About Me

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Henry Martin spends his nights writing fiction and poetry, which predominately deals with the often-overlooked aspects of humanity. He is the author of three novels: Escaping Barcelona, Finding Eivissa, and Eluding Reality; a short story collection, Coffee, Cigarettes, and Murderous Thoughts; and a poetry collection, The Silence Before Dawn. His most recent published project is a collection of Photostories in five volumes under the KSHM Project umbrella, for which he collaborated with Australian photographer Karl Strand, combining one of a kind images with short stories and vignettes. He is currently working on his next novel narrated in two opposing points of view. He lives with his family in the Northeast.

Friday, August 29, 2014

2002 bandit 1200S Saga, The end

Well, the Bandit is now done. Everything runs as it should, the motor purrs along nicely, and I'm ready to hit the road.

New tires, Michelin Pilot Road 2 should prove to be the right choice. Chain has been cleaned, lubed, and adjusted, all fasteners torqued, and a few finishing touches done.

Here are a few pics before it gets dirty. :)

Happy miles!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

2002 Bandit 1200S Saga, Part III

Well, it'd been a few busy days. While waiting for the new gaskets, I decided to clean the carbs the right way, and took it all apart.





Once it was all back together, I tackled the broken choke tab I discovered when I removed the tank. The PO used a zip tie on the slider to hold the choke cable in place, as the tab on the carburetor was broken off. Needless to say, this did not work overly well.
Instead of messing with the carburetor and risking warping due to welding/soldering, I went a different route - cut off the tab on the choke rail and move it over to the side, so i could use the next available tab on carburetor number one. Here it is all welded together. The choke cable is long enough to allow this, and it is much safer than messing with the carburetor itself.




Of course, most of the spacers on faring rubber mounts were not there. Surprise, surprise! Instead of waiting for Suzuki parts, I had new spacers made at a local machine shop. Now the fairings atttach the way it should have been all along.
I then put everything back together, replaced fuel hose, and breather hoses, and bench-synched the carbs. The bike started right up, as it should with freshly adjusted valves and carbs. The pilot screws, however, were a mess, and idle was erratic. I started with a base setting of 2 turns out, which was not good enough. In the end, after a few 'ouch' moments from touching hot engine while adjusting pilot screws, I ended up with 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 turns out. Idle is nice and stable and bike runs as it should.





Fresh oil and fresh oil filter in place, I took it for a spin. Everything seemed okay, except for faint chain noise.

Upon my return home (a quick one), I looked for a cause. Voila, the clutch master cover was bent and it was touching the chain - not making any noise unless one was riding it.

This was cause by me, pressing the clutch lever with the sprocket cover off the motor - I was messing with the carbs and needed to press the lever to override the clutch switch.
Fortunately, other than some rub mark on the chain and a new four Dollar part, noting was broken.

Here are the two parts together:


An easy fix!

I'm getting my new Pilot 2's mounted tomorrow, and then I'd like to change the fork oil. After that it should be all sorted out.


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

2002 bandit 1200S saga, Part II

After discovering the surprise under the Signal Generator cover, I decided to go through the bike and check everything. I took all the plastics off, checked the frame, and started on the motor.

While doing this, I ordered a replacement signal generator. The fried culprit is here. I have never seen one so badly damaged in all my years of wrenching on bikes:

The replacement part OR what it should look like:
All installed on the bike:





So, while I had the plastics off, I decided to check valves. Normally, you can just swing the fairing out of the way, remove the tank, and gain access to the valve cover, but I removed everything to see if there was anything else wrong with the bike. Of course, I discovered that the previous owner indeed lied to me about not working on the bike - there were bolts missing everywhere, a sign of someone working on it and not knowing (or caring) what to do.

It's pretty crowded above the valve cover:
Once you remove the ignition coils, the valving, and all the hoses, the access gets a bit better:
While doing that, I discovered the spark lead to number four cylinder had melted insulation and was fused with the small clip that holds it above the valve cover.
The lead:

After I removed the valve cover, I sighed with relief. The cams are not damaged. the valves were all too tight and way out of spec. I adjusted everything to the upper spectrum of the recommended limit.
To adjust the valves, you'll need an 8mm wrench and a special tool that holds the square shaft in place. Not having the tool, I improvised - the size is the same as the square drive on Scorpion wood screws. Screwed one screw into a piece of wooden dowel, and a tool was made.
Here is a closeup of where you'll be adjusting:
With the valves back to spec, I cleaned everything off, used some RTV where applicable, and bolted the cover back in place.
Now, not really trusting the PO, I decided to take all the covers off so I could take a good look at the clutch, starter gears, et cetera. Fortunately, everything looks good:


I'm waiting for new gaskets and spark plugs to close everything up and test the motor.

 















Saturday, August 16, 2014

2002 Bandit 1200S saga

I brought home a new project, 2002 bandit 1200S.

I test rode the bike before buying it, and everything seemed to work.

Being worried about safety, I decided to take all the plastics off and look at the frame for cracks. While there, I planned to do some maintenance - valves, carb synch, et cetera.

Well, as soon as i took the signal generator cover off, I found a major issue - the wires in there are all melted. I can't believe it ran.

Here is the bike as I got it, and the culprit down below: