First ride 03-05-08 let the commute begin

[zore]

So I decided that I was going to take the bike to work so last night, out came the tools.  I ended up buying some Mobile 1 for diesel trucks in 5w40 flavor.  All i can say is wow.  The bike shifts better than ever and is running really well for sitting a few months.  I'm glad i keep a battery tender on it.

[inanecathode]

I was shocked how well my V ran when i rode it 3 days ago. Figured i'd have to do some carb cleaning and such but no, started right up within 30 seconds of trying to start it (trying to get the right choke/throttle combo down).

[YellowJacket!]

I've been bitten by the bug so early this year that Im gonna ride to work today.  Its 32 right now but supposed to be in the 60's later.  Coldest Ive ever ridden was 40.  My gear is warm though.

David

[YellowJacket!]

jumpin jeepers it was 30 degrees out this morning but I still rode to work and loved every minute of it.  NOw that I know I can handle that low a temp, I'll probably be riding most of the year.  Will take baby steps for rainy days though.
The only bad part of the day was when the hospital operator paged overhead for the owner of a yellow Yamaha license #xxxx to call the security office immediately.  My first fear was that it got knocked over but apparently one of my floats got stuck and it leaked a crapload of gas all over the place.  I had to move it to the gravel lot about a mile away.  That sucks.

David

[Tanno]

I've been commuting for the last 3 weeks to work and back. Keeping a VERY close eye on the weather just so I don't get caught in ice. I did have to ride home in some sleet one time. I didn't ride last night and not today. Only because of not knowing how much snow is going to fall.

My coldest ride so far has been in the last three weeks and it's been down to 20. It's alot colder than that doing 75. ;)

My hands have been the only ones to suffer at that temp. They are hurtin' after 20 miles of that temp.

BTW, my hours of riding are 1pm to work, and ~12am back from work.

[QBS]

YJ, your leakage problem is why I have run with inline fuel cut off valves for at least the last 15 years.  Don't ever trust your needle valves OR....your vacume operated fuel petcock.

In your last adventure you either had the fuel petcock turned to Prime or it was in the On position.  If it was in the ON position, the vacume function failed.

Either way, you still need the inline fuel cut off valve.  They are readily available at most small engine repair depots(read: lawn mower repair shops) for cheap.  You shouldn't need to pay more than $5.00.  V carbs can not be properly managed without manual inline fuel cut off valves.

It's one of those one time fixes.  Do it once and live happily ever after.

[inanecathode]

Or you can rebuild it and it'd work forever without a bandaid fix <_<

[YellowJacket!]

YJ, your leakage problem is why I have run with inline fuel cut off valves for at least the last 15 years.  Don't ever trust your needle valves OR....your vacume operated fuel petcock.

In your last adventure you either had the fuel petcock turned to Prime or it was in the On position.  If it was in the ON position, the vacume function failed.

Either way, you still need the inline fuel cut off valve.  They are readily available at most small engine repair depots(read: lawn mower repair shops) for cheap.  You shouldn't need to pay more than $5.00.  V carbs can not be properly managed without manual inline fuel cut off valves.

It's one of those one time fixes.  Do it once and live happily ever after.

It was set to "Run".  I'm gonna check with Lucky to see if Ace has any that will work.  I ended up losing about 1/4 tank today.

I forgot to tell you about the funniest part about moving my bike.  At about noon today, it was still 45 degrees out.  I just grabbed my helmet and was planning on a quick ride to the overflow (no pun intended) lot but it was full.  I had to ride another mile to the overflow overflow lot.  Its a gravel lot and the hospital provides a shuttle service to and from it. 
The problem was that all I had on were my scrubs.  And at 45 degrees and about 70mph, you are riding the equivilent of NAKED!  Of course, F-GF is still there working out a notice and the first thing she tells me is how she could warm me up.  :o

YJ

[Rick G]

Lots of bike engines have been  destroyed  by gasoline  delution of the oil.  A fail safe petcock would be great . I wonder if there's  a differant Yamaha , thats a little older, that  could donate a standard non vacuum petcock.

