enzed_viffer

Anyway - I'll get TheDave to draw up the circuit diagram (I suspect he's got it on the computer, as he has a bench-testing program he ran it on before he even put the thing together in 'bread board' mode), and post it here. If anyone wants to make their own, I'll get the programming for the micro from him, and if anyone wants to make their own but can't program the micro, I'll see about supplying just that on its own, and if anyone's interested in a complete assembled unit, I'll get him to price that. Obviously, it won't be as "cobbled together" as this prototype. By the way - the thing is still going great, after 6 weeks' use. I haven't had anyway 'target fixate' on it and rear-end me, so I guess it's doing it's job. Hard to say, as I've only been rear-ended once prior to fitting this, and that was on the VTR.

Would you like to borrow him? He's very, very tiring to live with. He has Aspergers Syndrome (high functioning autism), has an IQ and cognitive abilities in the upper 1st or 2nd percentile of the population, and is always ON. His older brother is similar (they're both intelligent and obsessive) except gregarious, and when all three boys are together, they all talk very fast, and very LOUD, and at the same time (they reckon they talk in full duplex mode). Life has been... um... very interesting...

I'll get him to give summat to me tonight. The only complicated thing is that he used an interface to the PC and an EPROM programmer (or like that there) to program the micro. But maybe if there's a few of these wanting these who can't do the soldering and/or programming, he might be convinced to make them up and send them to you. If that's the case, you could specify what sort of flashy thing you wanted to happen, like 6 flashes then steadily on, or decaying flash rate (faster then slowing down to steady on, or whatever). I've been thinking of getting him to reprogram mine so it flashes with slightly longer pauses. The next model (if there is one) will have a MOSFET transistor, so it doesn't require the big-ass heatsink.

I think it goes through Singapore. :goofy:

Yeah, what Trace said. (Beautifully explained, by the way!) I fitted the GenMars to the VTR1000 I had, because most of my riding was commuting, and the bars on the pre-2000 models were too low. The extra 19mm the risers gave was just enough to make the bars OK (and coincidentally, the same amount the later models' bars were raised by!) An additional advantage I found with the risers on the VTR is that there was a small amount of slop where the tabs on the clip-ons fitted in the holes in the risers, and the tabs in the risers fitted the gap in the yokes.. Althought tiny, theis afforded a small amount of adjustability fore/aft, to change the angles of the bars at will, and angling them as far back as possible like this made the bars also more comfy (and once again, coincidentally similar to the angle change Honda made to later models). As an aside, does anyone know if the bar height/angle on the various generations of VFRs has changed?

I do be hatin' the sheeps. I worked for two and a half years on a sheep station, torturing them in various ways. There was a sign in one yard that said: DUMB SHEEP MAKE YOU NASTY It was right. I was mild-mannered, slow to anger, and a pleasantish sort of bloke before working there. Now I'm a psycopath.

Cootey! 'Ow are ya? How's your kangaroo? Got heem tied down yet, Sport?

Thta's alright, I fogive you. I know you Candians don't know wany better. :P Besides, you're in the same industry as my wife (she works for AirNZ), so that makes us practically kissing cousins.

Those were all Murkn stores; Ozzie ones are generally (but not always) suffixed by .com.au. Anyway, I'm from Noo Zilund, so if we had those kewl stores they'd be .co.nz, unless they went for the .com thingo. Like if they were Murkns that had moved here, or they were marketing to Murkns. Y'know how it is, eh?

No, actually that was three options: a big wrench OR a big gorilla OR a big LeaningOnMofoThingo. So that would be www.tools-r-us.com, www.gorillas-r-us.com, and www.bigmofoleaningonmofothingo-r-us.com

Another option is what I did to my gearlever to get it in just the right position: stick it in a vice, heat it thoroughly with a hot-air gun, then lean on it with a big wrench/gorilla/LeaningOnMofoThingo.

