v11 Sport

[Guest xencut]

This past saturday I purchased a 2001 v11 sport, I fell in love with it the moment that I saw it, and after a test drive I knew it was the bike for me, quirks and all...

 

I rode it home which took about 4.5 hours, about 300 miles. On the way home a few issues came up that I wanted to ask about.

 

1) The backlight on the tachometer went out. How would I go about changing the light?

2) On the test drive the tachometer was working fine...on the way home it stopped working , I'm hoping that the vibration caused the ground to come loose. Am I on the right track here or should I look at something else?

3) When I park the bike at night, I am unable to lock the handlebars. I can push down on the key and turn it, but it feels like there is something keeping it from locking into place.

4) On the ride home I could ride in 5th gear, going 80 mph, and the bike would smooth out nicely; but once I put it into 6th it would start vibrating all over again. Is this normal?

5) The headlight is really underpowered, is there a way to fix this?

 

Thanks for any help/advice.

 

Planned modifications

-After reading many many posts on this site I decided to go ahead and get the throttlemesiter lock and bar end weights to help reduce vibration in the handlebars, and to give my hand a brake.

-Even though the battery seems to be good now, I'll probably replace it at the beginning of next year.

-Relays have all been replaced by the previous owner, but I'll probably get some extras just in case.

 

 

-Ben

In Vino Veritas

[Guest ratchethack]

Hi, Ben. Welcome! I'll take a swipe at this:

1) The backlight on the tachometer went out. How would I go about changing the light?

The plastic housing that covers the back of the instruments is removed with 4 acorn nuts. Don't forget to screw out the reverse-threaded trip odo knob, and DON'T LOSE IT! As I recall, you need to disconnect the speedo drive. (Good time to pursuade a teaspoon full o' y'er favorite trans gear lube into the cable housing on re-installation.) Once removed, you have access to the world's cheesiest instrument light sockets in the back of the instruments. Mine didn't survive my first most careful removal for bulb replacement. You can get much better generic replacement sockets at any auto parts outlet and bodge them in with a superior result.

2) On the test drive the tachometer was working fine...on the way home it stopped working , I'm hoping that the vibration caused the ground to come loose. Am I on the right track here or should I look at something else?

I don't know if you have the Veglia instruments with y'er '01, so I'll spare you my sad sad story documented here. If so, a search will bring it up. Carl Allison has posted some of the most extensive troubleshooting on instrument grounding faults, which turn out to be a common problem, and has great photo's with his posts.

3) When I park the bike at night, I am unable to lock the handlebars. I can push down on the key and turn it, but it feels like there is something keeping it from locking into place.

I hate to make the suggestion, but are you rotating the bars slightly when pushing and turning the key so the pin can engage the slot in the lock tang? Other than that, I'd have to look at it??

4) On the ride home I could ride in 5th gear, going 80 mph, and the bike would smooth out nicely; but once I put it into 6th it would start vibrating all over again. Is this normal?

Ben, this all depends on what particular flavor of vibration we're talking about. More detailed info, por favor?

5) The headlight is really underpowered, is there a way to fix this?

You have many options here, but I highly recommend direct wiring from the battery with multi-stranded copper wire of at least 12 gauge and a set of relays wired into the headlight nacelle. There are many posts on this with electrical diagrams and you can even buy a pre-built setup for around $50 if y'er so inclined. It plugs right in for the most part. There's a link to a site in one of the posts if you do a search. Direct wiring through relays makes such a powerful difference in the light-throwing capabilities of the stock elements that you might decide to run the ones that're in there until they quit before considering an upgrade.

 

Hope this helps.

[Guest xencut]

Thanks for the help ratchethack, I really appreciate it.

 

Ill take a look at some of Carls posts, hopefully it will help out when I begin to take it apart this weekend.

 

I was able to lock it last night thanks for the tip.

 

The vibration when going into 6th was pretty bad but it seemed the most severe in the handle bars. It felt like an oscillating type of vibration, when going 70 it was better, but the faster I went the worse it got. Im hoping that a pair of bar end weights will help, and if not then Ill look into balancing the throttle bodies.

 

Ill take a look at the suggestions you made on the headlight.

 

Thanks again!