jrt

I just put a 'fenda extenda' on my bike (NTV 650 style). It most definitely is not an 'almost perfect fit'. The shape is generally correct, but to get it to fit, I removed almost as much plastic as is left on it. The trouble is that it is too narrow, so if you try to screw it to the sides of the real fender, then it distorts all to hell. Cut off most of the front, all the sides, and it fit nicely. It took me 3 hours with a dremel tool and going back and forth before I finally got it acceptable. The new fender assembly won't mount right up on the wheel either- you have to remove one of the brake calipers to put the fender back on. What a stoopid fender design. And now- now I'm gonna vent- it takes f@$#ing 3 DIFFERENT HEX sockets to take the fender off!! WTF? OK, I'm better now. Cheers, Jason

Bruce, That's an excellent idea. Just a 'I have a broken spring' statement doesn't have a lot of info content- your suggestion will certainly add a dimension to what we can find out. Amusingly enough, a friend of mine has his own personal electron microscope. He's a worse geek than I am. One other variable that I thought of was the style of shifting. Do you guys who break springs use your clutch or do you speed shift? I doubt it's really pertinant, but hey, it's a variable. On the 5 speed question- I don't think any parts are interchangable. That spring doesn't look like anything I've ever dug out my 5 speeds. Cheers, Jason

You probably have a magnified perspective on the noise, since the intake is pointing at your head. Do you think that it is as loud for bystanders? J

follow-up on that last post- has anyone broken an aftermarket spring? I am personally hesitant to infer too much (about the cause of spring breakage) from this poll, since it reflects the statistics of small numbers. cheers, Jason

http://rocky.digikey.com/scripts/ProductIn...8&M=2191QL1-12V datasheets on one 5mm lead spaced 12V red LED. There were others, but this was the first in line. Actually- you may not want this one, since it has a plastic housing and speednut tail. If you do a search on digikey for "12V LED" then choose 'optoelectronics--> leds, pcb and panel mount (148 items) it will take you to a menu to reduce the number of choices- choose 5mm spacing, 12V, color, etc. I would give you a direct address, but they do all the databasing on their webserver with microsoft I think. I think you would want the vertical PCB mount style. cheers, Jason

Glad I could help. They do look like they would be a drop-in replacement. The micro LEDs are pretty small so they should fit the mini-bulb sockets. You might even find something local so you don't have to pay shipping. Not Radio Shack though. Those durn electonics houses have gotten a lot of my money in the last couple of years, but I got a kick-ass stereo out of it. Other good places for electronics parts: http://www.alliedelectronics.com/ http://www.digikey.com There are, of course, many other places so you may want to search and save 8-10 cents. Cheers, Jason

I just did a quick search on Mouser, and there seems to be a lot of integrated resistor-LED's in a variety of sizes. (I searched LED, then limited by 12V). Looks like the one's you would be interested in come in a variety of sizes and styles, so just match that with the lead spacing on the LED and you're golden. Try this: http://www.mouser.com/?Ntt=*12V*&handler=d...se&N=435&Ne=400 LED's (incandescent replacements). Not terribly cheap at abou $3 a piece- and don't forget shipping. One note- LEDs are awfully bright. Consider the reflection off your windscreen and ask yourself whether you can stand it or not. Cheers, Jason

Man, I say the heck with Vegas. Yecch. You won't miss anything. Sorry to all the Vegan's out there. Also, the Grand Canyon is pretty far south- if you have to trim time off, that's the place to do it. You'll be seeing Bryce and Arches and other canyons and they are just about as nice. If you go to the Grand Canyon, you'll probably need to go to the South Rim- the north rim is not very accessible by RV (wasn't last time I went). It's a FULL day hike down to the bottom and back up and you'll be dead by the time you get back. Oh, wait...you're European. Last time I went, all the Europeans were like lungs on two legs. Right up the canyon. I also recommend driving down the east side of the Sierra's. Very nice. Regarding driving in the desert- it's fine, but keep a careful eye on the temp gauge, you may not be able to use the AC in mountainous terrain, and carry lots and lots of water. A gallon (4 L) a day per person at least. And cold beer. Don't forget the cold beer. J

Thanks for the tip. I've converted to the 'if the oil light is on, then trouble is brewing' camp. cheers, Jason

Sure you could, but you'll need to do some wiring to make it work. Supply voltage is what- 12V? An LED operates on 2V (a red one), so if you hook it up directly, it'll short out. So, you need to drop the voltage. The equation is R= (Vs-Vl)/I Vs = supply voltage (12V) Vl= led voltage (or voltage drop)- 2V or thereabout- it's given on the box I = current draw in Amps (not milliamps) So solve for R (500 ohms or a little higher) and wire that in series with the led. LEDs are also one-way devices like diodes- they only work in one direction. In fact, it's not a bad idea to wire a diode in the opposite direction just to protect the led.

Lamda probe= oxygen sensor. Same thing. A PCIII is not the only way to adjust your mixture. I run Mistrals/K&N's and I don't have a PCIII- my dealer adjusted the ECU. I won't get into an argument about which is a better route. Maybe a PCIII is better, maybe not- I really don't know, and I won't make a decision until I try a bike that has one.

MGcycle carries them, but they ain't cheap. J

I'll take counter-point. Not necessarily, though it depends on how much you've unloaded the front end. The front end is pretty heavy all the time just due to the motor. My first suspicions would be tires and fork adjustments. I've got a set of bars on my '01 sport so I'm also a bit more upright and it's solid like a rock through corners. Of course, the other variable is how hard you push it. I can't say I'm pushing mine to the limit, but I lean enough to scrape my boots occasionally (not enough to grind the sidestand or pegs). Yet another variable is the width of the bar- with handlebars, it's pretty wide- I use a lot of countersteer in corners. Oh- one other thing- loosen up your steering damper all the way. cheers, Jason

Those do look nice. I'm working from memory here (dangerous territory) but I think the top of the triple clamp isn't just flat- it has a relief in it. So if you use them, be sure and measure the length and make sure it will fit inside the valley on the upper clamp. I just noticed yesterday that Spiegler-usa changed all the part numbers on the handlebars. They went from AN to ZN. Pretty easy to cross reference. Cheers, Jason

Fabulous! I bet it looks a lot nicer than mine with the cut-out dash. Thanks, Ray!

Like Paul said- And your wife knows this?

It'll be fine, but it might run a bit poorly. If anything, it will run a bit more lean now. Might backfire on deceleration. Keep an eye on the headers, and check your plugs after 25-50miles. If they indicate running too lean, then you can take steps to correct.

Another view. Just call me 'Al'

Here's the brake side. The one major, major gripe I have is that when I use the back brake, my foot hits the frame bolt. So...effectively no back brake. If I splay my foot out a little, then it's fine, but it worries me about emergency situations.

Another view- I need to fab the part from the shifter to the linkage on the tranny. I've just been too busy/lazy.

Frank, I have a set that I bought from a list member. It was missing one piece (that I've been too lazy to fabricate), so I used the stock shifter. They don't change any ergo's, but they do look cool.

Now THAT I'd like to see a picture of. Damn.

Affirmative. That's what I've been told.