Wabs, an Itty-Bitty-SixFiddy

[Toecutter]

I'm sure glad you like working on bikes....

Ummm, aren't you the fellah whose had the front panels removed from his FJR for about, oh, 12 months now?

More like 16, because I don't like working on bikes. Your point? :****:

 

[doctorJ]

If that bike has ABS, it is an 07 since that is the first year the wee strom had ABS. BTW as a previous 07 ABS strom owner, I'd suggest considering some kind of cut off switch to turn the ABS off when on dirt or gravel. When I went down some hills on gravel, it played with the ABS system's mind which then played with my pucker factor

doctorj

 

[dcarver]

If that bike has ABS, it is an 07 since that is the first year the wee strom had ABS. BTW as a previous 07 ABS strom owner, I'd suggest considering some kind of cut off switch to turn the ABS off when on dirt or gravel. When I went down some hills on gravel, it played with the ABS system's mind which then played with my pucker factor
doctorj

I'll have to take your word on this, you sound like you know much more about the DL's than I do. Tim called it a 'DL650ABSK7' model. Just researched, and I'll be go to hell, I think you're right. Sure wish I could leave early to look at the vin.

Oh, and you're right about the ABS in dirt. Went down my moderately steep dirt hill and had both ends chattering and not really slowing down..

I'm sure glad you like working on bikes....

Ummm, aren't you the fellah whose had the front panels removed from his FJR for about, oh, 12 months now?

More like 16, because I don't like working on bikes. Your point? :****:

Ahh Toe, where's my Hugs N Kisses? :clapping:

Come on, Toe, show me some love!

 

[doctorJ]

Suzuki uses that K designation for it's models (or at least the V-stroms). K7=2007 K5=2005 etc. One other option that would be easier than rigging up a cut off switch like most BMW GS bikes have would be to just stop and pull the two big fuses for the ABS function. I think that would leave you with regular brakes but not the ABS. Some peeps on the V-Strom rapidforum or stromtrooper could answer that one for you. I imagine for a good electrical person, it would be pretty easy to devise a turn off switch for the system though.

doctorj

 

[dcarver]

So tonight I ripped out all of Tim's farkles, just in case the dealer / extended warranter might have an issue. I was actually surprised at the amount of wiring/relays/etc that came off the bike.

I removed the Electrosport RR and put the stock one back on too.

Luckily enough, the bike still has minimal output..

It's amazing how light a Weestrom is with no gas tank, bags, etc. Just a rolling chassis.

Makes a fellow want to permanently remove the front cowling, replace the entire steering neck with a CR250 cartridge fork from 1987 (best ever made by Showa), replace the heavy muffler/exhaust.

Oh gawd, here I go again...

 

[Barabus]

So tonight I ripped out all of Tim's farkles, just in case the dealer / extended warranter might have an issue. I was actually surprised at the amount of wiring/relays/etc that came off the bike.
I removed the Electrosport RR and put the stock one back on too.

Luckily enough, the bike still has minimal output..

It's amazing how light a Weestrom is with no gas tank, bags, etc. Just a rolling chassis.

Makes a fellow want to permanently remove the front cowling, replace the entire steering neck with a CR250 cartridge fork from 1987 (best ever made by Showa), replace the heavy muffler/exhaust.

Oh gawd, here I go again...

Don,

What's the plan- take it in for warranty service or just start to troubleshoot from the baseline build?

 

[dcarver]

So tonight I ripped out all of Tim's farkles, just in case the dealer / extended warranter might have an issue. I was actually surprised at the amount of wiring/relays/etc that came off the bike.
I removed the Electrosport RR and put the stock one back on too.

Luckily enough, the bike still has minimal output..

It's amazing how light a Weestrom is with no gas tank, bags, etc. Just a rolling chassis.

Makes a fellow want to permanently remove the front cowling, replace the entire steering neck with a CR250 cartridge fork from 1987 (best ever made by Showa), replace the heavy muffler/exhaust.

