new guy got a few questions

[ColinthePilot]

Another thing that you can try is to push start the bike (make sure that you have somebody to help you if you don't have a hill to use).

For multiple attempts, you'll want both a friend and a hill. Right now, my starter is dead so I've been solo push starting mine in a level parking lot with little difficulty. but 2 attempts will get me tired and sweaty.

[dj]

Another thing that you can try is to push start the bike (make sure that you have somebody to help you if you don't have a hill to use).

For multiple attempts, you'll want both a friend and a hill. Right now, my starter is dead so I've been solo push starting mine in a level parking lot with little difficulty. but 2 attempts will get me tired and sweaty.

Just think of it as some extra exercise (and also a bonding experience with your bike). ;D

[ralleywolf]

She's alive!
I love my bike again.

I bought the plugs and put them in.  I also plugged up the tubes for the YICS box with some extra bolts i had kicking around. I did most of the cranking with the booster pack hooked up to the battery. It took a fair bit of turning over but I could tell that it was firring more than before.  I set the choke to 1/2 as Dj said, previously I was starting it with the choke at 3/4 because thats how the PO said he did it.

So sweet I got her running again and went for a little ride. Before I had only driven it on my little street but now its insured so I drove into the city and practice with it in the walmart parking lot. (This is my first street bike and I only have my learners permit.) Anyway I practiced driving around lamp posts and stuff and then headed home.

When I got home I turned it off, waited a lil bit and then started it again just to see how good she'd restart and of course it started right away no problem.

I love it when things work out good for a change!, but Im still interested to see how it'll fire up, next time I cold start it. I still have to check the charging system with the volt meter.

Also I need to pay some attention to the back wheel. Im thinking the previous owner favored the rear brake because its badly worn. pedal travel is long and it doesn't spring back very good. also the rear tire is kinda bald in the middle. This is my next priority and while im in there I'll make sure to change the brace bar bolts. I seen the warning and it sounds pretty important. What do they look like anyway? can I see them from the outside? Any body got some pics? Once thats done I can start thinkin about fixing the YICS box....

Thanks for all the help guys, this resource is invaluable.

[Aelwulf]

Unless you order one of the new-fab ones (one of the guys here makes 'em I think, spacin' who though :P) it might be better just to leave the bolts in the hoses.  That's what I'm doing with mine for now.

The brake brace bar is easily seen from the rear-right side.  It's attached to the lower side of the brake drum housing (or whatever it's called) near the rod & spring used to adjust the rear brake pedal.  The one bolt there is obvious, the other end is up behind the plate the foot pegs help hold on.  That one's a bit trickier but doable with a bit of patience (says the guy who didn't actually do the manual work on his :( ).  You could probably find all the info you need on a couple of fairly recent threads about 'em just by searching for 'em. :)

The choke thing can vary from bike to bike and pending on its total condition.  Right now mine usually sits between half & 2/3.

If the tire's bald then yeah, it'd move up on priority list.  So long as you're doing it look at replacing both, they don't seem to run all that much and you'd know you have two new, matching tread tires on it.  Just a bit extra peace of mind.  It's one of the next steps planned on mine since I think the prior owner put a front tire on the rear and the treads don't match between the two.

The rear drum brake shoes aren't too rough, I managed to do mine with zero clue about the bike a couple years before I knew about this forum and I'd never worked on a bike before.

[ralleywolf]

So a few days after my last post I started it up again. It took some turning over, but it did start on its own without a boost. took her for a little ride and everything went well.

Now Im trying to start it today and all I get is a little click sound when I press the starter button. It sounds like it coming from around the battery. No turning over just a little click. Its so frustrating. I put the charger on the battery but other than a dead battery Im not sure what to look for. Has anybody ever had this problem before?

[Aelwulf]

Mine's done that when the battery's been dead.  Did it this past Sunday actually when the fan killed it. :P Fully charge the battery and try again.  If it sits more than about two days it seems to start losing charge.  I don't know how quick it'll go to click-status but it's a good idea to leave a trickle charger on if you don't plan to ride it just in case since these bikes lurve a fully-charged battery.

[ralleywolf]

Is it wrong of me to expect this bike to be as reliable as my car? Is that really too much to ask? How annoying is it that the headlight always has to come on when I turn on the ignition. I'm adding a headlight toggle switch to my bikes to do list.

[kwells]

It SHOULD be as reliable as your car.  Without doing the proper fixes it will plague you.  After that it behaves as a used car.  Depends on how proactive you want to be. 

[h2olawyer]

Why don't you want the headlight coming on with the ignition?  You should have it on at all times while on the road anyway.  It also should turn off while you are starting it, but come back on after the bike is running.  It's a safety issue & as far as I'm concerned, a good one.

H₂O

[dj]

The clicking sound is the starter solenoid being activated when you hit the start button.  The most likely reason that it wont start is that the batter is to weak to turn the starter.  Check it with a multimeter and see what the voltage level is.  If you don't have a multimeter then go out and buy one from the local automotive store (usually under $20 for a needle one).  A decent multimeter should have ac volts, dc volts, ohms (both x10 scale and x1000 scale).  These are the minimums that it should have.

Multimeters are invaluable in troubleshooting problems like this.  It will save you a bunch of grief because you can easily find out if it is the battery right away.  No need to question if the battery is weak or not, just check the voltage.

[Aelwulf]

Yah, the headlight should come on with the ignition.  I'm not sure but don't some states ticket if a motorcycle is on the road without a headlight on?

