So it rained here last night, and on my way back home from Jiu Jitsu, there's two lights that turn yellow/red in unison, without about 200-300~ feet between them. I happened to be just at that odd distance where you either have to speed up or hit your brakes moderately hard at the light, so I decided to speed up a bit for the first and brake for the second. There were two cars in front of the next light, so the distance was shorter still. I would have been fine on dry pavement, but...
...my front tire is a NOS that I got for free that, while having good tread, doesn't seem to do well in the wet, and is 8 years old.
...and my rear brakes don't work. I have rebuilt the caliper, replaced pads, and have taken apart the cylinder and put it all back together--caliper was seized, but wasn't the only issue--when I finally took apart and inspected the rear brake cylinder worked--for 3 days, before losing pressure again. Was intending to buy new seals and rebuild it soon, but hadn't gotten to that yet. :(
...So my front tire cut out from under me.
No injuries to me--martial arts are actually good for something, my instincts landed me sliding on my ass, safest position probably available. One tiny (negligible) scrape on my knee, one on my ass. But the bike... Seemed fine at first, but no start.
Pushed it over to a gas station.
Sounded all good when trying to start it, but no 'bite'. Huh. Try push starting it, and can hear that it's not trying to spark at all.
Second round of inspections--oh. The ignition timing cover? bottom half is broken off. Pull out my factory tool kit, and am able to unscrew the remaining two screws thanks to the fact that I had just had it off earlier in the day to do a valve shim swap...
Bad news. The spinning brass (? gold colored metal?) part is bent, the sensor has been ripped off, and there's two sets of wires that have bare ends. Thus the no spark--no rpm info coming in to the TCI.
Other damage: front fairing (front left side ground off), and givi rack (snapped). Gauge shroud crack. Inner fairing vent panel. Front wheel seems slightly disaligned, but I'm fairly sure it's not a bent fork as there was no trauma to the front, and will just be a matter of releasing tension at the triple tree and realigning.
Anyone have a donor bike that can contribute the timing bits and a cover for my bike? I don't have a running vehicle until I get these parts. Name your price. -_-
Glad I invested in putting new bicycle tires on my Dahon recently... Looks like I'm going to be getting a lot of use out of that for the next week (at least) (being optimistic).
:dash2:
A kind soul heard the bike skidding (luckily it stopped before running into the car ahead of me), came down. He was on a scooter, but had more than 30 years of motorcycling under his belt. We talked a bit. He said he had a truck and a ramp if I needed it, gave me his number. When I realized I wasn't going to be driving anywhere that night, he came by and picked me up, drove me home.
(For better or worse, I love Texas.)
Guess I'll be getting some hours on my project bike in. Wishing I had been working on it recently right now. :cray:
Anyways. No injuries. Clear path to running again. Don't even have to buy a new helmet (no head contact to anything). All in all, not a bad crash at all.
Kyle,
Glad you're okay!
I might have the ignition components. I'll check when I get home. Verify the year, '86?
I don't have an extra cover. Check with RPM (do I really need to type that?)
Kyle, glad you are OK. I don't have the spare parts that you need so I hope others can scrounge up some 86'/87' parts. There seem to be enough of them around.
Kyle,
Yeah, that sucks big time, but at least you're O.K.
Life does that to keep you on your toes. You'll be back up and running in no time. Sorry I can't help you out with parts.
Steve
+4 glad you are ok, most important..... Yea, Texans are like that....very good folks, the best. :good:
When repaired, you really need to get rid of that old, dry, hard front tire, although you know this already.
Send Randy @ RPM a email and see what he has in his big goody box of used parts.
Cheers lad, you have a good attitude! Pat
Thanks guys.
Some pics:
Cover remains plus some bits I went back and found in the road...
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172715_zpsb5c548d0.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172715_zpsb5c548d0.jpg.html)
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172013_zps1aecce7c.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172013_zps1aecce7c.jpg.html)
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172003_zpsfcd3a787.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172003_zpsfcd3a787.jpg.html)
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_171935_zps7533caed.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_171935_zps7533caed.jpg.html)
If there's a good side then at least the engine cases did not get damaged.I will take a look on Sat when I can get to the garage.I may or may not have some parts.
That's the truth, scottsman, I'd be making this my project and the other bike my soon to be daily rider if that were the case!
Did I mention that the rain was so bad that flooding killed at least one man last night and it seems several thousand homes were destroyed in the area?
Glad you are Ok and here to talk about it :good2:.. On the bright side it is fixable and lot of used parts out there. Another good reason for Rentec's..
George
Kyle,
Sorry to hear about your get-off. Glad that you are ok. For your bike, I have a spare rear caliper that was functioning when I removed it from my bike. I have a spare Pick-up coil and plates that are for an 89'. I know your bike has a dual pick-up with a different rotor and the 89' has a single pick-up. Maybe you can use some of these parts to get yours back going.
