Nathan's motorcycles.....

[flyingbrick 9,543]

You'll be fine mate

I'd be very surprised if owning a harley is grounds for dismissal.

[Roman 15,277]

Well it is if you dont make it to work 

[flyingbrick 9,543]

Got my cast off 1.5 weeks ago and have had bike out for half an hour since then. Have been pretty cautious as after 12 weeks restrained there was very poor muscle control and it felt super super fragile, but grip strength is improving very rapidly.  

We know this, but god damn shits amazing. In general I don't speed, but like acceleration and the sense of unlimited power- and this thing delivers for sure. 

Also very easy to see why these end up with huge kms on them compared to most 600-100cc superbikes-so easy to live with and manage. 

Big trip coming up and so of course i had to make the acquisition of a luggage rack far harder than usual. 

I had time on my hands and like a challenge, plus thought I could make something a little more aesthetically 

Drew outline in cad and printed/test fit then made alterations. 

Had a good friend cut from alloy. Ended up being done from much thicker aluminium than originally planned but this gave me the confidence to get a bit artistic with the design and weight removal. 

Then got a tiney router bit with tiny 4mm guide bearing and ran it over both sides to cut a sweet chamfer. 

Its had a fair bit of finish sanding/filing since these pics to remove hard edges, but now want to DIY anodise it dark grey/black. 

Its turned out pretty good so far I think. Swaps between aero hump/passenger seat/rack in a few seconds just with a key (all other racks use bolts, but they do allow a pillion where as mine doesn't, and they are also big square things with no real thought given to design) 

Also started it last weekend and had a really loud and alarming clutch rattle. Shut it off pretty quickly, opened up the clutch and ended up loctiting and torqueing all of the fasteners (this particular year omited factory loctite and loose bolts there is a problem) 

Sounds gone now but research tells me that these things are renowned for having rattles there due to their variable clutch torque limiting shit being pretty sloppy. 

Anyway, until next time

Bye. 

 

[flyingbrick 9,543]

Installed some Oxford heated grips- the grips and controller/wiring is all quite nice but the included tube of superglue is a complete waste of time as both grips came loose before I'd left the drive. 

These are not like regular grips and have a hard plastic inner sleeve which does not shrink against the bars like usual.

I pulled the grips off again, roughed up the bars and plastic sleeve, then glued in place with a thick smear of liquid nails. Completely the wrong application for that glue but it seems to stick like shit to anything and everything, and the grips sure don't feel like they are ever going to move now. 

Let's hope the glue doesn't soften with heat..  Lol. 

The controller has some voltage sensing thing too. Its connected direct to the battery but will not operate unless the motor is running. Guessing they need a minimum of 13v or something to turn on.  This is a great feature because I'd say they could drain a battery pretty quick if the motor wasn't going. 

Check out the huge factory bar end weights which screw into the solid aluminium bars. They entire handlebar plate thing is also rubber isolated-lots of consideration given to comfort and one of the many reasons they are a bit tubby. 

[anglia4 1,946]

I had to liquid nails the grips onto my last bike too to get them to stay. 

I was glad I sold the bike before ever having to replace the grips...

[flyingbrick 9,543]

1 hour ago, anglia4 said:

I had to liquid nails the grips onto my last bike too to get them to stay. 

I was glad I sold the bike before ever having to replace the grips...

Yeah I'm just happy I found something to stick them down securely. The Inner sleeve is a shit greasy plastic that the superglue had zero adhesion to. It just flakes off. 

I think I'd have died of old age before these grips will need replacing from wear, knock on wood lolololol

[jessemk2 1,335]

On my dirt bikes I glue and wire tie them on.

They can still twist from holy shit hope this isn't going to end bad (holding on for dear life)

[tortron 69,279]

54 minutes ago, jessemk2 said:

On my dirt bikes I glue and wire tie them on.

They can still twist from holy shit hope this isn't going to end bad (holding on for dear life)

they have like a double wall construction so tie wireing them on doesnt really work, they are way thicker than normal grips

[BLIZZO 2,612]

yea the oxford ones aren't that thick but i too had trouble with the superglue. i listened to the internet and used gorilla glue as its rated for heaps of heat and expands as it dries so makes a real tight fit. just need to cut them off when the wear. The sportbike ones that you have are the same as mine, they do actually wear quite quick but all the other designs were too long for my bike.

[flyingbrick 9,543]

6 hours ago, tortron said:

they have like a double wall construction so tie wireing them on doesnt really work, they are way thicker than normal grips

I did see a comment from someone that these have a groove for tie wire, but I think I may have used that groove as a cut guide when I trimmed the ends off. 

 

[tortron 69,279]

The ones i have dont have, but slightly different model. The glue is a known issue

[flyingbrick 9,543]

Best to plan for the worst, but hope for the best. 

