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[SPX38]

So I have done a lot of reading on this forum and learned quite a bit. I just have a few questions to clarify a few things.


Storing questions

First off, when storing the bike for winter is it really necessary to drain the carbs? I was just planning on putting a little bit of fuel stabalizer in and taking out the battery. (it will be in a heater garage with a bike cover over it too). I also read that a member suggest the max should have the oils/coolant changed before put into storage. Is that really necessary? I was planning on changing all of the oils again in the spring time, (semi synthetic and high end gear oil/coolant)


Performance questions
The max has a ton of power already in stock form but I have a problem with modding things. From what I have read, the only real power gains is going to come from a full exhaust and Morley's jet kit. I don't really have the money for that right now but I am definitely interested in the upgrade. Would a K&N air filter get me any more HP? I like the look and sound of the stock pipes and they will have to suffice until I save up more money but just curious to see if I could coax a little more power out of the engine.

I read that you can adjust the AFR "screws" for tuning. Would I be able to take the max into a reputable bike shop and get them to do the tuning for me. Could you give me an estimate on price.

Thanks again, and I have to say this site rocks!

 

[gamorg02]

So I have done a lot of reading on this forum and learned quite a bit. I just have a few questions to clarify a few things.


Storing questions

First off, when storing the bike for winter is it really necessary to drain the carbs? I was just planning on putting a little bit of fuel stabalizer in and taking out the battery. (it will be in a heater garage with a bike cover over it too). I also read that a member suggest the max should have the oils/coolant changed before put into storage. Is that really necessary? I was planning on changing all of the oils again in the spring time, (semi synthetic and high end gear oil/coolant)

you're going to get tons of different responses. some like to drian the carbs, i like to keep mine full. i turn the key every few days to keep fuel in the bowl. others like to change fluid before she goes away. i do mine in the spring.

whatever you do definitely treat the gas and keep the tank full

Performance questions
The max has a ton of power already in stock form but I have a problem with modding things. From what I have read, the only real power gains is going to come from a full exhaust and Morley's jet kit. I don't really have the money for that right now but I am definitely interested in the upgrade. Would a K&N air filter get me any more HP? I like the look and sound of the stock pipes and they will have to suffice until I save up more money but just curious to see if I could coax a little more power out of the engine.

I read that you can adjust the AFR "screws" for tuning. Would I be able to take the max into a reputable bike shop and get them to do the tuning for me. Could you give me an estimate on price.

Thanks again, and I have to say this site rocks!

if it runs good now just leave it be. if your filter is shot then a K&N is a good replacement but i wouldn't expect any HP gains. if your idle and low end is fine messing with the afr screws won't get you anywhere but possibly not running as well.

do you have a stock muffler? if you have cobras then ditching those for supertrapps or stock even would gain about 10 hp.

 

[SPX38]

you're going to get tons of different responses. some like to drian the carbs, i like to keep mine full. i turn the key every few days to keep fuel in the bowl. others like to change fluid before she goes away. i do mine in the spring.

whatever you do definitely treat the gas and keep the tank full



if it runs good now just leave it be. if your filter is shot then a K&N is a good replacement but i wouldn't expect any HP gains. if your idle and low end is fine messing with the afr screws won't get you anywhere but possibly not running as well.

do you have a stock muffler? if you have cobras then ditching those for supertrapps or stock even would gain about 10 hp.

Thanks for the explanation. So basically it boils down to 2 options.

I can either drain the carbs and take out the battery and not have to tend to the max weekly

or I can turn the key every week or shorter to fill the carbs with fuel but then I will have to leave the battery in with a tender on it.


I still have the stock pipes, so I guess I am out of "cheaper" mods. Looks like I will be saving for a full exhaust and a Morley jetting kit.

Thanks again!:worthy:

 

[Miles Long]

So I have done a lot of reading on this forum and learned quite a bit. I just have a few questions to clarify a few things.


Storing questions

First off, when storing the bike for winter is it really necessary to drain the carbs? I was just planning on putting a little bit of fuel stabalizer in and taking out the battery. (it will be in a heater garage with a bike cover over it too). I also read that a member suggest the max should have the oils/coolant changed before put into storage. Is that really necessary? I was planning on changing all of the oils again in the spring time, (semi synthetic and high end gear oil/coolant)


Performance questions
The max has a ton of power already in stock form but I have a problem with modding things. From what I have read, the only real power gains is going to come from a full exhaust and Morley's jet kit. I don't really have the money for that right now but I am definitely interested in the upgrade. Would a K&N air filter get me any more HP? I like the look and sound of the stock pipes and they will have to suffice until I save up more money but just curious to see if I could coax a little more power out of the engine.

