dlaing

How much was your fork work? The cartridge valve pack probably made it better than the Ohlins as it customized it for you. The Ohlins are great, but I think they are heavier, and I know mine could use some re-working.

There are apparently two types of freeplay, lever freeplay and activation freeplay. I suspect you are saying that you have zero lever freeplay. The critical freeplay is activation freeplay. What is the measured difference between these two, I don't know. Heck, I have never measured activation freeplay. It does not really matter what the difference between the measurements is, as long as they engineered some difference into the master cylinder. Now I do believe you are fine if you set the freeplay to zero lever movement, but I think it is reinsuring to know that their is some lever freeplay, just a mm or two, to guarantee that we have activation freeplay. If you have zero activation freeplay or less, the caliber pistons cannot ease back any further than the master cylinder allows it, so if you get heat, you will get expansion of the air in the system and it will try to push the master cylinder back, and if it can't go back to the positive freeplay, where the valve is open for fluid return, than the caliber pistons will push the pads in to the rotors, the heat will get greater, the pressure will get greater, the pistons will push even harder on the pads against the rotor, the rear will lock, you may crash, and you may die. So, I suggest you have some lever freeplay, so that you can be sure you are safe. And as Ratchet suggested, SERVICE the brakes or DIE! He did say something like that, right?

Heh, I guess I bought your argument. I just posted to http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5695&hl= that I did not think that the lever clearance was the reason for his brake lockup. But my money is still on a sticky piston, although water in the fluid is a close second place...perhaps even a combination of the two. Glad Enzo did not crash and get hurt. People, please don't procrastinate on the brake service! There have been a few rear end lockups whether by brake or bearing.

Regarding the rear brake: It is debatable whether brake lever clearance is relevant to brake seizure. Other potential culprits are the brake line over the mufflers, but this is not your bikes problem( Love them Cobras), sticking pistons, too much water in the fluid (you are in Seattle), or bad wheel bearings. My money is on the sticking pistons, but it may be impossible to determine after it locked up...

...or maybe Ralph can send you his map.

An interesting thing about that map, is that it is very lean in the 2500 RPM range, especially at 60 and 80 percent throttle and then it jumps to very rich in the 3000 RPM range, especially at 60 and 80 percent throttle. So, it is a sharp transition, and if your bike is not very very similar in tune and state of essence of being ( ) to the one that the map was generated on, you could be worse off with that map than a zero map. Assuming your bike is "properly" tuned, (you did zero out the throttle with the PCIII software, right?) you probably really need to do the tuning link run to get a proper map. Assuming you have the USB PCIII, you can map at a more accurate level than the download map was done at, which should really help in the transition area that you observed the hesitation. One thing you could try is to zero out the 2500 RPM range, ( or the 2750??? range on the PCIII USB). Or maybe zero out the 3000 rpm range.

...and don't forget "the boss" at Cycle Garden

That is strange. Not sure how relevant it is, but the different batteries have different resting voltages. With the Spark 500 and Hawker batteries, you can determine the state of charge by reading the following voltages: 12.84V 100% charged 12.50V 75% 12.18V 50% If you have a Yuasa, the numbers will be lower. The advantage of the Yuasa is that it takes less voltage to fully charge it. The disadvantage of the Yuasa is that your signal ligths will dim more when the engine is at idle....but only a very subtle difference.

http://www.bikescreen.com/ has many acrylic screen options for the R90S fairing. Just go there and do a search for R90 and select BMW.

Wow! 650lbs sounds stiff, but maybe it is the ticket. Traxxion has a great online reputation. If you have any other details like what the previous spring rates were, or what your current sag is, let us know! I am glad it is working well for you. I got a 475# spring and suspect it is a little too light for my 210#+++ I was thinking a 500# spring would be better, but your post is now making me want to go even higher!

