deonattard

Ok update today - the fluid in the jar has settled and seperated. I now have clear fluid with a slight green/yellow colour to it. The grey sludge has settled to the BOTTOM. It doesn't appear to have any chunks in it, its like an oily sludge. The fact that its settled to the bottom suggests to me its not oil - wouldn't the oil be floating on the top? So what is it? I'm guessing alloy?

Bright green.

Here is a photo of the coolant - its a pretty yucky grey colour. The bike is approximately 5 months old and this is the origional coolant that came inside the bike. I'd like to know if its just broken down, or if its full of alloy or if it has oil in it? The gearbox oil is definitely clean and free of oil and the coolant doesn't appear to have an oil slick in it. http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/uploads/gallery_16451_66_177426.jpg

Anyone else had their coolant turn to a grey colour? Doesn't appear to have oil in it, and there is no water in the engine oil - its just gone grey and looks horrible. I don't know if its just broken down or if the stuff in the bike has been eating the alloy? We've flushed it out and put fresh (good quality) coolant in there today and I will change it again in a week to be sure all the bad stuff is flushed out. I've emailed a photo of the coolant to the importer. Also anyone know at what point in the delivery chain would the coolant be added to the bike?

When I used the GRO 10w/30 I had cold clutch drag but it went away after a few minutes running. With GRO 75w I don't have the drag problem and the clutch engagement is smoother - more feel. Remember to loosen the clutch cover screws to get all the oil out - even on 2012 model you can't get all the oil from the sump drain which is a bit messy but necessary. Also I am pretty sure that the gear box oil is also lubricating the main bearings in these engines - as such I don't think the ATF will be up to the task of that?? I don't know for sure but I'm not going to try it :-)

I'd be doing my own oil changes if I were you.

After some trial and error: Motorex Cross Power 2T (fully synthetic) at 9ml of oil per litre of fuel (110:1) I havn't fouled a plug yet, although the plugs look black and pretty horrible when they come out. We clean the plug before each trial, I think they will foul for sure if you don't take them out and clean them periodically. GRO Gear Extreme 75w in the gearbox. Also tried the 10w/30 which didn't provide the same level of clutch feel despite some data suggesting it was the same stuff as 75w - its a different colour and everything so definitely a different oil. The 75w was an immediate, noticable improvement over the 10w/30.

With the amount of time a factory bike has to last I don't know if all their advice would be good. I'll seal it up and check on it after a few rides to see how its going. It'll be impossible to get it air-tight due to the cables comming out.

Its a bit quiet around here! On the advice of another forum member I've removed our flywheel covers to try and seal them a little better. Sure enough, both bikes had a little water in the bottom of them. There is no gasket but there is a lip on the lid for most of the cover except where the electrics come out. We're going to put some silicon on there to try and seal the cover up. While in there we've sprayed some innox to prevent rust. It does appear to be fairly poorly sealed. PS. Battery kit is going great on both bikes, no issues to report.

My bike has started taking 6 kicks or so to start when cold, no problem hot. I'm going to change the plug when I get some time. Dad's bike is going like a dream, probably helped because he's riding it almost everyday!!

Since putting the battery on my Father's bike he has put more hours on his bike in the last 2-weeks than he has in the first half of this year.

Without that experience you probably wouldn't appreciate the battery transformation :-)

I think most of the benefit in the 12v system is the ability to prime the fuel pump.

jsp - I think you'll find a few people have prototype versions and everyone else has made there own and some smart dealers are making them up.

I think the reduced turning circle makes them less than ideal for trials. I much prefer the conventional forks, the seals last so much longer than upside down forks.

The battery setup works a treat, did some good riding today. Batteries did not get hot. Fan ran at full speed. I don't see any reason to keep the capacitor in the system. I would keep a spare battery pack in the car just incase but the bike does run with the battery and capacitor both disconnected. I plan to change my wiring so the off switch on the battery will kill the engine but I will let Dad fiddle around with his as he's a bit of an electronics guy and he'll come up with a nice solution. We can even easily start the bike with it in gear with the clutch pulled now whereas that was hit and miss before. Happy days.

The capacitor just smoothes out the power, it does not build up a charge like some people think. When you kick the bike, the capacitor is fully discharged in a matter of seconds. I'm not going to try it but I am quite sure the bike will run without the capacitor however the power supply maybe irregular so the bike might not run too well and maybe there is some risk to the electronics. When you are doing your initial kicks, essentially you are priming up the fuel pump which depending on how long the bike has been sitting for can take between 2-6 seconds to prime up and turn off. It seems that the priming of the fuel pump is the only reason why these bikes can take so many kicks to start. Soon as you have fuel pressure, bang, bike starts. I wish the rain would stop here so I can have a ride, hopefully tommorow, its going to be muddy.

Borus do you know if there is any fail-safe functions in the ECU? Ie. Say your water pump as failed, bike is over-heating, will power be reduced or will the bike turn off - or will it just blow up like a normal non-electronic bike?

Another option to take the battery out of the circuit would be a 2-way switch. Position 1 - battery, start up the bike, after warm up flick switch to Position 2 which takes the battery out of the circuit and flicks back to capacitor. The only reason to retain the capacitor would be if there is some problem with the battery. So far, no-one has reported any issue with the battery but the few people who have the battery pack to date, most of them are very hush, hush with their knowledge so I don't know if I will discover a problem with running battery only as time goes on.

Have you tested this yourself to confirm the fan issue? I havn't run the bike long enough with battery pack for the fan to start but I will test on the weekend. This is the same setup the factory are using so I am not expecting any fan issue but I will know soon. I am happy to run both capacitor and battery pack if required but some thought will be required to find a suitable mounting position. Do you know what they call the head light connector plug or did you cut the plug from the head-light to re-use?

Ok - a picture is worth 1000 words, so here is 2000 words :-) Read the description on each photo to help you understand. Make this at your own risk, if you blow your bike up, burn yourself with the soildering iron, or short out your ECU or other electronics I am not responsible. I have installed this same solution on my own bike and so far, fantastic. Use a multimeter to check the voltage output on your pack (it should read a little over 12v like 12.6v or something like that), and to check your switch is working before connecting it to your bike. If you don't have enough electronics knowledge to do the checks then you probably need the assistance of someone more experienced before thinking about connecting to your bike. To operate, turn your switch to the on position. If your bike has lights they will turn on, you'll hear the fuel pump prime for several seconds and you are ready to start the bike. Leave the switch on while the bike is in operation. After you turn the bike off, turn your switch to the off position to power down the electronics and to avoid running your batteries flat. If your bike does not have lights, you should consider connecting a LED into the system to indicate power so you can't forget the switch on. http://www.trialscen...ssa-easy-start/