[inanecathode]

Or you could buy the rebuild kit for the petcock and be done with it  :o

[YellowJacket!]

Or you could buy the rebuild kit for the petcock and be done with it  :o

It was just rebuilt before I reassembled YJ v2.0.

David

[YellowJacket!]

Not gonna ride today.  Heavy rains and possible snow is forecast....yeah, Im a weenie.  I atimm have to get some wet weather gear....

David

[Walt_M.]

You're probably getting the north side of what we just had, have 2" of rain so far.
I had a similar experience with the petcock last year right after I started back to work. I had ridden the bike over the weekend and parked it in the garage. Went to Orlando, 240 miles from home and when my wife called me on Monday, she said there was much gas on the garage floor and it was stinking up the house! She can't move the bike. I told her to put a catch bottle on the overflow, problem temporarily solved.
I think it was just dirt in the shutoff allowing fuel to pass. I rode it next time I was home and the drip stopped. The petcock was 'On' not 'Pri'.

[Brian Moffet]

I've just completed my first week of commuting in to work on the Vision.  Apparently all of the work I did paid off, because the bike runs well.  It usually starts by rolling the throttle 3 times, hit the button, it starts and I pull the choke out.  (in case anyone wonders, this is always how it started..  It works, okay?  ::) )

The new AGM battery from Mikes is great, I have no problems starting when it's cold or hot.  I haven't tried that awful "lukewarm" yet.  A couple of days ago, the path to the bridge (Doyle street) was completely blocked with traffic, so I took the 49 mile drive home:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=7727432679774460050,37.787617,-122.485130%3B17421538931448775413,37.785841,-122.500111%3B17716179539390234556,37.785016,-122.499633%3B17611424426350507922,37.751106,-122.504854&saddr=Gorgas+Dr,+San+Francisco&daddr=El+Camino+Del+Mar+%4037.787617,+-122.485130+to:El+Camino+Del+Mar+%4037.785841,+-122.500111+to:Legion+of+Honor+Dr+%4037.785016,+-122.499633+to:Great+Highway+and+Lincoln+Way+to:37.751037,-122.507601+to:3432+Ortega+ST,+San+Francisco&mra=dme&mrcr=1&mrsp=5&sz=14&via=1,2,3,5&sll=37.765897,-122.480736&sspn=0.056316,0.082397&ie=UTF8&ll=37.774718,-122.478504&spn=0.112619,0.164795&t=h&z=13

Just as the sunset was glowing across the pacific.  No fog either...

[QBS]

Inane, what makes you think that rebuilding the petcock will solve the problem?

[Night Vision]

Inane, what makes you think that rebuilding the petcock will solve the problem?

on a related matter... sort of.. I noticed a small drip forming at the bottom of my petcock the other day...

I removed the tank and was ready to operate when I noticed that the bottom part of the petcock where the fuel line connects to "wiggled"....

hmmmmm.... I wiggled it more and it separated from the rest of the petcock. That bottom part is press fitted in. I did not know that...

If you get drippy, you may want to check that first

[YellowJacket!]

thats where my drip was coming from first. fixed that now dripping from overflow tube at a rate that defeats the purpose of the igher gas mileage that YJ gets over the Accord.  Temp fix was a set of thin nose vise grips.
Dennis Kirk has a "universal curoff" for about $12.00 but add in the shipping and the fact that I have to be here to sign for it makes it a deal breaker.  Gonna go local first.
Looked at Ace's website but didn't seem to find anything.  Got any ideas Lucky?

David

[Lucky]

i got one for you, not to worry your covered

[YellowJacket!]

i got one for you, not to worry your covered

Thanks!!

Vicki is about to kill me...the whole house smells like gas.

David

[67GTO]

So... let me get this straight, you have two problems. A float that's stuck and the petcock is leaking ???