"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
05/25/2015 at 16:43 • Filed to: 2 wheels good, bikelopnik, manlymanbike
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"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
05/25/2015 at 16:43 • Filed to: 2 wheels good, bikelopnik, manlymanbike | 2
| 11 |
My third new battery was the charm - The Nighthawk 650, a.k.a. #ManlyManBike to my friends, lives. I didn’t go out on the street today, just idled it for about 10 minutes once I finally got the motor spinning and let the engine, gas, and oil come back to life after winter storage. Sta-bil did its job, I’m glad to say. I rode it in my neighbor’s small parking lot for a bit to warm up the brakes and putter around in first. It rides pretty nice but my front suspension neds new seals, it weeped a little too much oil I think. Need to check on that. I also did some systems checks and found out I have 6 gears..........didn’t expect that, but cool! I put the plate on it and everything. Going for a ride after work tomorrow. Not a bad memorial day, I must say.
TheOnelectronic
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/25/2015 at 16:46 |
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Make sure that fork oil doesn’t get onto the brake disks. That is not a fun experience.
Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
> TheOnelectronic
05/25/2015 at 16:48 |
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Yeah that doesn’t sound like fun
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> TheOnelectronic
05/25/2015 at 16:51 |
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Yeah, The weather is getting cloudy and rainy so I will wait for a nicer day to check and ride it a bit more. It’s an old bike but it is absolutely wonderful in terms of seating position and feel for me. I might just buy the new seals to be safe. I can’t wait to get going.
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TheOnelectronic
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/25/2015 at 16:58 |
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A friend of mine has a beat-to-hell Triumph Daytona. It blew a fork seal a while back and got fork oil on his disk. Needless to say he was relying on his back brake for a while.
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> TheOnelectronic
05/25/2015 at 16:59 |
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Question - what is the “Steering damper” on a bike like mine and should I go aftermarket? My search for suspension parts keeps having them pop up and it doesn’t sound like anything on a car.
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TheOnelectronic
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/25/2015 at 18:12 |
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It’s a fix for headshake- when the bars (and front wheel) shake under certain conditions. If you aren’t getting that, you probably don’t need one.
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> TheOnelectronic
05/25/2015 at 18:40 |
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Gotcha. Will keep that in mind. Probably won’t know for a little while as I don’t want to take too long of a trip (more than 4 or 5 miles from home) until I am 100% about the bike’s reliability.
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TheOnelectronic
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/25/2015 at 18:50 |
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For me, it only crops up if I move quickly from one side to the other. If you’re not planning to scrape the pegs much, it probably won’t be a huge problem.
BobintheMtns
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/25/2015 at 18:55 |
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Gotta love it when, rather than have to dig through 20+ year wiring, you just swap out the battery. Glad to hear it was an easy fix.
BJ
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/25/2015 at 21:13 |
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I never rode hard enough or fast enough on my Nighthawk to need a damper. I got up to maybe 140-145 km/h a few times, that was enough. Speed wobbles are killer - you’re best not finding out where they start. If in doubt, get a damper installed before doing any speed runs.
Unrelated anecdote that just popped into my head: I nearly broke an ankle once, cornering hard to the left, because I forgot to lift my toes up on to the shifter and my boot caught on the pavement. I had never been so far over and was surprised at how capable the bike was. It definitely had more talent than I!
AdverseMartyr
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
05/26/2015 at 02:17 |
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Great! Did you check your voltage and make sure it is getting enough charge? You should need to hold the throttle open a bit to put the revs over 3k-5k typically to get enough voltage to charge the battery.