NoToil Filter Oil

I tried NoToil filter oil in 2005.  It’s vegetable based which makes it biodegradable.  They have a very impressive web site  http://www.notoil.com/  

The oil never “dried”.  It kept drooling out the airbox drain.

Puddles of oil on the floor bother me.  I went back to regular filter oil.

Perhaps the oil formulation has changed since 2005.  I'm all for environmental friendliness.  I always line my airbox with Bel Ray Waterproof Grease http://www.belray.com/bel-ray-waterproof-grease  as a dust catcher.  Any grit that hits the grease never gets to the air filter.  Makes the filter last longer between cleanings.  

I also put some grease downstream of the filter.  This grease ought to stay clean and shiny.  If it doesn't the filter is not getting the job done.  Or the filter's base is poorly sealed against the airbox.  Or it's a K&N filter ;-)

NoToil worked fine as far as catching grit.  The intake tract downstream of the filter was clean.  I just didn't like the oil spot under the bike caused by the never-drying NoToil Filter Oil.

K&N Air Filters

K&N advertizes more performance.

However, I note the Dynojet fuel maps are the same for "stock or aftermarket
air filter".  They have a gazillion maps, one fore each kind of
pipe/muffler.  They care about pipe type but not a bit for air filter type.

If it doesn't make enough difference to change the fuel map it isn't making
any real difference.

I think the anecdotal evidence of greater performance with a K&N is just the
change of putting in a new filter.  I've also had a performance increase
with a new paper filter.


I did an experiment.  I put a thin layer of grease downstream of the stock paper air filter on the FZR1000 I used to own.  Then I rode around for a while.  I pulled the filter and inspected the grease.  It was a clean as the day I put it there.

Then I installed a brand new well oiled K&N air filter.  Rode around for a while.  Pulled the filter and inspected the grease.  It was dirty.  All that dirt made it past the K&N.  The dirt was stopped by the stock paper filter.

I threw the K&N away.

Pistons don't like grit rubbing between them and the cylinder.  The grit acts like grinding paste.  It co$ts more to replace a set of pistons these days than to buy a whole low mileage replacement motorcycle.  I want my pistons to last as long as possible.  It's stock paper filters for me from now on.

Dealing with Deer

Sometimes deer run in front of a vehicle because they are running from a predator.  It looks to them like they go from one bad situation to a worse one.  It looks to me like they are mindless meat missiles. 

Regardless, there is actually something a rider can do to prevent a crash.  It is totally counter-intuitive but it works.

If a motorcycle hits a deer in cruise mode or with the front brake applied the front wheel gets knocked sideways and the bike goes down.  If a motorcycle hits a deer while on the gas the front tire has more gyro effect and the back tire is pushing it back into line with acceleration.

If a deer appears, and there is time, the best immediate reaction is to dynamite the brakes.  This applies to standing deer as well as moving, as they sometimes are just stupid and jump right in front of a bike just before it gets to them.

If a collision is unavoidable then GET ON THE GAS HARD.  Punch through the deer.  Knock it aside or shred it.  Either way, hitting a deer on the brakes guarantees a crash while hitting one on the gas usually saves it.  I know three people who have punched through deer at 100mph+.  I have hit two deer myself.  Once on the brakes and I crashed.  Once on the gas and it bounced off.

Carb Cleaner vs. Brake Cleaner

Manufacturers generally want happy customers.  To that end they make products aimed at performing tasks people want to pay for.  To help people get what they want they put labels on their products identifying their intended use.  Solvents makers do this too.

There are a gazillion kinds of gunk to remove.  There are products aimed at removing certain kinds of gunk well which can also do a sorta passable job of removing other kinds of dirt/contamination/gunk.

Brake Fluid, Contact Cleaner and Carb Cleaner are similar products.  However, they are aimed at specific kinds of contamination removal.  Any cleaner will do a better job on the gunk it is designed to remove.

