Service

SERVICE

Paul Dean

Jerome stealth run

I have a several-year-old Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide equipped with the Stage I kit and Vance & Hines slip-on mufflers. I purchased the bike second-hand with all service records, one of which says, “Remap injection to 1550.” If I wish to spend the weekend in Jerome, Arizona, I no doubt will be in the company of the many who dared enter the town limits with altered exhaust, thereby receiving a winning ticket from the local (loco?) constabulary. If I were to install the original-equipment mufflers to forestall such, um, “recognition,” would it have negative effects on performance because of the 1550 remapping? Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a quiet bike anyway. I guess I am getting old. Denny Joe Simpson Gilbert, Arizona

Look at it this way: Growing old is a hell of a lot better than the alternative. And riding a quiet motorcycle in a peaceful tourist town is better than thundering around on a bike that could wake the dead. So, no apologies, please.

Harley ’s Screamin ’Eagle Stage I Big Bore Kit, which bumps displacement from the stock 88 cubic inches (1450cc) to 95 inches (1550cc), includes an injection-system recalibration designed to work with stock mufflers. In fact, the company even specifies that if the kit is used with stock mufflers, the bike is still street-legal, and if it is installed by an authorized H-D dealer, the original warranty remains in effect. So, if the “remap ” referred to in your bike ’s service records was performed with the recalibration meant for the Stage I kit, reinstalling the stock mufflers will simply return the I550cc engine to its intended state of tune. At that point, your bike ’s fuel mixture could very well end up being closer to correct than it was with the Vance & Hines mufflers.

So, go ahead and bolt those Stockers back on; your engine, as well the gendarmes in Jerome-not to mention your bank account back in Gilbert-will be happier for the swap.

Zixxer fixer

Why does the transmission on my 2004 Kawasaki ZX-6R give off a loud “clunk” every time I shift into first gear when I’m at a stop? The bike even lurches forward slightly as it makes this noise. I’ve noticed that a lot of other bikes also do

this, some more than others. Is this an indication of clutch misadjustment or is it normal? Jerry Sypolt

Wichita, Kansas

It’s perfectly normal, Jerry. When you’re at a stop with the gearbox in neutral, the clutch fully engaged and the engine idling, the transmission mainshaft is turning at around 500 rpm (1000-rpm idle reduced by the ZX-6R ’s primary-drive ratio, which is 2.02:1). When you disengage the clutch, the mainshaft theoretically should stop spinning, but it doesn’t; the inertia of the mainshaft, its attached inner clutch hub and the driven plates, aided by a bit of drag presented by the oil between the disengaged plates, causes the mainshaft to continue turning either at or slightly below that 500-rpm mark. One of the gears that engages first gear is on the mainshaft, while the other is on the countershaft, which is connected to the stopped rear wheel and is not turning; so when the dogs on the spinning gear are engaged with those on the stopped gear, the mainshaft and everything firmly attached to it are suddenly brought to an abrupt halt, resulting in the clunk and lurch you feel and hear.

You can reduce this effect by ensuring that the engine idle speed is not higher than recommended, by squeezing the clutch lever all the way to the handlebar grip and by not blipping the throttle right before you shift the transmission into first gear. Many riders develop the bad habit of revving the engine just as they disengage the clutch and push down on the shift lever, and all that technique does is increase the speed differential between the engaging gears, greatly exaggerating the clunking and lurching.

Cajun submarine

I don’t know if this is a tech question or an obituary. How do I get a 5 5-horsepower aquarium ornament back on the road? My 1993 Suzuki Bandit 400 was recently submerged in about 6 feet of water for a week or so in a garage. This bike has had problems with water leaking into the gas tank and electrical connectors since I bought it 5 years ago. Maybe it was trying to tell me something. If I can’t get the electrics dried out, I guess I can try learning how to paint on it. Jay Sinley

New Orleans, Louisiana

First of all, everyone here at Cycle World extends their sympathies to you and everyone in the Gulf Coast area whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Fm sure you suffered more loss and heartache than merely some water damage to your 400 Bandit.

