motorcycle question

[burn_this_city]

My new bike gets delivered on friday. Now if only the weather would start to cooperate.

Anyone had 3M done on their bike? Blackfoot offered to do it for $400, I figured for that price it was worthwhile. They are doing the fairing, tank, lights, tail ect.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Hey - didn't see the post where you mentioned buying the bike.....BIG CONGRATS!

I really like the 3M product, and I'm sure you'll find most riders are fans - especially on a brand new bike. It makes a difference after a few years. You'll have a "5 year old bike that looks 2 years old", if you get what I mean.

The best news of all.....we're only a few weeks away from riding season!

[burn_this_city]

I neglected to mention earlier that I bought it. I figured the 3M was probably worth it in the long run, although usually riding season has less rocks and crap it doesnt hurt to protect it. Snow must go, now. Its going to kill me seeing it sitting in the garage all ready to go. I might buy a cover for it to ease the pain

[Mad Mel]

Congrats, btc. The R6 is a beauty. I was thinking about getting one (there are really good, twisty roads around here) but what I really needed was a commuter that's easy to do the 50km round trip on, and now that I'm in my 40's my body can't take the abuse of a repli-racer on a daily basis. On weekends though... yeah, just checked, there's still room in the garage for another. Maybe next year. You're a lucky guy to be able to take that machine out, good choice.

[Josh]

Congrats on the new bike, I considered an R6 but went with a 600rr instead. Anyways, great bike, and tons of fun. It's almost nice enough out here to ride today!!

[Phanuthier]

Bumping this old thread, more questions...

How often (if you do at all) check your mirrors? I do a check of all my mirrors every 5 sec when I drive, but I was told not to do that on a bike (gravitating to a fixed point theory or whatever its called)... I said I thought it was important to be spatially aware as I am still a n00b and learning to ride in heavy traffic. A few bikers I talked to lately said they just go fast enough and lane split so that they always stay in front of the traffic.

Thoughts? (on what I do... I get what they do and it makes sense, but I still vow not to lane split)

[WilsonFourTwo]

While in free flowing traffic I check my mirrors infrequently....about every 30 seconds perhaps.

As soon as I get stopped at a light I watch my mirrors until there's (at least) one car stopped behind me (with some distance) - ESPECIALLY at night. Heck, I even pulse my hand brake after dusk, just to add another visual indicator.

[burn_this_city]

I check mine every 10 second or so, unless I'm out of traffic. I usually move faster than the flow of traffic, I never keep speed with the vehicle beside me to avoid their blind spot. I also rev my bike a bit higher with vehicles infront or beside so I am noticable. On a side note I just rolled over 1000km and did my first oil change. The diagrams in the manual for taking apart the fairing are a joke.

[metallicat]

Checking your mirrors or "lane splitting", what do you think is safer?? Bikes who lane split are ######bags and almost, ALMOST, deserve to wreck.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Checking your mirrors or "lane splitting", what do you think is safer?? Bikes who lane split are ######bags and almost, ALMOST, deserve to wreck.

He's in california where its legal. Since when is it appropriate to cheer on someone crashing.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Checking your mirrors or "lane splitting", what do you think is safer?? Bikes who lane split are ######bags and almost, ALMOST, deserve to wreck.

Yeah that's why it's legal in California and most of the rest of the world.. Now I can understand not doing it in Calgary because the drivers there have no clue and are as apt to run you over just for the hell of it, as because they don't have a clue.

[metallicat]

I didn't know it was legal. That seems completely unsafe, then again, some states don't require helmets which is asinine.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I didn't know it was legal. That seems completely unsafe, then again, some states don't require helmets which is asinine.

It's legal up to, I believe, 30 mph.
People there understand that if everyone is stopped or going slowly that getting as many folks off the road as possible is a good thing, even if it is just motorbikes.

I've done it, and it really isn't that unsafe.
The drivers there know it's allowed and they give you room.

[Tron_fdc]

I wish lane splitting was legal in Calgary. It annoys me to no end having to constantly burn my clutch starting and stopping in gridlocked traffic. I travel through US cities where it's legal, and it doesn't seem like it's all that unsafe. Unless of course, you're Brad Pitt and you have a tough time holding your balance on a bike.

http://www.waleg.com/celebrities/archives/017977.html

[Phanuthier]

How many of you do your own motorcycle work? (change oil, etc)

I'm pretty ignorant about things... if you do work on your own bike, where did you start?

[burn_this_city]

I did my own first oil change on my R6 this summer. It was pretty straight forward, you just have to be patient taking the plastic off and don't force anything. The instructions to do most maintenance are in the owners manual, though they lack a lot of detail and the exploded diagrams are garbage. You can always search the bike forums for how to guides which usually include photos.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I did my own first oil change on my R6 this summer. It was pretty straight forward, you just have to be patient taking the plastic off and don't force anything. The instructions to do most maintenance are in the owners manual, though they lack a lot of detail and the exploded diagrams are garbage. You can always search the bike forums for how to guides which usually include photos.

I tried changing the oil on my bike last week, and didn't know you had to level out the bike to check levels, and screwed it up.

I went on a few of those forums... I feel like it still seems like its latin, I think I need a crash coarse in mechanics or something. Little things that most people know, like each bolt having a spec'ed torque... I don't know that stuff.

So... did you learn this stuff in a class or something?

[burn_this_city]

Nah, trial and error, ####ing thing up on my cars taught me enough, plus I worked at a gas station/mechanics shop in high school. I don't bother using a torque wrench on the drain pan and the oil filter. The pan bolt you just tighten to the point you know it won't budge, same thing with the filter. It's probably not 100% right in some people's eyes, but I haven't had a problem. On the R6 I used a set of channel locks to crush the end of the oil filter so I could turn it, to get it out from inside the really tight spacing its tucked in.

Besides it seems like those things are tightened past spec from the factory. On my YZ250 the pan bolt stripped trying to take it off, because it was overtight from factory, and the aluminum bolt might as well been made out of sugar. Getting it off wasn't fun, but eventually my buddy and I did and I replaced it with an after market magnetic one. /end cool story bro.

Honestly, if you do a lot of reading online and ask some half intelligent questions people will help you out, and they usually have some good tips that make the job easier. Just get a 200 peice mechanics tool set from Sears and if you're exacting get a 3/8 torque wrench, but don't spend more than $100-150 on that.

[Phanuthier]

Thoughts on a Ninja 650r? Or for a 600, is there a better option? I'm looking for a light bike since I'm still a bit of a n00b.

[Timbo]

Cleats? No cleats allowed on DucKs!



Do your own oil changes/maint lots of good internet bike specific forums for help.