Carb Cleaner (http://berrymanproducts.com/Products/AirCarbandInjectorCleaners.aspx) is aimed at the stuff that accumulates in carbs.  Carbs deal with varnish and gum deposits, so carb cleaners are designed to dissolve varnish and gum.

Contact Cleaner vs. Brake Cleaner

Using Contact Cleaner where Brake Cleaner is called for can create problems.  Most people use these two types of products interchangeably.  They are far from it.  Basically, Contact Cleaner is so 20th Century :-)  Really, Contact Cleaner was devised to deal with a problem that doesn't exist in the 21st century.

That problem being lubricating and preventing corrosion http://www.mcmelectronics.com/browse/Contact-Cleaners/0000000447 of 20th Century contact points type ignitions (http://www.summitracing.com/search/Brand/ACCEL/Product-Line/ACCEL-Points-Ignition-Contact-Assemblies/?autoview=SKU).  21st Century ignitions use non-contacting electronic triggers.  Since nothing touches nothing needs lubricating.

Brake Cleaner http://www.permatex.com/products/industrial/industrial_cleaners/cleaners/Permatex_Electrical_Contact_Cleaner.htm on the other hand, is designed to remove everything and leave nothing behind.

Using Contact Cleaner on brakes will result in lubricant and corrosion inhibitor being applied to the brakes.  Sounds non-optimal to me.  I want my brakes clean and lube free, thank you very much.

Brakes need Brake Cleaner.

Engine parts that are supposed to hold oil also need Brake Cleaner.  Think about it, Contact Cleaner leaves lube behind.  That's not "clean and oil free" like all the manuals say the parts are supposed to be before assembly.

If you want the parts to be clean use Brake Cleaner.

The Electricians - music

There is a new sheriff on Shakedown Street and his name is The Electricians.  These guys play GDead music without being a cover or a tribute band.  Instead of copying the originals they are inspired by them.  Sorta like Rubber Souldiers (http://www.rubbersouldiers.com/) are inspired by The Beatles.  But that's another review for another day.  This one is about The Electricians (http://www.the-electricians.com/).

John Zias, the lead, is a really great player.  The Bass player totally nailed dropping the Bomb for The Other One.  The other guitar player and drummer are also solid players with good jamming skills.  The band opened up their music, which is hard for bands to pull off,  to let David Gans (http://www.dgans.com/) join them for a few numbers.

These guys play Dead music with different notes.  Same song, but definitely lots of different string picking done compared to everyone else, who work to hit the same notes as the Dead.  The Electricians can hit those notes when they want to, of course.  They deviate constantly with great success and originality, though.  

They did a really good Dark Star last night.  Got into a totally new and strange space, came around to coherency again, then grew The Eleven out of it as they continued on with the fine music.  Really good Playin' In The Band, too.

Blair Jackson and I totally agree about The Electricians.  http://hotline.deadnetcentral.com/WebX?13@1022.sI1Ba4gpefE.4@.4aefc5aa/259493

The Electricians get the Roserunner stamp of approval.

Oil Spill Cleanup

Despite my best efforts every couple of years I return to the garage and find a pool of oil growing underneath a bike I'm working on.  Ray Roy (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000484720215) gave me the idea to use kitty litter for cleaning the mess up.  Elegant simplicity at it's best.  The kitty litter soaks the oil up.  Sweeping it up is lots easier than dealing with all the rags/paper towels I formerly used.

There are a gazillion kinds of kitty box material out there.  After a few bags of the stuff I have decided that all I need is straight unscented clay type kitty litter.  My favorite brand is Johnny Cat Unscented (http://www.jonnycat.com/products.php) as it is inexpensive, readily available and effective.

Denso Iridium Plugs vs. NGK

A few weeks ago I decided to put a new set of plugs in just because the I hadn’t done it for three sets of tires.  When I looked around the garage I had two IW24s and two B8ES.  So I put them in, as all four were brand new.  It was evening, the shops were closed and the bike needed new plugs so I went with what I had.