Oh gawd, here I go again...

Don,

What's the plan- take it in for warranty service or just start to troubleshoot from the baseline build?

Well, today, me and the loverly and Harley-D-Dawg took the long trip south to Ventura, Cal Coast Motorsports. The service manger there convinced me that since the bike was sold new there, and they wrote the extended service policy, it would be worth my (our) time to bring the bike back to them; they have direct access to the warrantor and would willing 'to work with me'.

Well, I got to say it was a loong drive. I first took the camper off the truck, then 'stole' a chunk of wood for a ramp from my carpenter neighbor. Then asked my other bud, Steve, to help me construct a piece of metal to keep the chunk of wood on the tailgate. I have great neighbors and friends. Truly the best.

The loverly and me got Wabs into the back of the truck (no mean feat by the way). I backed the truck up to a dirt bank to reduce the angle of attack, and somehow we got the deed done. My Loverly rocks, by the way! :yahoo:

Woke up early and started the trek south. Halfway to Atascadero town, I remembered I forgot the extended warranty paperwork. Shit. Turned around to fetch it. Total time lost was 40 minutes. Damn it, a stupid mistake, and I hate mistakes, especially my own.

Paperwork in hand, we started the journey over again. Reset the GPS, and actually locked the back house door this time, headed for Mickey D's and coffee for the loverly.

Of course, MickeD's was freakin busy beyond belief, apparently the local Atascadero Wrestling team was preparing for a big match by chowing down some serious MickeyD fat. Some of them boyz were freaking big, and I wondered about their future health.

Two eternities later, we arrived at CalCoast. The service manager, Shaun, seemed nice enough, and recorded all my observations (blowing 10 amp fuel pp fuse, charging max 12.1 volts) then made sure to mention that 'if we put all this stuff back on, we'll have to charge you'... This raised immediate flags so I asked - Why?

He explained that he only charged 1 hour of 'diagnostic' time because I had already removed all the crap (cowling, tank, air box, side panels, etc) that would make it easy for them to get down to bizness. But, then again, if, IF, the extended warranty did not cover the charges, and they had to put all the stuff back on, (rear panels, rear saddle bag mounting stuff, etc) he would have to charge.

So, I signed the 'initial 90 dollar' diagnostic fee paperwork, we removed Wabs from the truck, and all the other shit, too, then we were off to head back home.

Stopped by to see Patti in Carp town, she appears to be doing well, all things considered. Imagine just completely re-evaluating all things in your life, and you may then understand what Patti is going through. Most times, I've learned, the greatest life learning experiences are associated with some degree of pain. I now look forward to those learning experiences, and hope the pain factor is minimal for Patti.

Ok, freaking enough already. The loverly is yawning, Harley-D-Dawg and Bear, the neighbor's black lab, are snoring, and the Apple lap top only has 1.5 hours left of power. Guess I have no excuses, I'm just tired of typing for now..

.. to be continued..

2010 folks..

summer 2010..

 

[RenoJohn]

Well, today, me and the loverly and Harley-D-Dawg took the long trip south to Ventura, ......................

Don,It'll be interesting to see what those folks find. Nice to have the bike gone through and me guesses things will be tip-top-shape in the next days and you'll be logging many trouble free miles.

BTW, lots of documentation readily available on doing the (very easy) mod's to disconnect the ABS when you want that option.

Look forward to the updates here .....catch your action later. ...John

 

[Tenchi]

If that bike has ABS, it is an 07 since that is the first year the wee strom had ABS. BTW as a previous 07 ABS strom owner, I'd suggest considering some kind of cut off switch to turn the ABS off when on dirt or gravel. When I went down some hills on gravel, it played with the ABS system's mind which then played with my pucker factor
doctorj

I remember reading about this on Stromtroopers. I was thinking of hooking up some sort of relay to disconnect the fuse from a left-fairing mounted switch if I ever bought one. Seems like a pretty major oversight for a bike that's taken off road not to have something like that. Actually, bypassing the ABS for any vehicle should have some out of the way switch that can disable it for loose terrain driving.

