brothers bike

[Vman23]

Well. After spending about 2 weeks getting my brothers bike road worthy. It sat for abt 2+ yrs. He past bake in February. Oil, clutch & brake(see bottles), final drive and coolant changed. I had to go for a spin. Just need a back tire. I was known for doing hole shots.

I have to say. Its not very comfortable. My right hip locked up/articulate it. My brothers was like 5'2 and I am 5'11. He must have had it lowered. P.I.A. to get it on center stand. I have to use a 2x6 just to give it more height. Only way I can say I would enjoy is if I can be raised, or moved so my hips wouldn't hurt. It was a kinda quick ride. Cold out. lol Is there a way to resolve this?

1 pic where I show gauges. My coolant gauge is not moving. I did! but now its not. Its not over heating, or anything. How do I trouble shoot this? Coolant is full.

Also. The brake light doesnt work when I pull in the lever(it did. Just stopped). I am assuming its the switch. Is it the same as another japanese bike where I undo the screw for the lever. And there's the switch? Just pop it out? Thanks

 

[user 80813]

Nasty looking brake fluid, but mine (especially from the clutch circuit) looked worst, my bike sat for 11 years.

Your front end is lowered for sure because the fork legs stick out, the upper tubes are supposed be flush with the upper brace. Your rear aftermarket shocks also look shorter than the OEM versions. Even with standard height suspension the Vmax requires a little more effort to be put on the center stand compared to my last bike (BMW R1200GS).

As far as your electrical issues are concerned, are your fuses good? You can download the factory manual from this forum which has extensive troubleshooting steps.

 

[MaxMidnight]

As suggested above, a Service manual would be a good place to start but the Yamaha's doesn't help with diagnosis of instrument problems but has wiring diagrams. Haynes has a diagnosis for the gauge.

Ride height.
Your first step would be to check what suspension is on the bike and compare the the free length of the Progressives with OE and also what springs are in the front. If it has been lowered changing this won't help the seat to foot-peg distance but lifting the suspension will help getting it onto the centre stand.
The forks ca be lifted a bit but I doubt that will help much.
It is possible to shorten the stand by a small amount which I did after fitting 17" wheels.

It's difficult to tell from your photo's but has the seat been lowered?
This is a side shot of mine in an earlier iteration, the seat had been re-covered but as far as I can recall retained the original profile.



Re the stop light. Does the stop light work with the rear brake? A quick check with a multi-meter will tell you if te switch is faulty.

 

[hondaman]

my coolant temp gauge is int inop. If i thump the gauge it will spring back to life. The temp sensor is on the right side under the scoop and plastic cover. its a single wire on the bottom of the housing. If you ground it with the power on it should go full hot.

 

[Fire-medic]

I agree:
lowered contour saddle, add more foam & a stock seat cover to add height, or look to trade someone for their OEM saddle for your 'Shortster'

shocks appear to be P.S. and may be as-low as 11.5" where OEM is 13". The return to 13" o.c. shocks will help greatly in your comfort

move-up the top triple-tree, flush with the top of the fork downtubes. Air-up the forks to 10-14 psi. That value can be adjusted, 14 psi is max recommendation from the factory. Those using Progressive Suspension fork springs are supposed to be able to not use air pressure in the forks.

Once you do these the bike should fit you better. be sure to check for the sidestand so that if it was shortened, the bike won't lean too-far when you return it to stock. Shortening pieces as above but leaving the OEM sidestand height will 'stand the bike-up,' making it more susceptible to falling over if you aren't careful about parking, or it catches a big gust of wind.

 

[brian hicks]

My

Well. After spending about 2 weeks getting my brothers bike road worthy. It sat for abt 2+ yrs. He past bake in February. Oil, clutch & brake(see bottles), final drive and coolant changed. I had to go for a spin. Just need a back tire. I was known for doing hole shots.

I have to say. Its not very comfortable. My right hip locked up/articulate it. My brothers was like 5'2 and I am 5'11. He must have had it lowered. P.I.A. to get it on center stand. I have to use a 2x6 just to give it more height. Only way I can say I would enjoy is if I can be raised, or moved so my hips wouldn't hurt. It was a kinda quick ride. Cold out. lol Is there a way to resolve this?

1 pic where I show gauges. My coolant gauge is not moving. I did! but now its not. Its not over heating, or anything. How do I trouble shoot this? Coolant is full.

