Critique my Riding style please

[chrisinsc]

For whatever reason my bike at low throttle openings is fine going down to 3k after a shift and I routinely run through the gears from 3k to 3800. will shift smoothly no problem. At constant throttle it really likes 3500 to 3900. It does not like sitting at 3k and will vibrate unhappily if aggresive with the throttle. This does not happen at 3500 and above. Smoothest twin ever at 3900 in 5th on the freeway. At 4000 and above a slight vibration occurs. Could be my current sync leans towards smoothness at the lowend.

I want to be clear about my jumping off the lights sometimes already past the crosswalk before the green. Most of the lights have left turn signals with cross traffic stopped for a long time and there is clear sightline that all lefties are over. Also if there isnt or if my light goes right after cross traffic I am in a position to see that without doubt there are no maniacs. The benefit of having the entire two lanes with a lead out on the pack for positioning and visibility is not to be understated. Obviously I want folks to shoot holes in this or add things for me to think about in this regard.

[Pauls1150]

Bang:
1) Many (if not all?) states have a law that says you must stop before (as in, not inside of) any crosswalk.
2) An old saying is that the cop you don't see is the one who gives you the ticket... ditto for oncoming cars.

Individual bikes' tuning setups will of course affect vibration at various rpm; it's fairly well documented that active mixture enricheners (for example, the AF-XiED) will smooth out the lower end.

[chrisinsc]

1) its a stoplight, therefore I stop and wait before the crosswalk, then I dont when my green is 10 seconds away
2) thats why i use my eyes and look before I leap

3) I said it was rough at 3k and below which sounds normal to me, my bike has a powercommader which I have set at 14.1

Are you poking me in the eye for some reason?

[Pauls1150]

Not at all, sorry if you're offended I'm just trying to look at it from a "curmudgeonly realistic" point of view...

You may be able to reduce that roughness with a careful re-check of the valve clearances with the bike dead cold (and as I've posted elsewhere, I firmly believe the factory spec is just a bit too tight), followed by a careful throttle-body re-sync at 2K rpm with the bike fully warmed up (and a fan or two aimed at the headers).

[chrisinsc]

Just checking, felt like you were going a little out of your way but no better place to do that than with mc safety!

I must restate something though. At 3k rpm in 3rd I can roll the throttle pretty hard with no lugging at all. Is it out of the power band? Yes! Decidedly so. But for day to day commuting which for me is about efficiency, smoothness, thinking way ahead, and vigilance, the 3-4K band with bursts to 6K or so when on a freeway on ramp etc feels like the best place to be for me. Its where I naturally ended up with the bike after 8K miles now.

Now when riding in mode #3 (early am, good light, not deer season, fast commute) which I did Saturday morning to check out a bike at 0800, its clear the bike becomes a different animal at 4K and above.

I have the valves dialed though I am chasing an endplay clearance issue with the left exhaust rocker shaft. The clearance changes so much when final torque is applied to the clamping bolt its been troublesome to get it right. Better a tad loose and slight noise than too tight I guess. I will try the sync at 2k instead of 3.5k next time but I think I nailed it this last time.

[Pauls1150]

Interesting... Next time you're in there, loosen up the valve a bunch and inspect the pushrod: maybe one end has come off the rod; the newer style of pushrod cures this. Downside is the head has to come off to swap it out, and you can't inspect the bottom ("inner") end while in place. Picture below is from another thread, from either GSAddict or Anton (sorry guys, I forget).

Another possibility is that the threads in the head have stripped. These are NOT like the airheads: the heads are re-torqued after the initial service, but unless some head work has been done, they don't normally require re-torquing again.

Pushrods.jpg

[chrisinsc]

I never thanked you for your input in this thread. Bad manners. I'm sorry.