I read that you can adjust the AFR "screws" for tuning. Would I be able to take the max into a reputable bike shop and get them to do the tuning for me. Could you give me an estimate on price.

Thanks again, and I have to say this site rocks!

If you are keeping it in a heated garage, I would suggest starting the bike once a week, and letting it warm up to operating temperature - waiting until the fan kicks in, before shutting down. This of course dependent on ability to ventilate the garage, if attached to living quarters. Fill your bike with Ethanol - free gasoline before laying it up(very important) and also add some Seafoam (or equivilent) to the tank as well.
As for the air-fuel mixture screws - just leave'em alone, if your bike is idling well, and low speed performance is good. The one thing that you may want to do is to remove the factory anti-tamper plugs, turn the mixture screws slightly in both directions (only to make sure they are not seized), and then fill the cavity with a light grease, to repel water. Cover the holes with suitable plugs, to insure no moisture entry. Lots of info already in the database, regarding removal of the plugs and replacements used.
Eventually, most likely you WILL be adjusting/removing the screws, either for carburetor cleaning purposes or performance upgrades. At this time, you don't want to be faced with seized mixture screws. Many instances of this scenario on the database. Very difficult to deal with.
Cheers!

 

[ZackDaniels]

Fill your bike with Ethanol - free gasoline before laying it up(very important) and also add some Seafoam (or equivilent) to the tank as well.

This. The big difference between pure and gasohol is that the ethanol mixture breaks down much faster, and is harder on seals etc. If you can get pure gas where you live you should be using it all the time - but at the very least for storage. If it's not available at all where you live (like me in Chicago) then you're stuck with using gasohol, and a healthy dose of Stabil to increase the fuel's stability/life span.


Carbs To drain or not to drain:
Drain Camp:
Don't want fuel breaking down and gumming up needles etc.

Leave it Camp:
Don't want all that dry rubber cracking and rotting.

That's the big reason behind both schools of thought. There's no all right or all wrong answer here. Storing a bike is by nature not ideal and bad for them. Everything about proper storage has pros and cons and is all about mitigating the negative effects of storage.

Personally I feel gummy carbs are less time consuming and less costly of a problem to fix compared to cracked seals so I'm in the leave it camp. I add my fuel stabilizer to whatever gas is in the tank come time for storage, fill to brim, and then ride around for a bit to be sure (A) it's mixed up well and (B) the stabilized fuel has made it as far as the carbs. Then I top off from a freshly filled gas can and call it a Winter.

To better define 'a bit'. My Honda's have a fuel off position, and with fuel off I can run those bikes for 5-10 minutes with only the fuel remaining in the carbs. So 'a bit' to me is anything longer than 10 minutes.

 

[gamorg02]

yea only gas with ethanol around here too. I should really top off the tanks once i get them back. good call. i usally ride until beginning of december and am on the road by late feb/early march so i try to start her once in january. i can't bank on the weather to be able to start once a week but it's not a bad idea.

 

[SPX38]

Thanks for the answers guys. I'm still kind of torn in between "to drain or not to drain" haha. Ideal would be if I started and ran it every week like Miles suggested, however I am attending university and the bike is kept in a heated shop that is far from res.

One upside, is that shell sells ethanol free gas here. That is the only place where I buy fuel now.

Downsides, I am only out at the heated shop, maybe 1 or 2 times a month. Would that be enough to be able to keep the carbs moist?

Gamorg02 - stop rubbing in your long riding season. My max is getting pretty close to hibernation and won't come out until late February or early march

Also, I had just one last question. I have shifted up with a clutch all my life and I seen that some people don't use the clutch when shifting up. I looked it up on google but it came back with a heated debate. Is it safe on the Vmax?

Thanks!

 

[gamorg02]

Thanks for the answers guys. I'm still kind of torn in between "to drain or not to drain" haha. Ideal would be if I started and ran it every week like Miles suggested, however I am attending university and the bike is kept in a heated shop that is far from res.

One upside, is that shell sells ethanol free gas here. That is the only place where I buy fuel now.

