Old bike problems

[Rick G]

Some Visionaries seem to be over whelmed by the problems which CAN occur in a old bike, which may not have recieved the best of care. I worked as a bike wrench from 1962 to 1980 and recently went back to it. I'm working in an independant shop  and we get all the old stuff that no one else will touch.  Most of the bikes are the same ones I worked on just befor quiting,  only now  there 22 year old junkers!  Some seem to feel that the Vision has more than its share of failures,  but compared to all the bikes that come in to the shop its a marvel of reliability! Carb problems on 4 cylinder machines are a nightmare compared to our twin. Rusty tanks  occur on most any neglected old bike  and electrical problems  are NOT limited to the V. (we had a 1996 H-D big twin in that needed a new stator, its third!)  When I first bought my V every body I talked to , including mechanics, told me what a terrable piece of s**t  they were. so I figured, fix it up and then sell it. Howeve,r I grew to like it  and discovered that  these nay sayers  were full of s**t . In 15,000 miles I've had to change a reg/rect  change the front bkake pads once, the rear shoes twice  used 4 spark plugs and rebuilt the starter clutch and the water pump. Now, I dont feel this is outragous on a twenty year old bike, that had been neglected (you should have met the neanderthal  I bought it from)  This bike has never failed to get me home ,I ride on isolated mountain roads with little traffic, so it gets me home or I walk!  

[Dave T.]

I agree with you Rick, neglect will make any machine a pain to keep working. You get back what you put in to any machine.

 I remember when I was a kid and we were a average income family, not poor or rich. My one uncle was a little richer than we were and he had all kinds of toys, and my cousins got to ride all the motorcycles and snowmobiles he had, while I had nothing. One little minibike my uncle had was going bad, so my Dad finally bought it for me for $20. I was about 13 yrs old and I didn't have much, but man I worked on that thing for years trying to get it to work right. It was my life's goal to get this thing working good, since my neighbors had nice new motorcycles and snowmobiles. I really never got the minibike working right, maybe for one summer. I just didn't have the right tools, money or knowledge to get it fixed. This was the most frustrating thing in life to me.

Now that I am older and somewhat wiser, it's all water under the bridge, and I have not forgot what hard work is all about and what it can get you. This is the same for my V. I thought many time about getting rid of it and what a piece of #$@% it can be, but now I have the knowledge and money to make the changes it needs to be reliable. I remember when I first got the bike and you e-mailed me to go to the antique motorcycle show. I didn't have it running very well, but I went anyway. That was my first sportbike group ride I ever went on and it was great. Since then I have went on about 20 group rides, from Make-a-wish Harley rides to seriously fun sportbike rides with the MN-Sportbike riders group (HSTA). The bike has never left me stranded, even though I thought it would.

I am afraid I may have to get rid of my V soon, because of the loud MAC exhaust. My hearing is suffering, even though I wear ear plugs. The V is gonna go before my hearing. We'll see.  :'(

[Humber]

Its easier to exchange this LoudoMac with Oem exhaust or I heard about one Italian firm that is making a replacement for our V, I will let u now soon.

[Humber]

Here u go http://www.users.bigpond.com/mckenzm/bike/mivv.htm

[Lucky]

try this for the mac exhaust, we did this on Glens bike and it worked great, much quieter, and good note also:
remove the baffles and have the pipes removed from the end plates, have new pipes welded in, no perforations, and have the long ends crushed down to an inch opening, weld together.  wrap the whole thing tightly in stainless steel wool and install. i'll email you pics and info on the SS wool later.
--Lucky

[Rick G]

Hi DT  I brought up adding a  different  silencing arrangement  on the old forum, by adding a supertrapp on each pipe. Jeff Swann came back that it HAD been done , there is one runnibf around St Louis so equiped. i may try it  soon .  I miss the group rides . I keep looking for riding buddies, but here most  just get on I 5 and go to Vancouver or points south  they are mostly touring riders, so I ride alone, it seems there is no one around here who can keep up with a 60 year old fat guy on a 20 year old 550 LOL.

[Paul_Jungnitsch]

Agree on the loudness of the MAC. After I (finally) got mine on I couldn't stand it (and thought for sure my neighbors would like it even less). Seeing as the stock exhaust has a much narrower outlet I experimented with washers and ended up just welding a heavy washer on the end of each pipe. This was quite a few years ago and it has worked fine ever since.

[Cecil Cogswell]

I am a returning rider to world of visions.  I have my new-to-me and loud-to-all set of  :-[mac exhaust.  I am very interested in the steel wool that Lucky mentioned and a source to locate that material.  If anyone else has modified the MAC exhaust with some success, that would be great to have available with pics.

Concerned about neighbours, :-[

[Lucky]

i'm in the hospital right now with pnumonia , so i haven't been here since fri, and won't be out for a few more days

Cecil, email me and i'll send you all the info when I get out of here!  send me an email to luckyvision@hotmail.com so i remember.
--Lucky