Tell-On-Yourself Thread

Great timing to find this thread... I just had the best "DOH" moment...

Went I bought my Maxim in 2006, I bought it from a woman who had owned the bike since buying it in 1982. She gave me the run down of the bike at the time... HP, torque, MPG, etc etc. She told me that she had the engine reworked to go faster, etc, but "don't get your hopes up too much...its just a SOHC." I admit, I didnt know much then, so I took that as gospel.

Years later; after working on the bike, staring at it, learning more about motors, and staring at it; a thought dawns on me. That head looks more like its shaped for DOHC... Now I go and look it up... and guess what...(unless I am much mistaken...doubtful...) the Maxim that I have owned and lived with thinking it was SOHC, is in truth DOHC.

*smacks head*
 
Great timing to find this thread... I just had the best "DOH" moment...
Went I bought my Maxim in 2006, I bought it from a woman who had owned the bike since buying it in 1982. She gave me the run down of the bike at the time... HP, torque, MPG, etc etc. She told me that she had the engine reworked to go faster, etc, but "don't get your hopes up too much...its just a SOHC." I admit, I didnt know much then, so I took that as gospel.
Years later; after working on the bike, staring at it, learning more about motors, and staring at it; a thought dawns on me. That head looks more like its shaped for DOHC... Now I go and look it up... and guess what...(unless I am much mistaken...doubtful...) the Maxim that I have owned and lived with thinking it was SOHC, is in truth DOHC. *smacks head*
My theory is that naming the 400 Maxim and Seca exactly the same as the classic sohc was an internal April Fools' Joke played on the Marketing Division at Yamaha by the Engineering Dept. But the joke accidentally got out to the motorcycle press.
Yamaha was too embarrassed to admit that the nomenclature started out as a joke, so it took "ownership" of the idea.
To this day no one at Yamaha will admit to it as no one wants to have to commit harakiri. :shootme:
 
I am a mechanic for a living - so mistakes are few and far between compared to how much time I spend with a wrench in my hand - but by the same argument - I've made hundreds if not thousands of stupid mistakes in my life!

In my early college years was probably the stupidest mistake I made- and it was not to my own bike - it was to a buddy of mine's BEAUTIFUL BMW R100gspd that he had just purchased about 6 months prior. We went on a west coast tour together, me on my k75, him on his maiden voyage on his vintage r100gs.

After the tour, he brought it over to my house for a "paint party" - the PO dropped the bike in front of him when he bought it (DOH!), and scratched up the crash bar. I had scratched my crash bar while on tour - the heavy load + slippery left grip (which I had a replacement in my garage waiting....:laugh:) lead me to drop it on the right side, scratching up the crash bar as well.

We both took off our crash bars to sand and paint - and since he's much slower on the tools, I went ahead and pulled my tank and seat off and begun a basic tune w/ fluid change. Not much later after we got a couple coats on the bars, My buddy's girlfriend comes to pick him up, both our crash bars still wet with paint, and my bike pretty much half way done. I pushed the two bikes into the garage and washed up - noticing my buddy left his keys in the ignition.

Later that night I had been invited to a house party across town - and not having another mode of transportation, I decided I would take my buddy's r100 to the house party (he'd never know). What a bike!:bike:

I parked the bike behind the host's truck in the driveway, and went and had a merry time. That night, I met a lovely girl who lived just around the corner, and one thing lead to another, and we went back to her place - I was too preoccupied and left my buddy's bike behind the host's truck - being single is dangerous I tell you!

The next morning I woke up to a phone call - it was the host of the party from last night. In an angry drunken fit, the girlfriend of the host tried to drive his truck away, but didn't make it too far - she knocked the r100gs:doh: down on the ground on the right side.

If you know anything about BMW boxer bikes, you know what hits the ground first if you don't have a crash bar:banghead:

When I made it around the corner, the bike was still on the ground with the truck's bed overhanging the bottom half of the bike. It was resting in a 20 foot circle of oil (not a good sign). All said and done, the valve cover and jug cracked:mad:

The best news: The host's home owner's insurance payed for the bike after I payed the $500 deductible.

The bad news: It took me and my buddy almost 3 years to replace his r100gs, and our friendship suffered because of it.:(
 
One day I tried to pull my bike out of the garage but after about a meter (3 feet) it stopped and it was not possible to draw it any further backwards. After about an hour of pulling and stupidly looking at the bike I found this:



main.php


I must have dropped the little nut the week before and it just did not fit between the engine sprocket and the chain.

@ Tombo: bad story, let me guess, you never saw the girl again:(
 
Yesterday leaving the bike shop, started the bike and it went straight to 5000rpm. Switched it off immediately, check throttle cable, smell for overfuelling, make sure choke is off. Tried again, same thing.

