jrhendryx

its all about making sure you take the proper precautions, and pay attention. get into one of the training courses, and if possible, once you have some time in the saddle, get into one of the advanced training courses that they put the police bikers through. something like 50% of fatal motorcycle crashes in the US are caused (at least according to my trainer at one of the courses) by single vehicle crashes where the biker looses control in a corner, usually because they go too wide due to poor cornering technique. if you want one, get a motorcycle. just understand that you arent surrounded by a ton and a half of steel, and are not as visible. just be as careful as you can, and ride/think as though nobody will see you. i play a little "what-if" game where i ask myself what i will do if someone pulls out, or cuts in on me, and it keeps me constantly looking for my out/escape route in case something goes wrong. sure, riding a motorcycle is dangerous, but then again, so is walking out your front door in the morning. for me, the fun is worth the risk. you have to ask yourself if it is worth it to you.

i was actually at a dealer looking at these bikes yesterday. basically, the main differences are going to be found in the clutch arrangement (less likely to lock the back wheel if you downshift hard) and it has a fly-by-wire throttle.... the handlebars are a bit more aggressively set up (lower than on the r6s) and from what i could see just by looking at them, they both hit redline at the same spot (16k) from what the guy at the dealer told me, the r6s is basically an 04-05 r6. but it sounds like this is going to be their last year for the 600r, so if you wait a bit, you might be able to pick up a brand new 600r for a bit less as they try to get rid of them. im leaning towards getting a r6s next year sometime, just because i doubt that they will have ironed out all of the kinks that first and second year runs of any bike, car, or new technology are bound to have, and i dont want to run the risks of picking up a used r6 that someone has beaten up and not broken in properly. just my .02

most 2 stroke bikes arent street legal in the us

I have collected all of the necessary gaskets, seals, etc needed to do the following restore and line the gas tank refurbish the front forks (they are leaking oil, and are quite spongy) so, before i tear into either of these, i have a few questions....... 1) do i need to remove the head assembly from the bike to do this properly? my haynes and yamaha books both say i dont, but then dont explain how to do it without removing the whole head assembly. it seems like i should just be able to loosen the pinch bolts and pull them out of there..... 2) while i am replacing the front fork seals, are there any other problem areas that i should be looking for? anything that the manuals dont tell me that might create a hang-up for me? 3) does anyone know of a DIY way to knock some front fork dents out of a gas tank? i was thinking i might be able to do it with a rounded dowel and a mallet. it doesnt have to be perfect, i just think it doesnt have to be as bad as it is. thanks! Jeff

the yamaha fsm says "if the chain has a total up and down deflectino of 20mm at the center with the rear wheel on the ground, the chain tension is correct" i adjusted it with the wheel off the ground, on the center stand, and am now going to go re-adjust it to the proper specs with the wheel on the ground. thanks. oh, and i also think im going to put a smaller sprocket on the rear, since the 17 tooth front sprocket is as big as i can go. the rear currently has a 43, and the next smallest one for this bike is a 37.... thats like going up to a 19 on the front, so its going to be quite a bit of a difference. any thoughts on that?

i have an xs500.... neutral is next to impossible to grab at a stand-still. rolling, even if its just pushing it forward makes it much easier. just an oddity of these bikes i suppose.

i went out and did what minor tune-ups i figured i could try with my limited workspace and tools, which basically means adjusting drive chain tension (it was at about 2" of deflection, the book says .7" or 20mm)... i had to adjust the play in the rear break, but ive noticed that the bike seems much more responsive and a lot less jerky.... it also seems to be running at slightly lower rpm for speed (about 300rpm, not a big difference really). this worried me at first though, because it seems like that would mean that the chain was too tight, but manufacturer's specs say just over .7" of deflection..... the surprise wasnt a very good one.... i pulled off the top to the air cleaner, expecting to find a somewhat dirty paper element.... since after all, thats what the yamaha book says should be in there. so you can imagine my surprise when i realized that someone had replaced it with some of that flexible yellow foam that they use to make seat cushions....... wtf. the local yamaha shop couldnt help me locate a filter element for this one. does anyone know of an interchangeable filter? also, my front sprocket has 17 teeth and the rear has 43..... if i was going to try to gear it taller by putting in a larger front sprocket (as yamahead had suggested) what would be larger? the total diameter of the sprocket, the number of teeth, or would both be larger? it looks to me like there is just barely enough room to clear the front sprocket as is, so it makes me wonder if i could actually do anything to gear it taller and make it run a bit better at higher speeds (above 50). help! thanks. jeff.