Because the bike was submerged for so long, water surely found its way into every other nook and cranny besides the gas tank and electrical connections-the crankcase, carburetors, airbox, etc. What’s more, no one knows how much salt or other corrosive material was in that water, so I can’t estimate the extent of the damage caused by the deterioration of vital components. By this time, rust almost certainly has formed on engine and transmission bearings, piston rings and cylinder walls, transmission gears and shafts, cams and valves. So, we ’re talking complete engine disassembly for the replacement and/or cleaning of virtually everything inside. Add to that the need to de-muck so many other parts of the bike and you end up with what amounts to a task just short of complete restoration.

By any reasonable standards, this renders the bike a total loss. Between parts and labor, the cost of putting the Bandit back on the road would exceed its street value, which is around $1800 in tip-top shape. Even if you ’re capable ofperforming all this work yourself, doing so only makes sense if the bike has some sentimental or symbolic value for you.

Nevertheless, you can get a pretty good idea of the conditions inside the engine by simply draining the oil. If a lot of water is expelled along with the oil, you can bet there are corroded components inside; if not, you may have lucked out. In which case, you might try cleaning up the tank, carbs and electrics, installing new oil and attempting to start the engine. You ’ll have very little to lose if it fails to turn over or run, since you ’re faced with having to take it apart anyway.

Cassette players

I frequently read references to “cassette” type gearboxes on some motorcycles. What is a cassette gearbox as opposed to a standard one? Gene Jardel

Pine Beach, New Jersey

A cassette gearbox is one that can be removed as a unit without the need to disassemble the rest of the engine. The entire gearbox-both shafts, all the gears, the shift drum and shift forks-remain in place on a bearing end plate that can be pulled out of the gearbox cavity while the engine is still in the chassis and its power unit (crankshaft, pistons, cylinders, head) is undisturbed. On most conventional gearboxes, the engine has to be removed from the frame and its cases split to permit access to the transmission. On engines with horizontally split crankcases that incorporate the transmission, the power unit does not have to be disassembled, but on vertically split cases, it does.

In recent years, the cassette design has been incorporated into numerous purposebuilt race machines because it facilitates relatively quick and easy gear-ratio changes. A few of those designs eventually made their way into production.

Recall Roster

NHTSA Recall No. 05V428000 2005 H-D FLHTCSE2 Screamin’ Eagle Electra Glide 2; 2006 FLHTCUSE Screamin’ Eagle Electra Glide Ultra Number of units involved: 288 Problem: Certain motorcycles may have front-brake lines that could leak due to a manufacturing defect involving inadequate brazing of a joint. Should this component fail when in use, all functionality of the front-brake system would be lost without warning, increasing the risk of a crash. Remedy: H-D dealers will inspect the front-brake line and replace it if the brazing on the joint is not visible. Owners who do not receive this free remedy should contact Harley-Davidson at 414/343-4056.

NHTSA Recall No. 05V432000 Big Dog Bull Dog, Chopper, Chopper DT, Mastiff, Pitbull, Ridgeback Model year: 2005

Number of units involved: Not specified Problem: On certain motorcycles, the rear-wheel hub bolts could loosen and back out, allowing the hub and brake rotor to detach from the wheel, with an associated loss of stopping power. This condition could occur without any prior warning and result in a crash.

Remedy: Big Dog dealers will remove, clean and reattach the rear-hub bolts. Owners who do not receive this free remedy should contact Big Dog at 312/267-9121.

But it’s not a new concept. Quite a few motorcycles were fitted with cassette-style gearboxes 50 or more years ago, one of which is technically still in production: the Harley-Davidson Sportster. For the most part, the Sportster is an overhead-valve iteration of the K-model fathead of the early 1950s, a bike incorporating a gearbox that could be removed, as a unit, from the engine cases without disturbing the powerproducing part of the engine. The Sporty still is built in that same fashion.