Took me three goes before I realised that the choke was pushed all the way on instead of off. (choke on the left bar and all the writing has rubbed off with age)
 
Well when i first got my bike I was using my front brakes too much.Part of my road is gravel so I learned the hard way dont use front brakes on gravel.I dumped the bike and ripped of huge chunks of meat off my knees.I bought I set of knee pads after that.The 2cnd time the brakes got hot due to sticking caliper,once again as I was entering the gravel road it locked up.I didnt get hurt that time.I have sinced removed the brake pads and Im looking into rebuilding my caliper.
 
... Part of my road is gravel so I learned the hard way dont use front brakes on gravel. I dumped the bike and ripped of huge chunks of meat off my knees. I bought I set of knee pads after that...
Glad you didn't break anything on the important machine (your body) - hope you recovered well. Pads are a good idea - I bought used ICON riding pants with some armour and it came in handy last fall. After a 36 year hiatus, I started up again with an sr250.
I practised daily on paved secondary roads and residential streets and was feeling pretty sure of myself. Then one day, I reversed my usual route thinking it would be nice to see everything from the opposite direction. I made a left into a small street I had previously only turned out of and was admiring the new view instead of looking at the road in front. Instead of cutting the corner on the clear track people use when exiting, I ran right over that little triangle of sand and pea-gravel in the middle. Even at less than 5 mph, I went from admiring the view to laying on the ground in an instant.
No slow motion sequence, no time to think of and consider alternatives - just boom, laying on the ground. :wtf:
 
Yeah good thing is I didnt hurt the bike the skin grew back after a couple of weeks.I dont use the pads much especialy in summer heat..I see people riding in shorts and flip flops I thing WTF are they thinking?One serious or even a minor spill they are going to rip their toes off!Not to mention rip their knee caps to pieces.:wtf::yikes:
 
Yeah good thing is I didnt hurt the bike the skin grew back after a couple of weeks.I dont use the pads much especialy in summer heat..I see people riding in shorts and flip flops I thing WTF are they thinking?One serious or even a minor spill they are going to rip their toes off!Not to mention rip their knee caps to pieces.:wtf::yikes:
You are braver than I. I've never ridden without the ICON pants, full finger leather riding gloves, H-D motorcycle boots and a full leather jacket - even on the hottest summer days. Well, maybe not - I actually didn't ride on a few days because it was too hot :laugh:
Glad to hear your bike wasn't broken. When I hit the pea gravel, I scratched a mirror and turn-signal (luckily an aftermarket rubbery one which didn't smash), and bent the shifter which gouged a chunk out of the engine casing. It would have been nice to install all new parts but the pipe wrench and pliers worked fine. :rolleyes:
Used a blob of "GOOP" to fill the gouge in the casing and put another blob on the back side of the shifter. I figured if it happened again, it would be good to have a rubber cushion to take the hit so I wouldn't have to buy a new casing. Did the same thing on the back side edges of my xs400 pedals too, but so far it hasn't been put to the test.
 
You are braver than I. I've never ridden without the ICON pants, full finger leather riding gloves, H-D motorcycle boots and a full leather jacket - even on the hottest summer days. Well, maybe not - I actually didn't ride on a few days because it was too hot :laugh:
Glad to hear your bike wasn't broken. When I hit the pea gravel, I scratched a mirror and turn-signal (luckily an aftermarket rubbery one which didn't smash), and bent the shifter which gouged a chunk out of the engine casing. It would have been nice to install all new parts but the pipe wrench and pliers worked fine. :rolleyes:
Used a blob of "GOOP" to fill the gouge in the casing and put another blob on the back side of the shifter. I figured if it happened again, it would be good to have a rubber cushion to take the hit so I wouldn't have to buy a new casing. Did the same thing on the back side edges of my xs400 pedals too, but so far it hasn't been put to the test.

If I could afford it I wear full body amor with an aircondition system LOL
 
So aftr sitting over a week mybattery lost its charge, i had to move the bike back about 3ft to reach the charger.. when i tried pushing it back onto the service stand i lost balance and dropped the bike onto the floor, broke my rear signal, mirror, and brake pedal.. ive only had my bike about a week never rode it yet and already caused about $50 worthof damage to it.. though im extremely pissed at myself, i know to start bulking up a bit so i have the mass to maneuver it, so its off to mikesxs.net for me for new parts.:banghead:
 
Well most of you probaly read this already but I sevrely damaged my gas tank.It had some dents in it that werent bad and didnt have any creases in them.So I ready up on how to do some body work on dent repair for motorcycle gas tanks.One of the methods it mentioned not to do was use air pressure.I guess I didnt comprehend that part very well or had to see for myself what it would do.So I did,it took and made the part of the tank that rest on the frame completely expand out like a balloon.It actualy made the whole tank blow up like a balloon.One of our members came up with a fantastic description "Frankentank":laugh:So after an hour or so of beating the bottom of the tank back into shape and giving it a strong bear hug squeezing together so the mounts would fit on the frame.In the process I dented up the top side of the tank and where one of the dents came back into shape it punctured the tank.I thought about fixing it but bought another one to replace it.Lesson learned if you read something that tells you specificaly DO NOT USE THIS METHOD to try and fixdents theres good reason for it.
 
