Another update.

My clutch adjuster screw got replaced (had to go to a specialty bolt shop to get the exact bolt, but at least I didn't have to craft it myself) and reset.  I adjusted the clutch cable afterward to have the proper amount of freeplay, as directed in the Haynes manual.

My battery problem ended up being a bad cell in the battery.  I charged it overnight and still had the same problem in the morning, so I took the battery in to a battery shop to get tested.  I opted to buy a new battery online since the shop didn't have anything comparable to my old battery, and it was only going to cost me an extra $2 and 2 days waiting time to get the exact same thing, so I decided to do that instead.  Having a maintenance-free battery was totally worth the extra cost in this case.

My test drives seem to have consistent performance at low speeds, but acceleration and top speed are still suffering somewhat.  I'm at a point where I can get around in normal city traffic, but I can't rely on acceleration or freeway speeds to be there when I need them.  After just a few miles and back home again, I noticed that my clutch lever was starting to loosen a bit; not as bad as the last test drive before I replaced that adjustment screw though...  I feel like I must not be getting that down tight enough, and I'm guessing it's because it's somewhat spring-loaded...I probably need to take more care to be certain it's as tight as it should be.  And, just to be sure I'm doing it right, these are the steps I'm taking to adjust that screw:

• Take off the 2 screws on the cover, and remove the cover
• Loosen the lock nut
• Loosen the adjuster screw by several turns, then tighten until I start to feel some resistance.
• (This is the big question:)  Am I supposed to just barely, barely, barely notice resistance and then back the screw off 1/4-1/2 turn from there?  Or do I screw it in until I feel resistance on a normal turn of the screwdriver, then back it off? -- I seem to be having slightly better results by the latter, but I'm not 100% certain on this.  Should the adjustment screw normally be in contact with the pushrod?  Or is the goal to be ever so slightly off of the pushrod?
• Once I set the screw, then I tighten the lock nut again...this part seems to give a somewhat false sense of locknut tightness because of the clutch release mechanism itself...  As mentioned before, I believe this is the reason my clutch cable is loosening slightly while riding.
• Replace the cover.
• Release the lock nut on the clutch cable adjuster on both the handlebars and the clutch and loosen the cable.
• The Haynes manual recommends to give maximum freeplay at the handlebars and adjust at the clutch end, so that future adjustments can be made at the handlebars...so I adjust the handlebar side accordingly and lock it with the lock nut, then adjust the freeplay at the clutch.
• Once the freeplay is set appropriately, I lock the lock nut on the clutch side.

This process results in what feels like a good, normal clutch feel...so it seems at least mostly correct.  The big question really is how to back off the adjuster screw appropriately.  I'm assuming that if I have the bike on the center stand, and I put the bike into gear that while holding in the clutch there should be absolutely zero movement of the rear wheel -- if there is movement, the clutch is too tight, correct?

Could my clutch still be causing my acceleration/top speed issues?  I wish I had time to get familiar with the bike before I had this trouble with it...because I'd swear that it sounds somewhat air-starved, as if I needed to replace the air filter.  I'm really tempted to just replace it at this point anyway just to be sure, but I'm not sure it would solve my problem.  I'm also wondering if I might have accidentally done something to my carburetors (like accidentally adjusting the float height, or something) when I cleaned them.

I forget.... did we rule out the presence of an after market fuel filter?

Michael

mister:

The fuel filter on it looked like the picture in the Haynes manual.  The only time I looked at it was when I initially started checking things over on the bike when I first bought it.  At that time, it looked like it might have been brand new.

Nicro - please take this in the kindest way possible. But your responses tend to be a little bit long winded. Try and understand: I'm almost always on my phone so it's kind of hard already to read the screen. Details are good though and I understand your reasoning...........

What happens when you reach your current top speed? Does the engine feel like it just hits a wall and doesn't have power? Or does the motor continue to rev higher and higher but the speed does not increase?

Ok, I'm not talking about anything Inside the tank. I am talking about a fuel filter anywhere on a fuel line between the undertank petcock and the carbs.

