Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Rambling on the day

Today I took my first major ride after settling into my new home here in New Mexico. Well, I guess I could say it was my second ride because I took a little jaunt down to Los Lunas on Thanksgiving day, about 20 miles and back along the Rio Grande. But that was just a shakedown ride to make sure everything was still working after having the bike briefly in storage. Besides, I had to get back for turkey. 'That' was the priority of the day.

Today I made a run over to PJ's Triumph in east Albuquerque, and after a brief stop to order some TBS needles, ($21 for the pair, including tax) I took Central Avenue east, out of town toward Tejeras, and then north through Cedar Crest and San Antonito, along the east side of the Sandia Mountains. The road from Tejeras to San Antonito climbs grandually and constantly, but once past San Antonito it levels out and runs along mesas and valleys on the eastern, down-dip side of the Sandias. This road is called the Turquoise Trail, and it eventually takes you to Santa Fe about 50 miles to the north. It's beautiful country with the pinon and cedar covered mountains on the west and mesas and canyons to the east.

I had noticed on Thanksgiving that the bike didn't seem to have the power that it should. I stopped that day several times to fiddle with the air/mix screws. I turned them out 3 3/4 turns, and even had them at 4, which I think is too much, before I got any kind of power at low throttle, and higher throttle still didn't seem to be right either. Last spring I installed a Freak kit, but I only got to ride the bike a short time before I had trouble with my igniter. I thought the bike ran good after installing the Freak kit, so I was a little stumped by the performance now. I do remember that I wasn't happy with the performance when I got it back from the shop. It seemed like it never ran right when those guys worked on it. Even after I finally got it back with a new igniter I didn't really have a chance to ride it and make adjustments. In August I had a major project at work that took my evenings and weekends, and in September I started getting ready to sell my house and move to the Southwest. I think I only put about 3000 miles on the bike all summer, which is nothing, really.

I spent yesterday researching and thinking about the problem. When the bike ran good last summer, it was hotter than blazes. That means thin, hot air, and a hot engine. It was also humid there in Minnesota, but I don't know how that effects tuning. I read that a lean mix is helped by a hotter engine, but a too rich mix gets worse as the engine heats up. I'm running 150 jets on Bikerthug's suggestion. Remember him? I know 150s are at the small end of the range for the freak. 160s are recommended but a lot guys here run 155s or 158s. All this makes me think I am too lean. I'm a little puzzled by the low end though. My air screws are approaching 4 turns, which means I could go up a notch on my pilots, but I'm already running 45s. Pat claims he ran 42s in his Keihins but I don't see how with an opened up system. I have some 48s in my toolbox. Maybe I'll throw them in and see what happens (after I get the mains dialed in) Or, maybe the TBS needles will take care of the problem. The pilots will be the last thing I try.

Another thing is that I've never changed out my coils. Last spring I changed my spark plugs and wires, which gave me back a little power and helped fix a black sooty problem I was having last fall. Right now the plugs and wires only have a few thousand miles on them, so they are probably ok for now, especially on my currently tight budget. When my bike was in the shop FOR SIX WEEKS!!!! (sorry, just venting a little there) this summer, the mechanic kept telling me he thought the problem might be with the coils, but I argued that I was losing spark to both plugs at once, and it was unlikely that both coils would fail intermittantly in unison. The problem had to be upstream from the coils, the igniter. Now I'm wondering if the coils might be weak too. Maybe those 106 degree days last summer baked my 3 year old coils. My thinking is that a weak coil would cause a weak spark. If I have weak spark and a lean mixture in a cylinder that won't get warm on a 50 degree November day, then I can see why I can't get any power. I read an article a while back that said the flame gets quenched (does't burn) on the cold cylinder wall, and it gets worse if the mixture is lean. That's why you don't get a full burn.

