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Adjustable levers are awesome!

Posted September 24th, 2013 at 09:28 AM by Lychee

But I bet you knew that already.

I sourced a cheap set of 92-11 ex500 levers and the ex500 clutch perch from ebay. Now I can adjust the levers to fit my hand ergos. I always did hate the little bumps on the stock levers. Those drove me nuts when I first bought the bike. I like the ex500 parts because they look oem and not the flashy china levers you see all over ebay. It's nice that the parts were not super expensive either. The brake lever pivot really needed some grease! I also swapped over the clutch safety switch from the 250 to the perch since the ex500 switch had broken plastic in two places. During the swap I noticed the clutch cable was fraying at the weak point near the lever pivot. I suppose that is next along with the chain replacement.

I miss the gsxr rubber grips. Those were so comfy. Ah well what can you do. Buy it on ebay!
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Old

Suspension tune 3

Posted August 27th, 2013 at 11:54 PM by Lychee

Another ride on Uvas and I noticed that the front end has a jackhammer effect on power that was not there before I upgraded the front. The front wheel seemed to get air time between a series of small bumps. I read a post by Dave Moss on another forum somewhere where he mentioned one of the things he suspected caused front end chatter on braking was not enough compression damping. Well, I was mostly engine braking, but let's save that tidbit just in case. I also asked a racer friend and, after discussing the changes I made, he decided that the effect was caused by excessive rebound damping. That's interesting, because reading on the internet tells me that there is too little rebound damping. Well, given that a front end chatter caused racer friend to crash a year ago on old santa cruz, I felt that he probably made it a big deal to figure out how to fix the problem. He said that the problem has reoccurred on the track when his fork oil was old and needed to be replaced because it was like...
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Old

Is the water wetter?

Posted August 18th, 2013 at 04:00 PM by Lychee

This Saturday I dumped all the coolant and flushed out the ethyl glycol green stuff. Repeated the procedure 3 times to get it all out. Don't forget to pop the block drain plug. The water came out clear on the last one so I mixed 13 cap fulls of the water wetter with a gallon of distilled water and added it back into the system. Since the coolant was out I also adjusted the valves with my super duper Kawasaki valve tool. Buttoned everything up and synced the carbs. The manometer cannot use containers made out of plastic because the plastic containers collapse inward under vacuum. Why did Snapple stop making glass bottles? Also plastic turkey basters are not good for moving gas as they are damaged by the gas some how.

Test rode on Uvas and it is pretty good. Front end is a a little too stiff I think so I will need to adjust little more. Uvas seems to have some new bumps.
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Old

Drill Drill Drill

Posted August 12th, 2013 at 12:50 PM by Lychee

So... You know those Harbor Freight extended hex keys tools on the ninja 250 faq? yea make sure you buy the one that does not have a ball on the end! I did and it stripped the allen on the first quarter turn!!! ()&*%#@@@!@$^&*!!!

Rewind...
Yesterday after many delays I finally suspended my 250 by its swing arm and its triple tree and removed the handle bars, brake, and front wheel. Yay for tie wraps being great parts holders. Then I used an adjustable clamping wrench at the axle end of the fork and rotated the fork until the wrench contacted the triple tree stand. Bam! Instant vertical vise! The bike is very stable on the stands, I am not sure why people need to use a vise for this. Fairing removal was not necessary except for the two little lips that divert air into the radiator. Once those were removed there is plenty of room to work. I ran into some trouble with the starboard side damper rod bolt when the brand new Harbor Freight tool stripped the bolt...
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Old

New suspension...

Posted July 31st, 2013 at 08:59 AM by Lychee

I am prepping for my first track day and I magically came across a few great deals on suspension parts. I was just going to throw it on the track, but it is really bouncy. So I decided I am going to throw in a 300 rear shock, valve emulators & drilled rods and a .75 sonic front spring. Total spent is $215. WOw! The valve emulators only come with the track spring. I'll call Race Tech when they show up in the mail and see what they can get me. I hope the spring comes with the preload shim that I hear it does. Otherwise I will need to visit home depot or something for some pvc tubing. I guess I will need to figure out how to set the sag at some point too.

So I received the 300 shock yesterday, and it looks pretty new. I ripped out the 250 shock and decided well I've come this far why not relube the unitrac and swing arm too. So out they come and oh look there is a bearing on the tie rods too. A few kerosene smelling dirty rags later and lots of goop and everything is cleaned...
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Old

Maintenance 2

Posted April 2nd, 2013 at 11:10 PM by Lychee

Valves adjusted, coolant flushed, throttle cable slack adjusted, chain adjusted, cush drive shimmed, leaky o-ring replaced, brake fluid flushed (nasty), broke a part, stole (borrowed) a replacement from the lady's bike.... all in a good couple days work. Tomorrow... ride.


.........(and buy replacement part)
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Old

SMX-Plush

Posted March 29th, 2013 at 12:38 AM by Lychee

I have never been so satisfied with a piece of footwear since that time I bought my Rooster Hiking Boots. My first motorcycle boot is an smx5 nonventilated version. It is HOT! wearing those in the summer time. Also they pinch my toes and have a hard insole. My toes went numb on many a ride. I always thought it was my riding position until I went to work with them and my feet went numb just sitting at my desk. Well, they are riding boots aren't they? So I left an extra pair of shoes at work to change into.
Enter the SMX Plus. It should be SMX-PLUSH. The inside is so soft and the boot is very comfortable. Took them riding for 7 hours or so and then to work for the next week. AMAZING! The ventilated model passes a lot of air to my toes. I didn't have to wait a half an hour after the ride for the feeling to return to my toes. It was fine wearing them all day at work. They also have a multi linked ankle brace that is not present on the smx-5.
I wear a size 9.5 shoe. The smx-5s...
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Old

Carburetor Overhaul

Posted November 25th, 2012 at 10:45 PM by Lychee
Updated November 27th, 2012 at 10:36 AM by Lychee

11/25/12
Tore into a planned tuning job this weekend over Thanksgiving. The ninjette has been running oddly and since I had repaired the front end chatter problem a few weeks ago (check tightness of your engine mounting nuts and bolts!), it was time to tackle this one. The transition from low end to midend felt lean and the bike tended to sputter and/or hesitate momentarily off the start line or at the beginning of the drive out of a 30 mph turn in 3rd gear. After that, pulled to redline strong. Had the carburetor cleaned by a shop in the summer so it must be a cold weather tuning issue. I figured I would also recharge the forks and see how difficult it would be to replace the fork springs with those .70 Sonics I have been eyeing. Turns out Road Rider was having a sale so I bought some brake fluid for an anticipated brake fluid replacement due soon.

So on my list of things to do this weekend:
1. Remove airbox through rear of bike
2. Cut off battery box from...
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