I've got a packed inbox of my email account from various people (not just from here, but home and the U.S. as well, lot of pitbikers and such there).
Okay, here's #2.
Do you have any "special" tips and tricks?
Haha, actually I do have a couple.
2 STROKE OIL IN A 4 STROKE
One trick I love to do is the "premix" trick, IT ONLY WORKS WITH CARBURETED BIKES. AIrblades, Clicks, Scoopies, etc, no good. It is the best thing I've ever done for my bikes, bar none, and I will do it until I die. It's a pain in the butt to mix and measure, but to petrol heads like me, it's fun.
What you need is 2 cycle oil and to mix it in a 32:1 ratio with petrol. I have a 10 liter can and it takes 320 ml of oil.
This also means you need to fill up at home with a funnel and your premix can. Don't add oil to the tank, it'll sink to the bottom and cause all kinds of problems.
Why would I put 2 cycle oil in a 4 stroke?
1. You can fog your engine (I'll explain)
2. You get better fuel economy
3. Your bike has more power (I'll explain, it's not a joke)
4. You save wearing out several parts of your carburetor
5. The exhaust smells nicer ( )
#1) What the heck is "fogging" your engine? If you know what this is, my method isn't a true fogging method, but a light version. It's actually closer to a pre-oiler in principle.
Well, we all know that wear and tear is due to metal on metal contact of parts right? This only happens on startup, and the only place it happens on a moto like ours is the piston rings to the cylinder. Why? Because motor oil doesn't ever make it into the combustion chamber (if it did, there's a smoke show), so the only lubricant when the bike is running is the petrol itself and an extremely thin oil coating from the splashing of the UNDERSIDE of the piston. When your bike stops running though, you have Zero lubricant left. Hot oil quickly drains off a surface and you're screwed.
Wait, what about all the valves, and clutches and bearings and such? If the motor doesn't run, how do they get oil on startup?
Good question (even thought the only one that asked it was me, haha), but anyway, I wondered about this, but then found relief when disassembling my first engine all those years ago. A very wise and now very dead Honda man showed me some very small but deliberately placed little "trays" if you will, that catch oil and keep it there, even when the bike is stopped. That's why an oil change is 800 ml but a rebuild oil capacity is 900 ml on a 110cc Honda. All these little channels and trays catch oil and keep the part semi submerged in oil until you start the bike. Then that oil gets flung around the motor and lubes everything around it in those first seconds. Then after that, the oil pump and oil splashers kick in and lube the rest of the motor. That's why only the top side of the piston is dry in these motors, that is, until you "fog" the motor.
So the point of "fogging" your engine is to get a "charge" of oil sitting on your internal engine parts before you start the bike. The process goes like this (if you run premixed oil and petrol).
-Before starting the bike, KEY IN THE OFF POSITION, I hold the throttle half way open, give the bike one or two cranks (engine revolutions, not full out kicks) to suck in a petrol and oil charge. Now oil has made it's way onto the cylinder walls and the bike is prelubed. Properly would actually be to give the bike a bike massive kick via the kick starter with full throttle and choke on, and then wait 10 minutes for the extra fuel to evaporate. But, I'm lazy. So, after this, you simply start the bike, and no metal to metal contact has been made. That's one benefit of running premix in a 4 stroke.
Now is that theory, or does it work? Do I have a double blind experiment with scientific data? No. All I have done is run the premix in my own bikes for years now (almost 12 years), and more often than not, even my high mileage bikes have been in significantly better shape than other friends bikes internally, especially when it came to compression and such. Could this just be due to them not maintaining their bikes? Possibly, but I like to think that my methods have merit to them. My "record" is a 91' J-spec super cub 90 with 115,000 km on the original piston and bore, and that's amazing even for a Japanese bike.
