Service
SERVICE
Paul Dean
Shock talk I 1_.
I have a brand-new 1995 Harley-Davidson FXDS Convertible, and I would like to replace the rear shocks with aftermarket units from Koni. I know that Progressive Suspension also makes shocks that work well on Harleys, but 1 don’t like their complicated and inconvenient method of spring adjustment. The Konis only come in lengths that are either '/2-inch longer or shorter than the stock FXDS shocks, so my question is: Which of these two lengths would have the fewest adverse effects on the Convertible’s steering geometry? What will installing either '/2-inch longer or '/2inch shorter shocks do to things like steering feel, cornering, stability and the like?
Gamble M. Bowers Ill Afton, Virginia
/ doubt you would notice any significant difference in steering, handling and stability no matter which of the two Koni shocks you installed. A half-inch variation in shock length on a Convertible equates to less than one-half of a degree of steering-head angle and oneeighth of an inch of front-wheel trail; so, if you kept the stock spring rate on either of the Konis, the change in frontend geometry would be less than what you experience when you put an average-size passenger on the back. What 's more, if you chose the shorter of the two shocks, you likely would need a tad more spring preload to compensate for the slight loss of wheel travel. Conversely, use of the longer shock would probably permit slightly less preload, since the available wheel travel would be marginally longer. Thus, the bike’s actual ride height with either Koni shock would probably be so close to the stocker s that the steering, handling and stability would be unaffected.
On the other hand, the ride would probably be slightly harsher with the shorter Konis because of their marginally shorter piston stroke, and very slightly better with the longer Konis. Consequently, I would think that the '/2-inch longer shocks are the better choice of the two.
Wing nuts
In reference to the “A Wing and a prayer" letter from Don Hulbert in your January, 1995, Service column: With all due respect to Mr. Hulbert and the legions of Gold Wing riders out there (we have never met nicer legions anywhere), he is misguided in his search for a CBR900RR-conquering Gold Wing. After hours of brainstorming, the three of us came up with five sure-fire ways for Don to attain his goal.
1) Buy a ZX-1 1, fit it with luggage and pretend you don’t see the small lines on the map that usually identify twisty two-lane backroads.
2) Fit two nitrous bottles and hope for the best (Re: Challenger disaster).
3) Take an 8 x 10 color glossy of the Gold Wing and tape it to the headlight of the CBR900RR.
4) If cornering is not a concern, WWII-surplus Rolls Royce Merlin V12s are still available from several Latin American dictatorships for the price of a good New York strip steak.
5) General Electric turbine. Enough
said. Tony Dean
Dave Bruce Dave Saye Tulsa, Oklahoma
6) Give him your address. I bet he ’ll Wing his way to Tulsa in record time
just to wring your necks.
Cold storage
I’ve put my four Japanese bikes in storage for the winter months and have some questions about this procedure. I filled the gas tanks, removed the batteries, added Sta-Bil to the gas, and covered the bikes in an unheated garage. I start all of them every four weeks using a spare 12-volt automobile battery with jumpers hooked to the bikes’ battery cables. I’ve noticed that the cycle batteries (stored in a warm house) are losing their charge. Do I need to keep them charged or will a low-amp charge be sufficient in the spring? Also, two of the bikes were due for oil changes when put in storage at the beginning of the winter. Do you recommend changing oil before storing the bikes or when taking them out of storage after the winter? I’m rebuilding and restoring a 1972 Honda CB500 and I’m looking for a source for a shop manual for the bike. Can you suggest anything? Will Rogers Sierra Vista, Arizona
Timothy J. Welch Gillette, Wyoming
For the most part, the steps you took before storing your bikes were on the money. But a few of your procedures conceivably could cause problems in the spring. For one thing, you should change oil before putting the bikes away for the winter. Used motor oil contains harmful acids that can cause corrosion of important engine components over the course of a winter. I even like to change oil again in the spring before putting the bikes back in service. A few quarts of oil are much cheaper than an engine rebuild.
You also shouldn V start the engines unless you run them long enough to reach full operating temperature. Shutting an engine off before it reaches what is called full heat saturation can cause the formation of even more acids in the motor oil. But getting it to that full saturation stage in the confines of a garage is quite difficult to do properly without causing an even more troublesome engine-overheating condition.