i wouldnt hit 5k rpm either, except on this bike, thats 50mph. i actually am running the ngk plugs in this bike, and have been filling it with high octane since i bought it (1 month ago.) cleaning the tank is the next project, followed by the carbs, though i will have to adjust them when im done, and thats what worries me. the sprocket thing was already suggested by yamahead (i think, maybe it was yoda... strong with the yamaha he is).... and im going to try it out as soon as i get the chance, though i have quite a bit more reading to try out. im going to fiddle with the carbs tomorrow after work, and will update you on my progress, though i think it may just be a symptom of a rusty gas tank. any idea which way to turn the screw to make it stop backfiring? does a backfire generally mean too rich of a mixture (detonates twice?)?

none taken the reason i am considering this is because i get a slight backfire out of the left side when i roll off the throttle, or downshift. also, when pulling hard (5500-6000rpm) uphill, or if i really jump on it to pass someone, it tends to miss every now and then. how do i adjust it without the gauges? once i get the tank restored (rusty) i am going to tear the carbs apart and clean them out, so i need to know how to adjust them once i put them back together, and if i can do it without the gauges, that would be pretty good.

I am looking into purchasing a set of vacuum gauges to sync my carburetors up. i was specifically looking at this set on ebay. how can i tell if these will work on my bike? will i need a special adapter to make them screw into the vacuum synchronizing screw hole? how will i know when they are set properly? neither the haynes nor the yamaha manual really explain how to make sure that they are set correctly. i want to learn to do this myself, but its difficult when i cant get any good (idiotproof) information. thanks. jeff

you mentioned a sprocket change, would you suggest something other than stock, or just changing them out for a new set of stock ones? and also, (my lack of motorcycle knowledge showing here) why would changing out the sprocket help to balance it out? Part of my problem is that, for lack of a better word, the bike feels kind of...... twitchy.... at anything over about 50mph, and it seems like its straining really hard once it gets up that high. the stock manual puts its top speed at 110, which i assume would be right at redline.... if it redlines at 8500, and it hits almost 6000 rmp at about 60mph, it seems to me as though there should be more than 2500rmp difference for an additional 50mph.... not that i intend to ride this bike at 110, but it would be nice to not feel like its going to pitch me off or explode at anything over 50mph. im not offering a lot of good data here, all i know is how it feels, and it feels kind of twitchy. does 6000rpm sound like its running too fast for 60 mph? maybe its just me not being used to gearing/rpm on a bike.

sorry to kind of horn in on this one, but on that inline fuel filter, what kind of filter would you suggest? the hose from my petcocks to the carbs is very short (since there is one for each side, it doesnt have to go very far). how big are they, because size will be an issue since the hoses are so short. thanks.

thanks, found the gaskets, was able to order them already. for the por 15, isnt that a paint on? i dont need to seal the outside of the tank, i was just wanting to seal the interior of the tank once it has been cleaned.

