well, new to me at least. ;D it's a '94 m900 that i picked up a few weeks back.
initial impressions: i love it. i've been riding a 900ss for a while, which is wonderful in its own right, but the monster lends itself so much more to putt-putting around and playing hooligan on the city streets. but mine's a little temperamental. if i could just iron out the last few kinks in it... so here's what i've got, maybe you folks can offer your insight.
#1: hard starting when it's cold. the bike only cares to start with the choke off. after starting, it'll turn over a few times and stop. any throttle and it'll stop. after about 3-6 attempted starts like these, it'll finally find its groove and idle nicely, at which point, i let it warm up while i get my gear on before getting underway. i've grown used to this routine, but would really like to figure out what the problem is. there are times when i come precariously close to draining the battery with this repeated starting. once, shortly after i bought it, i actually did drain it, but luckily, i was at home and just pushed it back into the garage.
everything is freshly tuned. juices, filters, and plugs are all new, valves and belts are all well adjusted. 12.04 standing voltage, 14.03 charging voltage. the bike comes off from a solid-green-light battery tender each morning. oh yes, it doesn't like the choke because it seems to cause too much 'load'. with the choke on, the engine has a much harder time kicking over. the starter sounds slower and more stressed, the indicator lights visibly dim as it's kicking.
so what's the problem look like? fuel mixture (see gripe #2 below)? starter on it's way out? some other electrical bug? i was toying with the idea of getting some dynacoils for the bike anyway; would this help the situation any or just make it worse?
okay, moving on to:
#2: drive lash. you know, going from only-slightly-open throttle to no throttle, the abrupt deceleration is lurching. the worst is when i'm in the middle of a turn or going over road reflectors, and a bump causes my hand to close the throttle, and the lurching adds even more instability to an already precarious situation. my monster's front end is twitchy, and only gets amplified whenever i have to roll off the throttle mid-turn. someone told me to get a steering damper, but i think most of my handling issues would probably be taken care of if i could somehow lessen this lurching.
"oh, that's just the way those bikes are," i've heard. but the lash on my 900ss is hardly noticeable at all, and that's *almost* the same engine, no? but that one's FI, so that can obviously be a variable.
so i'm suspecting i can play with the carb somehow to fix this. is there any way to tune this out? rejet or play with the fuel mixture somehow to make the transition iess abrupt? "oh, just practice smoother throttle control," you might say. but this is going from like 1/16th throttle to no throttle; how smooth can you possibly get? am i doomed to just using the clutch every time i roll off the throttle?
my apologies for the long post. any input would be mucho appreciated. and if any monster owners in the SF bay area care to take my bike for a spin to compare notes and confirm whether my issues are real or just plain craziness on my part, i'd gladly buy you a beer ;D
initial impressions: i love it. i've been riding a 900ss for a while, which is wonderful in its own right, but the monster lends itself so much more to putt-putting around and playing hooligan on the city streets. but mine's a little temperamental. if i could just iron out the last few kinks in it... so here's what i've got, maybe you folks can offer your insight.
#1: hard starting when it's cold. the bike only cares to start with the choke off. after starting, it'll turn over a few times and stop. any throttle and it'll stop. after about 3-6 attempted starts like these, it'll finally find its groove and idle nicely, at which point, i let it warm up while i get my gear on before getting underway. i've grown used to this routine, but would really like to figure out what the problem is. there are times when i come precariously close to draining the battery with this repeated starting. once, shortly after i bought it, i actually did drain it, but luckily, i was at home and just pushed it back into the garage.
everything is freshly tuned. juices, filters, and plugs are all new, valves and belts are all well adjusted. 12.04 standing voltage, 14.03 charging voltage. the bike comes off from a solid-green-light battery tender each morning. oh yes, it doesn't like the choke because it seems to cause too much 'load'. with the choke on, the engine has a much harder time kicking over. the starter sounds slower and more stressed, the indicator lights visibly dim as it's kicking.
so what's the problem look like? fuel mixture (see gripe #2 below)? starter on it's way out? some other electrical bug? i was toying with the idea of getting some dynacoils for the bike anyway; would this help the situation any or just make it worse?
okay, moving on to:
#2: drive lash. you know, going from only-slightly-open throttle to no throttle, the abrupt deceleration is lurching. the worst is when i'm in the middle of a turn or going over road reflectors, and a bump causes my hand to close the throttle, and the lurching adds even more instability to an already precarious situation. my monster's front end is twitchy, and only gets amplified whenever i have to roll off the throttle mid-turn. someone told me to get a steering damper, but i think most of my handling issues would probably be taken care of if i could somehow lessen this lurching.
"oh, that's just the way those bikes are," i've heard. but the lash on my 900ss is hardly noticeable at all, and that's *almost* the same engine, no? but that one's FI, so that can obviously be a variable.
so i'm suspecting i can play with the carb somehow to fix this. is there any way to tune this out? rejet or play with the fuel mixture somehow to make the transition iess abrupt? "oh, just practice smoother throttle control," you might say. but this is going from like 1/16th throttle to no throttle; how smooth can you possibly get? am i doomed to just using the clutch every time i roll off the throttle?
my apologies for the long post. any input would be mucho appreciated. and if any monster owners in the SF bay area care to take my bike for a spin to compare notes and confirm whether my issues are real or just plain craziness on my part, i'd gladly buy you a beer ;D
