Hello from a new rider in Berkeley, CA

[SLOAero]

Okay-finally got a bike! Woohoo!

Not to get back to lurking... :hide:

[Rookie Rider]

N.Y.C. says, wuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzuuuuuppp ??

[bpdchief]

Welcome from sunny Florida

[SLOAero]

Oh goddamnitall. Have I got a story for everyone.

Here's the situation - brief version:

Guy sold me a bike that was dry on oil (we'll get to how I overlooked that later) and I rode it to my parents house for 5 miles (last mile at to 60mph!) and now I'm worried I've totally hosed this bike and might be in for some serious cash.

And if you're still interested - longer version:

Yes, I know-I should've paid more attention when buying the bike and had my buddy check the oil while I got it upright. I just figured this old biker would've maintained this bike his wife was riding a little better. I asked about the oil when I saw the oil on the fins - he said they maintained the bike and everything was ready to ride - that the oil on the fins wasn't a problem in the time they'd owned it. Multiple questions/back and forth on maintenance and they said they'd taken care of it (maybe I just didn't know the exact questions to ask?). I trailered it from my parents house home (I didn't want to get on the freeway before I was comfortable) and once here I figured I'd get to finding a service manual and learning some basic bike maintenance.

Ah, so an oil change seemed easy enough. I found some 4-stroke oil at autozone, a sealed oil bucket, picked up some wenches form OSH, got back home and moved the bike from it's temporary parking spot out to the curb where I could work on it. And now - might as well check the color of the oil before I drain it. I hold the bike upright while standing on the right and try to crouch down. Weird. Oil must be clear for motorcycles. So I sit on the bike, shake it back and forth, upright it again - hold my iphone down by the window. Nothing on the video. Crap. Crap crap crap in a crappy hat.

It's about here I realize that my oil change is about to become something else entirely. Well, from here filling oil is easy. You fill up a whole liter bottle. Then you sit on the bike - shake it and then use the iphone to check the video. Oil. It's a bit low, but still. You have gooooot to be kidding me. Grab the 2nd liter, pour some in, sit on bike, check with iphone+flashlight, almost there, off bike, oil, sit, iphone, answer call, check video-ha! It's just below the F.

Okay then. So... does she still turn over? (Is it even a she? I mean, the gender association of my bike could be anything. Wonder why vehicles are always a she...) Yes! The engine starts up, eventually. Handy dandy lil' green neutral light is glowing, high beams are annoying, throttle is responsive and snappy, choke is choking... and I'm now worried if I ride this bike that the engine might still have a chance of seizing up on me.

Well. Yeah. Welcome to the forums, eh? I haven't had time to drop the bike off at any shops yet, but I've seen a couple well-reviewed places around Berkeley area on Yelp. Figured I'd check with the knowledge base here before making my next move.

Any advice? Assistance? Legal help (half-joking)?

[Rookie Rider]

Hopefully your bike is fine. You may have some metal shavings in the oil from running dry that may require 3-4 more oil changes every 100 miles at least to get it good and clean in there. Time will tell, hang out, someone with more knowledge will be here soon. Welcome to the forum, youre gonna love it here.

[SLOAero]

Yeah-keeping calm seems to be the way to go on this one, even if its difficult. If the weather gets better this afternoon I might try to ride around the neighborhood or even the 5 miles down to a repair shop-if I do I'll report back on how the bike sounds/smells/feels/looks. I'll skip the taste test.

[northsidegz]

Welcome to the forums! Others with more knowledge than me will be here soon (or you could post in the General Maintenance forum), but with what you describe, I think you're fine for now. I guess I'd be concerned with dried gaskets and the like, but those will reveal themselves when you ride and if you have leakage after the fact. I agree that you'll probably need to do more frequent oil changes for the first while. Best of luck!

[bpdchief]

Give the bike a good washing to get ALL the oil off the fins so you can see where it is coming from.
If it didn't seize on your first ride... and started after you filled it with oil, shavings in the crank may be the worst of your troubles. Good luck with that!! ALWAYS always check your oil level before starting - might not be necessary every time but it's a good habit to get into. Lube the cables, check the tire pressure. Rub your Happy Budda statue on the belly for good luck and enjoy your new ride. :rawk:

[jonathan180iq]

...But taste tests are the only way to know for sure.

It won't seize randomly.

Short of instantaneous catastrophic main bearing failure, you shouldn't have any issues. (It's just not something to worry about)
I think it was RR who mentioned doing a couple of oil changes is succession. You can also just get a big ol' magnet and slap it to the bottom of the case to draw whatever shavings might be in there away from the important bits. Just as a precaution. One addition oil change should be enough, just to ease the mind.