Mine's actually been surprisingly reliable the past month.  The main exception (except the current fan gremlin) was due to operator error more than issues with the bike.  Once ya get it runnin' and fixed/updated there shouldn't be any more issues than an as-mentioned used car.

[kiawrench]

your hard start is a vaccum leak between the yics chambers - as you have noticed, but am willing to bet you will need to rebuild your starter- almost certain you will find the starter full of oil, and the brushes worn to nubs. real common on bikes that have sat for a while,
just remember, a vision will die if you dont ride it, and ride it often .
there is nothing worse for your bike than sitting in the yard and not being ridden.

  i ride my daily bike a lot, more than most , and have even ridden in snow, hurricaine warnings up, driving rain, even to atlanta and back with only an hours sleep . the more you ride it the better the bike seems to get.


as far as getting a kit for rebuilding your starter, check on e-bay, seller a-1 starterman--- they stock the rebuild kits, cheapest price i have seen, and it is a very complete kit seals, washers, brush plate ,nose bearings -- everything needed to do a good rebuild.   they also will do the work for you, or sell you a reman or new starter ,when they have them in stock.

   

[Night Vision]

Is it wrong of me to expect this bike to be as reliable as my car? Is that really too much to ask?

you need to ask yourself this question: "how willing am I to invest the time, effort, and money to make it reliable?"

the other question you need to ask yourself is: "do I have the skills to do it"

most of us here have made those investments to one degree or another.... and we all have different skill levels.....

if you have any reservations about those two questions, then you may be disappointed owning a Vision..... these are 25 year old motorcycles..... not 5 or 10 year old Toyotas

I have no reservations about hopping on my Vision and taking a 100, 200, 300 mile ride... but I have made those investments.

[kwells]

I'm with NV on this one.  Garbage in-Garbage out sort of thing.  There are many design flaws with the bike but once addressed it is as reliable as any 25 year old bike.  There are maybe only 2 fixes that would be considered difficult(and they really aren't).  The starter clutch fix and carb setup.

[Tiger]

you need to ask yourself this question: "how willing am I to invest the time, effort, and money to make it reliable?"

the other question you need to ask yourself is: "do I have the skills to do it"

most of us here have made those investments to one degree or another.... I have no reservations about hopping on my Vision and taking a 100, 200, 300 mile ride... but I have made those investments.

8) I agree 100% with you N_V..."What you sow, you reap"... 8) You can't make a silk purse outta a sows ear, not without a lot of time, pain and investment... :)

8) My "V" from the purchase to present stands me somewhere in the region of $3,500.00...and worth every penny that I have spent/invested... 8)

                     8).......TIGER....... 8)

[ralleywolf]

Okay heres an update, I get home from work, trickle chargers been on the bike all night and all day while Im at work. The green light is on which means the battery's charged. So I go to start it and all I get is that same clicking sound. -Hook up my booster pack and still the same clicking noise. So Im pretty bummed out at this point. Im flipping thru my Haynes manual and looking at the starting system and I see the bit about the starter relay. I'd seen that little boxy like thingy when I was going thru the wires cleaning them up. So I reach my hand behind the battery and wiggle the relay wires a little bit- pop in the key and voila she turns over and fires right up with minimal cranking! And I take her for a little ride. So I guess I got some loose wires too tighten up. This musta been what the prev owner meant when he said the bike was finicky.

Okay now about the other stuff. My reliable car im talking about isn't a 5 or 10 year old toyota. Ive never owned anything so new. Its an '85 Trans am. And its only reliable because Ive put countless hours of work and maintenance into it. Ive done two engine swaps on it and the current engine im running is a 350 I nabed out of my old '78 chevy van. Im no stranger to wrenching on old vehicles although I am new to street bikes. I bought the bike to learn on and get my motorcycle license with. I bought it under the impression that it would be reliable but I guess that was naive of me.
Anyway there is no turning back for me so anything that needs fixing on it, I will fix it.

The only bike I ever had before this was a 79 yamaha 80, 2 stroke dirt bike. I loved that thing and drover her hard. I once mixed the gas too lean and cooked the engine. But I rebuilt her with a new piston and rings and honed out the cylinder and she was good as new again.

Also the reason why I wanted to put a toggle switch for the light was because when Im trying to start it and the battery's kinda low the last thing I want is the headlight to be coming on and using juice. But maybe I wont do it as everyone seems to think its a bad idea.

[Aelwulf]

Sounds like once you settle into being ready to get 'er goin' you'll be fine with it.  I doubt you'll regret it once you do either. :)

[h2olawyer]

The headlight turns off automatically when you hit the start button.  At least it is supposed to.  That keeps as much juice headed for the starter as possible.

There is a saying going around here.  You bought a used bike that others have ridden a lot of the good out of.  You need to put that good back into it in order to reclaim the reliability.  I've taken mine on rides over 400 miles in the last few years.  Always gets me home.  I've fried a stator a year for the last three years, but that's been the only reliability issue for me.  I now keep a spare stator on hand just in case.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

They're actually pretty reliable once you get the initial gremlins out.

[Night Vision]

.....My reliable car im talking about isn't a 5 or 10 year old toyota.....Its an '85 Trans am. And its only reliable because Ive put countless hours of work and maintenance into it.

.....Anyway there is no turning back for me so anything that needs fixing on it, I will fix it.

Sounds like once you settle into being ready to get 'er goin' you'll be fine with it.  I doubt you'll regret it once you do either. :)

I've seen lots of newbies come in like lions and go out like lambs because the get frustrated quickly or are expecting instant gratification.....

sounds like ralleywolf will be more than ok  :)