you know the jumps the MX boys do? I did that in the 70's with a 1967 YDS250cc street twin, had a place where we all used to ride trails and had been out of town for a while so going out to ride I turn off the highway and go blasting up this trail that ran along the edge of a field .... DAMN the framer had put in terraces ... launched that no suspension pig (325lbs.) at least 15 feet above the ground, landing was not good but rode it out, had to pull grass and dirt out of the frame rails under the engine afterward
 
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Reading this has made me think of one. I am new to this site and have become an avid XS fan. A friend gave me a 1979 XS 400, which he was going to restore but due to retirement to his farm, didnt have the inclination to complete. I enquired, and he gave it to me as it was going to a good home. I started the full blown resto on her, but due to it not being started in 6 years, I needed to give her a road test to ascertain what was going on. It took me 2 days to remove the paste from the master cyls, free and check clutch, strip and build the carbies and a new battery. Pushed the carbies and air filters on, checked brakes and clutch, fired on the 3rd attempt. I got a bit excited and thought, the wife is not home, lets just give her a little squirt around the block.She is running smooth for a 6 year sleep. Responsive, brakes are lethal, happy man. Coming home,down hill, one gives her a kick in the guts for acceleration, backed off, backfired 3 or 4 times, then blew both my air filter boxes with new filters inside clean off the bike. In my haste and wisdom, one forgot to put the clamps on my intake system, nor the box securing straps. I made the U-turn just in time to see an F-100 wipe them both out. Dust and plastic spectacular......As it turns out, there are not many of these babies in Australia now, so it's pods for me. Other than that, I have a very sound bike. I have learned a lot from this site and you people. For that, I thank you all.
 
Yeah I have no regrets about joining up here,good people with alot of good info to share with us Newb`s.I have learned a ton since I have been here.Most people have to pay for the kinda of info we learn from being a member on this site and we get it for free.I offer my good advice when i can and inreturn it comes back.Thats what i like you give a little and get twice as much back.I have only one irk and thats the new members that join ,have a problem,get the advice they need and then they are gone.Thats the internet I guess.
 
Tested my battery voltage one day recently using my voltmeter, one end has an alligator clip on it. I have two lead ends that stick up from the battery post to make voltage reading easier. I just sit the needles in the lead ends and work on the bike.

Well, I closed the seat up and was getting ready to start the bike. As I sat down I noticed some light below the bike, almost like a small flashlight aimed at my right foot. I thought it might be from a car going up the street. Then I saw the light again...still no car to cause it. The third time I saw the light I dismounted the bike and saw smoke coming from under the seat, and light, and SMOKE!

The alligator clip had slipped off the probe and was sticking up off the battery, the other lead was touching the seat pan, and the spring in the seat pan had turned into a heater element. It was so hot the vinyl seat cover was on fire! A small flame, I blew it out, the alligator clip was removed, and the light up/heated seat was no more!

Easily the weirdest thing I've experienced. If it had happened during the day my ass would have been on fire before I noticed!
 
Picture this 6'4" 230 lbs on a tiny little Yamaha LS2 doing around 60 down hill with a tail wind hunched over the tank like speed racer. I hit the bottom of that hill just flying and if the engine didn't stall for another 300 feet I think I might have been able to coast the next 3/4 miles to my garage before any of the neighbors had a chance to make fun of me. I ended up pushing it back home tail and pride flapping in the breeze for all to see. All after bragging about how good it was running with my mechanical expertise. That'll teach me to brag. Oh It stalled because the tank vent was plugged and was starving for gas.:bike::bike::yikes::banghead::doh:
 
I just read somewhere that my indicator switch isn't supposed to be pushed in, but pushed down to cancel my turn signals. Only took me about 3 months and A LOT of frustration every time my signal didn't want to go off (or I would just switch from left to right signaling) :banghead:

keep laughing with this thread btw :laugh: good stuff
 
I just read somewhere that my indicator switch isn't supposed to be pushed in, but pushed down to cancel my turn signals. Only took me about 3 months and A LOT of frustration every time my signal didn't want to go off (or I would just switch from left to right signaling) :banghead:

keep laughing with this thread btw :laugh: good stuff

Holy f*cking shit are you serious? I've always done the same. I didn't know it pushed down!
 
Holy f*cking shit are you serious? I've always done the same. I didn't know it pushed down!

hahaha :laugh: yea I felt like the stupidest person in the world when I found out

Don't know if it's also for SOHC models, but on the DOHC this definitely works

can't believe this is so hard, glad I'm not the only one though
 
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