#2 and 3, you get better fuel economy and more power. Premix is thicker than ordinary petrol, so the same amount of vacuum from the intake stroke only pulls through less fuel. Less fuel means leaner burning, and learning burning means more power and better fuel economy. I wouldn't run more oil than 32:1 because after that the mixture gets too thick and overheating is possible. Been there, done that. Btw, it had NOTHING to do with "lubricating" valves and stuff. Valves are already plenty lubed by oil pump.
#4, this is more hypothesis rather than backed by cold hard facts, but the idea is that because slide carburetors rub constantly against the carb housing with relatively no lubricant except petrol (which isn't a good lube), the sides wear out over time as do the needles and jets. However, with a slight mix of oil (you don't need much), the carb slide now has an actual lubricant on it, as do the jets and needles. Also, when "fogging" the engine, the carb parts get oil left on them, so when you can resist the urge to pretend you're a racer on a stationary bike, you don't rub dry carburetor parts together. My only experience with this is a 77 CB175 with 89,000 miles (or over 130? km). The bike I only had for 3 years I think, but it had the original 30 year old carb and the owner used premix like I did for the same reasons. The carb looked brand new and had no running issues, so that was enough to convince me to do it.
#5 and best reason of all, smells good!
Semi auto motos only
Now another trick I have for my bikes is that I like to use the footer shifter as an actual clutch. Eh? Every single person I've seen on a moto probably doesn't understand that they can clutch their bike like a manual car to an extent. So instead of going going through the jerky motions of on and off throttle in top gear, push down on your pedal as if you were to shift into "5th" and hold it down like it's a clutch pedal. Your bike will disengage the clutch and you will coast. To reengage, let off the clutch slowly and the rpms will rise gentrly rather than all at once.
If you want to make gear changes smoother, I find the best is to press down on the shifter gently and all the way down (nothing will get hurt, trust me). Then instead of simply letting go of the shifter, let off the clutch slowly and give it a tiny bit of throttle, just as if you were driving a manual car It's hard to explain, and I don't want to try and video it, but any one I meet and wants to learn what the heck I am talking about, I'll happily explain it on a bike. Anyway, if you get it right, none of your gear shifts will be harsh and you'll never have to worry about clunking and getting "jerked around" on your bike every time you change gear. Don't worry about the clutch slipping either, these bikes actually slip a ton by design. If you don't believe me, just let your bike idle in first gear. It doesn't stall, it's slipping.
***Now if you go into neutral, that means your bike is either very old, or broken, because any moto made by Honda for example, from 1986 upwards, has a stop that wont allow you to go from 3rd or 4th to neutral.***
Anyway, I know I have other tips, but it's lunchtime now, and in Cambodia that means I am going to sit on my butt and do nothing for the next hour. Just kidding, but I am signing off now.
Enjoy,
-AK87
Due to popular demand #2: Tips and tricks for motos
- Petrol Head
- Grand Poobah
- Reactions: 71
- Posts: 5770
- Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:54 pm
...and again Ak. Some properly useful stuff.
I would hazard a guess that quite a few posters would owe you a beer for this (if you drank beer of course) Sake maybe?
I would hazard a guess that quite a few posters would owe you a beer for this (if you drank beer of course) Sake maybe?
Haha - my money’s on Playboy
^^ I quite like a sake and Red Bull on occasion, but that's usually on the couch when I can't sleep. Haha.
Okay, trick for chain cleaning and lube for lazy people.....me included.
So, I am actually the only person I know that does this (and of course the people I taught), but this of course doesn't mean I "invented" this method. I don't know, maybe I did, if so....meh.
***Now for this tip, I am going to show you the cleaning effects this has on a 25H chain (small), but this is purely to illustrate concept and the method works equally well on drive chains and such***
Normally to clean a chain I was taught that you need to pull the chain off and scrub it in a bowl of petrol (like above). Then you let it dry and then cover it with oil and wipe the excess off. The thing is though, that takes a lot of time, and it's messy, and the oil flings everywhere, I really hated it. So I tried to think of a better way to do my chains and such, and what I resorted to was a spray can of brake fluid and then I'd oil the chain with a little drip bottle or eye dropper. This worked well, but I still wanted better. The oil part wasn't consistent (never seemed to soak into the small places well) or extremely messy (excess oil still went everywhere when riding), or both. I hated that and things I hate, I change. So, finally after much thinking, this is what I came up with and I've stuck with it ever since.