Downsides, I am only out at the heated shop, maybe 1 or 2 times a month. Would that be enough to be able to keep the carbs moist?

Gamorg02 - stop rubbing in your long riding season. My max is getting pretty close to hibernation and won't come out until late February or early march

Also, I had just one last question. I have shifted up with a clutch all my life and I seen that some people don't use the clutch when shifting up. I looked it up on google but it came back with a heated debate. Is it safe on the Vmax?

Thanks!

1 or two times a month is probably not enough but mines gone a few weeks before when i forgot or when i had it at a buddys house and he forgot, but i used to have him turn the key for me.

always use your clutch 1-2, 2nd gear can go bad. feel free to do it however you want the rest of the time. its not 'bad' for the bike if done right. rawarrior wrote something up on here once which explained it nicely iirc.

 

[SPX38]

1 or two times a month is probably not enough but mines gone a few weeks before when i forgot or when i had it at a buddys house and he forgot, but i used to have him turn the key for me.

always use your clutch 1-2, 2nd gear can go bad. feel free to do it however you want the rest of the time. its not 'bad' for the bike if done right. rawarrior wrote something up on here once which explained it nicely iirc.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know wether it was all bike or just RR sportbikes that you can shift up clutchless. So basically to shift up without the clutch, you apply a tiny bit of pressure on the shifter and roll off the gas and it should slide right into the higher gear.

Mostly likely I will stick to using the clutch. Squeezing the clutch isn't that big of a deal for me nor does millisecond faster shifting matter to me. :rofl_200: Just nice to know more information.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Fire-medic]

Screw all-that Sta-Bil, "fill the float bowls every week" b.s.!:bang head:

Move from Canada to Florida and ride year-round! It seems like a considerable % of your Montreal residents do for the winter, the area around Dania Beach and Hollywood FL is lousy w/French-Canadians from Nov. to March! And they all seem to ride Harleys or Gold Wings. When a Quebec bike license plate is in-front of you in FL you can be-sure of two things: 1] if the bike isn't smoking, the rider is, and 2] they don't tip!

I love to serenade them w/my VMax, and show them how a V-engine is supposed to run. :biglaugh:

 

[SPX38]

Screw all-that Sta-Bil, "fill the float bowls every week" b.s.!:bang head:

Move from Canada to Florida and ride year-round! It seems like a considerable % of your Montreal residents do for the winter, the area around Dania Beach and Hollywood FL is lousy w/French-Canadians from Nov. to March! And they all seem to ride Harleys or Gold Wings. When a Quebec bike license plate is in-front of you in FL you can be-sure of two things: 1] if the bike isn't smoking, the rider is, and 2] they don't tip!

I love to serenade them w/my VMax, and show them how a V-engine is supposed to run. :biglaugh:

haha. That is mostly the retired folk that get to ride/enjoy the Florida weather. Most western canadians migrate to Arizona in the winter. I am still in university.... many, many more years before I can enjoy a long extended riding season.

I'm surprised that many Quebecers smoke. Western Canada cracked down on smoking and barely anyone smokes in Calgary.... but there are ton of Harleys that are smoking haha.

As for the Harley and Gold wing comment, that is pretty much sums up the majority of bikes in Canada. HDs, Goldwings or RR sportbikes make up probably 70% of the bikes you see on a daily basis.

 

[RaWarrior]

I've never drained the carbs of anything. Bikes, sleds, even the puny carb on my 100cc dirtbike. Add some blue sta-bil at the last fill-up, drive it home, and forget.

Buy a battery tender jr. They're like $30. No need to remove the battery. Every few weeks start the bike up, let it warm up, and rev it up a few times to get fuel flowing through all the circuits. I never removed the battery of my vmax in the entire 4 years I owned it. There might have been a $100 bill hidden underneath and I would never have found it.

I've never had any storage-related carb problems. In anything. Fuel gums up from sitting. So don't let it sit. Keep the tank topped up.

Here's the carb bowl off the pressure washer at work. Fuel dried up over the winter and left this. It had the consistency of jell-o. It ran perfectly in the fall, and surprise wouldn't start in the spring. It runs fine again now, but cleaning this up is considerably easier than say, if this found it's way into the vmax carbs.

 

[SPX38]

I've never drained the carbs of anything. Bikes, sleds, even the puny carb on my 100cc dirtbike. Add some blue sta-bil at the last fill-up, drive it home, and forget.

