Sunday 13th April 2003
Today, Sunday 13th of April 2003, I've just picked up my latest bike. I don't need to describe it since there's a load of pictures of it below. What you can't see is that it's just a baby in that it's only just ticked over the 10000km mark. That's kms, so it's only done 6000 miles!
Just because it's low mileage doesn't mean that it doesn't need some work doing to it. Oh no, that would be too easy. More of that later, first impressions are that it handles quite nicely, has good (potentially excellent) brakes, is fairly comfy and needs to be worked to get the best out of it.
Having ridden if from Preston to home (York) and then done a round trip to Whitby I have discovered that I'm getting about 20mpg and that 3 of the 4 pipes gets alot of oil buildup at the exhaust end. Also, while I wouldn't exactly say that it's sluggish, it isn't as rapid as it ought to be. It also really doesn't want to be revved over 9000rpm. Now, I'm putting all of these things down to it needing a good service. I think that a new set of plugs would help alot, but I want someone who knows what they are doing (not me) to give it a good going over. I really want the power valves (or whatever Suzuki call them) pulled apart and cleaned to make sure that they arn't gummed up. Any filters and fluids need replacing too.
I'm sure that I should be getting 35mpg with steady(ish) riding and alot more zing. What this space.
Now some pics.. (click on them for bigger pics)
Don't worry yourself about the oil-like marks on the ground under the bike - they are just little splodges of water. Some bugger of a seagull shat on my bike in Whitby, so I just sponged the bike down before taking these pics!
Wednesday 21st May 2003
One month and about 1000 kms. This bike is great. It took a few hundred k's, but one day the engine just cleared it's throat and the bike took off. It still runs out of steam at around 9000 rpm, but I think that the only way to really sort this is to splash my cash on a set of Jolly Moto pipes, which should extend the useful power to 12000 rpm. So far the extent of my tinkering is:
1. reset suspension settings to standard, except for the anti-dive which is set to minimum
2. change the main jets from standard #135 to #120, which is what the RG500 has in it
The change of main jets has certainly crispened up the motor, although has made no difference to the 9000 rpm brick wall. There are some mash inserts in the air ducts that can be removed. I'll do that soon and see if it frees the engine up a bit more. I was also advised to go as low as 100 main jets, which I might do if a plug check reveals that it's still running rich.
The suspension needs some attention. The front end can't handle heavy breaking or fast corners and gets a bit weavy at high speed. Either the forks need rebuilding, or the obligatory RGV250 front end swap needs to be done. This will most likely happen at some point, so if I get a windfall I will go the whole hog and get RGV gear front and back.
What else needs doing? The filler cap leaks so I need to sort that out. The front brakes need setting up properly. That's about it, except for riding it.