Hello again, as i mentioned in a previous post, my gas tank has some rust scale in it, and i am going to need to clean/treat/seal it. have any of you done this yourselves with some of the chemical treatments out there? would it be more worth it to have someone else do it (i was quoted 87.50 to clean and seal). also, im having a hard time finding replacement petcock gaskets for where it connects to the tank. is there a liquid gasket material that i could use for this? *edit* i didnt bother to check the yamaha site because i assumed it had been discontinued like everything else for this bike, but they carry the gaskets. what i need now is the outer gas tank gasket, because mine is in pretty bad shape and leaks.

cant say that i have. at the moment i have to stick pretty close to rural highways with speed limits around 55. 55 mph in 5th gear on my bike is right at about 5k rpm, and it hits redline at 8500. up around 60-65mph it feels like its going to shake itself apart, running at around 6k rpm. so, for the time being, its just local rides for me. i would also like to take a ride down through the fossil/john day area.

looks like a good run. ive only driven through the gorge area, never ridden. this coming summer (after i get a slightly larger bike) im going to take hwy 14 (wa) out past hood river. really pretty area.

have you checked your plugs/wires/points? that was part of my problem, and i still have a bit of a backfire when i downshift and hit 4000 rpm.

why is anyone even paying attention to this troll? he only has two posts, both of which were designed to stir the pot a bit. let him live with his illusions, its not our problem.

how much snow do you get in milwaukie though? i grew up in seaside, and we didnt get much there. i am in spokane now, and it snows hard all winter. the roads are relatively clear, but can still be pretty slick. oh, and why a one piece over a two piece?

I managed to leave the house today without reading the weather report, and got stuck in a thunder storm. I tried to wait it out for a bit, but had other things to do. my jacket kept me relatively dry, but im kind of interested to see whats out there for weatherproof riding gear. so, what do you guys use? if money wasnt an issue, what would you use, and if you were on a budget, what would you get? thanks in advance! oh, and i realize that the poll is pretty basic, but i wanted to get an idea of how many people ride year-round or mostly year round.

yeah, this actually sounds like it might work.... plug up the petcock holes with a rubber stopper, and fill it with solution, but i would probably immerse it almost all the way in a cold water bath. perhaps i should purchase a tank i have no intention of putting on the bike to give it a try.... thanks.

using electrolosis would be nice, but wouldnt it damage the paint? i assume i would have to submerge the entire tank to get it to work. and what is a "lay up kit?" is it something to winterproof the engine? i was told to just drain all of the gas out of the carburetors, top off the tank, and add a stabilizer. what will the lay up kit do differently?

thanks for the help guys. i talked to my dad about this because we had the same problem with an old honda 3wheeler that we bought when i was about 12. we ended up buying a new tank, because they were so readily available, but he also suggested taking it to a radiator shop and having them steam/boil it out. do you think that this is going to be a problem when i park the bike for the winter? if i top off the tank and put in some stabilizer, it shouldnt be a problem right? the tank should only have rusted where the gas was not touching, so if it sat half full for a while, the top half of the tank would be rusted. right?

awesome, very helpful. i got the bike back today, and i realized that it was a problem i could have fixed myself, but hey.... i will just call it an $80 learning experience. problem 1: old plugs Problem 2: bad plug caps problem 3: petcock screens so clogged with rust that it looked like someone had packed chewing tobacco into the hoses. still, this means that there is the underlying problem of a rusty gas tank that needs to be solved, so i need to find a NOS tank, or find a way to get this one sealed or something. any suggestions on that?

i dropped the bike off yesterday, and i trust this shop because it comes highly recommended, but a couple of things that the guy said to me kind of put me on edge a bit. first, he told me that these bikes were huge pieces of crap, etc etc, which i already knew, but the ones still running somehow missed most of those problems, gave me the huge song and dance about how parts are discontinued and they dont stock any. heres the real thing that worried me a bit. he said that the problem wasnt in the carbs....... without ever starting the bike up or anything, he said that it was electrical, and that it was a problem with the generator. that more than likely the brushes were worn.... problem is, that kicked up a red flag, and sure enough, when i checked my factory manual, the generator on this bike doesnt have brushes........... after talking to other yamaha shops, heres what ive come up with... 1) the high rpm problem sounds like a vacuum leak 2) the carbs are out of sync more than i thought they were 3) there could possibly be an electrical issue with bad plugs, or the points being worn or something to that effect. does this sound like an electrical issue to you guys?