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Messages - windwheeler

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1
Downtown 300 / Re: Upgrade of standard brakes to ABS anyone?
« on: August 02, 2015, 02:08:42 PM »
So, are you saying, when you do the gnition switch-on, you do not see a ABS light?  Then you don't have it.

The ABS discs in the front are even on some US models looking like "it sould have ABS"  Fooled me too on some D/T before I bought one, but it misses the actual sensors and the ABS computer module, and the rear ABS disc. 

I agree with you, ABS is nice to have and and is an "insurance" especially in emergency situations (hard braking).  If you do not need it, fine, if it saves you falling down ONE TIME, then it has pad for itself more than once!

2
Downtown 300 / Re: Upgrade of standard brakes to ABS anyone?
« on: August 02, 2015, 07:55:53 AM »
If you live in the US, you definitely do not have ABS, no matter how it "looks".  Was never installed on US spec Downtowns.

But the check is very simple; when you turn your ignition on (don't start), the system goes through a self-check, and at that point a ABS warning light would need to come on.  If you do not see one, NO ABS present, if you see one, you have ABS.  This works for ANY vehicle.  (FYI: I bought an older car and nobody could tell me [asking them over the phone] if the car was equipped with ABS or not. Sent them out to the car to do this procedure and bingo, the car had ABS...


3
Downtown 300 / Re: Tire pressure on downtown 300i
« on: April 04, 2015, 10:36:14 AM »
Quote from: Going Downtown on April 04, 2015, 07:06:56 AM
Anyone tell me what the tire pressure should be on the downtown 300 i with manufacture tires? Thanks

If you wish to go "by the book" look what the owners manual states, or the sticker on your DownTown.

If you want to go with "my experience" based on many, many miles on many different motorcycles and scooters: As high as yo can "stand" and is permitted by the TIRE manufacturer, printed as "maximum load pressure" on your tire's side-wall.  However, if it says e.g. 44psi or even 50psi, my "cut-off" top pressure is 40psi, and I check often so it never falls below 36 psi. 

This conclusion for me is based on "safety", "not wanting to bend rims" on potholes, and "tire life".

That works for me very well, doing a lot of curvy roads.  If one rides mainly straight and no-pothole roads, a lower air pressure between 34-36psi works well too.  However, my experience showed over the years, in general, higher air pressure (for street use, not racing) has technical advantages and is safer.

4
Downtown 300 / Re: Upgrade of standard brakes to ABS anyone?
« on: April 04, 2015, 10:18:25 AM »
Quote from: ktienation on April 03, 2015, 11:32:25 AM
If you are so experienced you know u wont lock the wheel ABS wont bother you. This is due to the fact, that ABS starts to work not earlier than a wheel gets blocked. Therefore, with enough skill You can use a bike equipped with ABS without ever using it. However, ICE it will be there and it WILL save your as.
Peter

Well said Peter, and also thanks Mrbios. Yes, it is a "sort of "INSURANCE", if one never needs it, then it is great. IF it saves your butt just ONE TIME, it is great too!

I actually agree with AMAC that I may be a "higher risk rider"; HOWEVER, it also depends WHERE one is living and riding. Flat-land, mostly straight roads Florida, or Mountains of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.  I have done days where I re-calculated that I rode 1000++ curves in ONE DAY, with elevation changes constantly up and down between from 1000 to 5000 feet  (300- to 1500 meters). My rear tires due to the constant acceleration and deceleration lasted at best  3000 miles.  So if I look statistically all the curves I drove, it is a BUNCH more risk ust due to the roads and its conditions.

I had one accident due to sand on the road before a curve, on a NON ABS bike.  I bought a BMW R1100GS-ABS in 1996 and drove the heck and fast out of it. Scary looking back, but I was younger, but, I had NO lay down, whatsoever!  I bought a 2000 Kawasaki Concours for touring after that and one day at 35mph I had a very unexpected situation on a straight road that caught me totally by surprise; I locked up the front wheel up in a panic situation and went instantly down. The ABS that would have saved my butt and bike right there. I was forever "healed" after that.

So, as Peter said, if one is skilled enough in breaking the little electronic brain of the  ABS will most likely never kick in.  BUT, there are road conditions, situations, and "Adrenaline" which are wild cards, and THAT will get the even most experienced rider.


5
Downtown 300 / Re: Upgrade of standard brakes to ABS anyone?
« on: March 30, 2015, 03:03:56 AM »
Quote from: AMAC1680 on March 30, 2015, 02:29:01 AM
You're going to tell me not to touch the hot burner? Really....

What a pompous fellow you are. You have a full time job worrying about yourself ....

AMAC , It seems you rather bash the messenger, than to listen objectively to factual advantages.   You will have to deal with your own decision if it was right or wrong when the day may come, not I...

To everybody else: I demonstrated with a real life story above a comparison with and without ABS.  I have  shown the same facts with the link of a YouTube video through an independent source. 
The intention was to "help" understand the advantage(s) of ABS, not to criticize people. My buddy with the Suzuki V-Strom learned it the "hard way" as we say, he waved his buddy off (in this case me) just to have "bad luck" two years later, after 40+ years "careful" riding, without previous accidents...  That's all.




6
Downtown 300 / Re: Upgrade of standard brakes to ABS anyone?
« on: March 30, 2015, 02:03:59 AM »
Quote from: AMAC1680 on March 29, 2015, 04:20:32 PM
I disagree.
I happy that you're happy with it. Your real world experiance has little bearing on mine. As far as stories of how ABS would have saved your friend from the slide, well that's just theory. I could say that in a panic , short stop the ABS MAY HAVE, notice I said may have, increased the stopping distance and allowed for a tail end crash. Just theory.

Be Big,
AMAC

There is no guarantee on anything, but yes, the emergency stop situation with a locked up front wheel he was in (and I was in before) makes it a 99.9% sure "go downer". Whatever your "opinion" is...  He has a different opinion NOW, AFTER the fact, since it HURT his body AND in his VALET! Seems the disbelieve on ABS is similar to kids that one tries to tell "Don't touch that hot burner!" and they will have to experience it themselves to get "wiser"...
 
FYI: See the following YouTube link with comparison on KYMCO's with professional riders.  It's in Spanish, even if you turn off the tone you "should" get the message loud and clear.


7
Downtown 300 / Re: Upgrade of standard brakes to ABS anyone?
« on: March 29, 2015, 02:05:27 PM »
Quote from: zombie on December 13, 2014, 11:28:46 PM
What's ABS?

ABS = "A  Butt  Saver"   (Anti Blockier System, developed by Mercedes)

If it saves your butt ONE time from going down, you SAVED yourself from injuries, and usually good damage on the bike/scooter.  How much for the ABS if factory installed?  About $500-700.  How much to fix your plastic and maybe broken bones?  Let me show you..

Told my friend (about 62) to buy a ABS V-Strom.  Nooo, the guy has money but is is too cheap: "don't need it" argument "have been riding for more than 40 years without ABS". 
Two years later he goes down with the bike, riding a straight line, has to break hard because of a quick stop situation, hits a sandy patch on the road, and WHoosh; front wheel locks up, he wipes out... NO CHANCE of recovery. 

I GUARANTEE you guys, with ABS he would NOT HAVE BEEN DOWN.  Been there, done that, both ways with and without ABS. 
Repair cost of his V-Strom: $3,5000. 
His good Motorcycle clothing torn up: $400.
Out of work for 1 1/2 weeks.  (medical bills: insurance)

After about 200,000 MILES on 2-wheelers,  riding often (and still) very hard, I have "good real life-crash experience". I believe firmly in ABS as it did save my butt about 3 times since I have it, once "two up", which is even worse if you go down and (you) injure your passenger/partner.   

A pity that Kymco and some others have not integrated ABS as a "standard feature" in its higher-end scooters; ANY bike that costs more than $4000 new should have ABS as a standard.  PERIOD.


8
Downtown 300 / Re: no speedometer
« on: March 26, 2015, 10:46:01 PM »
Quote from: nvaccariello on March 26, 2015, 08:46:25 PM
No go... Unfortunately did not work.  Any other suggestions would be awesome.  As long as nothing else can go wrong from that I'm cool. My GPS speedo is nice.  Thank you!

Try once more, just simply leave it disconnected from the battery over-night....

9
Downtown 300 / Re: no speedometer
« on: March 26, 2015, 10:42:35 PM »
Quote from: souzamoto on March 26, 2015, 03:34:31 AM
Seriously? "draining the system"? You might as well stand on your head and sing the kum-ba-ya

Draining the system "totally" (meaning ZERO voltage in the system) many times causes that  the computer which has now absolutely no "garbage information" to revert back to original Factory settings. 

So, to counter your comparison, it's a bit more than just standing on your head, its DRAINING ALL YOUR BLOOD man, and now you'r DEAD, and need to completely re-boot to come back to life, with the "makers settings"...!

10
Downtown 300 / Re: no speedometer
« on: March 26, 2015, 01:01:49 AM »
Sounds like an "electronic glitch" (bug developed) due to the bad battery with weird voltage.

When you do the following, MAKE SURE your battery voltage is not below 12.6V and is fully charged.

