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Finally Starting to Dig In....

aplunkett6789

aplunkett6789

Guest
Guest
Well, I've been on COG for a week, and I think I've already been bitten by the Connie bug.

Got the bike registered, noticed the chain is clacking like nothing I've ever heard before, ordered an APE manual tensioner - I'll install that this weekend and hope it does the trick.

Love the bike, but don't like the riding position - wrists go numb quickly and it feels too much like my old R6 for my liking. Got Murph's lowering foot pegs (WORLD of difference), and will purchase a Storz adapter and some Daytona bars this weekend from Roger (bowtie39), and hopefully that'll put me in a little more natural riding position.

A few concerns:

1. Bike has 46k, and previous owner never did anything to the carbs other than use premium fuel and use additives to store it. This winter, I'll be removing them and having SISF clean them, install overflow tubes, new jets, etc, but for now, money is tight. Would it be a smart idea to install a manual petcock (I'm thinking the little plastic Briggs & Stratton in-line one) in the meantime? I also plan to check (and probably rebuild, just to be safe) the petcock this winter, along with new fuel lines as well.

2. When I do the APE tensioner, how do I check if the timing chain is stretched too much and needs replacement? If that's the case, it'll be getting the exhaust cam timing upgrade (or whatever it's called) this winter as well when the chain is replaced (provided it doesn't need it immediately - fingers crossed as it's my only mode of transportation right now).

3. My throttle sticks. Gonna tear is apart this weekend and see if the cables need to be lubed, the grips are sticking, or what - there's no "snap-back," and it's incredibly annoying (not to mention potentially dangerous). Hoping it's cable-related and not carburetor-related!

4. The bike rides HARD. I don't know if the suspension needs to/can be tweaked, but, while it's stable and comfortable, by golly it feels spine-shattering over bumps! There's almost no rebound - it feels like there's no suspension at all sometimes! I'd really love for one of the other guys in my area to take it for a ride and tell me their thoughts, or (crazy, I know) let me ride theirs and compare. I rode another C10 when I was deciding on a bike that had 10k and was in MINT condition, but I can't remember how it felt - I was focusing on keeping the bike upright - it was so much bigger than my little 'Zuki GS650. I also notice when braking there's a lot of "feeling" in the front end - don't know if that's because of the stainless braided lines, or if there's fork/headset issues that need addressing... yeah.

5. The bike has heated grips, which I like, but I don't like the wires coming off of them. I'm thinking of getting rid of them, but I'm still torn. Anyone wanna convince me either way?

6. Has there been anyone who's done a gear position indicator on these bikes? One thing I miss for sure.

I'm sure most of these questions can be answered via the forum, but I'm a n00b and am having trouble actually finding anything! Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read the long post, everyone!
 
Have u checked the rear shock.to see how much air pressure its holding?

Definitely lube the throttle cables, just curious if it might have a throttlemiester lock on it. It could be the throttle sleeve itself is so gunked up its restricting the throttle return.

How often are u planning on riding in the ccccold of the northeast? That would be my rational for.keeping or ditching the heated grips..
 
I've just gone through the same basic process with my 95 which sounds to have a similar history as your bike. Kept clean and tidy with oil changes but little else. I'll put in my .02 USD worth, but know that there are far more knowledgeable people on the forum than I, so this may get overridden by smarter folk.

1. Adding the overflow tubes was one of the first things I did. Figured it was insurance. Realistically, It's made it this far so maybe you are ok for a few months. Maybe the petcock rebuild would be a good (and quick) first step.

2. The stock tensioner in mine was stuck and just did the APE manual tensioner install. I had the same concern, but mine wasn't even halfway through the travel of the stock part. Sometimes I think too much and act too little. :) Just install it.

4. The stock suspension on mine seems OK. Certainly better than my Sportster - lol. Check everything over, lube the rear linkage and back off on the preload perhaps.

5. Keep the grips. When you need them, they will be there. Even if you don't set out intentionally to be riding a long time in cold weather, if you do find yourself getting really cold, the grips might save your ride, or at least let you keep going. Cold can sneak up on you and now that you have a touring bike, you might stretch things a bit.