Starting out in the morning I got stuck in traffic on River Road on my RG500.  Several miles of rolling through a tourist area at 5-25mph.  Hardly any stopping, so never got to take off and rev it a bit.  Just rolling along in heavy traffic at very low revs.

Guess what happened after being stuck at low speed/revs for several miles?  The two B8ES plugs fouled.  The IW24s were still working fine.

These were all brand new plugs with less than 25 miles on them before I started.  The NGKs fouled while the ND Iridiums kept on sparking.  At moments like that the few extra bucks for functional spark plugs sure seems worthwhile.  I’ll never put an NGK plug into a bike of mine again. 

I will always run ND plugs.

For more information on Denso Iridium spark plugs check out his link http://www.densoiridium.com/originofiridium.php

Chicago Pnumatics Brake Bleeding Tool

About the most frustrating thing I have had to do with a bike is bleed the brakes.  There is a tool available now that transforms the job from days of agony to minutes of easy wrenching.  The trick is using an air hose to create a vacuum which positively sucks the brake fluid out of the caliper.  What it does is run high speed air across a vent hole which is connected to a hose that is connected to the brake caliper.  This means an air compressor is needed to use this tool.  Professional models co$t around US$200, which is unreasonable to me considering their simple construction.  Harbor Freight sells one for US$26, much more reasonable.  Here's a link http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-fluid-bleeder-92924.html

Pro models have unrestricted flow, which can actually be a problem.  When bleeding small motorcycle master cylinders a Pro model can suck the fluid so fast it empties a motorcycle's reservoir.  Then the job has to be started all over again from the beginning.  Pro units are made for cage guys who have to move quarts of brake fluid, instead of ounces.  The Harbor Freight unit has a bit of flow restriction, which makes it perfect for motorcycle use.

After using this tool any other brake bleeding method seems slow and cumbersome.  This thing is fast and easy.

Heli Coil No More - Permatex Stripped Thread Repair Kit instead

Steel bolts going into aluminum threads assures occasional thread destruction.  Either an overzealous tightening or just aging can make any given aluminum thread fail.  Heli coils are the traditional repair method.  This problem only happens to me every couple of years, so I've never bought the heli coil tools.  The result is every time I need one I have to take the piece to a machinist's shop.  Once the piece gets to a shop I have to wait a few days while he does this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFYa6sjhh_E

I was looking for something else in the on line catalog of Parts Unlimited (http://www.parts-unlimited.com/home/home.do;jsessionid=45252E76C6B79EFE23BD4B39FCF04ED5) when I stumbled upon the Permatex Stripped Thread Repair (http://www.permatex.com/products/automotive/thread_compounds/thread_repair/Permatex_Stripped_Thread_Repair.htm).  Looked a lot easier than hauling my XR350 to a bike-friendly machinist I finally found to have a clutch cover thread in the crankcase repaired.  Best $15 I ever spent.  Here's all I had to do http://www.permatex.com/videos/video_strippedthreadrepair_eng.html  Much easier!

It's holding just fine.  Torqued just like normal.  The cover stopped weeping oil from that area.  This is so 21st Century, I love it!  Highly recommended.

Lance Gamma Clutch Upgrade Kit

The stock RG500 clutch is the worst clutch I have encountered.  It never fully disengages, which creates a host of problems.  Finding Neutral at a stop while the engine is running is difficult.  Indeed, it can be well neigh impossible once the engine becomes warm.  At the other end, when I get really rowdy and do lots of WFO runs to redline in a row it breaks loose erratically. 

Like all OEM clutches is comes with cheap springs which become less springy after a few years. 

Then the erratic breaking loose gets worse.  Even more irritating, the breaking loose only happens when I’m riding with ex-roadracers on hot Summer days.  Those are the moments when I really want my Gamma to smoke the boys and instead it screeches and lets them get the drive on me.