Here is what "I" would do:
  • turn ignition OFF
  • disconnect positive battery cable and make sure it is not touching anything after that, and that it is "suspended in the "air"" so to speak.
  • turn the ignition ON and leave it ON! (of course, nothing happens; we are draining the system)
  • squeeze brake lever(s) for about 20 seconds
  • put positive cable over on negative cable for a few seconds (2-5 secs); this will drain every remaining Milli-volt out that is still in the system
  • suspend positive battery cable again in the air, not touching anything.
  • turn off ignition NOW; make SURE to turn off...
  • reconnect positive battery cable to battery
  • turn on ignition, let fully go though "initiation/control cycle" for its required time
  • start the engine and go for a ride; hopefully all is reset and works properly again

That's what I would do to my scoot. Let us know if it worked....

11
Downtown 300 / Re: Downtown 300i front end wobble
« on: March 24, 2015, 11:57:17 AM »
Quote from: mrbios on March 24, 2015, 06:34:30 AM
I for my BMW we can't install the tires you just bought from us because we don't sell bmw.  Why didn't anyone tell me that before I bought the tires? AND you sold and installed the tires that I'm currently replacing!  They recanted and agreed to install them.  When I install these Michelin's I might just get the front balanced.

Mrbios, this seems to be quite a lousy dealer how he treated you, but we have good and bad ones in the country, so, it is fortunately not the standard.  Most good dealers would not do that to a customer what you experienced.

I understand wheels and tires very well due to my business background.  There are unfortunately only very few shops (motorcycle) that do understand how to counter "steering wobble" on the electronic balancer. A static balancer can not do this, it can ONLY give a regular balance, which does not address the wobble problem. The wobble has often to do with the tire construction itself and then the final dynamic balance, if you want to do the best to remove a handle bar wobble. Some can not be resolved, and for example Kawasaki installed steering dampers to resolve this problem already on their 70's motorcycles, and steering dampers are common on many brand name sport bikes today.

Some motorcycles/scooters have much less issues than others, depends on rake and general front-end geometry; and then there is the possibility of "wear" of the steering head bearing that is another factor with aging bikes. 

Summary: A good quality front tire "helps to minimize" the problem in the first place, but it is not the only solution to  a wobble problem; it's many factors, as described above.

12
Downtown 300 / Re: Downtown 300i front end wobble
« on: March 24, 2015, 02:14:31 AM »
It amazes me how tire threads and "oil threads" are similar:  Never ending personal "opinions".
 
I agree that the Michelin tires are "quite good" (but, NOT perfect at all either), and I disagree that the Kenda tires are that bad to have to be taken off after 400 miles. That's "personal preference", not more.

I went with all my motorcycles and scooters through about 200 tires so far, 65% of that are rear tires, 35% front. 
I had only two tires that I absolutely hated, or, did a very lousey performance (wear), and I am not naming the brands, because it was apparently a "screwed up model", or production run of a tire they produced. Actually one manufacturer gave me a FREE new "other tire", (different model) and it was fine. 

So, do not be totally discouraged by lower price in regards to grip, however "usually" the more expensive tires do have less issues with "wobble" as they are more precisely manufactured (not only top to bottom = "static balance", but also side-to-side evenness = dynamic balance = related to handlebar shake, exactly what we are discussing here.  Right?!

So, leaving all personal "Opinions" behind, IF your local scooter/motorcycle shop has an electronic balancer where they see the "dynamic values" and also can correct them, then you should work with them all the way through rather than buying "cheap" some grey market second/third quality tire on-line....  You (can quite often) get what you payed for, good or bad... either way.

13
Downtown 300 / Re: anyone else's butt go numb while riding?
« on: March 22, 2015, 03:44:25 AM »
Quote from: Stig on March 21, 2015, 01:08:06 PM
On the beaded seat of a scooter you will not become a pedestrian if you use the brakes too hard?
I know it's not a good idea to wax or oil your scooter seat so you don't slip about ....but sitting on marbles is a good idea???
Maybe I don't understand how this thing works.
Stig
No problem with slipping on beads.  You need more think like iti is a "massager".

14
Grandvista 250 / Re: Rear Brake/ too fat?
« on: March 21, 2015, 12:12:13 PM »
Very good point Mrbios, air in the line would explain the spongy feeling he has.  Bleeding is always best do be done with a "helper" to watch enough is going in, and "no air" is finally coming out... Or, one has this "auto bleeder" that works on suction (great for cars), the only thing for motorcycles they suck through the brake fluid like the Danube runs down stream...   ;D

15
Grandvista 250 / Re: Rear Brake/ too fat?
« on: March 20, 2015, 01:59:05 PM »
Quote from: BettinANDlosing on March 19, 2015, 07:52:03 PM
I think they replaced the wrong part, sounds more like a bad caliper not master cylinder. The breaks on that bike should be rock solid. I drive VERY aggressively and have NEVER EVER overheated my brakes, and I drive the Bet And Win, pretty much the same bike as yours.

Bet&Lose is right, they did "something" wrong. Should be rock solid lever and throw you off the bike with a high or low side when the rear-wheel locks up...   ;D 

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