Then there are your batteries, which will slowly lose their charge if left unattended in your house for months on end. If you don V recharge them before springtime, you 're likely to end up with four useless, sulfated lumps of lead and acid. The proper procedure is to give each battery a slow (no more than 1 amp) charge for several hours about once a month. A more-convenient tactic is to wire all four batteries in parallel (connect all the positive terminals to the positive wire of the charger, and all the negatives to the negative wire) and hook them to a 1amp trickle charger plugged into one of those adjustable timers used to turn house lights on and off. Set the timer to switch on for just 15 minutes a day, and your batteries will stay fresh and charged all winter long.
Buy the book
Sure. We suggest you don 't get near an aircraft piloted by anyone named Wiley Post. We can also suggest that when it comes to parts and paraphernalia for your restoration project, your nearest Honda dealership is probably the best place to start. The parts manual for your bike is still available. It covers the CB500 and CB550K from 1970 through 1978, and carries Honda part code 0671396. Suggested retail price is $25.17.
The perfect setup
Maybe you can pass along some of your knowledge. I have a 1991 Kawasaki ZX-7. I don’t race. I’m 6-foot2, and I weigh 200 pounds. As I approach 100 mph on my bike, I pick up a great deal of road vibration. Can you suggest a suspension setup I can use that will minimize this? I realize this baby isn’t designed for roughsurface use, and at 50 years of age, neither am I. Gary Clay
Saratoga, Wyoming
Your first problem, Gary, is that the high-speed damping on the 1991 ZX7s-that is, the damping used when the suspension components are reacting quickly to high-speed inputs from the riding surface-is by nature quite harsh. The bike’s external adjustments mostly influence its low-speed damping-the damping that comes into play when the suspension components are reacting at slower speeds, such as when you bounce the bike in your driveway. So the most obvious way to solve y outproblem is to send your fork and shock out to a reliable suspension tuner and have them revolved. Barring that, you should look to basic setup values, typically as follows: an inch to an inchand-a-quarter sack at both ends, as little compression damping as possible, and a moderate amount of rebound damping-enough to keep the bike from rebounding repeatedly when you apply suspension loadings. Then go for a ride. If the bike feels wobbly and rubbery during cornering, add rebound damping until this feeling goes away.
Additionally, don 't underestimate the importance of wheel balance. Have an experienced motorcycle tire balancer do a good static balance on your bike’s wheels and tires to eliminate this as a source of your problem.
That shifty feeling
1 own a 1986 ZX-1000R Ninja. It has 28,000 miles on its odometer and it is nearly perfect. In cool weather, however, it becomes very difficult to shift from first to second to third, and so on. And when it comes time to downshift, it feels very stiff and notchy. I run Castrol 10w-40 in the winter and change the oil every 1500 miles. The bike gets no abuse whatsoever. Can you help me with this?
Tyson Cott Council Grove, Kansas
Unfortunately—and we checked with Kawasaki factory technicians on this-the problem you describe doesn’t fit any of the usual patterns associated with shifting problems. What we can tell you is that because Kawasaki uses what it calls a Neutral Finder (downshift to first, come to a stop, pull up on the lever and you 're in neutral, with second gear blocked off), the first-tosecond shift can be stiff or notchy in cold weather. This is because the action of the Neutral Finder mechanism is retarded by cold oil. I’m sure Castrol is a fine oil, but we d suggest you shift to a 5w-30 synthetic oil, which often smooths out notchy shifting.
Cheap leaks
I have a 1975 Suzuki GT380. It has a problem with fuel leaking from the petcock. How can I fix this without spending a lot of money?
Erik Mondt Sioux Falls, South Dakota
The most likely cause of the leak would be rotten gaskets between the petcock and tank or on the sediment bowl of the petcock. If this is the case then the cure will likely cost less tha $10 for a set of new gaskets from yo Suzuki dealer. If the problem is the t aphragm of the petcock or its intern gaskets, then there may not be an ea solution. Suzuki has discontinued se ing the petcock assembly.
Or, perhaps a bit of sediment has wedged between the shutoff lever ana the petcock housing. If so, a thorough cleaning is in order. If this doesn’t provide a cure, it may be time to take the old petcock to the salvage yard to hunt for a matching-and properly functioningreplacement.