I just put in an order to Brent. What would we do without him? Nology coils and 2 sets of jets to try, 155s and 160s. I also ordered the TBS needles at PJ's Triumph. They seem like good guys. I talked to Jeff for a while. I hope the new needles will cure a mid throttle flat spot that I've had from the beginning. Also, I might try drilling out the hole in the slides. I've been putting that off, even though I bought a new drill bit for the job a while back. I don't really like to do anything that I can't reverse out, but everyone seems to agree that this is a good mod, so maybe I'll give it a try. One last thing I'll do when I have the coils off is clean all the connections. It's possible that a dirty connection may be the single culprit. I'm really hoping all these things will bring my Speedy back to life. Once in a while I just need to give her a little TLC, and she usually pays me back with a big smile on my face.

Later,
Cody

John,

Sounds like you're gettin' nestled in there in beautiful NM really quickly. I'd like to take that ride one o' these days with ya. Maybe next year.

Now, regarding your "lean" theory...I don't know, but ABQ is pretty much "up there" in altitude ain't it, so I kind'a doubt you're runnin' lean, more likely maybe you're actually running a bit rich, because of ABQ being at a much higher altitude than MSP. Just a guess there.

Good luck in sortin' it out.

Cheers,
Dwight

Dwight,
Well, git over here man! Let's do the ride. and...and...how about Durango and Silverton later this spring. Wolf Creek Pass? Gotta wait for the snow to clear out for that one.

You could be right. My place here in ABQ is 5000 feet right on the nose. I thought about the altitude and that's why I was puzzled by the symptoms. One way or another I'll get it worked out. I might have to splurge on a dyno run.

I know one thing for sure, I can't let this free time I have right now be wasted because of a poor running scooter!

Regards,
John

Quote:

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Dwight,
Well, git over here man! Let's do the ride. and...and...how about Durango and Silverton later this spring. Wolf Creek Pass? Gotta wait for the snow to clear out for that one.

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Now yer talkin'! Let me know when I'll hook up with Dwight somewhere along the way. If your going to Silverton, keep on going to Ouray, beautiful road.

Yeah, your probably too rich. Higher altitude, less air. Less air, need less fuel.

Cody clean the connections like you planned and try the 145's you might lean it out enough to get it running right....Angelis

Hey there Cody, welcome to my neck of the woods. Would be glad to introduce u to some of the sights around here or whatever. Maybe just meet downtown for a beerski or something. I myself dont have another america yet, but converted my wife from a 1200 sporty, to a 2006 america. I have a triple, just got rid of my rocket this summer, and also building a 67 tiger chop. Let me know if you want to meet up some time. We live on the west side, Ladera area, just north of I40 off Unser.

Oh, just an FYI, I work front end nights ( 6 pm to 6 am every Sunday Monday Tuesday, and every other Saturday )Also have been working some OT in too, so off every Friday, every other Saturday.

Take a look at the colour of the sparkplugs, they seldom lie about the mixture.

Those pilot jets might be a tad rich too at that altitude. Regardless of what you end up with when you get it sorted, power will be down a bit due to the altitude. There's just not as much oxygen up there to breathe.

If all else fails, take it down to PJ's Triumph. I've heard nothing but good about the place, and I would trust my bike to them.

I've been to Albuquerque a couple of times, and I like that ride up the backside of Sandia Crest. The little town of Madrid has a nice spot to stop for a cold one if you're so inclined. They have a balcony you can hang out on and watch the bikes go by.

Have you been to El Pinto yet?

I pulled the seat and tank off today on checked some of the electrical connections. I see that they are all full of white grease, which I guess I've noticed before, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I saw some road grime buildup on the outside of the connectors, so I assume that some dirt has mixed with the grease on the inside. It looked kinda grungy. That could explain a poor connection if I pulled apart the connectors and then just shoved them back together. Today I cleaned off the male connections with canned contact cleaner, and I also sprayed cleaner into the female connectors. I don't really know how I'd get that gunk out of the connectors besides tediously digging it out with a toothpick or something. I know the grease has it's purpose, but it sure makes a mess. I cleaned the battery posts too. I have a heated vest connector tapped into the battery posts. I tried to make sure that didn't interfer with anything.

