Bike maintenance time vs miles

The suspension is shit, no two ways about it, and the default setup just
compounds the problem. I got seasick the first time I rode mine over a
humpback bridge.

Wah. Power-wise the SV was fine - bit gutless as you'd expect from a 650
twin but could be hustled along at a perfectly respectable pace as I was
happy to demonstrate on a few UKRM rides when I had one.

But the handling was bollocks.

 

They are budget bikes with similarly budget suspension.

I reckon a good rider on an SV would see you on your gixer into the
weeds on a good twisty road. They go round corners fine for what they
are but you're comparing them to the other bikes you've had, like the
ZXR400, ZX7R, and the GSXRs that followed the SV - all of them pretty
sweet handling bikes... at a price.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Quite. We seem to be agreeing here, the SV has crap suspension because
it's built down to a price, and that means the stock handling isn't
great.

As I said, they can be hustled along at a perfectly respectable pace.

Just because I've generally had bikes with great handling, doesn't mean
I haven't had bikes with shitty chassis to compare with as well. I had a
Bandit 12, ffs, a bike with a hinge masquerading as a frame.

And FWIW my ZXR400 cost me 300 quid less than the current list price for
an SV650.

 

Don't know how popular they are over there but over here (Western
Australia) they are a dime a dozen. Local forums are full of their
owners bitching their bike fell apart at ridiculously low ks. The SV
would be a better choice any day of the week.

Fraser

 

There's quite a few small cc ones here: 125s and that. Add the odd 250.
The 650 is very rare, because most people seem to conclude that a Suzuki
isn't really very much more money. Which it isn't.

 

Motorcycle Consumer News (http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/) did a head-to-head
test in their April edition of the ATK GT250R, the Ninja 250, and Honda
CB250RR. The ATK came dead last in every category, IIRC.

Someday the Korean bikes will be right up there with the Japs- but it
hasn't happened yet.

 

If it is any consolation, I'm wondering about the reverse.

In 7 months, I've done over 20k miles and only changed the oil and
filters on the Pegasos.

Am I a bad lad ?

 

I don't know. Did it really need the oil changing? What colour was it?

Whats with this shock absorber thing. Was it broken or removed from the
bike by unscrupulous bar stewards? It's not too clear from the map of
your exploits.

 

Black

The map shows where we have been, the blog tells what has happened. That
easier for you ?

 

Aircooled VWs should have had. Quite common on vans - fuel lines go hard
and leak.

 

Blimey. They do, don't they?

 

The engine compartment is the cold side of the cooling system but still
gets very warm, the fuel lines run out of sight behind the 'doghouse' fan
housing or the top behind the carbs of the suitcase type engines.
Anyway, they get warm, cold, warm, cold and go hard over time - they then
leak.

If you're ever in one and smell petrol through the heaters it's time to
shut the engine down and get out!

 

I'll bet more than a few fires are caused by that cheap translucent
crosshatch plastic pipe, beloved of motor factors, which always goes
hard and leaks at joints if not replaced/tightened every so often. As
you say, out of sight, out of mind.
In contrast, proper fuel tubing, as used by many Jap car and bike makers
is often still good after many years. Not all of it, of course.

 

We did this here, not long ago, and on the basis of that conflab I went
and bought some 'proper' fuel hose for the Ural, when I replumbed the
fuel lines. Proper rubber, fabric-covered black fuel hose, with BS
markings and everything. It's good stuff: fits spigots properly, bends
without kinking and looks right to boot.

I stripped the carbs the other day, as a throttle cable had snapped[1]
and in doing so, had cause to pop off the fuel supply hoses. Dearie
me, the rubber at the ends, where it fits so nicely over the spigots,
has cracked. That'll be why the pipes came off without so much as a
dribble of fuel from them, then - why the filters and the tank are
/bone/ dry. I thought I'd run it dry and evaporation over the winter
had taken care of the residue.

I won't be using that stuff again, for sure. I'll find something
better.


1. This may well have been /a/ source of the odd running problems, as
a strand of throttle cable had snapped and then unravelled, protruding
into the liner and then the outer, causing a 'snaggy' feeling to the
throttle, the root cause of which was a mystery (I thought the carb
slides were a bit sticky) to me until it finally let go. However,
consider the poor old boxer twin, with the twistgrip on WFO and the
left carb also WFO - and the right carb on tickover. I wonder if this
could have been the cause of the furnace in the right silencer? Only
time and experimentation (when the new cables arrive) will tell.

 

SIRPip wrote:

[snip tale of perished fuel hose]

Tygon fuel line is what you want. Tough yet limp, doesn't degrade.

http://speedsupplies.com/accessorylistingdetailpurch.asp?item=72384

 

Aha. New name to me, specs out like the real deal.

<wanders to workshop, grabs digital caliper, wanders to Ural, retraces
steps>

Hmm. 8mmish, ~5/16 in Amerispeak.

<googles>

Most of it available over here appears to be for radio controlled model
engines. Now I know that's an antisocial environment for any
component, more so for fuel hose. About a pound a foot, but that's for
small sizes ...

<googles further>

Bloody hell they do it in lairy colours, hardly the thing for a matt
green combo that looks like it's 70 years old ...

<and further>

OK, proper sized I.D. at a pound a foot, that'll be OK 'cos I only need
a couple of feet ... oh, they only do it on 50 foot rolls. FFS!

I don't suppose it's wonderfully stretchy, is it - for expanding over
spigots, should I get osme that's a bit tight on the I.D?

 

Being a bit hard of thinking of late it probably is.

 

It's somewhat stretchy, but it is made in all the normal sizes
(including metric) so you shouldn't have to compromise at all. I
would still recommend using a spring clip in the usual manner, just
like any other fuel line.

My local bike warehouse (Dennis Kirk, Rush City MN) sells it in 6
foot lengths for about a tenner of your money. I'm sure any decent
bike shop or small engine repair shop will be able to order some if
they don't stock it.

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Product.jsp?productId=p183634

It's the only type of fuel line I ever use on bikes, now.

 

Same here. The 250s are common as muck for learners with not much money
and want a bike that looks like a Ducati. The 650s seem to be owned by
strange individuals who think saving a few bucks on purchase price is
always the best policy even though parts are hard to get and expensive
and depreciation is the sort usually only felt by owners of Alfa Romeos.

Fraser