Left side under the handlebars is a great place to put it too. I have a soon-to-be-ex heated grip switch there, and it's perfect. Next one will be handlebar mounted though.

 

[dcarver]

[SIZE=12pt]Shop can't find the problem[/SIZE]

Shaun, Cal Coast Motorsports service manager calls today to tell me they can't find anything wrong. Sigh.

He states:

1. "We charged the battery, it took and holds a charge fine." I agree. The battery takes and holds a charge just fine at my house too. Load tests sat too.
   
2. "The stator output is satisfactory, we measured it 2,500 and 5,000 rpm and it's well within specs."I agree. It read satisfactory at the house too. I also measured phase to phase and phase to ground. Phase to phase was 0.3 ohms and infinite phase to ground.
   
3. "Output charging voltage is 13.2 at 5,000 rpm, well within spec's."What? The book says 14.5 to 15.5 volts at 5,000 with the high beam on. 13.2 volts max won't leave any extra wattage for anything. I've been on various Strom forums and they routinely see 14.2 - 14.8 volts. If you run the bike for a couple of hours, the battery voltage will decline to 12.7, 12.5, 12.0, 11.9 then stabilize.
   
4. "We can't get the fuel pump fuse to blow."How long have you run the bike? It blew the first time after 5 minutes of operation, then ran fine for 2.25 hours back to the house. It then blew two times more in the driveway on different days after about 5 - 10 minutes of running. Please let it run for a longer period of time.
   
5. "We inspected the wiring harness and don't see any obvious problems."Yep, I think, me too.
   

So now, I'm not sure what to do. I await his phone call back, and offered to talk directly with the tech. At this point I'm not very _____________.

 

[Tenchi]

I have a multimeter if you want me to verify the voltage at 5000 rpm is between 14.5 and 15.5 V - I'll even supply photos. I can just about guarantee it though since my nominal voltage at all off is higher than that (~13.4 V last time I checked). 13.2 V is not "well within spec's" unless you enjoy replacing batteries IMO.

EDIT: Forgot, 13.4 was what my CAR battery was at. 12.7 was what my motorcycle battery was at.

 

[dcarver]

I have a multimeter if you want me to verify the voltage at 5000 rpm is between 14.5 and 15.5 V - I'll even supply photos. I can just about guarantee it though since my nominal voltage at all off is higher than that (~13.4 V last time I checked). 13.2 V is not "well within spec's" unless you enjoy replacing batteries IMO.

If you would I'd appreciate it Tenchi! Thank You.

 

[Tenchi]

I only ride my bike on weekends, so the charge would be lower than after a ride at the moment. The garage is also very cold by comparison to the temperature mentioned in the book - a suitable estimate for the temperature of the garage is around 60ºF. This is the 2k4 model, not the 2k7 model too.

Ref: DL650 service manual information (ref: 9-51) - Regulated voltage - 14.0 - 15.5 V at 5 000 r/min

9-50 Throttle body information: Fast idle r/min - 1800-2400 r/min at 25ºC (77ºF)

9-50 Throttle body information: Idle r/min - 1300 ± 100 r/min/Warmed engine

Strom at off. Bike is cold, has been sitting in the garage next to a *cough* GSX-R600 for the last 4 days

Ignition on, lights on low beam, engine off

Engine just started, idling around 1800 rpm. Note: Digital hold is used in this photo (visible as a small bar to the left of the numbers) to show a stable reading.

Engine cold but normal idling speed. Note: Digital hold is used in this photo (visible as a small bar to the left of the numbers) to show a stable reading.

Lights on high beam, revving the engine at approx 5000 rpm. Note: I also tried this with low beam on. Same voltage reading.