The trouble with that, Ken, is that you would then be raising the centre of gravity again, which would be nearly as bad as the 'normal' Givi mounting position. What about if the brackets were like door hinges (the kind that have a pin in the middle), with a locking pin in one "hinge pin" you could pull out? Then you could just pull the locking pin out, remove the pin on that side, and hinge the rack over to get the seat off. You wouldn't even need tools then to get the rack out of the way.

Tired with people tailgating me, and having to fan the brake lever to warn them I was slowing down, I looked at the available brake-light modulators available. I really liked Signal Dynamics one http://www.signaldynamics.com/products/Modules/xp.asp and the Kisan ones also looked OK http://www.kisantech.com/index.php?cat_id=3 Then I talked to my TechnoNerd son (#2), pointed him at the Signal Dynamics site, and asked what he could do. He thought for a few milliseconds, and said, "Yup. I can do that." Eventually ( he was very busy with important projects like Quake, GT4, and suchlike), he ran a virtual prototype on the PC, got it to work, then bought the various doodads required, built a 'bread board' prtotype, and got that to work too. Then, after much hassling, and some help from me with drilling and stuff, the doodads were assembled into a Thing. border='0' alt='user posted image' /> mod1.jpg I then cut the wires (green, yellow and red) to the brakelights (I knew which ones they were, because I'd already cut the earth/ground and taillight wires to hook my R/R fan into them), and put some bullet connectors on each end of everything, and hooked it up. Yup, miracle of miracles, that worked too, so after some thought, I cut a plate of thin, galvanised steel (No Dad! You can't use aluminiumininum - it'll corrode!"), loosened off the screws holding the taillight assembly in place, and fastened the bracket across under the cowl. A strip of 3M fastening stuff (like velcro, but different), and it's all go. border='0' alt='user posted image' /> mod2.jpg So, now when I brake, the brakelights flash 5 times, then stay on as long as I hold the brakes on. It's illegal here apparently, probably because it's a Good Idea and aids safety. The Safety Nazis don't like people doing sensible things, and frown upon people who take it upon themselves to improve safety without Official Approval Or Sanction. We've already got some ideas for improvements, like using a MOSFET transistor instead of the one we did use, which would obviate having to use a substantial heatsink. The first one we tried was too small, and heated up to about 70 C. The one we used was a pentium processor heatsink, which is larger than it needs to be, but it was just lying around, and we couldn't be bothered cutting it. Also, it'd be kewl if the taillights flashed when the brakelights do, in added emphasis. We may also reprogram the micro so that there is a decaying flash rate, rather than steady one, so it starts off flashing fast then slows down. But it's all good, and for ~$22, it's also a cheap aid to safety. And I've got my stories sorted out for when the Safety Nazis object and try to ticket me. Interfering bastids.

Interesting, but not unexpected. I found when playing around with the PCII that I had to LEAN the mixture out a bit at 5k rpm to get it to run right. I was sure initially that it needed more fuel, but the more I added, the worse it ran. So, I had a look at a few maps and found they had some minus figures there. Thinking about it, I suspect Honda allows for the effect of opening the flapper valve, and dumps more fuel in, but it's not quite right. Certainly leaning it out took away some hesitation. So, it's possible your mods actually helped the standard map to not be slightly rich.

Nice setup, Miguel. I have a question not really related to that - where did you get your CF (or fake CF?) triple clamp cover from?

That's interesting, and it would be good to find out if it does help, as it's easy to get misled by wishful thinking or it sounding more powerful. No, I'm not saying this is the case with you, Keith. I had a VF500, which has a snorkel that sits more on top of the airbox than in front of it. Because it wasn't glued on properly, it could rotate, so I tried it a few times with the opening facing forwards rather than backwards. I'm sure it helped, especially with headwinds, as I had this theory that there was a negative pressure area under the rear of the tank, and it made it harder for the engine to suck air in with the snorkel facing backwards. I do know that having an aftermarket foam filter AND the snorkel facing forwards caused my carbs to ice up on one ride.

Why didn't you paint it after adding the screen?