I got an email that my coils shipped this morning, so they should be here in a day or two.

I pulled the plugs the other day and they didn't look sooty or overly dark. I wiped the electrode end on my finger and it didn't even leave a soot smudge. I still have a hard time believing that my mix is too rich, but that could be the case. It felt lean to me in Minnesota. I thought the altitude here should make it just right. Going to 145 would seem mighty small for use with a freak kit, even at 5000 ft. I'm more inclined to believe that I'm getting a poor spark for some reason. We'll see when the new coils get here. Bummer timing though. The coils should arrive about the same time as a winter storm moving in from Colorado. It's been in the 70's up to now. Jeez, I might have to wait a couple days for it to melt before I can go riding.

Derek, El Pinto must be a good place. This is the second time it has been recommended. I think I'll take the little lady and go try it out.

Hey skid. I'm up for a brewski somewhere, anywhere. My time is pretty free right now, but that probably will change when my employment status changes, which needs to be soon. I'd like to meet up on the bike, so I need to get it back together. And I got nothing against Triples. Pretty cool actually.

Later,
Cody

I installed new Nology coils today. Wow, what a difference. I could tell by just pulling out of the driveway that my bike had some of it's life back. I rode about 5 miles in 42 degree weather. I rode about a mile and took it off choke. It was probably still a little cold, but I finally have some throttle response back, and no popping and backfiring at low throttle like the other day. There was hardly any hesitation when I snapped open the throttle. So far, so good.

The install was easy. The 2 screws on each coil take a T-25 Torx driver. Once you get the tank off it takes about 15 minutes. On the install I cleaned all the connectors and regapped the plugs. The gap, I discovered, was a little wide, so I set it back to .86. (the book says .8 to .9 mm) I guess my newlittleroundwedgygappingtoolthingy isn't very accurate, so I'm back to my wire gapping tool. I reused the plugs and wires, which I replaced last spring and only had about 3000 miles on them. The plugs as I pulled them were a very light grey with no sign of free soot. My theory: (weak coils + too wide gap = runs like crapola) I didn't make any other adjustments today.

Today I also picked up some TBS needles from PJ's Triumph here in Albuquerque. I'll drop those in before I start playing with the air/gas mix. One guy at PJ's suggested I try some hotter plugs. I'll probably do that, but one change at a time. He also said the service guy is a pretty good tuner and would have a good idea of what jets I should be running. He was busy though, so I'll have to go back. PJ's has a dyno which starts at 45 bucks a run, depending on how much they do for you. I think I'll tune it the best I can by the seat-of-my-pants, and then check it on the dyno.

I gotta say one thing. My short dealings with PJ's is like a breath of fresh air. They actually suggested some ways to increase performance. That's way different than the conversations I had with the mechanic at Moto Primo in Minneapolis last summer when I was having all the problems.

Them: "Hey, did you know somebody removed your airbox?"
Me: "Uh, yeah, it was me!"
Them: "You did? Well, you know that changes things, right? You know you have to rejet and stuff, right?"
Me: "Um, yeah, I know that. I did that."

That particular conversation felt like it was going to degrade into a playground exchange, like... "You're a moron!" "No, you're a moron!!" "I called you one first!!!" "No, I did!!!!", "Did not!" "Did too!"

Ok, I digress.
I admit I don't know everything about motorbikes, but I don't like being treated like an imbecile either. (Hey, no comments out there!!) That kind of treatment just doesn't enhance the warm, fuzzy customer experience. But today I actually had a good, informative conversation with the guys at PJ's. I look forward to going in there again.

More later.

Hey, didnt look like my last addition got posted so I'll try again. Hey Cody, My number is 505-238-7133, give me a call sometime.
Mark