West Seattle Bike Builds #2 & 3: the UW Husky Bike and "Frank"

[cc2]

Thanks for having me over, I had a great time today.  Frank fired up and ran like a champ with absolutely no fiddling.  Oh--Adriel is jealous, and says the seat is gorgeous!

Christopher

[adidasguy]

What a farkling fantastic day!
Thanks to everyone that helped.

I wish Ariel and Brian were here today to bask in the joy of Frank running. Thanks to Christopher, James, Austin and Jake.

This was one of the best days ever.

2 weeks ago Frank was a bare frame and didn't even have a swing arm. We built a bike in under  2 weeks. This is so cool.

[jacob92icu]

I went for a ride tonight on my bike to test the new braided lines.



Really going to miss it when I sell it 

See what you make me do... CRY! haha

[codajastal]

I notice that frank has an oil cooler, is it possible to take it off now that there are no fairings on the bike? Or is there a benefit to leaving it on?

The oil cooler CANNOT be removed. That is the way the engine on the faired biked are made.

[Gorilla]

What a farkling fantastic day!
Thanks to everyone that helped.

I wish Ariel and Brian were here today to bask in the joy of Frank running. Thanks to Christopher, James, Austin and Jake.

This was one of the best days ever.

2 weeks ago Frank was a bare frame and didn't even have a swing arm. We built a bike in under  2 weeks. This is so cool.

me too. 2 bdays and a lot of other errands rocked my world!

[Bluesmudge]

It felt so cool to build Frank. Everyone worked together and before we knew it there was a complete motorcycle sitting in front of us.

[adidasguy]

It was quite a crew - sometimes 3 or 4 people working on different parts of the bike at the same time. Just like a racing pit crew!

And that was a rehearsal for the Husky Bike assembly 

Today's report:

Slight oil leak on left side. A few drips.
Fussy when cold: wants to die with throttle until warmed up for 30 seconds.
Have to tie up some wires and install the seat lock.
I guess a couple minor problems are not unusual.
We never ran the motor before. I was told it was good. Valves were checked before installation.
Carbs had floats adjusted but not a thorough cleaning. Some SeaFoam this week and fresh gas.
Next weekend the little things will be dealt with.

The motor, carbs and electrical system were never together before. Fantastic he started right up!

I guess I'll go ride him a little and put some fresh gas in.

Christopher got a deep indoctrination into the club. New member - He came over only for a blue cap. Went home with that, 6 LEDs and a SS chain guard. And he helped build a bike! How cool is that?

[adidasguy]

Put in 5.1 gallons of gas. That might fix the cold starting issue: needed gas?
It helps to tighten the bolts on the front caliper.
Rode 20 miles. Frank is fun to ride. The wide handle bars make him feel more like a dual sport.
Rear brake needs re-bleeding.
Tightened a left side case bolt where the leak was so maybe that will fix it.
He runs best of all my bikes. It must be that group effort that makes him so good.

[jacob92icu]

Let him warm up for more than half a second before riding 

[adidasguy]

Some pictures of the wrenching session.
There were 10 bikes here. When we finished - there was #11; Frank.
Almost like a day at Backfire Moto.


Everyone helped. Even though James is always sitting on Austin's bike with a beer, he did help quite a bit.






TEST RIDES! Woo Hoo!

[Gorilla]

now we gotta plan on taking some twisties before its too late!

[adidasguy]

We will do twisties any upcoming weekend The tires (tyres for the Brits and Ausies) need to wear a little.
I'll be riding Frank a lot this week.

Carbs: Most likely one float is high or one needle a little dirty. Still has issues starting after sitting a long time. Almost like initially running on one cylinder until excess gas gets sucked out of the other one.

I will check air box for gas tomorrow. Also will check float heights. A can of SeaFoam is in order. The carbs have been on my shelf for well over a year. It might be wise to replace the floats.

Since he runs fine once running, I don't think any jets are dirty.

Once running, he's just fine. And just fine starting up again. Seems a few hours sitting are needed before the problem comes on.

Here's how it works:

Start bike. Throttle will kill it.
Runs slow so turn on choke.
He will run about 3k RPM but any throttle kills him.
Run for 30 seconds or so. Throttle will kill. However, taking choke off now throttle is OK and you can ride off with no issues.

So I'm kind of thinking one carb slowly floods while sitting. Initially running with choke lets one cylinder run while the other side is getting the excess gas sucked out. Once it is cleaned out, he runs just fine.

Does this sound like a reasonable explanation?

[fleshpiston]

Sounds reasonable. Maybe pull the plugs right after start up and see if one is wet. I had a stuck needle valve when I fired mine up, a couple taps on the bowl with the screwdriver handle and it popped free.

Man I wish I had that much help! 

[jacob92icu]

About how long do you mean when you say let it sit for a long time? Multiple hours at work? Or like 30 minutes? There's a big difference between those two in my opinion. If it's while your at work for the whole day, or even a few hours if you rode it at lunch, and your trying to start it with no choke, good luck. I believe part of your problem, if not all, is just not letting it warn up properly. The gs is a cold blooded beast, not a fuel injected pansy, gotta keep that in mind.

It ran fine when i started it up and had it slightly choked (1.5k~2k) for like a minute, minute and a half,  when i was there.

[adidasguy]

It sits for an hour or two.
This morning I tool choke off in 20 seconds and it was fine.
Perhaps one carb has a very tiny leak on the float needle or just the float is a little high.
We can re-check them and see. Part is probably the carbs were sitting in a box - dry -  for well over a year - maybe 2.
Again, it may just be float height. I'll ride him this week and take a close look at things this weekend.
I didn't look in the airbox this morning to see if there was gas dripping out of one carb.

If I think one float is high, I can drain a thimble of gas out through the carb bowl drain and see if he starts up perfectly. If so, then that's it. Also do the clear tube to check float height. Now that gas has been in there, things should be operating better. Maybe an o-ring or something got too dry and now has a minute crack.

[knowles]

Updates?

[adidasguy]

I've been riding him daily to get him settled in.
Saturday I plan to do the  checks for fuel, floats and other things.
As of now, if he warms up for 30 seconds with the choke on, he's ready to go.
SeaFoam in the gas so we'll see if that helps. So far no change.

[cc2]

Any updates/schedule for the UW bike?  Visited SIKworks (they're down the block from my house) to price repainting Adriel's bike.

Also--Jake (iirc) asked about engine speed on the CBR1000--at 65 mph in 6th, I'm pulling almost exactly 4k rpm.  Do you know, the bore and stroke on the GS and CBR are almost exactly the same?

[jacob92icu]

Any updates/schedule for the UW bike?  Visited SIKworks (they're down the block from my house) to price repainting Adriel's bike.

Also--Jake (iirc) asked about engine speed on the CBR1000--at 65 mph in 6th, I'm pulling almost exactly 4k rpm.  Do you know, the bore and stroke on the GS and CBR are almost exactly the same?

Haha nice. And your gas mileage is still high thirties low forties?

And thats interesting. So if we just had two more cylinders we could be a cbr 1000!! Hmmmm the interesting possibilities

[adidasguy]

Just got word the frame will be here within a week. With that, we can start building. Wiring and motor! after that, the rest will be just putting on all the cosmetic pieces.

  Progress!