Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Downshifting is good technique as long as you aren't slipping the clutch to do it. Do try to be as smooth as you can be.

But be aware that brake pads are cheap and easy to change compared to clutches and transmission parts.

The question is whether it's running short of fuel or heat is causing the ignition system to quit. Seems to me a simple way to tell after the trick of opening the tank was indeterminate is to see if there is fuel in the carb bowls when it quits. Opening the tank might take a moment for more fuel to ...

I guess what I really want to know is what would be my best, cheapest choice for a bike to get me back and forth to work and what would be my best choice for all-round use: dirt, trail, pavement, and touring. Thanks again. (Budget depends on a lot of variables at this point.) Anthony Not even exper...

You're correct to rule out the 250s for the 6hrs on highway riding. If it was JUST the commute they'd be fine and super-economical. Next thing to look at could be seat height. Might rule out the KLR650 since if it's really tall you might have issues with low proficiency. (I might be wrong about tall...

I worry about my own hydroplaning and I use all the tricks I can to see what's going to happen. This means that I follow another vehicle at a safe distance and stay in their tracks. You can see that their tires squegee water away and leave a thinner layer of water on the road until the water closes ...

watch out pulling out from a road into another i almost spung out in turns. (too much gas). especiality if tread is low. ride to the left, stay out of right rut. left lane when you can (4lane). I'd simplify this to - don't accelerate (much) until the bike is upright. Especially in situations where ...

(first reply try disappeared) Trying again- Practice a LOT on roads and parking lots with little traffic. Practice everything the MSF taught - especially hard stops and countersteering. Practice slow riding, practice swerving. Find a large paved circle and do circles in both directions at higher spe...

If the clutch operates fine for the first 50 miles that suggests to me it's not dry.
Might have air in the system that expands when it gets hot?
Or the slave cylinder gets hot, expands and the piston no longer seals.

I dunno.

(I don't like hydraulic clutches for the long term.)

As a late note of context- airplane mechanics who work on piston-engine planes have a rule. The rule is - if you drop a spark plug, the next sound that should be heard is that of the plug going into the trash can. And those are NOT cheap spark plugs. Not only can electrodes change gap, but the porce...

Tinkering is one way to learn about stuff but sometimes what you'll learn is that no amount of tinkering will accomplish what you want when you start with the wrong materials. Are there ANY 400cc bikes that 'rumble?' If so, can you figure out how that's accomplished? Tinkering that bike into a relia...

Filled gas tank. Added Stabil. Changed oil. Removed plugs, put in an ounce of Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders, cranked engine. Reinstalled spark plugs. Removed carb bowls & emptied. Reinstalled. Removed fuel hoses from petcocks. Plugged open ends with golf tees. Ran closed hose from one petcock ...

None so far on pavement in 34 years (though I'm not up to 6 figure motorcycle mileage).

Fallen over at a dead stop in the dirt a time or two and arced off a sandy trail near Moab because an XL185 isn't much good in sand.

If you cleaned the carbs but didn't attend to the condition of the gas in the tank you missed an important step. Gas goes bad fairly quickly (< 1 year, a few months if stored in the heat). Putting bad gas in your newly cleaned carbs means you have to re-clean them. Other issues can be that your idle...

Most important thing to know is that fasteners and parts are aluminum and cannot withstand the force you'd put on them if they were steel. SHORT ratchet wrench handles and tighten things so that you are sure you could turn it some more but don't. Torque wrenches will help you learn the feel of thing...

Hello. (First off I'm new to motorcycle maintenance and so have just about no knowledge of correct terminology of parts.) I have a 1981 Honda CM400C. My chain is loose but I can't adjust the wheel back to tighten it up because the tightening bolts are already screwed in as far as they will go. My t...

appreciate the quick response. Where is the starter located is it at the front of the motor? Any clue about the bolt on the CB650 inline 4 that i was talking about that's leaking oil? You really need a service manual. I'd start looking for the starter on the back side of the cylinder bank over the ...

Sorry for having to post more but it might not be obvious that when I said connections must be shiny I mean that you take the wires off the battery posts, wire brush the surfaces that have to touch each other then put them back. Wire brushing the outside of the terminals without taking them apart wo...

Bad connection at the battery could also cause this. Connections need to be shiny (wire brushed to shiny) clean and tight.
A low/dead battery would also give this symptom.
And finally the solenoid malfunctioning would sound like this. This is the least likely cause.

25 years for the current one. And I don't see anything I'd rather have on the market.

Just joined the forum after reading quite a few postings. I've been riding since 1979 (though with periods of inactivity for various reasons.) Had a very nice ride on Saturday going 145 miles, 80 on pavement, revisiting trailheads nearby looking at forest fire damage and checking access for hiking. ...