Mebbe. My woman-thing and I had been together about 4 years before we married, and I thought it wouldn't make much difference, but it did. We both felt more secure, more committed, happier. That was in 1982. Or was it '81? :warranty: I do know it was September 4th. :goofy:

Unlike a tach, where you need to look at the dial to interpret it, a shift light doesn't require you to look at it at all, as you will notice it in your peripheral vision when it comes on. Like at traffic lights, the faster takeoff comes from not staring at the light waiting for it to change but from looking straight ahead. You'll see the light change in the 'corner of your eye' without needing to fix your gaze on it. Something people have overlooked is that you don't necessarily have to set the shift light for maximum revs - you could set it for the revs where maximum HP occurs, where max torque is, or even just where you habitually change gears.

I think it's because you're drawing your power from the tilt thingo, and when you blow the horn, it goes, "Aha! He's tilting at windmills again!", activates the tilt angle sensor, and viola! (a small stringed instrument) - the light flashes. "A hit! A Hit! A very palpable hit, M'Lord" "Nay, Squire; tis but a near miss. Avast! Let us seek another windmill. Forsooth!"

Hadn't had my kawfee yet... just having it now (not that it'll help much). How about: "my balls ain't odd" ? Or, "Haven't you heard - blue is the new black!" ? Anywayz, I was a bit taken aback by how clean'n'shiny your bike looks in the pix. Mine is the same year, but looks like a junker in comparison. :beer:

Good writings, Mr Trace. :thumbsup: I expecially liked the humorous bits like the "8-track for your Goldwing", as I'm easily bored (as you know) and this is a technical topic (which you also knew). Very good.

There's another potential option, which may be used in conjunction with the "triangular plates method", or on its own. On the Gen5 VFRs, the eccentric in the rear hub is positioned so that with a normal chain/sprockets, the eccentric is below the swingarm. There was a mod publicised some time ago for earlier model VFRs that involved reversing the eccentric so it was in this position, which had the effect of raising the rear of the bike and quickening the steering somewhat. I tried this on my 1990 VFR, and it worked well, raising the rear by (IIRC) about an inch. I'd imagine that the reverse is possible, and that rotating the eccentric on the 5th/6th gen bikes so it is in the 'normal' position for the earlier generation VFRs would lower the rear by about an inch. I have a suspicion in the back of my tiny mind though, that there might be a problem with some bolts somewhere in the hub blocking complete rotation. This wasn't a problem on the earlier models, but IIRC it could be on later models. Worth a try! Oh - and before someone asks - the procedure is: 1. Loosen the pinch bolt on rear hub. 2. Rotate the eccentric adjuster to loosen the chain, but keep going, and going. 3. Eventually (if there's no bolts or summat else in the way), the chain will start to get tight again, as the eccentric passes the horizontal plane and starts going back up past the swingarm. 4. Adjust chain to correct tightness. 5. Tighten pinch bolt. Of course, if there's some impediment to all this, ignore steps 1-5.

Oh dear. It seems that having my posts either side of yours has snorkeled and/or flapped your brain, Trace. You've gone from sounding all scientific and knowledgeable to sounding as mentalised as I am. :beer: Anyway, my red herring / blue cod about the Superstorm's lunchbox missed the obvious point, that you made mention of: it's carbed, and a tidy, well-organised airflow is more important to it functioning well than our injected beasties. BTW: would it have been easier to have some connector pipe thingos (technical term) made than gutting the cat? Or did you want it to look standard?

Yeah, neither can I, but the evidence seems to point to that. But what "various components" were installed/reinstalled? When it first ran hot, I thought, "Nah - that can't be right!?!" and considered other options: Had I done something to the cooling system (I had to move the coolant overflow tank)? Perhaps the brakes were dragging (new pads fitted)? The fan works OK, cuts in when it should. The bike's radiators don't cool as well as I'd like (I have some cunning ideas on that front), but seem to be functioning as intended. Nothing has been touched since the O2 sensor eliminators were fitted except the ECU. Yes, that's true, but there's something weird going on here. Whether I've made an erroneous conclusion or not remains to be seen. I'm tempted to plug the O2 sensors back in, but I don't want to return to the jerkiness and awkward transition between closed-loop and 'normal' mode that I had before.