You need a:
Water bottle with a small slightly bigger than a pinhole in the cap
2/3 of the bottle full of petrol
1/3 of 2 stroke oil
A rag
In all, 10,000 riel of stuff.
Mix the oil and petrol in the water bottle (or squeeze bottle if you have) and shake well.
Now, to get to your chain, you of course need to pull the cover off. Now with the rag in one hand (if you care about dripping on the floor), place the rag underneath the chain and with the other hand, take the squeeze bottle of petrol you just mixed, and blast the chain. Be generous, there's a lot of crap that builds up on your chain. The lazy lazy way to do this is to setup your bike outside somewhere and just spray the chain with your petrol oil mix and let all the drippings go on the ground. But I like the rag way, because then you can wipe the chain at the same time. Anyway, just spray and clean until your chain looks alright or you're high on fumes, one or the other.
You're done.
Eh? What do you mean you're done? Well, you see, the petrol flushes out all the junk in those hard to reach areas and also dissolves old oil you used to lube the chain. And guess what? Petrol evaporates, so you don't need to wipe anything off, and better yet, that new two stroke oil gets left behind after the petrol evaporates EVEN IN THOSE HARD TO REACH AREAS, so you are actually doing a much more thorough job of lubing the chain. Even better, since petrol is so runny, it takes all the excess oil that would normally be splattering all over your leg or chain guard and leaves just the right amount so that the entire surface of the chain is coated, and even done so.
Just let it air dry and there's no need to lubricate anything.
If you removed a chain guard to get to your chain, now put it back on.
Chain cleaning done in 1 minute with no mess, you're welcome.
-Akira S. (AK87)
This is after one pass of petrol and 2 stroke oil "cleaner", and just look at the crap that came off this little chain. This is a sealed chain too, not exposed outside to dust.
After the 3rd pass on this chain, it finally started to clean up
Hi Kyoko, you're good to go now. Super clean chain, and thoroughly lubed.
Okay, trick for chain cleaning and lube for lazy people.....me included.
So, I am actually the only person I know that does this (and of course the people I taught), but this of course doesn't mean I "invented" this method. I don't know, maybe I did, if so....meh.
***Now for this tip, I am going to show you the cleaning effects this has on a 25H chain (small), but this is purely to illustrate concept and the method works equally well on drive chains and such***
Normally to clean a chain I was taught that you need to pull the chain off and scrub it in a bowl of petrol (like above). Then you let it dry and then cover it with oil and wipe the excess off. The thing is though, that takes a lot of time, and it's messy, and the oil flings everywhere, I really hated it. So I tried to think of a better way to do my chains and such, and what I resorted to was a spray can of brake fluid and then I'd oil the chain with a little drip bottle or eye dropper. This worked well, but I still wanted better. The oil part wasn't consistent (never seemed to soak into the small places well) or extremely messy (excess oil still went everywhere when riding), or both. I hated that and things I hate, I change. So, finally after much thinking, this is what I came up with and I've stuck with it ever since.
You need a:
Water bottle with a small slightly bigger than a pinhole in the cap
2/3 of the bottle full of petrol
1/3 of 2 stroke oil
A rag
In all, 10,000 riel of stuff.
Mix the oil and petrol in the water bottle (or squeeze bottle if you have) and shake well.
Now, to get to your chain, you of course need to pull the cover off. Now with the rag in one hand (if you care about dripping on the floor), place the rag underneath the chain and with the other hand, take the squeeze bottle of petrol you just mixed, and blast the chain. Be generous, there's a lot of crap that builds up on your chain. The lazy lazy way to do this is to setup your bike outside somewhere and just spray the chain with your petrol oil mix and let all the drippings go on the ground. But I like the rag way, because then you can wipe the chain at the same time. Anyway, just spray and clean until your chain looks alright or you're high on fumes, one or the other.
