Timz0r
Registered
Hey everyone. I ride an '09 Silver 'Busa. It has 17,500km on it. I bought it when it had around 6,000km last year. I ride it a lot. I ride it fast, but not hard. If I'm going to pass someone on the highway, I don't bang and smash through gears (although I am tempted quite often), but instead, I roll on the throttle in 5th or 6th and soon enough I'm well ahead of them. I take good care of it; I don't ride it in the rain if I can help it, I don't rev the p*** out of it while in town, and I am on top of the maintenance as per the Owner's Manual. This is my third bike in ten years, but my first "superbike".
Now for my questions:
1) It's been 4,750km since my last oil change. The manual states that I should be changing it every 6,000km. I check the oil religiously. Today, while checking the oil, I let it warm up while I put my gear on, then I clicked it off and let it sit for about a minute. I stood her up straight and saw that the oil is right about halfway between the empty and full marks. It generally favors being closer to the full mark. Is this something to be concerned about? If I check the oil when she's cold, it's slightly above the full mark. Not sure if that makes a difference.
2) When I first start the bike, she idles fairly roughly. If I hold the clutch in, it's less noticeable. If I release the clutch, she makes an almost slight grinding sound. This persists until she gets to operating temperature, which for me is always just a hair under 50%. Is that normal? I read about a few issues affecting the clutches in K8 and some K9 models. Could mine be one of those affected? Also, she had a strange smell coming from her clutch cover area after getting home from a calm ride the other day. I got stuck in a light shower, so I dropped her into Mode C and just sauntered home. The smell seems to be gone now, so I'm thinking it was something that got splashed onto the radiator that's since burned off. Or could it be a premonition of evil s*** to come?
3) Sometimes while riding down the road behind an elderly citizen in his or her Toyota Matrix doing 30km/h in a 70km/h zone, I get a little antsy. When this happens, I will sometimes swerve the bike in a somewhat playful fashion back and forth from yellow line, to white line, and then back to the center. I'll repeat this process as my ADHD dictates, maybe once every ten or twenty seconds. This prevents me from blowing past them on one wheel (foreshadowing to my next question!) at 200km/h. Now, is the swerving back and forth on a bike this heavy harmful? I mean, they're designed to lean, aren't they? The reason I ask is because a guy I was out riding with who has more experience than me claimed it is. Advice?
4) To wheelie or not to wheelie: that is the final question. I used to do wheelies on my 600 Gixxer. A lot. Like, almost every time I got on a straight stretch on a fairly depopulated road. I didn't hold them for long, maybe 5-10 seconds. I know that performing a long wheelie can deprive the engine of essential fluids. However, the 'Busa is so heavy, it just doesn't seem right to wheelie her. She's so damned beefy! I know I could do it, but I'm still in that, "I want to keep everything as mint as possible", stage. If you guys think it's a bad idea, I'll trust the experts' opinions.
I think that about covers it for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes by, though. Any advice is much appreciated. Cheers!
Now for my questions:
1) It's been 4,750km since my last oil change. The manual states that I should be changing it every 6,000km. I check the oil religiously. Today, while checking the oil, I let it warm up while I put my gear on, then I clicked it off and let it sit for about a minute. I stood her up straight and saw that the oil is right about halfway between the empty and full marks. It generally favors being closer to the full mark. Is this something to be concerned about? If I check the oil when she's cold, it's slightly above the full mark. Not sure if that makes a difference.
2) When I first start the bike, she idles fairly roughly. If I hold the clutch in, it's less noticeable. If I release the clutch, she makes an almost slight grinding sound. This persists until she gets to operating temperature, which for me is always just a hair under 50%. Is that normal? I read about a few issues affecting the clutches in K8 and some K9 models. Could mine be one of those affected? Also, she had a strange smell coming from her clutch cover area after getting home from a calm ride the other day. I got stuck in a light shower, so I dropped her into Mode C and just sauntered home. The smell seems to be gone now, so I'm thinking it was something that got splashed onto the radiator that's since burned off. Or could it be a premonition of evil s*** to come?
3) Sometimes while riding down the road behind an elderly citizen in his or her Toyota Matrix doing 30km/h in a 70km/h zone, I get a little antsy. When this happens, I will sometimes swerve the bike in a somewhat playful fashion back and forth from yellow line, to white line, and then back to the center. I'll repeat this process as my ADHD dictates, maybe once every ten or twenty seconds. This prevents me from blowing past them on one wheel (foreshadowing to my next question!) at 200km/h. Now, is the swerving back and forth on a bike this heavy harmful? I mean, they're designed to lean, aren't they? The reason I ask is because a guy I was out riding with who has more experience than me claimed it is. Advice?
4) To wheelie or not to wheelie: that is the final question. I used to do wheelies on my 600 Gixxer. A lot. Like, almost every time I got on a straight stretch on a fairly depopulated road. I didn't hold them for long, maybe 5-10 seconds. I know that performing a long wheelie can deprive the engine of essential fluids. However, the 'Busa is so heavy, it just doesn't seem right to wheelie her. She's so damned beefy! I know I could do it, but I'm still in that, "I want to keep everything as mint as possible", stage. If you guys think it's a bad idea, I'll trust the experts' opinions.
I think that about covers it for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes by, though. Any advice is much appreciated. Cheers!
It's the landings that kill fork seals. These are big girls brother 