Fred
Rentec's have been on my wish list for a long time, believe me. (I have an FJ wish list. It's a few thousand dollars long. wishlist.com/kylebaker, haha.)
Quote from: fintip on October 31, 2013, 09:01:31 PM
Rentec's have been on my wish list for a long time, believe me. (I have an FJ wish list. It's a few thousand dollars long. wishlist.com/kylebaker, haha.)
Wishlist is good ! Pretty boring if you don't have something to look forward to. Someday we will talk about the happiness bell curve.. :good2:
Kind of touching on the subject is a quote from Richard Pryor, "Cocaine is Gods revenge for having to much money". If you have something to look forward to then be happy :good2:
George
Quote from: Flying Scotsman on October 31, 2013, 06:08:33 PM
If there's a good side then at least the engine cases did not get damaged.I will take a look on Sat when I can get to the garage.I may or may not have some parts.
I saw his garage, I think he's got the parts :crazy:
Quote from: fintip on October 31, 2013, 05:55:37 PM
Thanks guys.
Some pics:
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/Mobile%20Uploads/20131031_172013_zps1aecce7c.jpg)
Well THERE'S your problem!!! :biggrin:
Glad it was only motorcycle parts that got damaged... :good2:
Cap'n Ron. . .
Kyle:
Good news that your bike only suffered damage, and not you too. You'll learn a lot from the experience.
There's a used Dynatek 2000 ignition system on Ebay that'll work on your bike. It appears complete, but it does not include their ignition coils. However, I think the stockers on your bike have the same resistance as theirs, so they should work. Maybe someone else on the forum can confirm this.
Marty
Looks like randy probably has me covered, he sent *me* an email before I got one out to him.
Thanks guys. :)
Without knowing this forum and randy are here to help out, I know I would have felt a lot more frustrated and helpless to the powers that be upon realizing the damage.
Bonus question:
If you had this happen in the middle of Africa and you had to jerryrig it, what is the most minimalist roadside repair you could come up with to get spark back? Is there anything one could do?
Bonus question:
If you had this happen in the middle of Africa and you had to jerryrig it, what is the most minimalist roadside repair you could come up with to get spark back? Is there anything one could do?
[/quote]
On that kind of trip I would have 3 feet if 16 AWG wire and my butane soldering iron in my tool kit. That would address the broken wires. Honestly, With the damage that is shown in the photos, Short of having 2 spare pick-ups, in this senerio I would say a person is SOL.
Fred
What's actually inside a pickup? I always thought it was, more or less, just a little magnet and wiring, not much more. (Feel free to correct my ignorance, I really just don't know anything on this one.)
Hey I did that too and have the same busted piece of casing; now on the garage wall - engine bars installed, so therein lies the lesson.
You can get all the bits off ebay easily, but if you're lucky, like I was at the time, an fjer may sell you some for a reasonable price.
Hopefully then its just a bolt it on thing, closely followed by the bolting on of those engine bars.
Ride safe and don't leave it 8 years to change the front tyre.
Andy
So, apologies for the delay in follow up. The day after the lowside, I was in a Judo competition (which you can see here:
Houston Open Judo Tournament 2013 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIa-mVFY3ps#ws)
if that catches your fancy); well, the guy who got second place wanted to prove to himself that he 'should' have won, and was being kind of a jerk at the next practice, really being aggressive. I started taking offense to how he was acting and got drawn into it, so our sparring became rather... 'spirited'.
And ended with me twisting my knee a bit. It wasn't exactly his fault or my fault, kind of a 50/50 thing. I just wish he hadn't been a jerk about it and gotten me all fired up.
The next day I had to literally crawl to get to the bathroom. I was pretty sure I had torn some stuff and was praying I didn't need surgery.
Thanks to an awesome diet and the fact that I cycle for a living and do lots of practice (and youth, of course), I am recovering ridiculously well, and it looks like it was just a bad sprain. I can already walk up stairs mostly without issue (though walking downstairs is a little more challenging). I think in a couple weeks I'll be right out there practicing again.
Anyways, I digress.
I got my parts from Randy (thanks!) in the mail and started working on the bike today. I was able to remove the rotor without an impact power drill by sticking a wooden sledge hammer handle in between the swingarm and a 'spoke' of the rim--just barely. Was afraid I was about to break my ratchet. Had to stand on it and sloooowly apply weight to get the leverage and force necessary.
Putting it all back together, I noticed that the rotor was actually--barely--grazing the sensors as it spun around. "That's odd," I thought, "isn't it supposed to just get really close, but not actually touch the sensors?"
On a hunch I decided not to start the bike and emailed Randy instead. He confirmed that was true, but was having email problems, so couldn't look at pictures yet.
