first ride in two weeks... and it sounds different

[Barbarian]

I just got back from two weeks in the UK, and hopped on the Bandit for a ride.

I had no problems starting, although it did take a long time to warm up, but my bike sounds noticeably different. It's like there's an extra, higher note to the normal throaty noise the engine makes. Kinda like a two note chord adding a third note.

I'm not sure if it's caused by a different pair of earplugs, the weather, or something gumming up during a two week stint parked in a garage. I'm going to switch back to my other earplugs and hear if that makes a difference.

[Red01]

Gas shouldn't go noticeably bad in just two weeks.

[Barbarian]

I quite agree.
Took it out for another ride in cold temps, and after about 30 minutes of going through the city it finally started to sound normal again, and the response at low RPMs got back to normal.

It was cold, but it does not take half an hour for a bike to warm up at 10 degrees Celsius. At a guess something in a cylinder/sparkplug burned off during this ride, which didn't happen the first time I had it out. Maybe a spider crawled in and finally got toasted ;)

[ZenMan]

Have you torqued your exhaust header bolts?

Just a thought, it's a good idea to check them after the first few K's anyway...  

[Barbarian]

Would you believe I don't own a torque wrench? I should probably get one, eh.

Looks like they're on sale at Canadian Tire this week... so I'll pick one up this afternoon...


But I have no idea what the torque specs for the various nuts and bolts are anyway.

[Red01]

They're in the service manuals... see the Member's Section if you don't have one.

[Barbarian]

I've checked through the Members forum, but so far as I can tell, none of the manuals have valid links. (and no one's got a 650 manual anyway...)

Oh, but checking Haynes, I see they now cover the 2006 Bandit 650, so I'll pick up a copy if I can find it anywhere...

[Blade]

If I remember correctly, the exhaust bolts torque to 18ft lbs.

[Barbarian]

I have ordered a manual, and should have it next week.

and 18 ft lbs? Yeesh, the torque wrenchs I've looked at only go down to 20...

[Red01]

and 18 ft lbs? Yeesh, the torque wrenchs I've looked at only go down to 20...

Get one in inch pounds and do a little math with the number 12.    

Harbor Freight (don't know if they'll ship to Canadia) also has a 3/8 drive clicker they say goes from 0-80 ft/lbs for $19.99

If you don't wanna do the math, HF has a 3/8 drive electronic one that reads in in/lb, ft/lb, Nm, cm/kg & m/kg in a 16-80 ft-lb range for $79.99

Sears (US)has a 3/8 drive 25-250 in/lb one in 1 in/lb increments (2.08 - 20.83 ft/lb) - currently on sale in the US for $69.99 ($10 off regular price). Customer review avareage 3 out of 5 stars though.

Sears also has a 3/8 drive 10-75 ft/lb one in 0.5 ft/lb increments for the same price... but this wrench gets very poor (1 star) reviews.

(Neither of these torque wrenches show up on Sears' Canadian site though.)

OH! And a Canadian exclusive,  Canadian Tire has a 25-250 in/lb one on sale today for $39.99 (reg 69.99) with a 5 star rating.  

[Barbarian]

Obviously I'm missing something here, either because I grew up metric, because my physics classes only covered optics and electricity, or because I've never had a discussion about torque in my life...

But if 18 foot pounds is the same as 216 foot pounds, then I'm going back to Cdn tire to pick up that wrench -- which I spotted last week
 

[Red01]

Better head on over to Cdn Tire.  

[Barbarian]

Even better! Cdn Tire has a $10 off coupon on their website.
So that'll be $50 off a torque wrench. Sweet!

[Rocketjock]

I know you meant ft/lb and in/lb. but getting back to the origional question, I've noticed that Bandits are particularly tempermental in weather. As the weather changed from summer, so did the running and sound of my bike. In Britain they have carb warmers. Maybe we should have that up here too.

[Pidgey]

Even better! Cdn Tire has a $10 off coupon on their website.
So that'll be $50 off a torque wrench. Sweet!

Man, good luck buying tools at crappy Tire. I tried once and all the wrenches et cetera are all locked up in this big freakin' cage. After wasting about half an hour trying to find somebody who had keys or even gave a crap I left, vowing never to return.

http://www.houseoftools.com is much better.