September 02, 2003
Back In the Saddle
I finally got my motorcycle ('81 Yamaha XJ750rh Seca) out of storage (my friend's shed). It's been, like two years since I've ridden. Luckily a) the bike started right up with a new battery and b) riding a motorcycle is just like riding a bicycle - you don't forget how to do it. In about six year, I rode over 10,000 miles on that bike, so I shouldn't have been surprised that even after two years, I could anticipate every bump, jerk, and sound the bike was going to make.
One problem I did have was that the front brakes were all but nonexistent. The handle squished all the way to the handlebar, and there wasn't really enough braking power to even keep from rolling down a driveway. After a trip around the block, I was able to build up enough pressure in the brake lines to feel confident I could get the bike home and take a better look at the problem. So on Saturday, I rode the 59.4 miles with pretty much only the rear brake functional. Luckily I'm good at engine braking and I just gave myself a LOT of extra room when following traffic. Today, with the help of my fabulous assistant, I bled most of the crap fluid and air out of the brake system and topped it off with new juice. The difference is amazing. I don't think the front brakes have ever worked this good in the entire time I've had the bike. I'm still having some engine roughness at idle, so I'll have to look into that.
So tonight, I took my darling wife for a nice evening/night drive to Gurnee Mills. She's looking for a treadmill, and I returned the GPS in favor of a Garmin, which I ordered tonight. The point is, we rode. And it was great. Man, I've missed that bike.
Posted by oblivion at September 2, 2003 10:08 PMI am also glad we have the bike back. I'm also feeling like, since I didn't kill myself driving a wave runner or a snow mobile, I can probably learn to drive a bike. Granted, I'd rather learn on a vespa, but the garage only fits so many toyz. =) Thanks for the ride, ya stud.
Posted by: fabulous assistant at September 3, 2003 09:11 AMWhat was the secret for bleeding the brakes? We can't get the bloody things to work.
Posted by: Hal at May 11, 2004 01:41 PMThere was no secret, AFAIK. They bled like any other brakes I've done (not many). Just make sure:
a) open only one bleed valve at a time
b) never release the brake lever while a bleed valve is open, or you'll just suck air back into the line
c) make sure your resivoir stays topped off
That's what worked for me. I forget if I did the upper valves first or the lower (the Seca has 'anti-dive' that uses brake fluid and has it's own bleed valves). The shop manual I have to the bike told me which way to do them. I think it was upper first, but don't quote me on that.
Good luck!
Posted by: oblivion at May 11, 2004 03:03 PMthe reason your cycle is running rough is the pilot circuits are pluged up from sitting with fuel in the float bowls. when you start your bike quickly take your hand and touch each exhaust pipe close to the engine manifold at an idle and you may notice one or two running cold because they arent getting fuel from the idle circuit in the carb, go to the yamaha dealer and buy the kind of carb cleaner you poor into the carbs (made by yamaha or equivalent ). then locate the drain plugs on the carb bowls, pull the fuel line off and open all the drains and find away to poor fuel down the gas line (plastic catchup bottle) UNTIL IT IS RUNNING OUT OF THE BOWLS THE CLOSE THE DRAINS WHILE CONTINUING TO POOR CARB CLEANER INTO THE FUEL LINE, LET IT SET FOR A FEW DAYS OR A WEEK AT MOST THEN OPEN THE BOWL DRAINS WITH THE FUEL PETCOCK CLOSED UNTIL ALL OF THE CARB CLEANER HAS DRAINED, NOW CLOSE THE DRAINS AND SET THE PETCOCK TO RESERVE THIS WILL ALLOW CARBS TO FILL WITHOUT HAVING TO CRANK THE HELL OUT OF THE ENGINE BECAUSE IN THE ON POSITION IT REQUIRES ENGINE VACUME TO OPEN PETCOCK THIS ACCOUNTS FOR THE UNEXPLAINED HOSE GOING FROM PETCOCK TO MANIFOLD, ANYWAY LET THE CARBS FILL (PURGE THE DRAINS IF YOU LIKE ) THEN FULL CHOKE START THEN HAVE A NICE DAY YOU JUST SAVE 140$ FOR THE COST OF 12$ BOTTLE OF KICK ASS YAMAHA STUFF.
Posted by: tony at September 13, 2004 08:51 PM
