, " I can haz cheezburger ".

I have no corroborating evidence yet for any of the four letter towns, but thanks to all of you.

[oldbike54]

 Success . Now give us another clue re the town in Oklahoma .

 Dusty

[CalVin2007]

  We may know some helpful four letter words as well,in case the charging problem is still...problematic .

[oldbike54]

  We may know some helpful four letter words as well,in case the charging problem is still...problematic .

 I find that keeping a cheap wrench within arms length for the purposes of flinging across the yard can also be quite therapeutic .

 Dusty

[normzone]

A holdover from my automotive days...I like to keep a hammer near anything I'm working on.

You don't have to use it, but it helps to let the machine you're willing to if it's not cooperative.

When it comes to crosswords, I start them and do all the easy ones, then my wife (she married me, she's smart...right?) takes over and whomps some sense into it, then we toss it back and forth until we either give up or it is vanquished.

So she had to adjust "changechannels" to "switchchannels" in order to get ENID to fit. I'll let you know if that changes, we're a pen and correction tape kind of couple.

[Lannis]

So she had to adjust "changechannels" to "switchchannels" in order to get ENID to fit.

Some crossword rules to live by:

City in Oklahoma is always "ENID".

Town in Iowa is always "AMES".

Anything having to do with opera is probably "AIDA".

The words "ERNE" (Sea Eagle), "ORT" (morsel), and "ONER" (unusual thing) are never used outside of crossword puzzles, but show up often there.

"ERLE" Stanley Gardner is the most popular author in crosswords.

If you can vaguely relate it to "summer", it's probably "ETE".

"Feds" are always "GMEN" or "TMEN".    Monsters are usually "OGRES".

The "LANAI" and "RIATA" are apparently words for "porch" and "lasso" somewhere .....

But what are you gonna do?

Lannis

[normzone]

Lannis -

What I'm going to do, is substitute butter for silicone grease.

I saw a thread around here recently about the grommets that the side cover goes into. They wear and split - I noticed one of mine was, and went looking for silicone grease. Nope...

Thanks for sharing the wisdom - much of that is new to me, although my vocabulary includes a lot of century-old slang, so I've got GMEN before. And RIATA and LASSO are much the same...Damn, I miss horsing, although I've never had to rope one.

[Lannis]

Lannis -

What I'm going to do, is substitute butter for silicone grease.

You're also probably going to substitute "Rats" for "Cracked Grommets" in your garage ... !!!

Lannis

[normzone]

I'm under orders to eat lunch today, or I'll be in trouble when I get home. So I roll on over to the local Jimbos, in the genteel neighborhood adjacent to our little industrial park.

I found a shady parking place betwixt the sport utility vehicles of a couple of high-dollar granola honeys, and I figured I could eat my lunch there before returning to work.

In the store, I settled on a smoked turkey and bacon sandwich (that's the Bill Hagon part of the story - no sashimi today).

I'm ringing up and the cashier, some new guy I've not seen before, asks what I'm riding. I tell him, and his response is " That's Italian, right? That's a legit bike - where is it ? "

Of course the soccer mom SERE vehicles are blocking the view, so I tell him I'll pull it in front of the doors as I leave so he can see it. So much for eating my sandwich in the shady spot, but I have a responsibility to the marque. 

As I'm walking out he's alerting his coworkers to the impending event, and as I pull up and rev it twice he draws their attention to it and gives me a two thumbs up. The sacrifices we make to support Luigi...

[Chuck in Indiana]

Now that you have some electrons flowing in the right direction.. take the time to put a ground wire on the regulator case and run it to a bolt on the engine case.

[Matteo]

Actually, that was barbecue grilled sardines.

Don't tell [rodekyll], but based on the foods he listed I'd just go buy his shopping list and turn him loose in the kitchen as much as possible.

My dinner tonight will be ceviche and experimental eggplant, pan grilled then baked with barbecue sauce - my wife doesn't much care for eggplant so on nights when she works late I indulge.

The man can make some lentil soup

[normzone]

Thank you very much [Chuck in Indiana] - I have done so. What is that they cry out over in the Middle East ?

" Ground is great ! "

Okay, I could have my " current " events mixed up.

[Matteo Manfredi], lentil soup ? I hope there's some salmon in it...
 

   

[Dean Rose]

I got lost on page one.


Dean

[normzone]

Last couple of times I rode the bike light to light in town on a really hot day I noticed some drive line oil on the rear wheel & tire, patterned as a leak after parking. I figured it got hot and cooked some off through a blowby valve or something that I made up in my imagination.

I washed the bike and it was fine. Then it did it again, same cause pattern, and I saw that it came out of the hub.

That means a seal, which starts with S, which stands for aw sh!t ...