And, yes. Unless you are a female, or a male who has a pleasurable taste for man-sausage, all vehicles that you will ever own are female.
Period.

http://www.monster-munch.com/images/SausageMan.jpg

[SLOAero]

Gotcha - bike's a female - wish there was a better explanation than the sausage party pic, but that is pretty hilarious. And with Halloween around the corner...

So, I have heard from a number of people (fellow riders at work as well as the suuuuuper helpful community here) that a few oil changes should be necessary, with a close look for metal shavings to help assess any issues.

I had a chance to ride last night - the bike seemed to handle fine for the blocks I rode around/up/down. Forgot that hill starts kinda suck.

Here are my brief notes:
Shifting was fine - it took me a little while to get used to finding neutral - once I did I realized I'd not be doing it very often since I have a habit of rolling to a stop in first.

Braking seemed especially week in the rear, but I could still be getting used to the bike.

On some right turns around 15-20 mph the bike seemed to... i'm not sure what the word is... but the regular acceleration that you feel in a turn wasn't there-like it was trying to drop in the rear on me during the turn? Maybe I had my foot on the brake? Don't recall a similar experience during left turn-could be the right turn was sharper so something was pronounced there - this weekend when BART's parking lot is empty I'll have a good go at that.

Smell - smelled like burnt...something. Burnt oil? Leaking then burning oil? Or maybe it was the smell of exhaust and I'm so damn used to modern cars and gas stations I'd forgotten it?

Anyway - thanks everyone for your responses! I feel confident riding this bike now - can't wait to get some more slow miles on after a good cleaning/oil check.

[Rookie Rider]

Give yourself and the bike some time. You wll get to know the bike better with more riding.

[alantf]

Braking seemed especially week in the rear

I've had mine for over 5 years, & it's always felt weak to me, but, over all, the braking's ok. Remember, the front brake is responsible for around 70% of the braking. :)

[jonathan180iq]

Here are my brief notes:
Shifting was fine - it took me a little while to get used to finding neutral - once I did I realized I'd not be doing it very often since I have a habit of rolling to a stop in first.

Braking seemed especially week in the rear, but I could still be getting used to the bike.

On some right turns around 15-20 mph the bike seemed to... i'm not sure what the word is... but the regular acceleration that you feel in a turn wasn't there-like it was trying to drop in the rear on me during the turn? Maybe I had my foot on the brake? Don't recall a similar experience during left turn-could be the right turn was sharper so something was pronounced there - this weekend when BART's parking lot is empty I'll have a good go at that.

Smell - smelled like burnt...something. Burnt oil? Leaking then burning oil? Or maybe it was the smell of exhaust and I'm so damn used to modern cars and gas stations I'd forgotten it?

Anyway - thanks everyone for your responses! I feel confident riding this bike now - can't wait to get some more slow miles on after a good cleaning/oil check.

Shifting being nice and smooth is a good thing. I'm sure you know the crankcase and the gearbox share the only lubricant that the bike has. Anything that was in the oil, that might be enough to damage engine internals, in my humble opinion, would begin to show symptoms in the finely teethed gearing before it would in the more loosely designed motor itself.

The rear brake blows. I only ever used it when I needed to brake quickly or to lightly shave some MPH during a turn. (That takes experience by the way. Jamming your foot down on the rear can be deadly mid-turn, even with a crap brake.)


Were you giving it enough throttle, during those low turns? I mean, it's possible that you just weren't moving fast enough. There is very good scientific explanation for this but I don't have the vocabulary for it. The bike weights nearly 400 pounds. If you aren't moving at a decent clip where momentum offsets gravity, then it's going to fall over. Same reason bicycles can't stand up while sitting still and you will fall off of a wave runner if you ever stop moving. Think gyroscope. - If you are leaning, maybe too much, and not moving fast enough, thus creating enough counter force, it will feel like the bike wants to fall into the inside of the turn.

If it's not that, then you need to look at wheel balance, tire pressure, and rear wheel alignment. Those are all things that you can check on your own, with the help of this dandy little forum.

If you have the slight head leak, with brown oily residue, like I think 90% of GZ owners have, then you shouldn't be smelling that bit of oil burning off. If this is your first ride after an oil change, you most definitely got some oil on the exhaust at some point. Give that time to cook off and dissipate before we start worrying about bigger problems. - Now, that being said, these things, after a certain age, seem prone to developing an exhaust leak on the left (driver side US) header between the flange and the gasket. Oxidation or something is rapid right there and the little gasket starts to fail with age. The flange that screws the headers tight also works itself loose. It's something that you can smell. Just make sure it's snug. Or maybe, right after cranking the bike, use the back side of the your hand (the sensitive bit between the middle knuckle and finger tip knuckle) you see if you can feel puffs of air seeping out there. A feather works too.