You're done.
Eh? What do you mean you're done? Well, you see, the petrol flushes out all the junk in those hard to reach areas and also dissolves old oil you used to lube the chain. And guess what? Petrol evaporates, so you don't need to wipe anything off, and better yet, that new two stroke oil gets left behind after the petrol evaporates EVEN IN THOSE HARD TO REACH AREAS, so you are actually doing a much more thorough job of lubing the chain. Even better, since petrol is so runny, it takes all the excess oil that would normally be splattering all over your leg or chain guard and leaves just the right amount so that the entire surface of the chain is coated, and even done so.
Just let it air dry and there's no need to lubricate anything.
If you removed a chain guard to get to your chain, now put it back on.
Chain cleaning done in 1 minute with no mess, you're welcome.
-Akira S. (AK87)
This is after one pass of petrol and 2 stroke oil "cleaner", and just look at the crap that came off this little chain. This is a sealed chain too, not exposed outside to dust.
After the 3rd pass on this chain, it finally started to clean up
Hi Kyoko, you're good to go now. Super clean chain, and thoroughly lubed.
What does it mean, if my bike doesn't go into neutral pushing the pedal down? When I'm in the top gear and press down the shifter, nothing happens. The 4th gears stays engaged.AK87 wrote:Semi auto motos only
Now another trick I have for my bikes is that I like to use the footer shifter as an actual clutch. Eh? Every single person I've seen on a moto probably doesn't understand that they can clutch their bike like a manual car to an extent. So instead of going going through the jerky motions of on and off throttle in top gear, push down on your pedal as if you were to shift into "5th" and hold it down like it's a clutch pedal. Your bike will disengage the clutch and you will coast. To reengage, let off the clutch slowly and the rpms will rise gentrly rather than all at once.
If you want to make gear changes smoother, I find the best is to press down on the shifter gently and all the way down (nothing will get hurt, trust me). Then instead of simply letting go of the shifter, let off the clutch slowly and give it a tiny bit of throttle, just as if you were driving a manual car It's hard to explain, and I don't want to try and video it, but any one I meet and wants to learn what the heck I am talking about, I'll happily explain it on a bike. Anyway, if you get it right, none of your gear shifts will be harsh and you'll never have to worry about clunking and getting "jerked around" on your bike every time you change gear. Don't worry about the clutch slipping either, these bikes actually slip a ton by design. If you don't believe me, just let your bike idle in first gear. It doesn't stall, it's slipping.
When I'm not in top gear and push down the shifter, it shift immediately. And if I don't release some throttle it won't shift, because the gearbox is under weight.
I manage to shift quite smoothly but it's like shifting a car not using the clutch. The speeds of the enginge must match the speed of the gear, otherwise it's very hard to shift and I don't do it, because I don't want to cause damage.
In the end: There is no neutral between my gears. They shift as soon as I push. I need to play with the throttle to get easy shifting. Why's that?
Just put some German fuel system cleaner in the bike. PGM, only 24k km, but , wow, much more power and sounds better
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
- 17 Replies
- 3841 Views
-
Last post by YaTingPom
Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:13 pm
-
-
Human trafficking victim tricks to sell close friend to Cambodia
by Bong Burgundy » Mon Feb 20, 2023 8:26 am » in Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Lao forums - 2 Replies
- 283 Views
-
Last post by Phnom Penh Trader
Tue Feb 21, 2023 12:12 am
-
-
-
Bipartisan legislators demand answers from Fauci on 'cruel' puppy experiments
by Harold » Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:59 am » in 'Not' Cambodia - 10 Replies
- 1243 Views
-
Last post by Dylan Quint
Wed Oct 27, 2021 5:06 am
-
-
-
Electric cars are becoming popular in Cambodia
by Oscar Zhao » Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:57 pm » in Cars and Bikes - 39 Replies
- 12374 Views
-
Last post by ragtag
Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:39 pm
-