ER5 maintainance

Hello there.

Just got a couple of questions about keeping my ER5 on the road, as it
seems to be having a few problems at the moment and am looking for some
help.

1) It seems I have to adjust the chain every 300 miles, is this normal?
My riding involves commuting down 15 miles of bumpy B-roads a day and
occasional longer trips down dual carriageways.

2) The battery needs recharging every few days. I keep the bike in
garage (unheated) so I've a feeling that the cold weather might have
something to do with it.

I took the bike from Bicester to Leeds on Saturday, I'd left the
optimate charging it overnight, and the light was green when I set off.
On Sunday, on the return trip, bike started on the button, despite
being left outside and uncovered overnight. This morning, the battery
was playing up again, but 10 minutes on the charger got it going again.

Any ideas? Or shall I nip to the new battery shop on my way home?

TIA,

David.

 

David Alderton emerged from their own little world to say

Paging BGN. Someone needs your expertise.

 

David Alderton wrote

BGN is your man.

Not if you oil it and adjust it right and ride anywhere at anything
approaching near sensibly. Odds on you are adjusting it a bit too
tight/often.

That is wrong. A battery should get well recharged in a 15 mile ride.
Either something, lights perhaps, is being left on when you park or the
battery/charging system is stuffed.

Check it with a meter of some description first because it may not be
the battery and with the price of motorcycle spares and the profits
arising therefrom approaching those of the drug companies you don't want
to be spending money on quack cures do you?

 

I oil it regularly, maybe not regularly enough though. There's not a
lot of sudden, hard accelerating either.

I'll re-read the book when I get home, just to be certain I've got
the tension correct.

I fear it's the latter. Since it's been happening, I've been making
double extra sure that the lights are off when I park it up. And 3
hours down the motorway yesterday should have made sure that it was
OK.

I shall go in search of such a meter and have a look.

Much appreciated.

 

David Alderton wrote

If you oil you chain regularly it is unlikely in the extreme that you
are under doing it. Unless you use something like a Scotoiler you will
almost certainly be applying far more than enough but nobody has ever
suggested that too much oil is bad for the chain so don't worry about
it.

It may be the chain is going home in a way that is entirely acceptable
for the mileage it has done and treatment it has received getting there.
What chain is it and how far has it travelled?

Report back.

 

You sod!
Fancy letting the ER5 wrecker near the poor mans machine.
That's not sporting is it!

 

I bought the bike second hand and it had 8900 miles on the clock. It
stood in a garage for 6 months, until I had passed my test and was
able to pick it up, then it passed the MOT etc, and was back on the
road. Since late december, I've done 2000 miles on it, a mixture of
commuting and motorway/dual carriageway miles. If it is the original
chain (which I highly suspect it is) then maybe it is going home. I
will confirm details a bit later on, when I've the service history to
hand.

This will be done. I suspect I will be looking for the volts and amps
readings.

 

Well, last night, it wouldn't start (again). The starter motor was
turning over but the engine wouldn't start. I left it overnight, and gt
the bus home, and in again this morning.

I just retried it, and the engine went 'Ba bom' once, and then nothing.
Starter motor is just turning over, and sounding ill. I'm going to call
the AA. They might have an 'it's fucked' diagnostic tool and maybe get
it started, so I can at least get it back home and play with voltmeters
and suchlike.

 

Whereabouts are you located?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, platypus

In the garage, sobbing, would be my guess.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of
the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

Whilst looking at a bike-shaped space.

 

Bike is in Oxford, but it should be in Bicester. I'm trying to find
Auntie Carole's breakdown number.

 

This wasn't too far from the truth.

 

Thanks a lot, help is on the way.

Much obliged.

David.

 

Shit! She's had a breakdown? Must be all the stress of looking after
all her nephews and nieces ;-)

Seriously - I carry the card with all the CN numbers on, in my wallet
at all times. Never know when it will come in handy.

 

BT,DT,GTFTS

 

You may have the chain too tight. My chain gets adjusted every five
thousand miles or so. The last chain lasted over 20,000 miles. Every
week after a ride (or after about 300 miles, whichever comes sooner) I
lube the chain. I give the bike a good wash as normal, take it out
for twenty minutes and get the tyres pumped up and then lube the chain
when I get home while it's warm and then leave it alone until I need
to use it again.

Chain lube isn't expensive and tkaes about a minute to apply.

How often do you ride it? Mine is always okay and it sometimes only
does two four mile trips to/from work a day.

How old is it?

My ER-5 has had the same battery from new (four years) and it's never
let me down. I've just left the bike outside for a week while I was
travelling for work and it started on the press of a button. It's
never had a 'recharge' and doesn't have an optimate - it works without
having anything like that - perhaps I've just been fortunate.

 

BGN emerged from their own little world to say

Turning it upside down every couple of months helps.

 

I think I have been running it too tight, so thanks. I'll keep that
advice in mind.

During the week, 30 miles a day. I ordered a new battery and it
arrived today. Catching the bus to work, with my shiny new battery, I
was overjoyed at the prospect of not having to use public transport
again for a while.

I've just unwrapped it with a view to the quick 5 minute job of
removing the old one, and installing the new one. Turns out, I need
to add the electrolyte and charge it for 5 hours before it will work.
I could cry.

Y Plate.

Thanks again for your help.

David Alderton.