You need to go oggle more often: Few of the links below will point to supermodels, but there are some faces to fall in love at first site over: www.ducatiwomen.com/women/ www.sportbikegirl.com/womenpics.html http://www.bikerlady.com/ http://www.ladybiker.com/ http://groups.msn.com/KarinaDavila51 http://www.katja-poensgen.de/engl/index2.html http://www.wimagb.co.uk/Photo.html or the US site has better dental work http://www.wimausa.org/

Excellent question! Was Al R. or somebody working on an FAQ of model changes? The only thing I remember, is the front crossover(balance pipe) and the raised compression, and enhanced oil delivery to the piston or cylinder or something, and maybe they increased the thickness of the front axle...(was that when they switched to a hollow axle?) Here are some other questions: When did they brace up the frame, and slow down the steering? When did they put the fuel pump in the fuel tank? When did they go to a 180/70-17 rear tire? What bikes had the single plate or dual plate clutches? When did they switch from white to black instruments? When did they use black engine cases? When did they use red frames? When did they modify the front forks? Some of the Marzocchis had threaded in axle, some had gold nitride, some had solid , and some hollow front axles. One great thing about Guzzi is they change things slowly, and mostly as needed to improve the bike. Sorry about hi-jacking the thread.

I think once JRT sobbers up, he'll tell you the Tygon is fine. After an extensive google search, the only thing better than Tygon for this job is silicone, (what orangeokie suggested) Someone please correct me if I am wrong!!! (well technically a steel braided teflon lined hose would be better, but overkill, and possibly not flexible enough) FWIW Brake fluid specified for our bike is glycol based. And if I understand correctly, glycol is based on alcohol, and it has the ability to dissolve oils, and urethane paint. So, urethane hoses would probably not be a good idea. Does brake fluid have chlorinated hydocarbons in it??? I don't think so, but it may be reason enough to exclude the Tygon, even though many people use it for brake fluid??????

The rear WHEEL bearings are 6204 double sealed. SKF number 6204-2rs1 (the 1 can be replaced by an H for superior seal and an L for lower friction) NAPA number 6204-2rsj is really an SKF 6204-2rs1 If anyone knows the bearing number for the rear drive, please post them here and in the rear wheel woes thread

Yah, it is only up to 9 pages and we still have not figured out how to make a bearing spacer Please note, that as accurately as we have discerned, the combination of a 6304 and 6205 appears on bikes with a solid axle. Bikes with a hollow axle have a pair of 6205 bearings. 6304 is 20 x 52 x 15 mm 6205 is 25 x 52 x 15 mm As far as I know, only the later model bikes equiped with Ohlins had the hollow axle, but I could be wrong. EDIT I was wrong; see Orangeokie's post below.

Does she work on Guzzis, too?

Lets keep the posts bike or at least vehicle related, puh-leeeeze!

Disagreeing once again with Ratchethack, Leafman states that he has balanced the T-bodies, and that it is hotter on side with carbon build up in the exhaust port. This strikes as being a potentially severe problem. I don't know how he knows the right side is hotter, but if it by holding his hand near the head, as I assumed, than that is a pretty drastic temperature difference. The assumed fact that the side with carbon build up is hotter makes me even more concerned. As for the bypass screw, it simply lets air in and in fact makes it run leaner the more open the screw is. I suppose his left screw could be too far out (or right too far in) causing leanness and a need for more pull from the right causing the heat on the right....but then I would not call it balanced. Of course Ratchet proved that I can't even use a measuring tape correctly so it is quite possible that Leafman needs to review the balancing process. But assuming that Leafman balanced it correctly, I stand by my contention that he likely has a manifold or valve leak. I would start by smoking a cigar near the exhaust header and use the smoke to detect a leak. Finish the cigar, than use WD40 to check for intake leaks. (Careful, WD40 is flamable and more so than cigars, should not be inhaled)

And as opinions vary... I adjust the throttle bodies atleast twice as frequently as valves, and I do find that they need at least a half turn of the wheel after every valve adjustment. Does a half turn make big difference to performance and vibration? Not really, but it does make some difference, and it gives me peace of mind. If $90 is too much for a balancer, I recommend getting the cheaper mercury balancer from Motion Pro. It is easy to use and very accurate. Just be careful with the mercury. It could be very toxic to you and the environment. Or maybe Ratchet is correct and balancing once will last well enough for years. In any case don't sweat it. If you have a friendlly mechanic, he should be able to do a quick balance for $10. Doing the full balance procedure with TPS, and CO, is a whole 'nother story...and he or she may insist on the full monty or nothing at all. Or ride down to San Diego and I'll do a quick balance for free! I would not be surprised if someone you ride with has a twinmax or something else

What would that indicate? that his left is running so weak that it is not generating as much heat??? Could that indicate a leaky valve, rather than a manifold leak or clogged injector????

