Getting er started again

[shoeless_000]

Thanks man, I'm just sick of seeing the same paint schemes and stuff out there so I decided to branch out a bit. Hey another thing I was wondering, I'm wanting to raise my back end about 3-4 inches. I'm fairly certain that my stock springs are 12". My problem is I don't know where to find a decently priced 15-16" spring/shock combo. any ideas?

[TheCafeKid]

15 or 16 inches is pretty long bro, the longest ive been able to find is 14.5 inchers. What if you lowered the front a bit and raised the back to a 13.5? Give you the same look you are looking for, plus ideally you want to keep the back as low as you can for handling and getting the rubber on the ground.

[shoeless_000]

What does lowering the front end entail? I'm on a soldier's pay and I'm used to working on humvees so price and difficulty would be the deciding factor. Oh yeah by the way man, I went to high school in Wilmington, OH. Just down the road from you in Dayton.

[TheCafeKid]

Well lowering the front you could do one of two things...if you're using clipon handlebars, you can simply move the forks up in the tree. But if you arent you can pull the forks apart and cut some out of the spring to lower it a bit. Im not talking much, maybe an inch lower.

[tone]

A couple of things to be aware of.....

Lowering the front will quicken the steering a little or a lot depending on the amount you drop it by, i'd say 20mm is the absolute max to keep a decent balance between a stable bike at speed & one that turns nicely

raising the rear has the same affect

raising the rear by the by 3 or 4" will screw up what handling you have especially if combined with dropping the front its way too much ! :shock:

[shoeless_000]

I appreciate the advice guys. I think an inch off the springs might be in order. Is there anything special to consider as far as cutting them? Obviously I know to make them even and not to cut too much but is that it?

[TheCafeKid]

Thats what i was saying...dont raise it up in back, or maybe just an inch, and lower the front a little...id go with Tones idea as that seems pretty good....will give you the look you are after, and compromise in handling wont be so much.

[Jd Powell]

YES YOU WANT ONE!!!!! Lol actually a wideband sensor is basically just an oxygen sensor and an LCD screen. The O2 sensor reads your exhaust gases and shows if you're running rich or lean by sending a voltage signal to the reader. It helps immensely when try to read whats going on with a set of carbs. Now you can get a really fancy one that'll have a full display and what not or you can get a simple one that reads the voltage that the O2 sensor sends out and go from there. Either way its as simple as duct taping the O2 sensor to the end of the pipes and adjust accordingly

Sorry to burst your bubble but this method absolutly will not work. O2 sensors are designed to be screwed into a bung in one of the headpipes. If you examine any closed loop fuel injected bike on the market you will find the O2 sensor approx 5-8 inches from the exhaust port. If the end of your exhaust was that hot a ball of paper dangled behind it would catch fire instantly.:shock: Even the O2 sniffers on a dyno (Which dont require heat) must be poked as far up the exhaust as possible to avoid dilution from the atmosphere on negative pulses. Personaly I have seen noticable dilution with the sniffer 15 inches up the pipe. As noted, autos have their sensors in the tailpipe. The sensor is always located before or in the cat again due to temp requierments. If you want to use an O2 sensor to tune your bike you must weld a bung into one of your headpipes. Also the sensor does provide its own voltage once operating temp is reached (this may take up to 10 min.) alligator leads on your multi meter are handy for this.

[Jd Powell]

BTW Shoeless congrats on that sweet cafe. Especialy dig the intake manifold.

[Ironriot]

Powell,

Well it won't work for my bike but it will work for shoeless. If you read his original post you'll see that he says that he's only running head pipes. Not the full exhaust. Besides personally if I were gonna do this I would weld in the bungs anyways. That way I could constantly be tuning and NOT taping

[Jd Powell]

Still not hot enough. Though with his set-up shoving a dyno or EGA type sniffer up the head pipe is very effective and each cylinder can be tuned independently. Also most automotive shops have EGA machines. Not tryin to be argumentitive, but the exhaust stream is just not hot enough that close to the exit to make an O2 sensor function.

[TheCafeKid]

what if you preheated it?? That might be stupid but if you could get it hot enough to function long enough to get a reading....

[shoeless_000]

BTW Shoeless congrats on that sweet cafe. Especialy dig the intake manifold.

Thanks man, it's first project bike and I'm having a blast. Hell it's not even running yet and I still love it. I can't wait till I can get it out on the road.

[JTsGS650]

Sorry I can't really offer any advice on tuning. Just wanted to say that the bike looks sweet. Love the intake manifold, the paint and the whole look. Two thumbs up.

[shoeless_000]

Sorry I can't really offer any advice on tuning. Just wanted to say that the bike looks sweet. Love the intake manifold, the paint and the whole look. Two thumbs up.

Thanks mate, I think when I rejet I'm goin to pull the carbs and intake, at which point I'm pretty sure I'm going to repaint the intake glass black instead of flat. Now the the frame and tank are gleaming it just needs to match. And all my covers (crankcase, stator, etc) are also going to be black. All in good time.

I think my favorite thing about my bike is when I show it to people, even seasoned riders, I always get the same response, "What is it?". To me, the mark of a truly customized bike is when it's so different nobody knows what the hell it started out as.