Continuing - So what did you do to your bike today...?

[GSXKING]

I noticed that the font discs had what looked like a black grease on them, took the pads out & I think it was the cheapo copper slip which seems to have gone like slime off the back of the pads!cleaned up both pads & discs and put back in, bled the front brakes while I was at it & they feel much better now surprisingly 

Final check over and clean so ready to go when we get a bit more freedom & better weather, doesn't look to bad for nearly 20 years old I recon (excuse the mess in the garage it's on the list of to do's)

Looks immaculate 

[Eric GSX1400K3]

36 deg in the shade yesterday but decided to go for a decent ride.  Bit of a suspension tune ride actually, I had set  the front at std "plus two" on compression and rebound damping, but found it to be really uncomfortable and harsh on secondary roads compared to highway /freeway runs.

Fuelled up and set tyre pressures to 38psi front and rear.

Rode for ~10km to get everything up to temp, and then I would stop and ride and adjust first compression until it felt right, one click at a time, so, ride, stop, adjust, repeat.

Then i adjusted rebound until it didn't feel right anymore, going back to previous setting.  All different types of road surfaces and various speeds.  Once the front was sorted (after about 50km and about 10 stops) I did the same on the rear.  End result for me was  much improved rideability and confidence.

I know its usual to start with setting static sag and going from there, but at least this way I've found what seems to be a good all round setting. 

I still need to write down what I ended up with, as I was only counting incremental clicks, I will do this as a follow up post.

Bike ran well, still getting C28 code intermittently, and interestingly, only when stopped after a "spirited" run, so I think it may be temperature related, I.e oil temp sensor? I believe this sensor is also included in the STPA % opening calculation.  Still have to check the manual.  A quick ignition cycle fixed it each time.

Did notice a bit more chain and sprocket noise, so that's next job to replace.  I have decided to go to std gearing this time, as then speedo will be a bit more realistic compared to current.

Ended up doing about 200km round trip and much happier re bike set up.

[Hooli]

C28 is to do with the STVA, typically balancing the throttles & the setting the base position of the SPS & TPS fixes it. As I understand it the ECU compares the position of those two sensors to get it's base position for the STVA to work from - hence you see it move & to it's full extent & return to the fast idle position when you turn the ignition on if it's cold, it returns to the normal idle position if the bike is warm. The reason for balancing the throttles first is if they are out then the TPS won't be reflecting the true throttle position as the cables work on no3 & the TPS is on no1.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Thanks Hooli, yes I balanced the TB's last w'end and checked TPS and STPS.  Will check both again just to be sure.

[Hooli]

Thanks Hooli, yes I balanced the TB's last w'end and checked TPS and STPS.  Will check both again just to be sure.

Mine does it occasionally too, I've never worked out exactly why but mine seems worse when riding steady at higher speeds (90-100mph) than it does nailing the throttle & riding hard that way.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Exactly, runs smooth as silk, steady throttle for a while, high(er) speed then suddendly F1 light.  On sunday it did that twice, then it also  did it at idle speed sitting at the side of the road while i adjusted suspension.

I will go through all connectors again,  and recheck TPS's etc.

[Hooli]

If you work it out do let us know won't ya?

[grog]

Reckon im just lucky. Over 10 yrs never had a F1 light come up. Guess it will one day. Dont like to jinx myself but always been perfect in every way.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Reckon im just lucky. Over 10 yrs never had a F1 light come up. Guess it will one day. Dont like to jinx myself but always been perfect in every way.

Maybe a blown F1 globe 

[Hooli]

Reckon im just lucky. Over 10 yrs never had a F1 light come up. Guess it will one day. Dont like to jinx myself but always been perfect in every way.

I didn't either for years n years n years.... even when a sensor failed it didn't light it.

[Hooli]

Today I've mostly been riding my 14 into stationary traffic, which is a bloody silly idea and gives you a badly bruised knee. I would suggest none of you lot try it, it's definitely less fun than riding safely. The traffic stopped & I didn't, dunno why I just didn't realise they'd stopped till too late but that's how it goes I guess. All my fault. When I realised I slammed on the anchors & dropped the bike before I hit the car, just due to over braking in panic but it worked out well. The 14's headlight took the brunt of the impact & left a perfect imprint of itself on the car's bumper (I should have got a pic of that really). I dived out to the side as the bike went down & missed the car myself, hence no real injuries. It was all from 30mph before I hit the brakes which helps too.

I think my 14 needs clock backs, headlight & bowl, front mudguard, brake lever and amusingly an ignition key. The keys started to come out as the clocks came back & bent the key into a U bend. It can sit in the garage for a few months before i fix it up though, I've got other projects to finish & the plan was to take it off the road tomorrow ready to tidy it up anyway.

[KiwiCol]

That's a real shame Hooli, glad you came through it without too much damage to yer 'ole body.  The bike is looking a bit forlorn and worse for wear, hope you can fix it up eventually.  That key could be expensive . . .

[spb2002]

Ouch - Hope you are okay Hooli!

[mlivkovich]

Hope you are well, the bike will be fixed!

[Hooli]

Cheers guys, the stupid thing is I was taking it off the road on friday to park up until I had time to rebuild it to a much tider standard now it's no longer my main bike. Guess I'll have to get some extra bits when I get that far.