Also. The brake light doesnt work when I pull in the lever(it did. Just stopped). I am assuming its the switch. Is it the same as another japanese bike where I undo the screw for the lever. And there's the switch? Just pop it out? Thanks

My front brake switch stopped working so squirted it with switch cleaner and that fixed it. There's just 1 screw holding it. Remove dummy tank, remove 2 screws holding instrument panel. locate the wires for the temp. gauge and put a voltmeter set to ohms /diode if it's an electronic meter across the wires and see if the meter moves. It might just be sticking.

 

[Vman23]

Ok. My brother saved the oem shocks. Swapped them out and also swapped the seat out. Much better. Didn’t take it for a ride yet.

 

[Vman23]

I agree:
lowered contour saddle, add more foam & a stock seat cover to add height, or look to trade someone for their OEM saddle for your 'Shortster'

shocks appear to be P.S. and may be as-low as 11.5" where OEM is 13". The return to 13" o.c. shocks will help greatly in your comfort

move-up the top triple-tree, flush with the top of the fork downtubes. Air-up the forks to 10-14 psi. That value can be adjusted, 14 psi is max recommendation from the factory. Those using Progressive Suspension fork springs are supposed to be able to not use air pressure in the forks.

Once you do these the bike should fit you better. be sure to check for the sidestand so that if it was shortened, the bike won't lean too-far when you return it to stock. Shortening pieces as above but leaving the OEM sidestand height will 'stand the bike-up,' making it more susceptible to falling over if you aren't careful about parking, or it catches a big gust of wind.

I don’t know if moving the forks will make that much of a matter. Doesnt look like that can get moved anymore

 

[Fire-medic]

Remove the downtube plastic caps, the schrader valves are underneath; and you will see that you can move the downtubes down, and the top and bottom triple trees, up. All their pinch-bolts have to be loosened, of course. Check in the factory service manual for the sequence to use when fastening them.

https://dn790009.ca.archive.org/0/i...ice-manual/yamahavmaxvmx12-service-manual.pdf
I suggest trying to use an air source to briefly fill the downtubes, individually, with a brief spritz of air. The range for the air in the forks is something like 5-14 psi. If you have Progressive Suspension springs then you supposedly do not need the air. See what kind of reading you get before adding any air. Understand that any reading of the pressure in the downtubes is going to reduce the pressure. But it's only going to take the most-brief use of a pressurized airhose to air-up the forks. For heaven's sake don't have your pressure regulator at something like 40+ psi and then leave the air hose on the schrader valves for 5 seconds each.

If you see that the front end jumps up something like two inches from a brief use of the airhose, don't forget to air up the other side also. Then try to read and even-out the readings. No air in the forks, with the OEM springing, will result in all-sorts of 'clunks' and harsh bottoming-out if you ride the bike that way. Having the forks aired-up properly will give you a better ride, assuming that you have OEM springing.

Seeing that you have probably something like less-than a half-inch to get the triple tree even w/the top of the downtube, you may not have a profound change, but as is said, 'every little-bit helps.' Set the downtubes flush with the top of the top triple tree (remember you have to loosen, move, and re-tighten the bottom triple tree at the same time), air-up the forks, and try that set-up, to see how it feels.

 

[Yvonne Blaz]

My temp gauge has always stuck for at least two decades . A good smack or two has always got it to spring back to life so I accept it because I never replace anything that isn't broken . My life doesn't have time for such due to the number of things that actually are broken . If you try smacking it back to life may I suggest smacking the top of the plastick instrament cluster as not to damage anything in the process . It has always worked for me . I have noticed when the bike has sat outside over night or in the damp rain it takes a longer time for the temp gauge to respond . Just say'n & good luck !

 

[Vman23]

My temp gauge has always stuck for at least two decades . A good smack or two has always got it to spring back to life so I accept it because I never replace anything that isn't broken . My life doesn't have time for such due to the number of things that actually are broken . If you try smacking it back to life may I suggest smacking the top of the plastick instrament cluster as not to damage anything in the process . It has always worked for me . I have noticed when the bike has sat outside over night or in the damp rain it takes a longer time for the temp gauge to respond . Just say'n & good luck !

I did go out for a ride (1/2 hour) it was 25-30 degrees. Maybe that was it. But even at idle it didn’t move.