Carb Wars: Episode Two, The Impact Hammer Strikes Back!

So one of the two sets of extra carbs I had torn apart is back together, with major help from my pops. He used the best parts from each set and went to the Suzuki dealer for new jets and floats. In the end he compiled one set with 100% good parts. The other set is either going to be tricked out or tossed in the trash. We’ll figure that out after a parts inventory and examination.

The jets are 150s and the air bleeds are 17.5s. The original needles were reinstalled and shimmed with 0.023-inch thick washers between the e-clip and the plastic bushing. No washers were installed above the e-clips. An additional washer may be needed but we’ll wait until after installation for that. The  idle air bleed adjustment is set to two and one-half turns from bottom. All of the new parts are made by Mikuni American Corporation, the manufacturer of the carburetors.

So now I just need to swap them out with what’s on the bike. That will have to wait for a later date.

The Hapiness of a Middle Distance Rider

I went on my longest ride yet over the long weekend. Brooklyn to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts (approximately 175 miles) and back over two days. Nothing earth shattering, but not a jaunt around the corner either.

It’s a nice mixture of twisties and three lane freeway riding that the SV handles nicely. I am strongly condidering sending my seat to Great Day to Ride in Florida for some gel inserts, but no complaints otherwise.

Knee Draggers Rocks! (M4 Full System in the Mail)

I just got an amazing deal (price matched to this) on an M4 full exhaust system from KneeDraggers.com. I got the titanium can, so it weights about 10 pounds less than the stock system. Now I just have to figure out where I am going to store it until the carbs are done. Oh, and where I am going to store the OEM system after I remove it.

All Dressed Up

I finally got around to mounting that belly pan from GSG Mototechnic. I had waited because of concerns about heat from the exhaust possibly melting the fiberglass so I went out and got some of Maier USA‘s self-adhesive ceramic tiles at Motorcycle Madness to deflect the heat. Unfortunately they only had one pack, but I think it will be sufficient.

I also needed to buff out the pain some more before I could really call it done. After a little rubbing and installing the tape I took it out and slapped it on. Installation took about five minutes and used an allen wrench and a socket on a ratchet.

Overall I’m very happy. Pics of the awesomeness below the jump.

Back in Business

Betty is back together! After several months all of that busted up plastic is repaired and painted. It went back on in a flash, and, after a small amount of unnecessary paranoia about my brake system, the bike is riding smoothly. I’ve done most of the modifications I had planned and it’s been a long time since I last rode, so it was a little hard to compare, but I think everything is in excellent order.

UPDATE: Plastic

All that plastic that I stripped of my SV last winter is now repaired, repainted, and waiting to be reinstalled pending a buff and shine. I plan to write up a lengthy description of everything you need to know about fixing your bike’s plastic, but in the mean time you can read about it on my dad’s blog.

2009 Modifications: Progress Report

I got a chance to take a crack at that long list of modifications and repairs I told you about. Some of it went smoothly, some not, and some I am unsure about. Unfortunately the camera was out of juice so no pics this time.

Down Under… uh… tail

I have acquired a hot bodies undertail for my SV. It is unpainted fiberglass. Here are some pics so you can see how it looks straight out of the package. Finishing and painting will happen along side the belly pan, but installation probably won’t happen until late summer/early fall, so stay tuned.

2009 Mod Plans

I have a bunch of stuff sitting around waiting to be put on the bike this year, but I think I am going to take it slow rather than throw them all on at once. Some of it is going on before I pull her out of winter storage, but the rest will be as-I-find-time projects.

Stripes!

One thing that motorcyclists are always trying to do is go faster, and what makes your bike go faster than a stripe? A red stripe! I’ve been messing around with ideas and this is what I have so far. I need to hurry up and make up my mind because it is almost time to lay down the paint. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Get on My Belly!

It has arrived. After much hemming and some hawing I decided on the GSG Mototechnik belly pan for my SV. Mostly I chose it because the design seems to go with the stock half fairing better than anything else I could find. You can get it in ABS from the manufacturer, but the transaction process is so convoluted and irritating that I opted for searching eBay.de instead (with a little help from a friend from Berlin) and found a small German tuning company (www.erich-jahn.de) who had the fiberglass version.

Carb Wars: Episode 1, A New Project

I don’t remember how to rebuild carbs. I took auto shop in high school where I rebuilt a ton of them, but that was over a decade ago. So I bought myself a set of carbs to tear apart and rebuild.

Plastic

So, all that plastic that I pulled off Betty? It’s in Arizona getting glued, filled, painted, and buffed. Getting hit by a moron trying to parallel park causes an unreasonable amount of damage that can remove an unreasonable amount of time from your riding season, so guard that stuff like it’s gold!

Baby Gets a New Dress (pending)

So I mentioned earlier that NYC is not the absolute best place to park a pristine motorcycle, not on the street anyway. As a result of multiple knock-downs by crappy parkers I decided to respray my plastic instead of buying replacement parts. I sent all the plastic to my dad to spray in his garage in Arizona. Since there will be paint flying I thought tis would be a good time to get a belly pan. Matching plastic is a good thing.

Cough! Weeze! Sputter!

My bike is having respiratory issues. I made the mistake of installing a K&N high performance air filter without oiling it or changing the fuel mixture. As a result I got a popping sound coming from the exhaust.

Okay, no big deal. I’ll just swap the filters back to how they were before. But now my interest has been piqued; how good is my fuel mixture, how does this system work, and most importantly, how can I hot rod this system?

So I went on SVR and found someone willing to part with a set of carburetors for super-cheep. More to come…

Dead Blinkers

 I mentioned earlier that my SV has been hit and knocked over a few times as a result of parking in Brooklyn. One of the most awesome things that comes with this is busted blinkers. This honker on the left is my factory right front signal.

Introductions Are in Order

Hi! My name is Matthew and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I’m using this blog space to write about and keep track of my thoughts and projects related to my motorcycle.

Back in February I brought home my first bike, a beautiful 2002 Suzuki SV650s in silver with very low miles and in pristine condition, save some incorrectly installed white (gross!) frame sliders. I promptly named her Betty.

After doing some research on what kind of bike I should get, I googled “silver 2002 sv650s” and found this one. I had pretty much made up my mind that I wanted an SV650 for my first ride and I had the good fortune to find one that had been sitting for four years in someone’s garage. The dealer I bought her from is called Cycle Motion, a nice little shop in Middletown, NY with a pretty good selection of bikes, quads, and snow mobiles for its size. The agent’s name is Billy, a former SV owner/racer and hell of a nice guy who gave me all kinds of advice and a really good deal including 5 months of winter storage in a warm garage.

Now she’s mine and I couldn’t be happier.