These are frame sliders and bolt into the front engine mounts. 

 

The hardest part of installation is precisely locating the required 25mm hole. The manual recommends a laser and I have one from the shed build that I never thought would have an automotive use. 

Step one, take off fairing and shine laser cross onto engine bolt hole location. 

Step two, re install fairing and drill a 25mm hole where the cross indicates. 

Step three, bolt down the aluminium spacers and plastic sliders. I went to 40 nm and used medium loctite. 

The laser works bloody well, look at the nice fit! 

 

[Kimjon 5,750]

You genius!! Solved that problem with precision and style...

[Roman 15,277]

Hah! That's an awesome idea with the laser. 

[Kimjon 5,750]

Do the layers come out your eyes?

[Roman 15,277]

He must be pretty bloody cross eyed if they do 

[flyingbrick 9,543]

Kinda. The laser comes out of my japseye 

[tortron 69,279]

Surprised it didn't come out cockeyed

[flyingbrick 9,543]

So took this down to Brass Monkey. Was an epic 6 days of riding with good people on some great roads. 

Was excellent not having to worry about anything bike related (except fuel) during the trip. 

These things are so tractable, comfortable and easy to live with. Bloody magic. 

Gear selection continues to amuse me.  At 100 you can choose any gear from 2nd to 6th depending on how rapidly you think you need to be accelerating. 6th gear at 100 is still going to pull away harder than most cars so usually no point in changing down. 

Cruising through town at 50 I tend to choose a gear based on how much noise pollution I feel they need. 

The rack worked flawlessly and it was handy being able to access the storage so easily.

My stropping down on gear was not as flawless and I lost a spendy camp matress somewhere between Blenheim and kaikoura...but was a small price to pay for an otherwise great trip 

I really need a new chain now, shits fucked. 

 

[flyingbrick 9,543]

Over the past few years I've been increasingly interested in automotive batteries and how they actually function. Its not something that most people give a second thought to coz its a fuckin boring topic- but relevant to me because there's 6 vehicles/machines in the garage which all need batteries to function, and EVERY single bloody time i bring something home with a battery, the battery is ALWAYS fucked or near fucked.

The Busa was the same. Id checked current draw from the electrical system while sitting and there was definitely nothing noteworthy but it'd go flat after sitting for a week off charge- and it only juuuust started the morning after brass monkey. Not fucking ideal because its a big motor to get push started- 100% certain it wouldn't work on event he steepest of grassy hills.

Then a couple of days after returning from the trip I got all geared up in my leathers, rolled the bike outside and planned on hooning to work- Pretty much just got a "click" before it was completely dead again.

So researched things way way too much and ended up buying a Motobatt Hybrid battery. I'll be clear- I have no idea how they function internally except that they are a hybrid of normal AGM lead acid and lithium batteries (This may be lithium ion, or may be some other type of lithium battery, no idea). 

Each half of the battery supports the other half when it is outside of its happy operating parameters. The Lithium side helps with its huge CCA output, capacity and weight reduction and the lead acid side assists its cold weather performance (lithium batteries hate the cold) and means the battery can be charged on standard chargers (fast and maintenance). All cell balancing is taken care of internally and there is also over charge and over discharge protection built in- basically, if voltage drops below a certain level then the batteries output is disconnected- and not reconnected until the battery is woken back up with a charger. 

I was also happy that the battery lists an actual honest amp hour capacity- this is kinda irrelevant on lead acid cells and is essentially a lie on Lithium Iron batteries from manufacturers like Shorai.

Basically, lead acid cells list a capacity but only half of this capacity is available before the battery starts being irreversibly damaged inside. Most manufacturers state that only 50% of the batteries capacity can be safely used- so a 12Ah battery becomes 6Ah.

Its 2021. Batteries shouldn't be that bloody easy to ruin

Numbers are also muddled by lithium iron battery manufacturers like Shorai listing their capacities as "Ah Pb Eq", which means it is equivalent to a lead acid of X capacity. So, as above, a big dollar "12Ah Pb Eq" shorai is actually only of 6Ah capacity by design.

I forgot where I was going, but basically, the new battery is the same size, but 1.8kg lighter, 350 CCA vs 120CCA of old, is rated to output that at 0 degrees C, and has a usable capacity of 8.5Ah vs approximately 6 of the old lead acid. Plus the protections listed earlier. I reckon this is a win, and hopefully means that I can use this thing to charge all my devices (phone, torch, helmet coms etc) while out and about without having to worry.  

So yeah nobody has probably read that and it lacks any actual value whatsoever so here's some images so your click wasn't entirely wasted. Can see the configurable terminals which can be moved to either side of the cell. 

Also, check out front sprocket size!