Actually, this concept was not all that innovative, even back then. Most motorcycles up to that point in time had used engines and transmissions in separate housings; the K-model merely incorporated both into one case, much as the Japanese motorcycles did when those companies burst onto the scene in the 1960s. But even to this day, Big Twin H-D engines still have separate engines and transmissions.

Trail-braking, part deux

In your December, 2005, Service reply to Steve Tennyson (“It’s not trail ‘breaking’”), you said that, “Trail-braking is the technique of using the front brake while the bike is being leaned into a corner.” Is it just me or don’t you trail-brake with your rear brake (the reason a lot of racers use a rear brake lever on the left handlebar)? Maybe it’s both, but I just thought it might have been a typo. Chris Keeney

Vancouver, Washington

Thanks for the free proof-reading, Chris, but I really did mean that trail-braking is accomplished with the front brake. A lot of roadracers in fact use the rear brake barely or not at all. And many of those who do use the rear apply it either to induce a “hacker ”—a dirt-track-style rear-wheel slide that helps get the bike angled into the corner during a fast entry-or to help keep the chassis settled during very hard front braking. Trail-braking aggressively too deeply into a turn is why you often see racers lose the front end and low-side on corner entry, but rarely do they fall by losing the rear when braking. The handlebar-mounted lever simply lets them use the rear brake more easily while keeping their entire right foot up on top of the footpeg, out of harm s way.

The reason roadracers and many aggressive backroad riders don’t use much rear brake is that it provides very little stopping power under those conditions. So much weight is transferred onto the front wheel that there is very little left at the back to provide significant traction for the rear tire. Quite often, the rear wheel is lifted completely off the ground during hard braking, obviously rendering the rear brake totally useless. So, while it is possible to utilize the rear brake while trail-braking, it is of little value compared to what can be done with the front brake.

Rock-’n’-Roll Glide

I have a 2003 Harley-Davidson FLHPI with only 2270 miles on it, and the engine and exhaust are still stock. I love the bike but the engine has suddenly developed a real “shake” between approximately 1300 and 1600 rpm; it feels like the engine literally wants to jump out of the frame when accelerating or decelerating in that range. There is no noise (pipes hitting the frame, etc.) to give me a clue as to why it has begun to jump around. Otherwise, the engine is quite smooth. I’ve been told to check the engine mounts as well as fastener torque, but why should the engine suddenly jump around like that? Could it be something with the injection? John A. Moore

Escanaba, Michigan

As is the case with all FLH-model Harleys, the engine in your Road King Police Special is rubber-mounted to isolate the rider from the 4 5-degree V-Twin s considerable vibration. The engine sits on a big, round rubber “donut” up front, while the rear of the engine-transmission package is captured in special rubber bushings at the swingarm pivot. All of this rubber absorbs the vibes by allowing the engine to move slightly in a front-torear and up-and-down plane-the same direction as the imbalance caused by its reciprocating components. Two steel links between the engine and frame-one at the front, one at the topkeep the motor from moving around in any other direction.

In all likelihood, then, one of several possible failures has occurred. The front mount’s hardware may have come loose, or perhaps the rubber has ripped or split badly enough to allow excessive engine movement. If the front mount is not the culprit, one or both of the stabilizer links could have come loose or broken. I’m pretty confident that if y ou check these areas closely, you ’ll find the source of your Road King ’s engine-shaking problem.

Got a mechanical or technical problem with your beloved ride? Can’t seem to find workable solutions in your area? Or are you eager to learn about a certain aspect of motorcycle design and technology? Maybe we can help.

If you think we can, either: 1) Mail a written inquiry, along with your full name, address and phone number, to Cycle World Service, 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Beach, CA 92663; 2) fax it to Paul Dean at 949/631-0651; 3) e-mail it to CW1Dean@aol.com; or 4) log onto www.cycleworld.com, click on the “Letters to the Editor” button and enter your question. Don’t write a 10-page essay, but if you’re looking for help in solving a problem, do include enough information to permit a reasonable diagnosis. And please understand that due to the enormous volume of inquiries we receive, we cannot guarantee a reply to every question.