Buy a battery tender jr. They're like $30. No need to remove the battery. Every few weeks start the bike up, let it warm up, and rev it up a few times to get fuel flowing through all the circuits. I never removed the battery of my vmax in the entire 4 years I owned it. There might have been a $100 bill hidden underneath and I would never have found it.

I've never had any storage-related carb problems. In anything. Fuel gums up from sitting. So don't let it sit. Keep the tank topped up.

Here's the carb bowl off the pressure washer at work. Fuel dried up over the winter and left this. It had the consistency of jell-o. It ran perfectly in the fall, and surprise wouldn't start in the spring. It runs fine again now, but cleaning this up is considerably easier than say, if this found it's way into the vmax carbs.

Thanks for the info. I think I will buy a battery tender Jr. and make sure to start the bike every couple of weeks.

Do I really need to start it and let it run till the fans kick on or just turn the key and let the Vboost start up?

Thanks again and sorry for all the newb questions!:worthy:

 

[SledHead]

I've never drained the carbs of anything. Bikes, sleds, even the puny carb on my 100cc dirtbike. Add some blue sta-bil at the last fill-up, drive it home, and forget.

Buy a battery tender jr. They're like $30. No need to remove the battery. Every few weeks start the bike up, let it warm up, and rev it up a few times to get fuel flowing through all the circuits. I never removed the battery of my vmax in the entire 4 years I owned it. There might have been a $100 bill hidden underneath and I would never have found it.

I've never had any storage-related carb problems. In anything. Fuel gums up from sitting. So don't let it sit. Keep the tank topped up.

+1

I fire the sleds up every month or so in the summer, and do the same with the bikes in the winter. Everything I own has a battery tender connection, and I use it. It works.

 

[SPX38]

I guess I will pick up a battery tender and do that then. I guess I will have to get my Uncle to turn the key and start it up every couple of weeks.

Kind of a newb question but does the Vmax only come with 1 key? I'm kind of getting paranoid that I will loose it and it would be very expensive not to mention a pay in the *** to get around that problem. I was reading the "key code" thread and I don't understand what the "key code" has to do with having another key cut. I have the title and the manual too.

 

[SPX38]

First mod is on the way! Thanks Lew L.

 

[SPX38]

Hey guys/girls,

Just a little update. I ordered in some saddlebags (thanks bikedave99 for all the help!) and my flyscreen came in awhile back.

Now I'm back again with some more questions. I really dislike the stock mirrors and really want to change them. I have not had any previous experience with bar end mirrors or really any different mirrors in general. I was reading through a couple of threads and narrowed it down to 2 possible mirrors. Price isn't a big issue, so if there are better ones out there please let me know.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-KOSO-GT...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item3f0847b029

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTORCYCLE-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item43a7752d36&vxp=mtr

As for the mirrors, I want them to be functional and preferably black.

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

I relied out 165 once before running out. Pure highway miles at speed limit or less and extremely delicate with acceleration.
I did it on purpose. Had two one gallon cans in my throw over saddle bags.

Usually tho it hit the lite at around 105-115 taking 3.2 gallons to top off if refilled immediately.

 

[DMAN999]

Kind of a newb question but does the Vmax only come with 1 key? I'm kind of getting paranoid that I will loose it and it would be very expensive not to mention a pay in the *** to get around that problem. I was reading the "key code" thread and I don't understand what the "key code" has to do with having another key cut. I have the title and the manual too.

You should have gotten two keys with teh Bike.
But that being said I lost my spare a few years ago and a local LockSmith (hardware stores don't have the correct Blanks usually) cut me a new spare key for about $3.00 (I was actually sent there by the Local Dealer).
All I did was hand him my current Key and he made me a new Spare in just a few minutes.

 

[SPX38]

You should have gotten two keys with teh Bike.
But that being said I lost my spare a few years ago and a local LockSmith (hardware stores don't have the correct Blanks usually) cut me a new spare key for about $3.00 (I was actually sent there by the Local Dealer).
All I did was hand him my current Key and he made me a new Spare in just a few minutes.

Thanks for the info. I will probably get another couple keys cut. My dad's bike needs another key cut too.


Also a little update on the bike mods.

Saddlebags and flyscreen have came in and bar end mirrors should be arriving shortly. Looks like the mod bug his bite me again... next year will probably be a full exhaust with jetting:bang head: