five-speed concours?

[julianop]

SteveJ, I have heated grips already  - it's one of the reasons I bought this particular bike - but I'll certainly be looking at Murph's for other farkles once I get some pocket money to spend. I knew I would need them, and actually had cause to use them two weeks ago on my first ride down from MN to IL - nice !!!.

Actually, what seems to be the problem right now - as the evenings are getting "crisper", shall we say - is wind at the back of my neck. Apparently the Rifle shield, while providing really nice, smooth air at the front,  stops too far ahead of my head, so the vortex whips round and wacks me in the back of the neck. It gets nasty at around 55F. I have purchased an Under Armor "Neck Gator", which I can tuck up under the back of my helmet as a band-aid, but according to experts (and this is a shameless invitation for more opinion and experience!) the Cee Bailey shield is a lot better in this regard.

KenE, yes indeed, I like your description, it is indeed a pig in the parking lot. As I said earlier, she is tall and squirrelly at a standstill; the darn thing took me down six times while I was practicing for my Minnesota road test, and I promise you I used worse words than "pig" when that happened. The wheel size never occurred to me, however, as I haven't needed to start thinking about tires yet, so I'll look into the 17 inch world next spring.

In vain attempts to try to minimize this poor low speed performance before I tear it down at end of season and send the carbs off to SiSF for rejetting, I've run a can of Sea Foam and one of Iso-Heet through to deal with possible gunk and water, respectively. There has been a little performance improvement; though while it did nothing significant at low RPM, the mid range performance certainly has benefited: now she grumbles and chugs and growls up to around 2400, then, as if I'd thrown a switch, takes off like a raped ape to 4000 and beyond, if allowed to do so. It's quite ... exhilarating ;-)

But no, it doesn't end, does it? I'll have to start doing my own work too, just to make economic sense, given my long commute.

After a carb/cam upgrade, a windshield swap, the next thing will probably be a real cruise control. I have a simple throttle lock already, but that really isn't much good on the hills on my commute from MN to IL, which takes me over the hills in west Wisconsin. maybe the team here can offer opinions/recommendations on that too?

[SteveJ.]

After a carb/cam upgrade, a windshield swap, the next thing will probably be a real cruise control. I have a simple throttle lock already, but that really isn't much good on the hills on my commute from MN to IL, which takes me over the hills in west Wisconsin. maybe the team here can offer opinions/recommendations on that too?

Why, Murphs', of course. Linky:

http://www.murphskits.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=422

now she grumbles and chugs and growls up to around 2400, then, as if I'd thrown a switch, takes off like a raped ape to 4000 and beyond, if allowed to do so. It's quite ... exhilarating ;-)

Indicative of low speed circuit being messed up. Acceleration is exhilarating. Let her go...

[throb]

it is indeed a pig in the parking lot. As I said earlier, she is tall and squirrelly at a standstill; the darn thing took me down six times

  With no intention of hijacking this thread, unless I am pedalling Connie backwards, I really don't find her top heavy at all and very well balanced at crawling speeds or coming to rest at stop signs/lights.  It's all a matter of coordination between rear brake, clutch and throttle of course, but I've had bikes much worse than this!  Again, the caveat to this is pedalling it backwards if your foot slips out from under you;  then you fully realize Connies 650lbs!

[julianop]

SteveJ: duh, of course :-) I'll go directly to Murph's, not passing "Go", and see what you're pointing me at.

Throb: I don't think you could possibly hijack this rambling thread that started off with my toying with the idea of buying a Connie and not being able to count to six, then evolved into my grumbling about low speed behavior and discussion of performance improvements, and has since wandered all over hell and back with no promise of dying, with my shamelessly soliciting opinion, comment, experience and wisdom all along the way. I've probably broken every rule about starting new threads for different topics, and I've sort of made this own little private discussion thread, with the tacit approval - or at least courteous tolerance and a smattering of indulgent amusement - of all you wise old dogs.
To your point, though, I'm a lot better with the Connie now than I was at the beginning: I think it's a mixture of things including my improved familiarity with the balance of the bike, getting the cobwebs out of my riding skills in general, my rapidly improved physical strength gained from my handling a big bike, a slight improvement in real low-speed performance from its having been driven consistently, and the simple fact that I'm not practicing for a test, and doing all my work at below 15 mph.
Last night, for example, I did my weekly drive from Minneapolis to Rockford - a 360 mile trip - and did it in 5 1/2 hours including a thirty minute stop at Tomah to put the liners in my jacket. I won't say how fast I rode, but you can do the math: from that average speed of 72mph, and noting that there were easily twenty five miles of road works and county roads on my journey, let's just say I wasn't hanging around ;-)
My stops and starts are a lot better now, too: I can reliably and cleanly do it the recommended way: ("complete the stop using both brakes - i.e. with the right foot on footbrake, left foot down at the moment of stop (not before), followed by the right") at least 90% of the time. My starts are no longer accompanied by that inelegant, frantic wiggling and fierce steering to find balance. Yes, she's tall and heavy, but I'm in command now.
All this doesn't mean I'm not going to get the jetting and cam upgrade, though: my hands are still numb this morning after the high-revving 360 mile trip last night, and I really don't want lasting nerve damage.

[julianop]

Swapped the spark plugs last night. Found plug #1 lead was not making proper contact - screwed the plug cap on properly. Definite improvement in low speed torque when pulling away, but still shows problems of improper carburation at below 2400RPM, especially when low load/constant speed, as is typical.

Can anyone point me to graphical info on how to remove the carb block? T-Cro, I think you said a while back you had a workshop manual and micro-fiche on DVD; is there something I can beg/borrow/leach/steal that'll get me what I need?

[jklhill]

Can anyone point me to graphical info on how to remove the carb block? T-Cro, I think you said a while back you had a workshop manual and micro-fiche on DVD; is there something I can beg/borrow/leach/steal that'll get me what I need?

http://www.cog-online.org/clubportal/clubstatic.cfm?clubID=1328&pubmenuoptID=30890

[julianop]

Thanks, jklhill, that'll do nicely.

I  took the bike out for a spin at midday today. The low end pulling performance certainly is significantly better with new plugs and all four pots cooking (repaired plug wire). I can pull away and take slow corners with much more confidence now, and when I pulled away from a stop directly into a left turn at a T junction I darn near pulled the front wheel off the ground it was so powerful. The steady state at around 50MPH - around 3000 RPM - is also much smoother; it hums now, rather than growls - just what I'd expect from a Japanese four cylinder engine. Now I finally understand why you folks like the Connie so much.
Finally, I brought the idle up to just under 1000, as it still dies occasionally when dropping to idle at a stop or a corner, but a carb clean and re-jetting will fix that, I'm sure.

So instead of a five-speed Connie, it seems that all this time I had a three cylinder Connie :-)

[T Cro ®]

.... I brought the idle up to just under 1000, as it still dies occasionally when dropping to idle at a stop or a corner, but a carb clean and re-jetting will fix that, I'm sure.

So instead of a five-speed Connie, it seems that all this time I had a three cylinder Connie :-)

Put your idle back up to 1,050 to 1,100 where is it supposed to be set at.......

BTW With enough RPM 2nd gear wheel lifts are not out of the question either!

[SteveJ.]

Glad to hear things are going better, it had to be a bit unnerving to have bought a bike that wasn't working out. It'll feel like second nature after you put a 100,000 more miles on it.

And don't sweat the meandering thread, folks ain't very anal here, that's why I like the "feel" of this forum.

And yeah, get that idle a touch over 1000.

[julianop]

Idle to 1050, yes sir. It was lower than 800 even before the plug change, so you can imagine how it behaved, trying to get it out of that hole every time. I didn't think it was right. I really should learn to trust my instincts - thirty five years in engineering should have learned me something!

Wheel lifts in second ? Yup, with what I experienced today, I believe it. In a week or so I'll be trying it .... yeah, right ;-)

Thread - good to hear it's OK. The way I figure it, with the same thread name folks at least know my history and what this is all about; though as I said, with last night's experience I almost want to rename it "three cylinder Connie", 'cos that's pretty much what I had up until last night.

Yes, it was dead scary - I thought I'd made a big mistake. So much so - especially after the dealer told me "that's normal for a Concours" - that I was about to take it back and take a $1200 hit to swap it for a 2003 BMW R1150RT that showed up the week after I bought the Connie. Now I'm not so sure. With Steve's jet and cam fix followed by a 7th gear mod, I think this bike is going to be excellent. 100,000 miles? Well with this commute between MN and IL it only took three years to put 160,000 on my car, so that's not out of the question. I've already put 2200 on it, and I'm barely getting started with the commute.

Sorry to hit this one again, but I'm looking for suggestions on the cold-air-at-the-back-of-the-neck problem. It's going to be cold up here pretty soon, and I need to do something quick. I think somebody said the Cee Bailey shield would cure all my ills, but I'm not sure I can swing the money this side of winter, especially as I've got to pay for the carb/cam upgrade. Is there any recommended head gear that will go under the helmet that might help?

[2fast]

Hi Julian,

I just caught up on your saga. It took me a little bit to realize you and the fellow I spoke to on the phone were one and the same....... I tend to spend more time on the other forum site than this one and have fallen behind in my threads.

For the back of your neck....try this, it makes a huge difference. http://www.aerostich.com/power-dry-balaclava.html

Let me know when you are up here on the bike and we can connect.

Brian

[julianop]

Hi Brian,
Yes it's me, and it was Steve in Sunny Florida who gave me your contact info and a recommendation.

I'll be riding up this Friday, and if I remember correctly we had tentatively agreed to meet this weekend so you could tell me if I'm imagining things or if my bike is indeed running rough, and what I should do about it.

Re: the balaclava, you're saying the cheapest one on that Aerostich page is the best bet? That's a first - I'd have expected to have to buy the most expensive one.

Thanks for connecting here on zggtr. These guys have been magnificent: but for them I'd have driven my bike back to the dealer and delivered it through the showroom window by now!


I'll call you Friday to check schedules.

Julian.

Oh by the way: I can't wait to get my COG membership number sent to me so I can register six times on the Connie Droppers' list :-(

[2fast]

Re: the balaclava, you're saying the cheapest one on that Aerostich page is the best bet? That's a first - I'd have expected to have to buy the most expensive one.

Not sure that is the best one necessarily. I just put it up as an example. I have a very thin similar model that I use in colder weather and it helps a lot. Just keeping the breeze off seems to do the trick.  I also have a Warm n Safe electric liner and gloves that do wonders when it's cold out.
Talk to you on Friday.

[SteveJ.]

On the balaclava thing, cruise on over to Bob's Cycle Supply in Little Canada, they are on the north frontage road of Hwy 36, just east of Rice St. Check this one out, looks like the cat's meow.

http://www.bobscycle.com/browse.cfm/4,46460.html

Nice folks, decent pricing, I've done business with them on and off for 30+ years.

They should have several different styles to check out live and in person, instead of mail order or riding up to Duluth. Andy of Rider Wearhouse/Aerostich is quite proud of most of his merchandise, if you know what I mean.

You'd best hurry, it's a bit nipple-y up there I see. Are the lakes frozen yet?

[julianop]

Thanks for this suggestion, SteveJ, but there's one problem with your suggested balaclava, which is similar to several balaclavas I've seen at my local store: that Lycra back panel. The back is exactly where I want the insulation. My problem is vortex wind whipping round and hitting me on the back of the head, not direct air from the front. At 55F my entire body is warm except for the back of my neck - just around the helmet line - which is in a blast of cold air. The back of the neck has very little natural insulation, and has blood vessels close to the skin, so it cools quickly.
I'll see what else they have, though.

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Ha - I just read that it was running on 3 cyls all along. I've had conversations with other connie owners about this exact thing - guys who have poorly running bikes, but really don't know what a good running connie can do because "it's always been that way" . Based on the carbs I see, there's alot of cruddy running bikes out there. I'm glad yours is coming along, now you're starting to "get" why many of think this is a great bike, especially for the money they can be bought for - steve

[julianop]

Ha - I just read that it was running on 3 cyls all along. I've had conversations with other connie owners about this exact thing - guys who have poorly running bikes, but really don't know what a good running connie can do because "it's always been that way" . Based on the carbs I see, there's alot of cruddy running bikes out there.

Yep, there's comfort in numbers: if I'm suffering, I'm in good company ;-)
You'll be getting the carb bank soon to perform your magic.

[julianop]

Hey guys, I want to run my carbs past the local Kawasaki dealer for a quick clean before I send them south to visit Steve for the winter (!). How long should it take for a couple of reasonably competent guys to pull them out, approximately?

[CRocker]

Hey guys, I want to run my carbs past the local Kawasaki dealer for a quick clean before I send them south to visit Steve for the winter (!). How long should it take for a couple of reasonably competent guys to pull them out, approximately?

Why?  I mean...why run them by the local Kawasaki dealer?  I don't understand...

[Solderwick]

Removing the carbs is very easy & shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes, and that is after taking a break for a couple of beers. Now putting the rack back in ... now that's a whole other world. There are quite a few posts around on a few tricks getting the boots lined up and those dreaded springs. Start practicing your cussing now.

Have fun,


-Ken-