The problems are caused by compromises made to bring the XR-72 GP bike to the street.  The race bike has a dry clutch, while the street bike has a more durable wet clutch.  It was also designed as a 400, then at the last minute they also decided to make a 500.  So the 500 clutch design is non-optimal.

Part of the wet clutch design is a Bellville type washer behind the last steel plate.  Its purpose is to induce a bit of drag to the plates as pressure is released from them when the lever is pulled.  That’s right, the design actually forces the plates to rub against each other AT ALL TIMES.  This is done to prevent the whole clutch stack from moving en masse with no plate disengagement and thus no free spinning.

A side result is the clutch gets heat put into it with every downshift.  That extra friction causes heat.  This contributes to it breaking loose when ridden hard on a hot day.

The cheap stock springs also loose their springiness after a couple of years which results in less pressure on the plates.  That also contributes to hot slipping.

The Kit also includes new thrust washers made from bearing grade steel.  The stock thrust washers get galled and scored after a while.  This causes the clutch to emit those tortured screeching noises.  The LG thrust washers eradicate the screeches. 

The Lance Gamma Clutch Upgrade Kit (http://www.lancegamma.com/RG500_products/rg500_clutch_upgrade/rg500_clutch_upgrade_kit.html) addresses all of these issues in ways no other RG500 clutch kit does.  The results are very successful.

My bike with the LG Clutch Upgrade Kit can now be put into neutral easily while at a stop.  This is a MAJOR improvement.  I make it even harder for this to happen by running half Barnett plates, which are renowned for being grabby.  Even with the Barnett plates in there I can now get into neutral whenever I want.

Gamma clutches are so inherently grabby that Barnett won’t even talk to you about them.  When I say I want an RG500 clutch they say none is available and the conversation is over.  I really wanted Barnett plates after being passed during a screeching-jerky-clutch-breaking-loose run to the flag in a Formula One race at Sears Point (Infineon) that I lost by a foot. 

So I got some for some other bike and machined them to fit.  The LG Clutch Upgrade Kit would have saved me a lot of time and effort and gotten better results.  Gee, there really are things available now we didn’t even conceive of back in the ancient days of the Twentieth Century.


Here's a video which demonstrates the radical improvement in clutch disengagement effected by the Lance Gamma Clutch Update Kit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qbQ7_wuq04&feature=youtu.be

I will be trying the Kevlar plates in the kit next.  First thing I wanted to do was test the new Spacer Plate.  Removing the grabby Barnett plates would have been stacking the deck in favor of the Spacer Plate.  This test proved the Spacer Plate really works because that was the only thing I changed. 

Lance Gamma will ship the LG Inner Hub Spacer Plate FREE to anyone who purchased a LG Clutch Upgrade Kit prior to the release of the Spacer Plate. 

I had already been running the springs and thrust washers for a while before the Spacer Plate was developed.  This review was prompted by the spectacular results of putting the Spacer Plate into my bike.

The LG clutch springs are spiffy looking, much better than stock.  They are made in America from totally high tech materials.  Their number of cycles before sacking out is way higher than the stock springs.  The clutch plates will be feeling full pressure for many years with these springs.

The most innovative part of the LG Clutch Upgrade is the Inner Hub Spacer Plate.  It replaces the Belleville type washer.  The plates are now allowed to actually separate from each other.  It is surprising how much difference it makes.

Suzuki is famous for having smooth, easy shifting, transmissions.  Except for the RG500.  Until now.  The LG Inner Hub Spacer Plate frees the transmission up to shift as it was always intended.  Smoothly, easily, clicking into gear.

It makes downshifts happen quicker.  This can actually result in harder drives out of corners.  Riding is all about rhythm.  With the LG Spacer Plate my bike now downshifts quicker.  That means I can wait longer to do it, get it over with sooner and get back on the gas earlier.  Everything about corner entry and exit is speeded up and my bike now does more 3^rd and 4^th gear power wheelies than before.  I like that.