Michael

BigRich:
The best description would be like hitting a wall.  The revs will increase slowly with my throttle between 1/2 and full until I climb up to about 70mph, and then I can get it to output anymore.  Dropping or raising a gear simply changes the RPM range it works in when at top speed.

mister:
There are no additional filters in-line anywhere.  From the tank, through the filter there into the hoses and to the petcock, then from the petcock straight to the carbs.


Sorry about the "windedness" of the posts...I just figure it's better to err on the side of too much information rather than me not share some critical piece of info...something I might think of as trivial could be the most important thing of all so I just don't want to leave anything out.  Fresh update posts will probably always be the longest, but I'll try to keep them more concise.

What is the max rpm you are able to get the bike to? In Any gear?

Michael

mister:
I can take it to redline nice and smooth in neutral.  I can take it to redline in 1st and 2nd, possibly 3rd, but it starts to taper off.  Last test drive, I believe I was on the freeway in 6th, full throttle, RPMs at around 7-8k.  If I drop to 5th, full throttle, my RPMs are around 10k instead.  The feeling on the throttle, is that I can roll it off at least 1/4 - 1/2 before it actually starts to decelerate.

Ok, so if I'm following correctly... you're getting a top speed of 69mph which is 110kph but you're redlining at 7-k in top gear to do this. Is that right?

Ok.... for reference with rpm you should have....

4th gear, 4,000 rpm close to 37mph

4th gear, 9,000rpm close to 87mph

6th gear 5,000 rpm close to 62mph

6th gear 6,000rpm close to 75rpm

If you're revving much higher in those gears for those speeds apart from something slipping I'd be checking your sprockets. I don't remember if you said they were stock 16 front and 39 rear or not.

Michael

mister:
I'm actually not quite sure what configuration the sprockets are in right now.  The guy I bought it from had 2 sets, one set that he said was better for "around the city" and the other was better for "freeway stuff".  I'll check that.

Thanks for the reference...I'll take it for another drive and get more exact results to compare.

Beyond cleaning the chain and examination when I first got it, I haven't really checked into that again at all.  Would it be possible for a chain that has too much slack to cause this kind of a problem too?

Also, on the clutch release adjustment screw...just to be sure...I'm supposed to screw that in until I barely feel something and then back it off so it isn't touching the pushrod inside, right?  I just want to be sure that I'm doing that right, since that's the only part of the clutch that wasn't completely straightforward.

Glad you took that the right way. You're right about people leaving out important info too though.

Sounds to me like a carb or electrical issue now. Maybe a kinked fuel line, clogged gas cap vent, clogged carb breather, etc. Or just a weak spark from a dirty connection somewhere.

Quote from: mister on August 11, 2012, 03:27:32 PM
Ok, so if I'm following correctly... you're getting a top speed of 69mph which is 110kph but you're redlining at 7-k in top gear to do this. Is that right?

That sentence is an oxymoron. Redline by definition is 11k, not 7k.

Quote from: Phil B on August 11, 2012, 08:22:14 PM

Quote from: mister on August 11, 2012, 03:27:32 PM
Ok, so if I'm following correctly... you're getting a top speed of 69mph which is 110kph but you're redlining at 7-k in top gear to do this. Is that right?

That sentence is an oxymoron. Redline by definition is 11k, not 7k.

Thank you Phil. Of course your astute observation does not help the OP with his problem, but I will be certain to watch my phraseology around you in the future.

So let me rephrase it so you can understand it better....

Ok, so if I'm following correctly... you're getting a top speed of 69mph which is 110kph but you're rpms are peaking at 7-k in top gear to do this. Is that right?

Is that satisfactory to you, Phil?

Michael

Big Rich:
My thinking has been with the carbs since the start...  I still haven't been able to completely rule them out.  Though, others have said that if the bike revs wonderfully in neutral, that the carburetors probably aren't the problem.  I'm still not completely sold on that...but maybe it's just with lines/hoses that come to/from the carbs that I didn't clean out while I was in there or something, like you're suggesting.

