Blitz

Yeah, the Concourse is nice and all, to be sure. But I'd like something more sport than touring. Maybe even just a more comfortable sport bike.

I'm looking at an Aprilia on Saturday. I probably shouldn't. But it's sooo clean in the pictures. And those V-twins sound damn sexy.

Anybody know anything about these bikes?

I have an offer on my bike (03 GSXR 600) for the Aprilia in trade. Seems really clean and has around 10,000 less miles.

I don't know about common problems or things to look for though. Anybody know anything about this generation Aprilia? Impressions and opinions?

True, but I believe her and Deanna both dropped their bikes that weekend as well. At least I know Deanna did.

Sara didn't. She posted that as a joke. I know two of them them did go down though.

The "OHIO" guys are the group I went with last year. I ride with them fairly often. They can ride, but a lot of their focus is getting their knees down and getting low. To each, their own. I prefer to put 300 fast miles in. Just my style. Probably why I'm considering a sporty touring bike.

Truth. Best roads I've seen in a consecutive 300 miles. If there's anything that compares, I need to ride it!

Home and sore. But I'd ride another 300 miles of twisties tomorrow if Ohio had anything like TN/NC.

Good trip guys! Hope to see you all again soon.

Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, today. Hopefully they got enough of this stuff today to get it out its system.

http://whnt.com/2015/06/02/hail-like-youve-never-seen-hits-pigeon-forge/

Hard to predict this kind of weather. They can say the conditions will be right for showers (which it looks like they will be), but pinpointing where they will be is impossible. Hopefully we get lucky and stay dry.

Well damn. If I know you, you're dragging knees on that.

Yeah Tim, I haven't ridden with you in well over a year. What will you be riding? The SuMo?

Looks like I got my ride and trailer spot figured out. Will be good to see you man.

Still trying to line up a spot on a trailer and a seat in a vehicle. If anybody has any room, it would be greatly appreciated. Willing to split all costs associated....

Make sure you thin the paint that you use according to the recommendations Preval gives on their packaging.

From Napa I picked up the base coat, top coat (flake), clear coat and a can of solvent. The solvent serves multiple purposes. You use it to thin the paint to the recommended thinness, but also spray it through the Preval system when you're done so that the paint doesn't dry and clog up the spray knob.

It's a very versatile system though. And I imagine you could spray just about anything through it. I'll take some pics of my fender when I get home, but it looks just as nice as it would have had I taken it to a shop. I was actually very surprised how well it turned out with my limited experience. I did a lot of research though.

Post up some pics once you get it finished!

Yeah, just the forks Jacob.

If I remember, the guy I bought the bike from said the map was downloaded. I've looked and there aren't any maps available to download that use the same exhaust and air filter, let alone being custom to my bike. So, it's not surprising that it's running better without the PC3.

Plan now is to make sure the valves are within spec and then have it dyno'd.

Yeah, haven't found anyone to ride with though. Looks like I'll be going solo.

I recommend using the Preval sprayers. I used it with DuPont auto paint I got from Napa and it matched my previous paint perfectly. For not having a gun and compressor, it looks like OEM.

Less than $10 for one aerosol can and a jar. The aerosol canisters are like $7 a piece. Took 3 to paint my seat cowl and front fender.

Planning to ride tomorrow. Probably will head down South via 669 or 668 and then hit 78 and 377. Maybe go further South dependig on interest.

I was thinking meet at the BP at 70 and 13, Buckeye Lake at 11am. Kick stands at 11:15.

Pace will be brisk but we wait for everyone at the next route changing intersection. Post up if you're interested. Supposed to be beautiful.

So, here's what I did:

Pulled the Power Commander 3. It was on when I bought the bike. Have no idea what the map is or whether it was even dyno'd. I don't think it was.

I also cleaned the throttle bodies. They didn't seem all that dirty. I mean they made a handful of q-tips pretty gross. But nothing in there seemed like sludge. Just like a fine film of what...varnished fuel?

Anyway, I took the bike out and immediately noticed that the hesitation that existed when letting out the clutch in first gear was gone. It used to almost stall out from a dead stop up to ten mph in first. That was gone...smooth acceleration. Then it ran like a bat out of hell through the midrange. Faster than the bike has ever ran. I mean I was screaming in my helmet cause the change was so significant. Then I let it get hot 5 or 6 times and it started up fine every time. Yesterday when I ran a can of sea foam through it and replicated the failure to start hot issue, I could do it every time. Today after the throttle body cleaning and PC3 removal, I could not. So it seems fixed.

Now, I don't know if it was the throttle body cleaning or a bad map on the power commander that was the problem. That's the next thing I'll have to find out by hooking the PC3 back up.

Valves still need checked because it calls for it at 14k miles. It has almost 30k miles on it and I'm pretty sure its never been done. But having never done it, I'm not sure I want to do it myself.

Nonetheless, thanks guys for the help. I'll post up what I find after I check the PC3. I'll really be amazed if it was the throttle bodies that caused such a significant change in how it's running.

I have tried cracking the throttle and that usually helps. It is fuel injected, so I shouldn't have to do that though. Right?

I have not cleaned the throttle bodies. That a good place to start?

So, I've been working on getting my bike in peak condition. For the past month or so I've noticed a couple things and I don't know if they're connected and I'm having a hard time finding the cause.

First, the bike has been hard to start when it's been warm. If I pull over and the bike is over 190 degrees, it will turn over but not fire. It acts like it wants to fire, and eventually it will. But it's hard to get it to start. If it's cold, or if it is ridden and kept cool and the bike temp is 170 or a little over, it starts just fine.

Secondly, this may or may not be connected, it seems like there's been a sight loss of midrange power. It seems like at 7k RPMs, when I get on the throttle hard, it normally would quickly wind up and go. But lately it seems like it's hesitates more at this rpm than before. There's no bogging down, like fuel related bogging. And it doesn't cut out or hesitate. Just like there's less power.

I'm planning to take off the PC3 and see what that does. My other thought is that the valves need adjusted. But I would prefer to wait until the winter and do the valves myself than to pay someone a lot to do the valves now. And I would like to know that the valves are the issue before I have them done and it still doesn't start when warm.

I've read that the temperature sensors could be the problem, as well as the starter.

Anyone have any ideas? Anything I should check?

I am definitely concerned with how cold its supposed to be in the morning. I try not to ride in anything less than 60. GSXRs don't have heated grips.  

But I'm planning to be there. If I can beat the cold, I'll see you guys in the am.

Bike is being worked on at IP. But if it's ready to ride by Saturday, I'll be there for sure.

Looks like we'll at least have a couple good hours to ride. Hopefully more.

http://i.imgur.com/r7Rty8E.jpg

I will most likely be at the Epic ride meet spot at the time of the ride, unless it's pouring down rain.

There's no way to accurately predict the location of thunderstorms 24 hours in advance.

If you cancel it today, you could very we'll be canceling a ride on a perfectly good day to ride.

This kind of weather is impossible to predict. All a forecast can tell you is the conditions are present that allow thunderstorms. But there may very well be none.

I would give a forecast app just about 0% faith when it comes to spring thunderstorms over a day in advance.

Interested in the gloves. Pics and price, please. Or at least the model name.