 

[dcarver]

I only ride my bike on weekends, so the charge would be lower than after a ride at the moment. The garage is also very cold by comparison to the temperature mentioned in the book - a suitable estimate for the temperature of the garage is around 60ºF. This is the 2k4 model, not the 2k7 model too.
Ref: DL650 service manual information (ref: 9-51) - Regulated voltage - 14.0 - 15.5 V at 5 000 r/min

9-50 Throttle body information: Fast idle r/min - 1800-2400 r/min at 25ºC (77ºF)

9-50 Throttle body information: Idle r/min - 1300 ± 100 r/min/Warmed engine

Strom at off. Bike is cold, has been sitting in the garage next to a *cough* GSX-R600 for the last 4 days

Ignition on, lights on low beam, engine off

Engine just started, idling around 1800 rpm. Note: Digital hold is used in this photo (visible as a small bar to the left of the numbers) to show a stable reading.

Engine cold but normal idling speed. Note: Digital hold is used in this photo (visible as a small bar to the left of the numbers) to show a stable reading.

Lights on high beam, revving the engine at approx 5000 rpm. Note: I also tried this with low beam on. Same voltage reading.

WOW Tenchi, Thank You so much. When I pass through your way, dinner and drinks are on me! Very nice of you to take the time to foto, upload, and post. Very, very cool.

Now more than ever I'm not going to 'settle' and let the dealer convince me that 13.2 is 'good'. Damn, 14.5 and I'd be very happy; 14.5 provides some room to use heated clothing, lighting, etc.

Thanks again!

Don

 

[Tenchi]

No problems. Didn't cost me anything to do it, so take out a special lady instead .

Take care, best of luck with the service guys...

 

[fjrb0]

Great discussions on the techy side of the Strom, but I have a question I am not sure belongs here, but here goes...

I am also looking to ride to Alaska, probably in 2010, and thinking V-Strom or BMW GS. Not fond of spending the money for the beemer, so leaning towards V-Strom. Now my question, 650 or 1100? Live in western Arkansas, so long rides west across the plains are a real pain in the ass. The FJR eats those miles, but worried about riding a 650 on that ride. As you well know, it's a long way to Alaska!!!

 

[dcarver]

From the manual...

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Geez, I've been missing some drama here lately, should'a tuned in more......

My Strom will run all day with both Hella's running, at 12.7 / 12.6 at around 70MPH, so something is AFU I'm afraid. ( NON ABS version 2006 ). It usually runs 14.6 without accessories on. I can get you the exact #'s on Friday if you want. My Datel is hot wired straight to the battery.

To FJRb0, the wee does fine on the plains, It'll cruise 80 all day long. I just put over 8000 miles on a AK trip.

Alaska linky

 

[fjrb0]

Geez, I've been missing some drama here lately, should'a tuned in more......
My Strom will run all day with both Hella's running, at 12.7 / 12.6 at around 70MPH, so something is AFU I'm afraid. ( NON ABS version 2006 ). It usually runs 14.6 without accessories on. I can get you the exact #'s on Friday if you want. My Datel is hot wired straight to the battery.

To FJRb0, the wee does fine on the plains, It'll cruise 80 all day long. I just put over 8000 miles on a AK trip.

Alaska linky

Highlander, thanks, I did read your posts and loved the ride report. Yours was a 650? I forwarded that link to a friend and got his blood boiling. How do you think the FJR would do on Alaskan and Canadian roads?

 

[Tenchi]

Highlander, thanks, I did read your posts and loved the ride report. Yours was a 650? I forwarded that link to a friend and got his blood boiling. How do you think the FJR would do on Alaskan and Canadian roads?

Sure was. Easiest way to tell whether it's the DL650 or DL1000? Look at the exhausts. DL650 has one exhaust, right side with a protective cover. DL1000 has two exhausts, both sides, no covers.

Love the ride report too If you can convince my boss to give me that much time off...