Phil B:
I was pretty sure I knew what he meant, but thanks for the clarification all the same.

mister:
Your understanding is correct.  Those figures are based on memory though, and may not be entirely accurate, but they're close at least.  I just looked over my sprockets and the chain again, and everything looks to be in good shape.  I seem to have a 16/39 sprocket ratio on the bike right now (with an extra 15 and an extra 39 as well; these sprockets look to be in pretty good shape too).

It's stupidly hot already today, so I'm probably going to wait until the heat starts to break before I hop on for another test drive to get better RPM/speed data for you guys.

Also, thanks again everyone for the help!  I'd be hard pressed to do this myself.  You guys rock.

Have you confirmed your carb slides are working by pulling the airbox and revving a bit in idle while watching them? If they aren't moving that would likely cause something similar to what you're describing. Make sure they move freely by hand too.

It's fairly easy for a motor to rev in neutral, since there's no load on the transmission (it's not using power to move the weight of the bike & rider).

I would start with the electrical side first: new spark plugs, unscrew the plug boots and trim the wires 1/4", clean and grease any ignition connections, etc. Do you have a decent multimeter?

Since it sounds as if you are running on 1 cylinder, start looking for differences between the carbs. Check that the slides move equally (as previously mentioned), all jets are clean (or new), all passages have compressed air blown thru them, and have your carbs synced. If you bench sync them, they should be REALLY close. A vacuum sync will get them spot on.

Badbot:
If it isn't outlined in the Haynes manual, I probably haven't attempted it...  I did make sure they were moving freely by hand.  I've been too much of a wimp to even turn the key to "on" without having all of the components back on the bike (save the obviously non-mechanical/electrical things, like fairings).

So, just to make sure...  To check that, I'd take off the tank (but keep the fuel hoses attached) and put it aside, remove the air box, then fire up the engine and look into the back of the carbs?  What should I see?  What would I see if something were obviously wrong?


I was just talking with my dad about my clutch, and the more I think about it, the more I'm wondering if that clutch adjustment screw is just a large part of it.  With my clutch lever getting loosened over short rides, and locking down that lock nut better provides me with 50% more power (at least in one instance)...I wonder if it's just coming out of adjustment as I tighten down the lock nut, especially since I apparently am not getting the lock nut tightened enough.

I'm going to take special care to make sure before I take it out this evening, and make sure that my clutch lever doesn't come lose during riding before I throw "clutch slippage" off the table.  After that, I'll probably take a much closer look into the carburetors and related things again.

Big Rich:
The spark plugs have only been in the bike for about 150-200 miles.  That being said, I did recently clean them off because they had carbon soot on them (the left was far worse than the right)...that's when I found out they were probably not in as tight as they should have been.  At what point do I know I just need to get new plugs again vs. when the plugs are just a little dirty and they can be cleaned up and used?

I have a multimeter...just a cheap Harbor Freight meter though, but probably good enough to check over the electrical for the most part.  I'm "in training" for this right now effectively, as I know this is where one of my other issues is, in the neutral light being out.

Quote from: NicroHobak on August 12, 2012, 02:50:34 PM
... as I know this is where one of my other issues is, in the neutral light being out.

Just as a place to start, have you checked if the bulb for the neutral indicator light is good?  To check, you're going to need to get underneath the speedometer/tachometer cluster (just a couple of nuts on either side of the assembly) to get to the indicator bulbs.  If your oil pressure light works (the red one), just switch out the bulbs between the oil pressure and neutral indicators, turn the ignition on, and with the bike in neutral see if the neutral light comes on.  If it does, you have a bad bulb.  Or, if you want to use the multimeter, remove the neutral bulb and see if you get around 12V between the socket contacts with the ignition on.

And how does each plug look right now (after using them)? If the left is still sooty, then that's isolating the problem a little. I can't say with any certainty when plugs should be replaced, but even new plugs can have problems (just ask Adidasguy).

If your plugs don't look identical, try swapping the left and right coil / plug wire / boots / plugs and see if the problem follows.