Sorry, no real suggestions....maybe clean the fuel injectors...especially the lean one. I don't think the mixture can altered between cylinders with any ECU programmer. However the PCIII USB offers individual cylinder tuning. But you need to find the source of the problem. I hope somebody else can offer more insight.

I wish I could say I got a decent sag reading on the OEM Sachs spring. I never did. To keep it from bottoming, I gave the OEM spring so much preload that I had zero bike only sag. This left me with over an inch of rider sag, but I cannot say how much exactly. Perhaps some other person could chime in their OEM Sachs sag numbers and weight. Regardless, you should start by getting an accurate measurement of free(bike only) and static (bike and rider)sag. In my opinion, if you set the bike only sag to 5-10mm, your static sag should be about 1/4 to 1/3 of total travel, or about 30-40mm. I even think 40mm static sag is likely to bottom out too easily. I am sure everyone has their own opions on this. I am set to 5mm/30mm with the 475# spring, and it still bottoms more easily than I would like, but is fine for touring, and an improvement over stock. I think the ideal target for sport riding would be 10mm/30mm which would require (if my math is correct) a 20% firmer spring or roughly a 575# spring. For the mix of riding that I do, a 500-525# spring might be about right. I sit pretty far back, so my 210#+++ may have the same sag as a 250# rider who sits up by the tank. I would guess you would need a 550# spring, which is what Lex got. Mike Stewart is a bit lighter at about 200# and he found the 550# too firm, so he went for a 500# which is probably about right for him. As for the spring to buy, I went to http://www.hrpworld.com and got the Hypercoil 2.25 inch by six inch spring. My 475# spring is marked 468/475, so I suspect it may actually be a 468# spring It is shorter than stock, so it slips in without the need of special tools to compress it. The inner diameter is greater than stock, so it may not center as well on the perchs. Mine seems to be staying centered...I am not sure why Ideally new perches should be made or some sort of spacers added. I am not sure what LE does when they fit hypercoils to our Sachs....Anybody know? Also, I gave my extra stock Sachs spring to Ratchethack so that he might measure the spring rate. I wonder if he got anywhere with that???? Ratchet??? FWIW I stood on the spring and very crudely measured deflection, giving me an estimate that the spring was MAYBE 350#/inch. But heck, I could have been off by 100#! One thing that still perplexes me is that the 475/468# hypercoil deflects about 12 or 13mm on the shock when my weight is applied in riding position. Theoretically, half the spring rate directly over the rear axle should deflect it half an inch on the shock(one inch wheel travel) So my sag measurement may still be wrong #$%#@$@! The biggest problem was getting the stock spring off. I used two ratcheting tie downs to compress the spring. It took over an hour of figuring out that I need to loop the strap a couple times to get the block and tackle effect going. The guy on our forum who recommended straps attached pictures of the blood on the shock from his hands. So be careful!!! If I were to do it again, I would get my fattest friend to sit on the bike while I tightened the straps, and then remove the shock, and then the spring. A strap around the wheel and saddle could replace a fat friend. Aside from overcoming the force of the spring, you will have to balance the force with the straps to keep the spring straight. I probably also made the mistake of setting the pre-load to minimum instead of maximum, before using the straps. Oh yah, and getting the shock off is pretty easy. Support bike, Remove fuel tank and airbox, and the rest is easy. I had my rear wheel and starter off at the time, but I don't think it was necessary. But before you take my advice, measure the static and free sags. If you have not added so much pre-load that there is no bike only weight, and your weight alone causes a change of more than 30mm, I would say you MUST up the spring rate. Hate me now, thank me(and others on the list) later. Also, try pushing the bottoming bumper up and then go for a ride and see if you are bottoming without knowing it. I have been wrong before, but I think at your weight, it is a sure bet that you need more spring

Or http://www.epfguzzi.com/twinmax.html I like to stay away from the Mercury balancers, so the Carbtune or the Twinmax are the way to go. I tried making a water manometer, but I think my water meter would have to be thirty feet tall for it to work. Of course other people have gotten water meters to work... They'll have to show me one in action to make me a believer But if you want to give it a try: http://www.obairlann.net/~reaper/motorcycle/manometer.html I'll stick to twinmax. You can even pack it for trips, and hang out at rallies balancing throttle bodies for people!

having an espresso triggered regular constitution, helps my performance! Yah, I know, too much information...