6. I've only had one bike out of a dozen that had a gear indicator (a GT380). I wouldn't bother with adding one, just shift up and down as needed. These motors are pretty flexible, so hard to get it too wrong.

One last thing is to check the valve clearance. The original owner of my 95 did the adjustments at 600 and 8000 miles, then the second owner didn't bother. By the time I opened it up at 40K two exhaust valves were under two thou. Had I waited too long, could have burned some valves.
 
Konehead34 said:
Have u checked the rear shock.to see how much air pressure its holding?

Definitely lube the throttle cables, just curious if it might have a throttlemiester lock on it. It could be the throttle sleeve itself is so gunked up its restricting the throttle return.

How often are u planning on riding in the ccccold of the northeast? That would be my rational for.keeping or ditching the heated grips.
Click to expand...
I haven't checked the rear shock - I didn't even know it was an air shock! I'll have to find info on how to do that.

I'm going to try to lube the cables this weekend... I don't think it has a throttle lock b/c the P.O. used the CAT o-ring as "cruise control."

And yeah, heated grips are nice... I'm the type of guy to ride as often as I can, so maybe I just keep them and deal with the ugly wires coming off the grips.
 
mattmagee3096 said:
I've just gone through the same basic process with my 95 which sounds to have a similar history as your bike. Kept clean and tidy with oil changes but little else. I'll put in my .02 USD worth, but know that there are far more knowledgeable people on the forum than I, so this may get overridden by smarter folk.

1. Adding the overflow tubes was one of the first things I did. Figured it was insurance. Realistically, It's made it this far so maybe you are ok for a few months. Maybe the petcock rebuild would be a good (and quick) first step.

2. The stock tensioner in mine was stuck and just did the APE manual tensioner install. I had the same concern, but mine wasn't even halfway through the travel of the stock part. Sometimes I think too much and act too little. :) Just install it.

4. The stock suspension on mine seems OK. Certainly better than my Sportster - lol. Check everything over, lube the rear linkage and back off on the preload perhaps.

5. Keep the grips. When you need them, they will be there. Even if you don't set out intentionally to be riding a long time in cold weather, if you do find yourself getting really cold, the grips might save your ride, or at least let you keep going. Cold can sneak up on you and now that you have a touring bike, you might stretch things a bit.

6. I've only had one bike out of a dozen that had a gear indicator (a GT380). I wouldn't bother with adding one, just shift up and down as needed. These motors are pretty flexible, so hard to get it too wrong.

One last thing is to check the valve clearance. The original owner of my 95 did the adjustments at 600 and 8000 miles, then the second owner didn't bother. By the time I opened it up at 40K two exhaust valves were under two thou. Had I waited too long, could have burned some valves.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips (and consolation). One thing the previous owner did was not skimp on "regular" services. Valves were adjusted every 8k miles - it'll be coming up on it again in 2,500 more miles. And yeah, the gear shift is probably not needed. I think I'm still just getting used to having a sixth gear, and I'm surprised when it feels like I have to downshift 51,000 times per stop. As I become more comfortable on the bike I'm sure that'll wear away.

I'll look into the suspension stuff.

Thanks for all the help!
 
Good to hear that the valves were attended to. I've even seen cars that went to the scrapyard because valve adjustments were ignored and I'm constantly hearing things like "the valves are quiet so they're OK", which is dead wrong.

As far as downshifting, just don't stop, keep going! :) Problem solved.
 
3) Check that you have some slack on the throttle, in other words there should be some freeplay when you twist the throttle before it pulls the cable, no freeplay will have the push and pull cables fighting and not allow the proper snapback. Easy fix at the carb bank to adjust some cable slack. If you dont have the freeplay post back and we will find you the actual adjustment procedure, I'm thinking the pull cable has the locknut that gives you the adjustment at the carb bank.

6) I think someone on here tried it and I think there was mixed results, if you read some reviews on these gear indicators you will see that sometimes they miss a shift and then mis-read what gear your in, you'll get used to not having the gear indicator. The hardest to get over is on the highway when you look for 7th gear. Coming to a light you should be downshifting down til you get to 2nd or at least 3rd gear and then shifting down with the clutch handle in so that your alaways in a good gear for a fast get out of the way in case a hazardous situation arises.
 
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