Anyways, thought I'd put a pic and a video up here of the situation, see if anyone else had some insight as to why this is happening? Everything seems to otherwise fit right, so I'm kind of confused. :?
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/th_20131114_142437_zps906b2abe.jpg) (http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/20131114_142437_zps906b2abe.mp4)
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/20131114_142020_zps49268c34.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/20131114_142020_zps49268c34.jpg.html)
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/20131114_142106_zpsc743b31c.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/20131114_142106_zpsc743b31c.jpg.html)
I have some more pictures on my phone that I can add later.
By the way: you can see that one of the mounting screws for the left sensor is missing in that last pic--I put an appropriate screw in and that did not change anything--and the issue is on both sensors anyways.
It should be a constant gap. Something is bent or out of round. Was there any slop when mounting the pickoff plate? I'd hate to think the end of the crank is slightly bent.
Loosen things back up and see if you can move the plate around to get it more symmetrical
Everything really felt fine going on. The rotor bolt, the giant one I had to nearly break my ratchet to remove, looked and felt very healthy. I have a very hard time imagining that the rotor had enough leverage to bend the crankshaft--which is why it itself got bent, basically until level with the road. It is much thinner than the crank. And the bolt itself didn't even have a hint of grinding on itself.
It is contacting at both sides.
Is there a chance that the gap changed between models, and I have sensors from one series and a rotor from another? I think I remember that something did change down there, because pictures in some manual don't fit what one sees from one model to another down there, no?
My only advice is to remove the rotor and remove the pick up mounting plate and do an inspection from there. Look around those larger 2 JIS screws are for any damage under the plate. The gap should be nice and even when properly functioning. Hoping it will be something obvious.
George
I see it looks like you replaced the JIS screws with small bolts.. I guess it's assumption that the pick ups are correct ?
Quote from: fintip on November 14, 2013, 08:17:10 PM
Is there a chance that the gap changed between models, and I have sensors from one series and a rotor from another? I think I remember that something did change down there, because pictures in some manual don't fit what one sees from one model to another down there, no?
What you've got is all early model. The pickoff plate and rotor are way different on the later models.
Quote from: fintip on November 14, 2013, 07:03:47 PM
(http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b499/lackinglatin/20131114_142020_zps49268c34.jpg) (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/media/20131114_142020_zps49268c34.jpg.html)
In this picture it looks like the plate is not sitting into the recess of the case properly. You can see the aluminum at the bottom bolt is wide and it appears to taper down as it rises and looks almost flush with that edge just above the P/U coil. You need to make sure the timing plate is sitting flush against the case and nothing is holding it out as that will bring the P/U coil(s) closer to the rotor.
Is that the plate I sent of the old one from the crash?
Randy - RPM
Quote from: fintip on November 14, 2013, 08:17:10 PM
It is contacting at both sides.
Is there a chance that the gap changed between models, and I have sensors from one series and a rotor from another? I think I remember that something did change down there, because pictures in some manual don't fit what one sees from one model to another down there, no?
This is pretty strange.
The rotor and pick up base were the same part number from 1984 through 1987. The rotor and pickup changed in 1989 and remained the same part numbers through 1993 models. So, if you've got an early dual-pickup model, they're all the same. The fact it's contacting by the same amount on both sides tells me that the rotor is too long or the pickup base is too small.
Hey..wait a second. If the rotor is contacting both sides by the same amount and you just changed it? It's either out of spec for some unknown reason or...since it's just one a one-arm rotor swinging by BOTH pickups 180 degrees apart, is it possible the rotor is mounted up slightly off-center? Essentially making it's radius larger than factory?
Cap'n Ron. . .
I am with Randy. I think the problem is the mounting plate installation or something deformed under it. He needs to pull it all apart and take a critical look.
It will be interesting to find out.
George
Looks like it is, indeed, a bent rotor--the 'new' one, that is, was already bent. Randy messaged me saying that might be the case, as he just grabbed it out of a box without checking. It is subtle, but in person it's a little more clear. Of course, it would have to be subtle--it fits almost perfect, but just barely scrapes it every time.
http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/library/rotor2 (http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/lackinglatin/library/rotor2)
There didn't seem to be any remote chance that the plate was on unevenly; took everything apart, and was about to film me putting it back together when I realized that the rotor itself was the issue.
Second opinions to confirm (or reject?) my diagnosis here are welcome, of course.
Yep, it is bent...
I straight one headed your way on Monday.
Sorry, Randy - RPM
The good news it is an easy fix! Frustrating but easy :good2:. Whats the odds....
George
Hey, don't sweat it. I'm grateful altogether. Like I said, my knee has been injured, so it's not like I should be riding a 500+ lb bike anyways lately.