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

[Will14]

My bike has other problems now but as for the battery I thing you could try a new one as my bike starts first prod now (as it always did).  You should be able to ride up to tayna and ask them to test it for you and buy a new one if required.  I got a Leoch battery with a two year warranty for £30(+ delivery), chap at Tayna recons they are as good as Yuasa for less than half the price.

@mjgt I have checked my battery today and it is a Powerline, the cheapest on sale by Tayna and unsurprisingly the CCA is only 150 whereas most others have a minimum CCA of 200 the same as yours and the standard Yuasa YTX14-BS, the YTX14H-BS has a CCA of 240A but not sure if there is a need for that in our climate?

[Mick_J]

My bike has other problems now but as for the battery I thing you could try a new one as my bike starts first prod now (as it always did).  You should be able to ride up to tayna and ask them to test it for you and buy a new one if required.  I got a Leoch battery with a two year warranty for £30(+ delivery), chap at Tayna recons they are as good as Yuasa for less than half the price.

@mjgt I have checked my battery today and it is a Powerline, the cheapest on sale by Tayna and unsurprisingly the CCA is only 150 whereas most others have a minimum CCA of 200 the same as yours and the standard Yuasa YTX14-BS, the YTX14H-BS has a CCA of 240A but not sure if there is a need for that in our climate?

Will, You don't need the "H" version if you are going Yuasa, my MZ does but the 14 doesn't.  I would ride over to Tayna and spend a few quid.

[VladTepes]

Just reading about fault light coming on. Ive always thought it was F1 light but now realise FI. Fault Indicator? Only taken me over a decade to realise. Circus not complete without a clown.

ha ha what a dick.  :D

I knew it was FI, but I thought FI meant fuel injection    Fault Indicator makes a lot more sense.

[gsxbarmy]

My bike has other problems now but as for the battery I thing you could try a new one as my bike starts first prod now (as it always did).  You should be able to ride up to tayna and ask them to test it for you and buy a new one if required.  I got a Leoch battery with a two year warranty for £30(+ delivery), chap at Tayna recons they are as good as Yuasa for less than half the price.

@mjgt I have checked my battery today and it is a Powerline, the cheapest on sale by Tayna and unsurprisingly the CCA is only 150 whereas most others have a minimum CCA of 200 the same as yours and the standard Yuasa YTX14-BS, the YTX14H-BS has a CCA of 240A but not sure if there is a need for that in our climate?

@Will14 I fitted a Yuasa YTX14H-BS to my GS1250, trust me the heavier duty battery is well worthwhile for the extra few pennies, spins over a bit quicker and cold starting a bit easier as well.

[Hooli]

I'd go for the heavier duty battery too, if only that a weak battery is one of the most common causes of sprag clutch failure on bikes. Ok 14s aren't known for it, but why risk it?

[Nic]

I put one of those yellow Motobatt  AGMs in mine coupla months ago, only $130, the bike turns over quite a bit quicker than the one that has been in there for the last 2 years since I've had the bike.
Just what the bike shop had at hand, good buy I reckon.

[Nic]

Spoke to Laurie at Suspension smith in Fyshwick ACT, 70 odd Ks away, looks like I'm going to be putting new springs and valves in the front end, he's going to check the rears to see if they need rebuilding, or maybe just buy some YSS ones?
He reckons the springs in the front are too soft and give a harsh ride, maybe the roads out here that are making owning a bike questionable will become tolerable?
Will look to get it done early Feb.
Want it done NOW.

[KiwiCol]

I put one of those yellow Motobatt  AGMs in mine coupla months ago, only $130, the bike turns over quite a bit quicker than the one that has been in there for the last 2 years since I've had the bike.
Just what the bike shop had at hand, good buy I reckon.

As an addition to this, over the xmas break I had to replace both batterys in our quad bikes.  They had Motobatt things in them MU20 or something. 310cca & I've never replaced them in all the time we've had the quads, and I've also done bugger all in the looking after them dept either, sometimes not starting the bike for weeks on end, outside in the winters etc etc.

Anyway I decided to look at the manufacture date on them, one was 2003 & the other was 2006.  One had lasted 18 years! and the other 15 years!   So I reckon that's not bad at all really, for a neglected pair of batteries.  Doubt the new ones will last as long though, will have cheapened the build of them so they have to be replaced more often, or ya reckon that's just cynical??

[grog]

Col, i fitted Motobatt, lasted 13 mths, just out of wrty. Bit diff to yours. Nic, agree about f springs, too much pre load needed on originals. Fitted Wilbers progressive, preload backed off to nearly minimum, much smoother, no brake dive was a bonus. Rears i had rebuilt, work fine for me. Not knowing about new valves in front, had offered but didnt. They work perfectly, so much more compliant. Make sure your suspension blokes sets it all for YOU, a total must do. A great move i reckon Mate, getting it sorted i mean👍

[Nic]

Thanks Grog, yeah, Laurie insists on you bringing the bike in, not just the forks and shocks, he weighs you and your gear to get the right springs then sets it all up when you come back to pick the bike up, you need to leave the bike with him for a week or so.
I have a mate with a Triumph rocket, Laurie did his forks, he told him he wanted the bike to be like a magic carpet and to run on rails, Laurie just laughed, mate said the bike is so much better, he only spent $700, I expect to spend a bit more than that, happy too as I know the bike will be transformed

[Hooli]

I did some more fiddling with my 14 today & she seems to be riding better, much smoother at light throttle/low revs now. So I might have finally cracked it. If so I wish I knew exactly what's fixed it!

I popped the ignition cover off the side of the engine to check it was clean so I'd get a good spark signal as the low speed issue feels like 'fluffy plugs'. There was a little bit of burnt oil on the pick up so I wiped it clean. More impressively though I found a nicely baked bug right down near the oil pressure sensor. I can't even work out how it got in as the casing is sealed on the engine. It could have crawled down past the wire, but shouldn't have been able to get past the top section as that's sealed off from the internal bit. However it managed it, it was an inch or so long & very crispy. I've evicted it now, but I'll always wonder when and how it got in as that cover probably hasn't been off for seven or eight years.

Other stuff I did was knock those little metal sleeves out the inside of the TPS bolt holes so I could set it to the right value. Cleaned up the main engine earth lead, which didn't even really seem tight when I undid it. Put a different set of plugs in, not new obviously but iridium ones some a friend took out of theirs after about 12k miles so basically new. I'm not an iridium fan but for free it's rude not too? Only other thing I did was my usual tightening of the spade terminal on the small earth lead that comes off the battery too.

Time will tell if it's fixed the drinking the problem, but it does ride smooth when it used to play up so that's a good sign.

I do need a new front tyre, it's worn on the sides & tramlining badly. But I'm running it for a couple of months to get more use out of the rear so I can fit a new pair for summer.

Oh yeah, ignore the black stuff in the cover, it's got a hairline crack from being down the road loads of times so last time it was off I araldited it to seal it. That's the only reason I took it off last time.

[grog]

Poor little bug, maybe they dont cure that cheap arse oil enough.😂 Glad its running better. Doesnt matter what fixed it, long as its fixed.

[Hooli]

It'll bug me that I didn't find a cause though. I even put acf5p on the plug threads as the old ones came out slightly corroded, in case that was causing a weak spark due to bad earth.

More testing required to prove what the economy is like now anyway

[Hooli]

Hmmm.... It coughed & spluttered over a narrow range of throttle this morning exactly like a TPS fault. I'd pretty much decided to spend £110 replacing it as it has to the be the problem. Then I rode home & it was utterly smooth without a single issue...

Bloody bikes, they can't even decide if they're broken or not.

[steve porter]

Just put a new front tyre on, went with Road 5 again 16k, pretty happy with that as still performing as new, and only just down to the wear bars.Rear has a fair bit left so will put on when needed, reckon I might get 20 as there are a couple of mm to go